Sustainability Committee

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Natural Resources and Sustainability Stewardship Advisory Committee held Thursday, June 27, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. at the Ogden City Municipal building, 2549 Washington Blvd., Ogden, Weber County, Utah. Members Present: Joe Linford Adam Tobey Bill Hackett Bonnie Christiansen Heather Root Julie Ray Members Excused: Makenna Hill Stephen St. Peter Rachael Ballard David Stevenson Pearl Marden Chase Wilson Ex-Officio: Jay Lowder Amy Mabey Leesa Brinkerhoff Guests: State Representative Stephen Handy Dave Timmerman Chris Ward Jean (last name inaudible) Chris Averka Lynn Carol Ed Macner CALL TO ORDER / WELCOME / ROLE CALL • Joe welcomed the committee members and called the meeting to order. • Leesa called the roll. HB 411 UPDATE • Joe welcomed State Representative Stephen Handy and the public guests. • Representative Handy addressed the committee on HB 411, which he sponsored. He began with his autobiography. • HB 411 enacts the Community Renewable Energy Act in the Public Utilities Code. • Gave history of how HB 411 came about and the challenges faced in getting it passed. • Distributed handout given to the legislators when proposing the bill. • The bill is now in the hands of the Public Service Commission. Open stakeholder meetings are public and are available on their website. • Some of the things that still need to be figured out are the rates, stranded assets, and the opt in and opt out selections. • To opt in, a municipal body must pass a resolution by December 31st of this year. The body must get with Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) to obtain information necessary to commit to the resolution. The resolution will then be approved by the Public Service Commission. Then, municipalities and counties will be passing an ordinance, which then starts the ball rolling with RMP. • There will be provisions for op in and opt out. Representative Handy opened up Q&A from the committee members. • Heather asked the steps for opting in or out. 1|Page  • Bill said he doesn’t see any downside other than fear of the unknown. Representative Handy agreed and feels there is nothing to fear. • Bill asked if we can justify a possible rate increase of 10%. Representative Handy suggested contacting Salt Lake City and RMP for their study findings. • Bonnie asked if the analysis would be done by an independent 3rd party or by RMP. Representative Handy said it’s to be an independent analysis. • Bonnie asked what it means that other communities will be held harmless. Representative Handy used the example of Ogden City and Riverdale City being next to each other. If Ogden City went through the procedures as established in the legislature and opted in, and Riverdale City found their rates are lower than Ogden City, Riverdale residents are not held to the higher rates. Representative Handy emphasized the word “if” because it’s still being worked out. Also, if someone is already in rooftop solar and net metering, they aren’t eligible. • Joe asked how the Public Service Commission determines rates. Representative Handy said it will be through qualified specialists “battling” a regulated utility. • Joe asked how long the process will take. Representative Handy said he doesn’t know, but it should be in 2020. • Joe asked, if the Ogden City Council wants to opt in, how binding is it? Representative Handy said they can opt out as they get clarity as to what the rates will be. • Heather asked what happens if the richer cities do it and others don’t. Representative Handy believes market forces will be moving quickly and it will have to be a policy decision. • Bill asked, if the Mayor and Council engage, what kind of support they can expect. Representative Handy suggested Tyler Poulson of Salt Lake City and Luke Cartin from Park City would be good contacts to answer that. Joe said Josh Craft from Utah Clean Air would be a good contact as well. Representative Handy strongly recommended members to sit in on Public Commission sessions. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD Dave Timmerman – Ogden City District 1 Is part of a community committee, which is part of the Sierra Club’s push to obtain 100% renewable energy by 2030. It’s a nationwide campaign that they’re conducting. They’ve been meeting in Ogden for a few months now to try to get the ball rolling. Dave has communicated via email with Ben Nadolski and Angela Choberka to let them know what they’re doing and provided some documentation. He offered to hand out a summary of what HB 411 is. An electronic version was previously forwarded to the committee members. Is interested in helping his group expedite it through the City Council. Chris Ward – 17th Street and Kiesel Ave. Is excited to see pushes in this direction. Chris asked, if there is an Individual opt in and opt out, what makes this different than the RMP Blue