Green Team

Minutes Morgantown Municipal Green Team January 9, 2016 Meeting Attending: Joey James (chair), Luis Caceres (city engineer and City liaison), Alex Davis (IAC), Shannon Dowling (business owner), Hari Jammulamadaka (IAC), Karen Kalafat (business owner), Joseph Kanosky (NETL), Holly Purpura (FODC), Jing Zhang, and Pam Cubberly (note taker) I. Old Business and Updates A. Introductions The team introduced themselves to Luis Caceres, City staff engineer whom Glen Kelly, interim city manager, had designated as the team’s City liaison. B. Approval of Minutes The team approved MMGT minutes from the December 6, 2016, meeting. C. Recycling Joey noted that the City is pursuing an RFP from trash haulers. He asked the team for recommendations on team input in the process. The team agreed that any new contract should be based on, among others, the need for better recycling service in general, recycling at schools, and recycling from businesses, especially downtown. Regarding City application for a state grant to support recycling in Morgantown, the City had hired Alex Stockdale and an additional part-time employee to write grant applications for the City. Actions identified by the team included the following: Action: The team decided to wait until the new city manager is on board before requesting by email that one of these City grant writers complete the application for the state grant, which is due next July. Action: In order to integrate school and business recycling into the contract, Holly will look into the possibility of a Green Team member being on the committee negotiating the contract with a new trash/recycling hauler. Joe Kanosky asked if the City was tracking the amount of recycling collected and urged the City to publicize this information. Team members noted that Tom Arnold had collected this kind of information on an annual basis and it had been publicized to an extent, but talking with Tom and Krista Baker, the communications director, on continuing to publicize this information was always good. Action: Pam will discuss with Krista Baker continuing efforts to publicize progress on increasing the amounts collected through the City’s single-stream recycling program along with other communications efforts. This 1  January 31, 2017 could actually be part of an effort to publicize several City efforts to reduce waste and save energy (see D below). The team then discussed the immediate opportunity of recruiting another City recycling intern. Finding a college junior who could serve as an intern for as long as 1.5 years would be ideal. The job description already exists so it was just a matter of getting it out through the usual WVU channels, including by an email to Career Services. Action: Jim Kotcon agreed to get the job description out promptly. D. IAC/City Collaboration on Energy Efficiency Discussion on the IAC/City energy efficiency study focused on next steps. IAC winter energy assessments (primarily combustion tests on City boilers) at the same City buildings assessed through estimates last summer must wait until Dr. Gopala’s return from the holidays. It was possible that the IAC priority of undertaking energy audits for businesses, funded through a grant, might take priority. Alex noted that she still needed utility bills from Jim Kotcon to finish up remaining work on the report itself. Getting data from the IAC winter assessments would complete the report, which she and Pam have been working on to get into a presentable form for City Council. Luis took down many notes and questions that he promised he would research so he could answer them adequately at the next meeting. Joey and Jim were to highlight “low-hanging fruit” in the report that City engineers could easily address and send the report to Luis. Action: Pam will send Luis the latest version of the IAC draft report so he and other city engineers can start implementing the easiest and least costly recommendations. E. Public Education on Sustainability by Team Noting the poor attendance at last fall’s three-part Green Night series, Pam was reluctant to continue putting effort into this model of public education, which she has supported since around 2013. The team agreed that a new approach might be more productive. Joey suggested arranging coverage of a key topic in the Science on Tap series. Pam mentioned she had been thinking of trying to collaborate with the League of Women Voters on any green topic that also met their goals. She also wondered if the team could get involved in offering some kind of film series if it could be done economically. Team members noted the Rivers Coalition Film Festival, either as a model or a venue for a team-supported film. No decisions were made at this time. F. North-Central West Virginia Solar Co-op Joey noted that this second solar co-op in the area would have its last public meeting on January 12 in Fairmont and would stop taking applications from home and business owners on January 31. II. New Business G. Request for Letter of Support Holly Purpura noted that the Friends of Decker’s Creek is applying to the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation for funding FODC’s work on green business certification. Holly asked the team for a letter of support from the team on her grant application. Joey noted that he, Jim, and Pam had met with Xavier Walter from the Energy Efficiency West Virginia group who was interested in meeting with the team, including on green business certification. He might be a good contact for FODC. Action: The team was in favor of submitting a letter of support from the Green Team if and when an application for the FODC is accepted by the foundation. 2  January 31, 2017 H. Long-Term Goals for Green Team Joe Kanosky raised the issue of the team looking at and setting longer-term goals on energy efficiency in City buildings, for example, choosing one City building to be upgraded as a high-performance energy-efficient building. Which building would be the most likely candidate for such improvements? Working from its current state as a baseline, what would it take to bring it to a high level of efficiency? Pam wondered if the Public Safety Building in which the team was then meeting might be the best candidate for such an upgrade. The team noted that the City has a LEED-certified firehouse. Joe mentioned that NETL could easily provide technical input to the City, should it wish to pursue upgrading City buildings for energy efficiency. [Note: The City Council adopted the Green Building Municipal Leadership Initiative in October 2006. The Green Team was created in 2007 in part to assist the City in implementing this initiative and in promoting the adoption of LEED and Energy Star standards, per the Environment Section in Morgantown’s comprehensive plan.] This discussion on long-term goals led Jing to propose, as a certified planner by profession, that he draft a strategic plan as something for the team to react to and “make their own” as a process to identify long- and short-term goals for the team. Such a document if completed by the team could also serve as a “framework” to communicate the Green Team’s mission, past goals and accomplishments, current projects selected, as well possible projects that future members might be able to pursue with enough interest, motivation, and expertise. Action: Jing agreed to draft a strategy for the team to discuss at its February meeting. Pam offered to work with him on it. I. Team Member News and Changes Pam announced that she would be joining her partner Roger Congleton on his sabbatical next fall and winter. She hoped to stay in touch with team activities as possible by Internet, but it was likely the team would need to find a way to handle minutes etc. She would be able to continue serving as the moderator of the City-sponsored Facebook group: Green Morgantown. III. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm. The next meeting will take place on Monday, February 6, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm in the first-floor conference room, Public Safety Building, 300 Spruce Street. 3