Sustainability Committee

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Natural Resources and Sustainability Stewardship Advisory Committee held Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. at the Ogden City Municipal building, 2549 Washington Blvd., Ogden, Weber County, Utah. Members Present: Joe Linford Bill Hackett Bonnie Christiansen Heather Root Kenna Hill Adam Tobey Jay Lowder Pearl Marden Rachel Ballard Members Excused: David Stevenson Stephen St. Peter Julie Ray Chase Wilson Ex-Officio: Amy Mabey Leesa Brinkerhoff CALL TO ORDER / WELCOME / ROLL CALL • Joe welcomed the committee members and called the meeting to order. • Leesa called the roll. RECAP OF 12/03/19 COUNCIL MEETING ADOPTION OF HB 411 RESOLUTION • Amy said the Council had a good discussion with a lot of public input which resulted in a 5-2 vote in favor of the resolution. • Joe said they had good representation of committee members. He said this was the first step, and will be followed by lots of other steps, so be prepared for a lot of work. Amy said thank you for the work the committee has put forward to date. • Heather asked why the 2 members who voted against it were not so sure and how it plays out in working together as it progresses. Amy said that, politically, they have the option of pushing back at various stages of the process, but she expects they will be supportive of moving forward with the process as outlined in the resolution. • Bonnie asked if they will have to vote again when we find out the cost of study. Amy said it will require a budget amendment. • Amy said we will do a letter or some type of correspondence with the Utah Public Service Commission stating the resolution went through. • Committee members may opt in or out from being on a Council email distribution list. If members know of other people who are interested in being on the distribution list, they can email Amy the email address or forward the email to them. • Bill asked the nature of the concerns of the council members who voted against it. Amy said one of the Council members expressed concerns with setting a goal without knowing the bigger picture. The other member said there are other types of energy not mentioned in the bill. Amy said she can send a link to the Council meeting. • Amy said Council leadership was firm about including in the resolution that, if the City doesn’t go through with HB 411, they aren’t going to drop the sustainability initiative. They would still plan to make separate goals for sustainability. • Bonnie said it took other municipalities many years to set a separate sustainability goal in place because it is a process that must go through the state legislature and it’s the legislation that controls what happens with our 1|Page  utilities. If Ogden City would want to pass a resolution with a sustainability goal separate from HB 411, it would have to go through legislation applicable to the entire state in order to vote in a new resolution. We need to think carefully about this if we’re going to do a different goal. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES Education and Community Outreach • Adam reported that goals have been stalled out a little bit. Kenna did a great job of reaching out to Ogden Downtown Alliance (ODA) and HEAL Utah. We’re hopeful that we can establish a presence at the ODA winter and farmer’s markets. Kenna said she spoke with Karmen at HEAL Utah and was told they are looking exactly for an opportunity like this to expand into Ogden. They will be meeting at Grounds for Coffee on Harrison Blvd. on January 25th. They will be talking about local issues and the legislative session. • Adam met with Mike McBride. Mike said anything we do with regard to social media should be done through the city’s current platforms. Adam’s not sure what to do next as far as what information we should share and suggested updates on ODA and HEAL Utah. • Have not yet established when we want to do an open house meeting at the community center on 26th and Monroe. Will check in with Chase for updates and if it’s a plausible place to do it. An agenda will be put together for the meeting. Government/Private Partnership • Nothing to report at this time Air Quality and Climate • Bonnie said there is nothing to report to date yet, adding the need to meet regularly as a committee to move forward on submitting a climate action plan. Bonnie wants to meet with the committee, staff, and Ogden City to get the ok to move forward on the plan due to its ambitious goals. Heather suggested the subcommittee should put something together for the whole committee to know what the climate action plan entails. It would give the committee a better sense of what is being moved forward. • Joe said subcommittees should bring forward things that impact the entire committee. Water Quality, Supply and Conservation • Bill said he is still looking for knowledge. He started reading “The Big Thirst”. His aim is to use larger ideas and context for plausible actions in Ogden. He contacted the Forest Service and was referred to a climate change report, but he didn’t find it particularly useful. One impact of climate change we can foresee in the future is municipal water supplies. Bill is working toward putting out a white paper that the subcommittee can review and offer input, then will eventually present to the main committee. • Bill asked Jay if there’s an educational opportunity about the water retention system and its state of repair, if there’s an urgency there, and what do we need to inform people about. Jay said we’ve looked at studies and raised taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements. In