Sky Program. Representative Handy said individuals can still do Blue Sky at their houses. HB 411 is community wide. He doesn’t know what the rate difference will be between the Blue Sky rates as opposed to what these projected rates will be. Chris said that, if we let people of Ogden know this through their water bill, it’s easy for them to miss it. He hopes that it becomes very obvious as to what’s happening. Jean - Citizen of Ogden for about 20 years (last name was inaudible) Appreciates the Council for putting together the committee and thanked the committee members for volunteering. Thanked Representative Handy for his vision with HB 411. Jean feels HB 411 is the single most significant action the Sustainability Committee can take on. She supports movement to renewable energy for a number of reasons. Her interest in this is personal and as an individual who supports a heathy community and feels it will be economically good for Ogden. She’s looking forward to learning how we can all work together to achieve 100% renewable energy. 2|Page Chris Averka – Ogden City resident Asked why the legislature is stagnating the roof top solar and what are the environmental impacts of doing something like this, and if it’s being evaluated by sustainability experts. Representative Handy said we have to go out and build giant utility scale solar farms. There would be an environmental impact that would be related to that. One of the reasons roof top solar is stagnating is the legislature had provided a tax credit for several years and we’re on a glide path with the tax credit which is stagnating rooftop solar. Chris said that windmills kill a lot of raptors. Both Bonnie and Heather offered their insight on this, that the newer windmills don’t kill raptors. Lynn Carol – Ogden City resident Is excited by this legislation. She hopes Ogden will get a resolution passed so we can think about joining in the 100% renewable energy. She agrees that we need to get moving away from fossil fuels. Lynn has rooftop solar and feels bad she won’t be able to participate in this program, but she still feels it’s important for the City to pursue it. Ed Macner Is involved with the Sierra Club committee which supports HB 411. Ed feels the Mayor should ask if other companies like Tesla were able to get in and make an offer, and to ask what advantage would it be right now to have another offer, so we can reduce the tax base in this city by allowing its citizens to put in its own sustainability in roof top solar and solar windows. Representative Handy said legislation has a provision that an RFP will go out so other companies can bid out. Joe thanked the public for their interest and being there, and thanked Representative Handy for being there. APPROVAL OF May 23rd MEETING MINUTES A motion to approve the May 23rd meeting minutes was proposed, seconded, and approved. REVIEW DRAFT OF COMMITTEE RULES OF PROCEDURES The final draft was emailed to members this afternoon. Members will review it for the next meeting. Additional comments should be emailed directly to Mara and cc Joe, Heather, and Leesa. Jay said to make sure to copy Leesa on all emails. USING GOOGLE SHARE FOR COMMITTEE DOCUMENTS • Amy said there are a couple of options for a committee shared information drive. If we use Google as a tool, everyone will need a Google account. There are many other options available, but Google has the best user options. • Jay said it should be secured to members of our committee. • Bonnie said we should have naming conventions. • Amy said we should have one person manage it. • Heather said we could have one person manage it, but allow users edit rights. • Amy will work with Leesa to set it up and report on it at the next meeting. MISSION AND VISION / SUBCOMMITTEES PROPOSAL Joe asked if everyone has had a chance to look at the email he sent regarding the Mission, Vision, and subcommittees. Each attending member said they had. He suggested they be discussed even though there weren’t enough members in attendance to adopt them. 3|Page Mission • Joe asked the committee if they had any thoughts on the proposal. • Bonnie suggested the last sentence of the mission statement to include the words “sustainable and environmental practices”, and “life sustaining systems and resources”, because climate isn’t necessarily a resource. Bonnie explained this in further detail. Joe agreed as long as it fits our guiding principle and vision. • There was discussion among the committee members on this. Jay said it should represent the entire committee. • Joe said to send any changes to the mission and vision statement to him. The committee will review it and vote on in at the next meeting. • Jay said he feels it’s important that it represents the entire committee. • There are not enough members in attendance to vote as a quorum. We need one more. Joe asked Leesa to provide access of the audio recording of the meeting to members, so those who