Sustainability Committee

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Natural Resources and Sustainability Stewardship Advisory Committee held Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. via electronic web conferencing in accordance with Utah Code 52-4-202. Pursuant to a written determination by the Committee Chair finding that conducting the meeting with an anchor location presents a substantial risk to the health and safety of those who may be present due to the infectious and potentially dangerous nature of COVID-19 virus. Members Present: Heather Root Adam Tobey Bonnie Christiansen Stephen St. Peter Members Excused: Bill Hackett Joe Linford David Stevenson Pearl Marden Rachel Ballard Ex-Officio: Jay Lowder Amy Mabey Leesa Brinkerhoff Guest: Mara Brown – Ogden City Attorney Technical issues delayed the start of the meeting until 4:17 p.m. CALL TO ORDER / WELCOME / ROLL CALL • Heather welcomed the committee members and called the meeting to order. • Leesa called the roll. APPROVAL OF AUGUST 27th MEETING MINUTES • There weren’t enough voting members in attendance to make a quorum. This will be added to next month’s agenda. OGDEN CITY SUSTAINABILITY NEWS – JAY LOWDER • We’re finishing a project this week to retrofit our buildings. • The Lindquist Stadium field lights have been upgraded to LED. • We are changing our Welcome to Ogden sign to LED. • We are continuing our communications with Recycled Earth. They’re still not in compliance with their special use permit, but we are ready and capable of going back at a day’s notice to continue service if they become compliant. SUBCOMMITTEE PROGRESS REPORTS – COMMITTEE MEMBERS Heather said she reached out to the subcommittee chairs before the meeting and it appeared to her that everyone is tremendously overwhelmed. Air Quality and Climate • Bonnie thanked the people who responded with their feedback to the draft of the Air Quality and Climate recommendations. • We initially made 6 recommendations: 1. Address Air Quality and Climate Challenges Together 2. Make an Ambitious Goal 3. Hire Dedicated Sustainability Staff 4. Provide Sustainability Training for City Staff 5. Include Air Quality and Climate in All Operations and Citywide Planning 1|Page  6. Electrify • We added a seventh recommendation: 7. Build Collaborative Relationships. • Some other changes to the draft included: 2. Make an Ambitious Goal o Include recognizing the important steps the city has already made in adopting the 100% net renewable electricity goal o Not only think about climate in terms of how we lower greenhouse gases, but consider how we are taking care of the people in our community by being a more resilient community. 3. Hire Dedicated Sustainability Staff o Feedback from the committee is that it is really important to achieve all of the other things that are listed in this document, or that they can help to move them along. 7. Build Collaborative Relationships o A number of entities are listed throughout the document, but there are 3 that are felt can be more robust: a. Weber State’s Sustainability Teams b. Utah Clean Energy c. Salt Lake City • Bonnie said there are some things in the document that the city has been working on that can be made more publicly known. • As a resident, Heather is working with Jen Bodine at WSU to write an op ed for the Standard Examiner about the program the city has with Utah Clean Energy. She feels this will streamline the information in getting out to the public as opposed to having the committee produce multiple drafts that require voting. It would be good if we could figure out how the committee can more effectively communicate information to the public as well. • Stephen said the committee has discussed relations with the city and local businesses. He asked if the CARES funding or any other available funding for business efficiencies is available. • Bonnie said that various funding is mentioned throughout the document, some being more specific. Depending on the direction given by the council, we can do more research on available funding. The need for climate change is now being widely recognized, as well as a cost associated with it. Having inaction on something isn’t going to save us money in the long run as we experience more extreme weather events. Needs and the costs associated with them must be identified to move forward. • Stephen suggested getting the data and commitment for local businesses. If they were to fill out a survey to identify the funding needed for sustainability and efficiency plans, we could help them understand what funding may be available. Encourage them to make a partnership. • Bonnie agreed and suggested identifying what funding is available for residents and what funding is available for businesses, then really promoting it. • Mara suggested reaching out to the Ogden Business Information Center that’s administering the CARES Act loans to small businesses. It seems like there’s potential because there’s a linkage between working from home due to COVID and not driving, which indirectly helps with air quality. These business expenses may be deemed necessary due to COVID. • Bonnie said UCAIR has been looking into telecommuting statewide, so they may be a good resource as well. During one of the committee meetings, she said Heather brough up C-Pace, which could also be a good resource for local government energy funding. 