Sustainability Committee

Minutes of the regular meeting of the Natural Resources and Sustainability Stewardship Advisory Committee held Thursday, November 19, 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 Bill Hackett Pearl Marden Joe Linford Members Excused: David Stevenson Rachel Ballard Ex-Officio: Jay Lowder Amy Mabey Leesa Brinkerhoff Guests: Mara Brown – Ogden City Attorney Jennifer Bodine Jonathan Melton CALL TO ORDER / WELCOME / ROLL CALL • Heather welcomed the committee members and called the meeting to order. • Leesa called the roll. APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 22ND MEETING MINUTES • Heather asked if there were any recommended changes to the October 22nd meeting minutes. Bonnie said she requested to Leesa that some of the wording on the 5th bullet point be changed and explained the changes to the committee. Leesa said she made Bonnie’s requested changes prior to the committee meeting. Heather asked if someone would like to motion to approve with the changes stated or to review the revised minutes before voting. Bill moved to approve the modified minutes document and Joe seconded the motion. The modified meeting minutes were approved unanimously. HB 411 UPDATE – AMY MABEY • Amy said both Tuesday’s council work session and general session had a lot of public comment for HB 411. There was a lot of discussion of some of the concerns the council members brought up and a desire to learn more. The council is pleased that they have more time and plan to utilize it. There is a College Town meeting with Weber State University (WSU) next month and they are planning to discuss this issue during the meeting. There were a lot of WSU representatives who are willing to offer their expertise in the process. There were a lot of comments about utilizing the Sustainability Committee moving forward. Right now, the council is in an information gathering process to figure out how best to utilize and engage the committee. Amy offered to send the committee her presentation or anything else from the packet they would care for. • Bill told Amy that he thought she provided an excellent summary. He added that he doesn’t want to lose the important content of the comments that were offered, particularly those from Weber State. He believes in learning from others who are experts and not reinventing the wheel, and he feels they can be important advisors in moving forward on any number of issues. He asked how we can capture this input. • Heather said they will be in our meeting minutes. She told Bill that his comments also suggest that we may want to either collaborate with them or ask them to join some of our subcommittees, so that our 1|Page  recommendations not only reflect their wisdom though public comment, but also the ability to incorporate them as we develop recommendations. • Joe said he agreed with Bill and was a little surprised by several members commenting that they were blindsided because they’ve known this from the beginning. He’s glad they’re willing to take some time to look at it. • Amy said that the committee has had a lot of dialog on this, but it’s been quite a while since the council had it on their agenda. She has had individual conversations with the council members, but the council meetings were the first actual dialog and discussion regarding the implementation plan, so that may be why they felt a little blindsided. Amy has tried to keep the up to date on things, but it’s challenging not having discussions with the full committee. • Bonnie said she was encouraged by a lot of the things she heard. She has been talking with the Sustainable Energy and Air Quality and Climate subcommittees because it touches both. They are excited that the council members want to work more closely with the committee. It was mentioned that a possibility may be having the council join our meetings, hosting a joint work session, and inviting the committee to join in other meetings to discuss HB 411. Bonnie would like the Sustainable Energy Subcommittee to attend the Utah 100 Communities and work on the interlocal government. We’d also be happy to negotiate on behalf of the city. We’d also like to be a part of the Rocky Mountain Power meetings or be given transcripts of the meetings. This will better help us evaluate the viability of alternative approaches. Bonnie was also excited by the comments of Dr. Farrell, who stated that WSU will be supportive in offering a lot of their expertise and help. She said there are a lot of concerns from the council that need to be addressed. • Amy said she feels this is helpful because council members have the College Town meeting coming up and want to make sure the role of the committee is honored. Amy thanked Bonnie for the email she sent out offering the Sustainability Committee to be a resource with their expertise in sustainable energy and funding experience. With regard to invitations to the meetings, Amy said she will consult with Jay and Leesa to find out who can attend the meetings, adding that she doesn’t know how extensive the involvement will be at this point. • Joe said he thinks it’s very encouraging and agrees their expertise and knowledge will be immensely helpful. • Heather asked Jay and Amy if they can provide a briefing of the College Town meetings to bridge the gap, or if someone from our committee can be invited to ensure there is no redundancy in what is trying to be accomplished. • Amy said she isn’t as involved in the meetings as she once was. • Jay said he attends all of the steering committee meetings, but not the marketing meetings. He’s happy to give updates, but feels it’s no more than what is discussed when Bonnie and Jennifer attend the meetings. He added that WSU is taking the leadership in the partnership of the committee with regard to sustainability and there isn’t anything said in the committee meetings that this committee doesn’t know. • Heather said it probably isn’t