Sustainability Committee

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Natural Resources and Sustainability Stewardship Advisory Committee held Thursday, February 27, 2020 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 Rachel Ballard Jay Lowder Pearl Marden Adam Tobey Chase Wilson Members Excused: Stephen St. Peter David Stevenson Ex-Officio: Amy Mabey Leesa Brinkerhoff Guests: Gina Hughes, Ogden City Solid Waste Supervisor CALL TO ORDER / WELCOME / ROLL CALL • Joe welcomed the committee members and called the meeting to order. • Leesa called the roll. APPROVAL OF JANUARY 23RD MEETING MINUTES • Joe asked if there were any changes to the January 23rd meeting minutes. Bonnie had one change. Noting that, Joe asked if there was a motion to approve. Bonnie motioned, Kenna seconded it and it was approved unanimously. OGDEN CITY RECYLING PRESENTATION – GINA HUGHES, OGDEN CITY SOLID WASTE SUPERVISOR • Gina introduced herself and told the committee that her presentation will focus on 5 main topics: 1) Clean - Items must be rinsed and cleaned, not dirty or soiled 2) Raw - Raw paper and cardboard, no to-go cups or milk cartons 3) Household (kitchen) - Aluminum & steel like aluminum cans, steel soup cans are okay, but not garage aluminum & steel items 4) Recyclable symbol - If you’re not sure, look for the recyclable symbol. It MUST HAVE this symbol, or the item must be thrown in the trash 5) Types of plastics - 1 & 2 CONTAINERS are accepted, not plastic wraps or bags • Household amounts – there is a misconception about paint cans. We find a lot of these in the recycle bins. These are not considered household items. • Cardboard must be raw and clean. • We take all paper, books, and magazines. The general rule is, if you can dip paper or cardboard in water and it retains the water, it’s recyclable. • Only plastic #1 and #2 plastics are accepted in our recycle bins. However, if they’re not cleaned out they go in the garbage cans. Plastic bags and plastic wraps are not recyclable. • NO Styrofoam – Styrofoam is not recyclable and must be placed in the garbage cans. • The wrapping on paper towels is different than the content. • Every retailer that uses plastic bags, must have a drop off site them. 1|Page  • Paper envelopes with bubble wrap – the paper is ok, but the inside bubble wrap is not. These can be dropped off at store sites. • If a paper plate has stains, it goes in the garbage. • Tape on boxes is fine. • Any type of plastic can be dropped off at a store site. • Bonnie asked what items people are recycling well. Gina said the perfect things would be bottled water containers, newspapers, and clean cardboard. Gina recommends flipping boxes inside out before placing in them in the blue bin. That way, drivers can see if the box is contaminated. If it isn’t, we’ll go ahead and dump it. • The biggest contamination is plastic grocery bags, such as putting clean recyclables in a plastic grocery bag and placing it in the bin. Unauthorized plastic bags melt in the rams of the trucks and contaminates its whole hydraulic system. • Bonnie said she knows how hard it is to educate a population on how to recycle right. She suggested using the terms that people can understand easily to get the contamination levels down that benefits the total system most, i.e. list 5 things and yes or no. Kenna suggested listing only 5 things and make a fun acronym with them because it’s important to keep it simple. • Jay said we’re going to the elementary schools so they can train their parents. Kenna said they are doing the same with idling. • Joe thanked Gina for her time and her educational presentation. She was then excused. COMMITTEE SHARED CALENDAR DISCUSSION • Leesa asked the committee what their expectations of a shared calendar are. • Kenna suggested having at least one member from the committee at each council meeting to have a presence there or watch the live stream. Members would rotate attending regular council meetings and a calendar would be helpful for this purpose. • Bonnie asked Kenna if she is looking for a public events calendar or internal calendar or both. • Kenna said both. She’d like the committee to be able to share community events that are going on. • Bill asked if we’re looking at one calendar to include everything or a public calendar for the public to view. Kenna said it would be a calendar specifically for the committee to be aware of events and to sign up for which council meetings members will attend. Bill said he thought this is a good idea and asked how to find out when the meetings are. Amy said members should be on an email notification list and she’ll double check to make sure. • Kenna said she and Bonnie discussed having a calendar on the Ogden City web page as well. • Adam clarified that there would be an internal shared calendar for committee members and having a public calendar on the sustainability website. • Amy said there is a city calendar right now that includes some events. She feels there may be an opportunity to use this calendar. • Kenna suggested in using the community calendar, they can consider using an icon or green symbol to identify it being a sustainability event with a link to the Ogden City sustainability page. If we have this capability, we may not need the committee calendar. • Jay said there is a publicly shared calendar between WSU, Ogden City, and Visit Ogden used to post events. • Kenna asked if a tab for sustainability can be added. 2|Page  • Joe said this discussion appears to have resulted in a proposal for committee members to attend council meeting. He asked if anyone wanted to make a motion for it. • Kenna made the motion, Bonnie seconded it, and it was approved unanimously. • Kenna will bring a volunteer sign-up sheet to the next meeting. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES Education and Community Outreach • Adam said he’s been in touch with Mike McBride and Vince Ramos, and as of 3 weeks ago, they were going to be putting together a one sheet graphic that had a blurb about this and also include the tonnage for recycled materials for 2019. Government and Private Partnership • Joe reached out to Steven and will continue to follow up with him. Air Quality and Climate • Bonnie said the subcommittee met. They questioned what the air quality assignment that Amy presented at the last meeting would be about. The subcommittee decided to hold off on idle free discussions until they get the assignment. Jay said he knows idle-free is one thing and the other thing is electric car charging stations. Amy said it’s a very broad request. • Bonnie said the other thing that they are working on is the community climate action planning. Right now, they are working on research and requested copies of a climate planning book. Jay told her to get the information to Leesa and she will purchase them. • Bonnie said they are also researching what information should be in a climate action plan, consider what measurable data should be compiled, and brainstorming strategic partners and the purpose they would serve. Water Quality, Supply and Conservation • Bill said he contacted Leesa to set up a meeting to review the city’s Water Master Plan. In discussing a time, it was agreed upon that it may be best to wait until after the Intermountain Sustainability Summit. He is continuing to read “The Big Thirst” book. • Bonnie suggested to Bill that he talk to Logan City to see how they’re running theirs. Solid and Hazardous Waste Reduction and Recycling • Adam said he hasn’t heard anything. Sustainable Energy • Kenna said a lot of people who are on the Air Quality and Climate subcommittee are on the Sustainable Energy subcommittee. She has had some conversation with Bonnie and there have been some things in the works that they are wanting to accomplish. • Kenna reached out to Amy and Jay wanting to stay up to date with HB 411 and maybe get on an email list. Amy said the committee is on a distribution list for the HB 411 Utah 100 Communities Project. • Jay said the founding cities of the Utah 100 Communities Project are currently getting other cities up to date. • Kenna asked what Ogden City is having to catch up on. 3|Page  • Amy said, for the past year, they have worked hand in hand with Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) to get the legislation adopted. It’s getting us up to speed on the work they’ve been doing during this time. Various components from each of the cities come in to play as to how the plan moves forward. There are a lot of complexities with it. • Jay said their highest priority for them right now is to get the next line of documents prepared. Amy will be providing input from us. • Amy said there is a Governance Agreement and a Utility Agreement. Amy is on the Governance Agreement subcommittee. We’ve only had one meeting. They are trying to determine how the 23 different cities will vote on things. There are lots of different populations and various demographics involved. It’s very complex. They’ve asked communities to come back with their preferences for the agreement. • Jay said some cities want to move forward, but they don’t know what the participation rate will be, and it makes them hesitant because of the potential costs involved. It’s going to be quite a process. • Amy said communication is at the front of their scope, such as how we’re communicating with people who are a part of this. Amy has put together a podcast and she’ll email it to the committee. It’s intended to let the public know what HB 411 is and how we’re working on it. She is also working on a web landing page. • Jay said the committee will be provided information for their feedback as it comes along, but he expects it will be a while. • Amy said they’re talking about completing drafts of the agreements sometime this year. It’s going to be a couple of years out before we have numbers to work from. It’s a delicate balance in knowing what and how much information is best to share with the general public. • Kenna said she is hoping to stay up to date with the Energy Wise folks to follow that process along. Jay said Leesa posted the information from last week’s meeting to the shared drive. Open Space • Chase said he has some leads and hopes to set up a meeting with Adam and Heather to talk them over. COMMITTEE OPEN DISCUSSION • Leesa said that Julie Ray has resigned her membership on the committee due to increased scheduling conflicts. Joe said he would like to discuss her position at the next meeting. • Jay said the council and administration want the committee to tell them what the priorities are. In doing so, they shouldn’t let funding limit them. The city will worry about that. Joe said this is one of the principal things he’s been encouraging the subcommittees to come up with those kinds of priorities. He would like the subcommittees to come up with these sooner rather than later. Jay told the committee not to let funding limit them. • Amy told the committee that she still has inventory for anti-idling, and they’re welcome to take some to distribute. • Jay said, as we go through this year’s legislative process, he will forward bills relative to sustainability to the committee members to review and provide comments. Jay will, in turn, get them to the lobbyists. If there are any concerns with any bills on the Hill right now, let him know. • Bonnie asked what bills are coming up and how the whole committee can get together to discuss them. Jay said we can do it next year, or the committee can personally let him know what to look out for. • Kenna said there are a lot of organizations that have a bill tracker that can be tracked for any subject. She invited anyone who wants to lobby at the Hill to join her on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 12:00. 4|Page  • Bonnie reminded the committee that the summit is coming up. They will do live broadcasts to high schools and other colleges. She said she’s happy to help with anything. Online registration goes until March 13th. After that, people can register at the event. DELIVERABLES FOR MARCH 26TH MEETING • Kenna will bring a volunteer sign-up sheet to attend council meetings • Each subcommittee to present their priorities • Review the minutes from this meeting prior to the next meeting ADJOURNMENT • Joe thanked the committee members and told them he appreciates them, and the meeting was adjourned at 5:21 p.m. NEXT MEETING Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Jay M. Lowder Joseph Linford, Chair Ogden City Public Services Director Date Approved: 04/23/20 5|Page