are absent in this meeting can come to the next meeting prepared to vote. Vision • There was some discussion among the committee regarding the vision, however, it was inconclusive. Subcommittees • Julie said it’s redundant to have student committees, education, and outreach committees. She would like to consider combining committees. • Heather is concerned with pigeon holing subcommittees. • Adam requested to be on the education subcommittee. • Bill suggested members serve on committees they are drawn to. • Heather asked if, once the committees are identified, we can make a sign-up sheet for committee members. • Joe said we need to revisit subcommittees and suggested the members list their preferences. • Bonnie suggested renaming the Air Quality subcommittee to Climate and Air Quality. Joe said we should discuss this at the next meeting. SCOPE IDEAS AND PRIORITIES HB 411 • Bonnie knows Tyler Poulson and Josh Craft personally and feels they will be willing to come to a meeting to present how they implemented HB 411. Joe and Jay asked Bonnie to please invite them. • Jay has been working with Utah Clean Energy and they have requested to come and present on July 25th. • Bill suggested we get a timeline and a process on HB 411. • Amy will get with Janene Eller-Smith and determine timelines and a process for HB 411. JULY 25TH COMMITTEE MEETING 4|Page The next meeting is scheduled for July 25th. Because it’s a day after a holiday, it was asked of the committee whether to hold it on that date, cancel it, or reschedule it. Joe said he prefers to still hold the meeting to keep going on the things the committee is working on. Other members agreed, so we will keep it on July 25th. Joe said members who have a problem with the date, to let the Chair and staff know. OTHER DISCUSSION • Bonnie will send a link to the committee for registration for the upcoming conference in August. • Joe would like voting items listed on the agenda in bold and CAPS. • Adam said he has to be to work on Thursdays at 5:00 and asked if voting items can be at the front of agenda. Joe said we can keep it in mind as much as we can. • Joe said, draft rules require members to give 24 hour notice if they are unable to attend a meeting. Even more notice will be better. • Bill asked if there are any provisions for offsite voting. Jay said the Council can do it, so we should be able to as well. We’ll clarify with Mara. • Amy said, with 24 hour notice, we can set up a controlled call in number for those who can’t physically attend the meetings. • Amy said the meetings are audio recorded, so all members have access to it and can prepare themselves to vote on items. We’ll find a way to include the recordings in the shared drive. Joe said he strongly recommends members listen to the recording. • Heather expressed her concern that the committee isn’t accomplishing more on HB 411. • Amy said that Council is booked through the end of August, so we won’t be able to request to be on the agenda until after then. • Amy said the Council sent a formal request yesterday for the committee’s recommendations on HB 411 or alternative options. • Jay told the committee that they are an independent body, who is recommending to the Mayor and Council which actions to take. It’s very important to be transparent and not to be tainted by either the Mayor or Council. Committees rarely meet with the Mayor or the Council except for once a year at a work session to update them. • Jay asked the committee to please spell out acronyms. • Julie suggested holding 2 meetings per month to get things off the ground. • As of today we’re working with the University of Utah and have installed air monitors at Marshall White Center as part of a study for the inversions. NEXT MEETING Thursday, July 25th, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. in the council work room, #310 DELIVERABLES FOR NEXT MEETING 1. Bonnie will contact Tyler Poulson and Josh Craft to see if they will present at the August meeting. 2. Committee members to review the final draft of the Committee Rules of Procedures and come prepared to adopt them. 5|Page  3. Committee members to review the subcommittee’s proposal and the Mission and Vision, send comments before hand, and be prepared to vote and express their preferences as to what subcommittees they want to be on. 4. Amy and Leesa work on google docs site and include folders for the subcommittees proposed to date. 5. Committee members should be thinking about the strategic plan and priorities and come prepared to share. (Joe would like some guidance from staff as to how to accomplish this.) 6. Absent committee members review the audio recording of the meeting minutes and come prepared to vote on proposed items. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:08 p.m. __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Jay M. Lowder Joseph Linford, Chair Ogden City Public Services Director Date Approved: 07/25/19 6|Page