necessary to have an update after every meeting, but perhaps the committee can be updated on items they need to know about, or maybe we can check in before each meeting to see if there’s anything pertinent. STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS DISCUSSION • Heather said that she would like to proceed with the strategic planning in January, which she mentioned in last month’s meeting. It is to set priorities for the coming year. In a separate conversation, Bill suggested having a process and plan and get some input on it. Heather would like to put together a process and an ad hoc subcommittee to guide the process. Heather asked the committee what they thought about it. 2|Page  • Bonnie said she supports it. • Stephen asked if this would be part of the January meeting. Heather said she would like a group of 3 people to get together sometime prior to the January meeting to determine who we want input from for our goals, and to get that input to present at the January meeting. • Bill added that strategic planning can be either short and sweet or as long and drawn out as we want it to be. He suggested to start by selecting the people who are willing and able to fill the role. He recommends keeping it simpler than complex and include stakeholders, keeping in mind their role in servings as advisors to the mayor and council. We’re looking to clarify what our long-range goal is or what we can accomplish in the coming year. Strategic planning is something that should be reviewed regularly. • Heather asked if anyone had feedback or questions for Bill. There were none. She said she had hoped for a group of people who are willing to take the lead on figuring out the process and she asked for volunteers. Bill, Adam, Bonnie, Stephen, and Joe volunteered. Joe asked if this is a larger group than she expected. Adam and Bonnie said they can remove themselves. Jay said, as long as they stay under quorum as they are right now, there is no legal reason why they can’t have that many. Heather said she prefers having this many in the group because of the range of expertise and interest. She asked if anyone was willing to take the leadership role. Bill volunteered to take it on. Heather thanked them and told them to keep her in the loop and to let her know how she can help. • Bill thanked the group for stepping up. He would like to exchange emails to send some preliminary information and ask for input from the other four members with the purpose to get everyone on the same page. He added that the reason he volunteered to lead is because he’s had some experience in strategic planning and how to structure it to make it useful. • Bonnie thanked the group for their willingness to take this on. SUBCOMMITTEE PROGRESS REPORTS Air Quality and Climate • Bonnie said they have invited new members to help, one of which is Jennifer Bodine, who is the Sustainability Manager at WSU. • Bonnie feels it very important that we begin to take a look at and address the concerns of HB 411 expressed by council members at the meeting of the 17th. Government and Private Partnership • Stephen said they had a phone call with Sara Mees in the Ogden City Community and Economic Development Department (CED) with the intent to open up lines of communication. Sara told the subcommittee that they can forward information to her for their quarterly reports. • Stephen was concerned that they didn’t know what the C-PACE is, which is a financial tool for businesses and residents for energy efficiency measures. He questioned that if CED is the outreach we have to the business community and they don’t know about measures like HB 411, how can they effectively represent the business community to the council so they can be informed of the committee’s efforts. Stephen asked if there are any ideas on how to reach out to them. • Bill said we need to keep the line of communication open with CED and suggested holding meetings, but he isn’t sure what the discussion would be. • Heather suggested to Stephen that, because his subcommittee has only a few members, perhaps he can get with Jay to figure out who some of the bigger business energy users are in the city and get them involved with the subcommittee. Jay said that some of the bigger users have people who are at least partially dedicated to that. Those people are usually very busy people, so if we make it convenient for them, it may be more 3|Page  successful, particularly if they feel their time is of value. He suggested for he and Stephen to get together to discuss it further. • Stephen said we want to find out where they sit and if they’d like to support something like this. He sees our job is to gather this information to report it to the council. Jay agreed with Stephen, adding that to be most effective, we need to get businesses involved and get their buy-in on it. This should be a part of this committee’s strategic goal. • Heather said they don’t necessarily need to be involved with HB 411, but can be involved in other ways in making progress toward sustainability. WSU has been giving businesses tours of their facilities showcasing how theses work and ground sourcing. The WSU sustainability folks may have some connections to which businesses they’ve been reaching out to, to show changes in infrastructure for energy efficiency. • Bill feels our efforts may be inefficient unless we can get on board with what Heather is talking about. He remembers in a meeting or two ago, someone mentioned the Chamber of Commerce. This is an entity that has businesses that we may contact to increase awareness of HB 411, etc. and what we’re doing. This may be a more productive approach. • Bonnie said David Stevenson has very good ties with them, so someone may want to reach out to him. • Stephen said Sara Mees suggested the chamber as a good channel to reach out to. • Heather thanked Stephen and Bill for starting to establish those connections. Water Quality, Supply, and