the past few years Ogden City put in a new transmission line, which has resulted in significant water savings. • Bill asked if there is a master plan in place. Jay said yes, and we update it every 5 years. He can arrange for Bill to look at it, but only a very few others because we protect our water system. We can set something up for the subcommittee members to meet with our Water and Engineering divisions to review the plan and the CIPs. Heather said people may want to hear upcoming plans. Bill agreed that we should look at what we can disseminate to the public and suggested that we could inform the committee of whatever information is appropriate. Solid and Hazardous Waste Reduction and Recycling 2|Page  • Nothing to report at this time Sustainable Energy • Nothing to report other than HB 411 resolution passed Open Space • Nothing to report at this time COMMITTEE OPEN DISCUSSION • Heather asked about the Council mentioning air quality assignments for the committee. Jay said we’re working on it. The Council will be providing more direction and specifics. We’re going to have them offer a joint directive for Administration and the Council. Jay said we need to be cognizant of decisions made down the road. Amy said it was determined that it would be helpful to have something from both authorities because it carries more weight and gives a clearer direction. There is a high interest in air quality issues. • Bill said he would like the Council to ask the committee questions they want answered. • Amy said the education component is very important to the Council. Coming up with something all Council members and the Mayor agree on is challenging. • Bonnie asked if we can take a look at the concerns and benefits of HB 411 as stated at the Council meeting to help us move forward and understand what they’d like from us. She would like to know if the Sustainable Energy and the Air Quality and Climate subcommittees can move forward with the things they were looking at, i.e. anti-idle campaigns, climate action plan, and the energy piece. To know what they would like from us would be very helpful. Amy said HB 411 was unique and a good thing to start off with. Every Council member has a different level of knowledge of sustainability, so it’s important we keep open dialogue and communication. • Bill said, often times, clients don’t know what they want. He feels the committee has a consultative role. • Kenna said it can be overwhelming with a new committee for us to know what to do for the city with setting goals and achieving them. She suggested that we can piggyback off of other programs like WSU has done to give us direction. • Joe said the committee is a work in progress and will be for some time, until we figure out what the Mayor and Council want. He feels that it needs to be a proper balance between what we do and what the Council and the Mayor both want. Our role is to figure out how to provide information and recommendations, and there needs to be some ability for us to be creative and not tied to certain line items. • Jay said the Mayor doesn’t want to tie our hands. Even with the directives, it will be up to the committee to advise. Amy added that the Council feels the same. • Heather asked how City Council works. Jay explained that we have a strong mayor type who gives directives to the CAO who runs operations of the city. Five directors report to the CAO. Each director makes sure the directives happen. The Mayor is a check and balance of the Council and makes recommendations to the Council. The Council can adopt or not, as it’s the legislative body. Both sides of government are supporting HB 411. Budget and ordinances are the main wheelhouse of the Council. • Jay said as one of our joint directives we plan to fund attendance at the WSU Sustainability Summit on March 19th and 20th. Bonnie said the 19th is the day where the vast majority of things happen, which includes about 20 different sessions. There will be keynote speakers on that day as well. The next day is workshops, but they haven’t been finalized yet and will be either a half day or full day. They can be registered for separately. At the next committee meeting Leesa will get the information to register members for the summit. • Today, Jay met with Jenn Bodine and Mark Halverson and determined we will replace all meters at WSU with live feeds, with the exception of one meter which cannot be replaced until it wears out. 3|Page  • We’re looking at a German company coming in with new technology in processing garbage. Jay explained the process. Everything goes in at once and then separates. There will be no need for recycle cans. They can mix some of the product to burn cleaner than any coal. If the county isn’t willing to go with us, WSU has agreed in kind, and will move forward as partners including 3 other cities who have committed. No tipping fees will save us about $3 million per year. They’ve agreed to set up another unit on their facility for our green waste. • Bill said it would be interesting to have the contractor present to the committee. Jay said he is working to get it for WSU, then Leesa can publish it on the shared drive. DELIVERABLES FOR JANUARY 23RD MEETING • Waiting for what administration is putting together for us. • Will follow up on subcommittees whose chairs were not able to attend today’s meeting. ADJOURNMENT • Joe thanked the committee members and the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m. NEXT MEETING Thursday, January 23, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Jay M. Lowder Joseph Linford, Chair Ogden City Public Services Director Date Approved: 01/23/20 4|Page