2|Page  • There are some appendices documents that Bonnie will attach to the main documents. These include steps to support this plan as well as how to obtain ROI. • Heather told the committee to send any additional information to Bonnie and try to vote on it at the next meeting. Government and Private Partnership • Stephen has been working with a data analyst at Utah State University to find out what public data is out there on funding and surveys, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Heather said it would be great if the subcommittee could come up with some way to use the CARES funding and learn more about C-Pace. Water Quality, Supply, and Conservation • Heather said she spoke with Bill. He told her that he’s interested in pursuing what’s going on with the nearly 100 households in Ogden that don’t have water and determining if it’s a sustainability issue. Jay said houses without water supply are inhabitable. Heather said she connected Bill with Ogden Can, because they have a housing person that may be able to help them figure out what’s going on. Solid and Hazardess Waste Reduction and Recycling • Nothing to report at this time. Sustainable Energy • Bonnie said that most of her time has been spent on the Air Quality and Climate subcommittee, but she has spoken with a couple of other cities to find out how they are running their joint agreements with Dominion Energy. Raina Ellis sent Bonnie some joint agreements from other cities as well. Bonnie is reviewing them and is hoping to have an update at the October committee meeting. • Bonnie asked if there’s anything the subcommittee can do to help with the Net 100% Renewable Energy. • Amy said the internal meeting on the governance agreement had to be pushed back due to the recent windstorm, however that can be presented when they meet again. Open Space • Heather said that Chase resigned his position due to time personal constraints. We will need to fill his position on the full committee and the Open Space subcommittee chair, and suggested the committee consider who should fill this position at the next meeting. • Mara said, instead of posting, the committee can recommend both candidates for the full committee that were recently forwarded to the mayor for his approval. • Heather said both candidates were strong and she feels this may be the best way to do it. The committee agreed. • Mara suggested posting an ongoing committee interest form for people to complete, and the committee can pull from those responses when another vacancy arises. Lisa and Amy will work on this. Education and Community Outreach • Adam said he feels that he, Jay, and Leesa have created a good system for the subcommittee to post information and receive feedback in a timely manner. He would frequently like to post information on the Ogden City Facebook page about the good things the committee is doing, recommendations for things, and sustainable issues happening in our community. This would be especially helpful, since COVID has made it to where we can’t have open houses and other educational gatherings. He encouraged subcommittees to let him know of things happening with them, as he’s hoping to post at least one thing per month. 3|Page  • Jay agreed, saying that the city doesn’t do a good job of promoting itself with the things we’re doing, and this can be a good way to accomplish that. Adam asked Jay if he could send him some information on the LED lighting completed at Lindquist Field, adding that it may be something worth celebrating. Heather said the Welcome to Ogden sign would be very visable and good to include. • Stephen asked if the city offers a traditional newsletter that the committee can be included in. Jay said the committee can have a section of the monthly At Your Service newsletter that goes out in the monthly billing and social media. • Mara suggested a section in the new Ogden Connection magazine that goes out quarterly by direct mail to all residents. She said the utility bill only goes out to property owners, not renters. • Adam said that someone commented on the last post regarding recycling. He asked if committee members can respond, or if someone from the city should respond. Jay said in the this case, Gina Hughes, the city’s solid waste supervisor could respond. Comments should be forwarded to Leesa or Jay, who will then forward them on to the appropriate city division to respond. COMMITTEE OPEN DISCUSSION • Heather told the committee, that during a recent meeting she had with Jay, Mara, and Amy, Mara said it was okay to have outside people help with the subcommittees. They could be from an Ogden business or Ogden residents from the general public. Mara said it’s a great way to recruit for being on the committee because you have the opportunity to work with them and they can see what it’s all about. • Bonnie suggested the city promote the new net zero house that’s up for sale on October 1st. • Mara thanked the committee for their volunteer service, and Jay and Leesa for all the work they’ve done over the past few weeks for the city in dealing with the recent events. PUBLIC COMMENT • No public comment DELIVERABLES FOR OCTOBER 22nd MEETING • Consider candidates to fill Chase’s vacancy on the full committee and the chair for the Open Space subcommittee. • Have enough voting members in attendance to vote on the Air Quality recommendation and approval of the August 27th meeting minutes. • Stephen to find out more about CARES funding through the Ogden City Business Information Services. ADJOURNMENT • Heather moved to adjourn the meeting. • With no further business, Heather adjourned the meeting at 5:11 p.m. NEXT MEETING Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. 4|Page  HEather Root __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ HEather Root (Oct 28, 2020 11:21 MDT) Jay M. Lowder Heather Root, Chair Ogden City Public Services Director Date Approved: 10-22-2020 5|Page