Conservation • Bill said he contacted Jonathan Meltor upon Heather’s referral. He is a process engineer with Thiokol, who expressed interest in helping us in our efforts with waterwise or otherwise. We had a conversation about composition and the charge of our full committee and subcommittee. Bill sent him some research publications he recently obtained from a third-party scientist with U.S Geological Survey. She is a western U.S. regional hydrologist. Bill asked her for recent relevant research that would inform us of the long-term impacts of climate change on municipal water supply. Bill feels this is one of the directions they are likely to take. They also talked about researching social justice issues of citizens of Ogden who may not have access to affordable water. Jonathan said he wants to be onboard and sent Bill his resume. • Jay said Jonathan is attending the meeting and he may have something to add in public comment. Heather welcomed any comments he would like to share. • Heather said she went to a seminar facilitated by Laura Briefer who runs water planning for Salt Lake City. She talked quite a lot about the impacts of climate change on their water supply. • Bonnie said there is a free water symposium that’s for everyone along the Wasatch front, but it’s held in Salt Lake County. It may have already taken place, but it may be worth checking into. • Bonnie thanked Bill for all his work on this. Solid and Hazardess Waste Reduction and Recycling • Joe said the subcommittee hasn’t met for a while and there are no updates at this time. Sustainable Energy • Bonnie said they have some new people who are serving on the subcommittee. They are Justin Owen, Energy Manager at WSU, and Kevin Emerson with Utah Clean Energy. Bonnie is happy that they can bring their expertise on the sustainable front. • Bonnie said the subcommittee began working on the Ogden City / Dominion Energy Joint Cooperation Statement. A draft that could be presented to the city was put out, which included some ideas they could incorporate into the agreement. The draft was sent to the committee with the meeting agenda. 4|Page • The subcommittee reviewed Salt Lake City’s agreement with Dominion. It included that they meet quarterly, which is something we may want to consider, whether quarterly or semi-annually. Because the city has indicated they want to be carbon neutral by 2050, they may also want to include this. • Energy efficiency is included under the “areas of collaboration”, which would be good to include the Energy Wise Strategic Implementation Plan, as Dominion Energy was instrumental in putting this together and making the plan a reality and can continue their help in the area of natural gas. • Bonnie pointed out an error in the document that states, “the City and Company worked in collaboration with others to implement the Energy Wise Plan”. It was meant to say that they “developed” the Energy Wise Strategic Plan. We recommend that we continue to work together with the Company assisting in implementation of applicable strategies. • Energy benchmarking data could help with the goals of the Ogden Energy Wise Strategic Plan to ensure we are engaging with people to increase energy savings by 5%. • We recommend working with Dominion Energy to get benchmarking on the municipal business and residential sectors for utilization. That would help us determine if we’re really making progress. • The use of energy innovation and program technology is also recommended. • Dominion Energy will go out to individual residences to put together home energy savings plans. We recommended they work with Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) to do an audit of the natural gas furnaces while they are there for the electricity. It would be good to see the city working together on a pilot with these 2 entities. • The draft contains an appendix of various other options for benchmarking, innovative technology, and serving underserved populations. • The only thing of concern is that it’s a non-binding statement and appears that it has to be rescinded by both parties. Perhaps it should include that either party may rescind if it’s not working out. • Heather thanked Bonnie for all her work on this. She asked where these recommendations go next to decide whether or not to incorporate them and get them to the mayor to sign, and if the full committee needs to vote on them. Jay said, once it comes out of the committee, he will take it to our attorneys for review. Once the attorneys feel satisfied with it, then Jay will review it with the CAO. If he and the mayor approve, then we put together a council transmittal to bring to the council. We will need an approved final draft from the committee. Heather confirmed that it needs to be in a final version, without the editing notes. Jay said yes. • Bonnie said she doesn’t want to suggest a draft without city staff and Dominion Energy support, because it’s a joint agreement between the two parties. Bonnie feels it isn’t the committee’s job to say what will work. Jay said when it goes to our attorneys, they get with Dominion’s attorneys and they work out the details. • Stephen asked if the committee could simply sign the document as approved by the committee with a digital signature, or would we have to convene as a committee to physically sign it. Jay said the committee could approve it at the next meeting. Stephen asked how it could be expedited through a signature application. • Amy said that, when an item is received to the council with a recommendation from a recommending body, it’s best to include the full and complete recommendation with the reasoning behind it to minimize changes and the need to resubmit. • Jay said recommendations require endorsement by the full committee because the council weighs heavily on that when making a decision. • Bill suggested sending the document for review by the full committee with the highlighted comments that Bonnie has provided with instructions to be prepared to adopt as written, or suggest further changes that the committee will all agree upon. The committee can vote on it at the January meeting or the following meeting. 