Sustainability Committee

Minutes of the meeting of the Natural Resources and Sustainability Stewardship Advisory Committee held Thursday, March 30th, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. in-person at the city offices and via electronic web conferencing in accordance with Utah Code 52-4- 202. Members Present: Daniel Bedford Jonathan Melton Members Absent: Riley Allen Taylor Lee Aimee Urbina Ericka McDonald Ex-Officio: Meggin Hill Lorenzo Long Guests/Public: N/A Recording Link: Will be posted here with minutes: https://www.ogdencity.com/AgendaCenter/Natural-Resources-Sustainability-and-Ste-30 CALL TO ORDER / WELCOME / ROLL CALL • Lorenzo called the roll. APPROVAL OF JANUARY 26TH, 2023 AND FEBRUARY 23RD, 2023, MEETING MINUTES • There was no quorum, so no motion was made to approve the minutes. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES • Jonathan asked Dan how tabling at the Intermountain Sustainability Summit went. Dan said that there were only two 30-minute sessions for tabling, during which he talked to a few people. One student took several flyers to share with her family who lives in Ogden. He said that it didn’t seem like it was the right crowd from which to recruit members to the committee, as most summit attendees were not from Ogden. However, as a promotional opportunity, it was successful. • The committee then discussed the past and present subcommittees. The “Sustainability Staff Member” subcommittee is defunct, and members of the “Connection” and “Climate & Clean Air” subcommittees are mostly no longer members of the committee. Until the overall committee membership is filled out, subcommittees will be of lesser importance. • Lorenzo stated that he was working on recruiting others to join the committee. • The committee discussed developing a vision and strategic plan so that members of the committee (current and future) know what the purpose of the committee is. Lorenzo said that he would develop a draft strategic plan before the May meeting. HB411 UPDATES • Lorenzo explained that there hasn’t been much progress since the last committee meeting. Currently, the Community Renewable Energy Agency is negotiating with Rocky Mountain Power on the utility agreement part of the program. They are now tentatively targeting the end of May to have the finalized utility agreement. There will be two more opportunities for Ogden City Council to be involved in that process. Once that agreement is 1|Page  completed, it will go before all the community agencies that are involved in CREA including Ogden City Council, for signature. It will then go to the Public Service Commission for review and approval. Once approval is given, Ogden City will have 90 days to adopt an ordinance adopting the program. • Jonathan asked what the mayor’s involvement in the approval process would be. Lorenzo said he would investigate it. • The committee discussed previous city council meetings that addressed the Community Renewable Energy Program and how some have been lively and contentious. The city council, up to this point, has voted to continue in the Agency at all opt-out opportunities. COMMITTEE OPEN DISCUSSION • The committee discussed the resignation of Aimee Urbina, chair of the committee, and how to appoint a new chair at the following meeting. • The committee discussed the various interpretations of how many people are needed to make a quorum – whether it is a simple majority (3/4 remaining members of the committee) or if there needed to be a certain minimum number of members. The committee decided that it was based on a simple majority of base membership (7), so 4 members are needed for a quorum. • Dan mentioned that the website needed to be updated. Lorenzo agreed and said he was already working on it. • The committee again briefly discussed the need to develop a strategic vision for the committee, which would give current and future members a roadmap of what will be worked on. • Then the committee discussed the city council’s desire to have committee members from all four districts. Lorenzo pulled up the district map. The committee realized that the districts listed for Dan and Jonathan are incorrect. Dan and Jonathan both live in District 3 but are listed otherwise. Lorenzo said he would double-check the listed districts and correct them. • Lorenzo clarified that high school student members have to be between 15-18 years of age, and they serve 1- year terms. • A project that Dan is working on about the urban heat island may be something the committee wants to discuss at future meetings as part of the “open space maintenance” aspect of committee responsibility. • The committee also discussed potentially creating white papers on sustainability issues that could be shared with the city council. PUBLIC COMMENT • N/A DELIVERABLES BEFORE THE NEXT MEETING • Draft strategic vision plan – Lorenzo • Determine what the Mayor’s role is in approving the Utility Agreement for CREA – Lorenzo • Correct listed districts in committee roster - Lorenzo ADJOURNMENT • With no further business, Jonathan adjourned the meeting. NEXT MEETING Regular Meeting- May 25th, 2023, at 4:00 pm in-person at the city offices and via Zoom. The meeting schedule will be every other month. Zoom Meeting 2|Page  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84964612140?pwd=UjZCWEd1Q2xveit0TnZEL2JmN1U2Zz09 Passcode: 784814 Connect via Telephone: 1 669 900 9128 Webinar ID: 849 6461 2140 APPROVAL SIGNATURES __________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ Jonathan Melton (Sep 22, 2023 12:48 MDT) Jay M. Lowder Jonathan Melton Ogden City Public Services Director Vice-Chair ________________________________________________ Mara Brown (Sep 12, 2023 08:38 MDT) Mara A. Brown Ogden City Management Services Director Date Approved: May 25th, 2023 3|Page