Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting

APPROVED CITY OF URBANA, ILLINOIS SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY COMMISSION Council Chambers, Urbana City Building Tuesday, July 7, 2020 Commissioners Present: Stacy Gloss, Tomas Delgado, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, Maddy Garbacz, Grace Wilken, Megan McGinty Commissioners Absent: None Staff Present: Scott Tess Call to Order, Roll Call, and Declaration of Quorum Stacy Gloss called the meeting to order, a roll was called and a quorum was present. Approval of Minutes Morgan White motioned to approve the minutes for the June 2, 2020 meeting. Grace Wilken seconded the motion. Tomas Deglado, Maddy Garbacz, Stacy Gloss, Megan McGinty, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White and Grace Wilken voted yes to approve the minutes. The motion passed. Changes to the Agenda There were no changes to the Agenda. Public Input There was no public input Staff Report Scott Tess gave the following updates: Closed Landfill Staff has accepted a bid to clean and restore to operation a leachate force main pipe. This work will allow the resumption of leachate pumping on the City portion of the closed landfill. Staff has procured replacement parts for the leachate pump on the Champaign-Urbana Solid Waste Disposal System portion of the closed landfill and is working with the City electricians’ schedule to repair the pump and resume leachate pumping there as well. Landscape Recycling Center Staff has modernized the Landscape Recycling Center booth with internet, computer, printer, credit card terminal, and social media accounts. Staff is conducting cost studies for the products and services the Center provides and will be adjusting prices more regularly based on cost of doing business and the consumer price index. Municipal Electric Aggregation The Mayor executed a two-year contract on June 18, 2020 with Homefield Energy to supply electricity to homes and small businesses through the city’s Municipal Electric Aggregation program. The new contract runs from December 2020 through December 2022. 1  APPROVED Residents who participate will pay a rate of $0.04493 cents per kilowatt hour for the life of the contract. This is lower than the $0.04530 cents per kilowatt hour that will be in effect for Ameren Illinois electric supply. The new price represents a decrease from the current Aggregation contract rate of $0.05653 cents per kilowatt hour. Urbana residents will receive opt-out letters from Homefield Energy advising them they have 21 days to opt out of the city’s aggregation program by either returning a postcard or calling Homefield. Otherwise, residents will be automatically enrolled, so people who want to participate don’t have to take any action. Small businesses can also participate in the city’s aggregation program provided they use less than 15,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Item Price per kWh Supply price $0.04250 RECs price $0.00118 City fee $0.00050 Consultant fee $0.00075 Total $0.04493 Solar Urbana-Champaign Solar UC has 2 contracts signed totaling 20kw of capacity. Next Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting August 4 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building or by Zoom depending on circumstances. Clean Energy Jobs Act Presentation Scott Allen, Environmental Outreach Coordinator from Citizen Utility Board and Amanda Pankau, Energy Campaign Coordinator from Prairie Rivers Network were present to talk about Clean Energy Jobs (CEJA), sharing that the four policy pillars, which are: (1) Jobs & Justice – Quality Jobs + Investment in communities across the state, (2) Carbon-free power section by 2030, (3) 100% clean, renewable power sector by 2050, and (4) Increase electric vehicles, including programs that CEJA has proposed to achieve these goals. Morgan White asked if charging infrastructures in new development would be included in the CEJA bill. Scott Allen shared that discussions have included stretch codes to cover building codes. Scott Tess asked for a summary of the Legislative calendar as it relates to CEJA. Mr. Allen said that the hope is to have some energy legislation passed by October Veto session. Andrew Stumpf commended the goal of going electric, but also wanted to see how solar, wind and geothermal power and battery storage could also be used, as well as using waste heat in urban areas in building out the grid in such a way. Grace Wilken asked about Green Job opportunities, and Amanda Pankau shared that the list is available in the CEJA bill, the sites being: South side of Chicago, southwest side of Chicago, Waukegan, Rockford, Aurora, Joliet, Peoria, Champaign, Danville, Decatur, Carbondale, East St. Louis, Alton. There are three more unnamed sites but will be in the Chicago area, North Central Illinois and Southern Illinois. A new version, the third, of the CEJA bill is forthcoming prior to the October Veto Session. 2  APPROVED Tomas Delgado asked how the bill can positively benefit the local Park and Forest Preserve districts including expansion. Ms. Pankau responded that CEJA does not have a lot of natural climate solution type of provisions, but they have worked with Open Lands to add language into CEJA to encourage communities to create Climate Action Plans. Stacy Gloss asked if there are opportunities for members of the public to get involved. Scott Allen shared that the public can sign-up through the ILCleanJobs.org website or reach out to himself or Ms. Pankau for downstate volunteer opportunities. Ms. Gloss asked how important it is to contact the legislative representatives regarding support for this cause, and Ms. Pankau reiterated that it is valuable to the representatives to hear from constituents. Resolution 2020-01 Establishing Social Equity and Justice in Urbana’s Sustainability Framework Grace Wilken motioned for the approval of the resolution. Morgan White seconded the motion. Morgan White commended that this resolution is being put forward, and asked how the Commission can communicate this resolution to the broader public. Stacy Gloss shared the resolves of the Commission as outlined in the resolution such as: (1) to integrate social equity into subsequent Climate Action Plans and future sustainability programs, (2) identify social equity, economic equity, diversity and inclusivity as a high priority for city government and citizens of the community, (3) pursue a review and amend the Commission bylaws to include a social equity statement to express/demonstrate/commit to an understanding of the role that race/ethnicity and economic equity and inclusivity must play in community sustainability planning and outcomes, (4) participate in development of the new City of Urbana’s Comprehensive Plan ensuring that goals related to climate adaptation, sustainability, and social equity are part of the inclusive and comprehensive strategy expressed by the Mayor, (5) request the city government to convene a series of “Chairs of Commissions” working meetings to build relationships between commissions, and understand how their work is intertwined – breaking down silos and identifying shared principles and priorities for advancing equity in the City of Urbana, (6) invite the City Council, other city commissions, and members of the public to develop and publish a collaborative statement on equity and sustainability, and (7) strive to foster a working environment that includes under-served and under-represented people and communities as partners in creating the vision and practical, achievable outcomes for just and equitable practices in relation to climate adaptation, sustainability, climate change mitigation, and the preservation and management of our natural resources. A discussion ensued. Tomas Delgado, Stacy Gloss, Megan McGinty, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, and Grace Wilken voted yes to pass the resolution. Discussion of Comprehensive Plan Values Scott Tess shared that a survey was sent out to staff and commission members to gauge foundational values to become basis of participation. Andrea Ruedi, Senior Advisor for Integrated Strategy Development, shared that the results from the survey is valuable information in these early stages of developing the City Comprehensive Plan. The top 5 values that scored high in the survey: (1) Sustainability, (2) Science, (3) Diversity, (4) Equity, (5) Resilience. A discussion on the application of these values ensued. Another exercise to address more practical goals and sectors is forthcoming. Stacy Gloss asked if non-regular meetings could take place to continue this discussion, and not wait a month for the next Commission meeting. Scott Tess responded that Open Meetings Act rules need to be followed in order for this to happen. Ms. Ruedi interjected that part of the Comprehensive Plan process is community engagement for each of the different areas that will be addressed in the Comprehensive Plan. 3  APPROVED Unfinished Business There was no Unfinished Business to discuss. Announcements The Sustainability Advisory Commission has an immediate opening for Commission Member. Interested parties may download the application form at: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/boards/sustainability-advisory-commission. The next Sustainability Advisory Commission meeting is scheduled for August 4, 2020. With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. This meeting was recorded. 4