5|Page  • Heather said she supports that suggestion. • Bill motioned to approve his suggestion. Heather seconded it and it was unanimously approved by the committee. • Bonnie asked how we will track edits if a lot of people are doing it. • Heather suggested putting in line numbers on the side of the document with comments. • Heather thanked Bonnie and the subcommittee for all of the work they have done. Open Space • Heather said there is nothing to report at this time because the subcommittee doesn’t have a chair yet. • Bonnie said she spoke with someone today who is very interested in serving on this subcommittee. • Heather said we will include in the next meeting agenda, that we’re soliciting a chair from the committee for this subcommittee. Education and Community Outreach • Adam reported that the subcommittee continues to provide educational information through regular city publications and Facebook, adding that they are still trying to get into a consistent rhythm. • Stephen said he has engaged the Da Vinci Academy for feedback from the youth in some certain measures and 100% renewable energy. He went to classrooms to talk with students who expressed a lot of support for transition to 100% renewables. He explained HB 411 measuring to them and encouraged them to research it and voice out to the community. Most of the teachers and students who are informed are in support of the bill. Also, some of the teachers have expressed interest in offering some support of our subcommittees. Stephen said he will continue to engage with them. • Heather asked Adam if the subcommittee would be interested in doing more formal outreach to figure out what people feel about renewable energy. We could arrange collaboration with people who know how to design a proper survey. • Adam said he feels it’s something well worth exploring and asked Jay if he knew someone to help with surveys. Jay said we already have a relationship with a WSU professor who produces surveys for the city, because it’s her expertise. We’ve paid them the costs to produce the surveys. Adam asked Jay if he would be willing to connect them. Jay said he and Adam will work together on it. COMMITTEE OPEN DISCUSSION • Stephen is concerned about what seems to be a disconnect with communication being channeled up. He suggested to provide them with a summary and allow them to comment back. He wants to see the public comments forwarded to the council members, so they have the opportunity to hear them and they’re not lost. Stephen said it doesn’t seem to be only information on HB 411, but also information from the College Town Committee. • Amy said she believes the communication from the committee to the council regarding HB 411 has been good. The committee meeting minutes were included in the council packet and were read prior to a decision being made. The council is very appreciative of the committee’s commitment. Amy feels it’s mostly from other sources, including the other 23 entities who have been involved in the process. Information can change quickly, such as the new timeline. Effective communication is a challenge and a navigational issue. • Bill said he agrees with Amy in that it isn’t a communication issue with the committee. He feels that the comments made by the council in the work session was in reference to the lack of communication by other cities, particularly the larger cities, who are participating in HB 411. 6|Page  • Stephen asked if there is a quick executive summary that can be provided to the council. Bill agreed that this would be a good option, as well as asking the council what they would like to see in addition to the meeting minutes. • Bonnie suggested putting the main takeaways from the meetings at the top of the meeting minutes. • Amy said Heather did a good job in presenting the annual report. She doesn’t feel the committee is at all off track in communication to the council. We’re trying to work through the challenges in communication from exterior entities involved in HB 411. • Heather said, if city staff or committee members hear any feedback about the council wanting executive summaries or wanting to change the communication, the committee will make it happen. She’s happy to write something up, or delegate it to someone else. • Jay said the committee was assigned administrative and council staff to provide communication. When there’s an action item, we do a formal write up on it, then we present it. The rest is covered in the annual report. • Amy agreed with Jay’s comments, adding that the transmittals that are approved by council, become records of the city. • Bonnie asked Amy if formal writeups are the most helpful tool in communicating with the council. Amy said yes, for big ticket items, but not for small items. A big ticket item would include something substantial, especially when there’s an explanation why the committee made an important decision. • Jay added that the writeup would be an attachment to the transmittal to the council, so it would be carried forward as a public document. PUBLIC COMMENT • None DELIVERABLES FOR JANUARY 28TH MEETING • Review and comment on the draft of the Dominion Energy Joint Cooperation Agreement. • The Strategic Planning Subcommittee needs to start making some movement. ADJOURNMENT • Heather moved to adjourn the meeting. Stephen seconded it. All committee members were unanimously in favor, so with no further business, Heather adjourned the meeting at 5:29 p.m. NEXT MEETING Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. Heather Root __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Heather Root (Feb 8, 2021 13:34 MST) Jay M. Lowder Heather Root, Chair Ogden City Public Services Director Date Approved: January 28, 2021 7|Page