Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting

APPROVED CITY OF URBANA, ILLINOIS SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY COMMISSION Council Chambers, Urbana City Building Tuesday, October 6, 2020 Commissioners Present: Stacy Gloss, Tomas Delgado, Maddy Garbacz, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, Grace Wilken, Megan McGinty Commissioners Absent: Megan McGinty 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 Grace Wilken has a few proposed changes from the meeting minutes from the September 2020 meeting, so the minutes were not approved at this time. Changes to the Agenda Morgan White motioned to include Utility Shut-off as an Agenda for the meeting. Tomas Delgado seconded the motion. Public Input Allan Max Axelrod, Urbana resident and campaign lead for No Ameren Shut-Offs campaign. It is a zero-dollar, all-volunteer statewide, grass-roots campaign, concentrated in Central Illinois fighting against the moratorium of utility shutoffs in the state. Grace Wilken motioned for a 5-minute extension on this discussion. Morgan White seconded the motion. Tomas Delgado, Stacy Gloss, Morgan White, Maddy Garbacz, Grace Wilken and Andrew Stumpf all voted affirmatively for the extension. Yes to Forest Preservation Sarah Livesay, Vice President of the Champaign County Forest Preserve District Board of Commission and Mike Dodd, Deputy Director for Planning and Development presented about the VOTE YES TO FOREST ballot referendum in the upcoming election. For information, visit www.YESTOFOREST.ORG. Morgan White moved that the Commission officially endorse the YESTOFOREST campaign in support of the referendum through the website with a commission member filling in the organizational endorsement. Grace Wilken seconded the motion. Scott Tess or Stacy Gloss are to complete this form. A discussion ensued regarding inclusion within the Forest Preserve District. Andrew Stumpf, Grace Wilken, Morgan White, Tomas Delgado, Stacy Gloss voted yes to the endorsement. The motion passed. Staff Report Scott Tess gave the following updates: Closed Landfill Staff has restored operation of the City landfill leachate pump. Work is still being performed on the Champaign-Urbana Solid Waste Disposal System landfill leachate pump. 1  APPROVED Geothermal Geothermal Urbana-Champaign is evaluating three bids for a geothermal bulk purchase program. Solar Urbana-Champaign Solar UC has closed 15 contracts signed totaling 115kw of capacity triggering the first graduated price reduction. Ucycle The next electronics recycling collection event is scheduled for October 9 & 10, 2020. All time slots for the event have now been filled. Urbana Community Solar Trajectory Energy Partners and the City of Urbana continue to hold webinars to share information about the Urbana Community Solar subscription opportunity. The collaborative is seeking organizations to co-host future webinars and support communications efforts. Urban Forest The Lumpkin Family Foundation has invited the City of Urbana to submit an application for a grant to study the intersection of tree canopy, vacant tree sites, and environmental justice zones. Next Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting November 10 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building or by Zoom depending on circumstances. Unfinished Business Approval of updated Commission bylaws incorporating justice, equity, diversity and inclusion The Commission discussed changes, additions and comments from the previous meeting and those sent to Scott Tess, in detail at this time. Morgan White made a motion to approve the bylaws as discussed. Tomas Delgado seconded the motion. Stacy Gloss, Andrew Stumpf, Grace Wilken, Morgan White and Tomas Delgado voted affirmitavely. The motion passed. Reports of Commissioners Green Team Summit Report In the interest of time, and to allow for further discussion regarding the No Ameren Shut-offs campaign, Morgan White moved to postpone this presentation for the November 10th meeting as well as adding an agenda item to include the process of adding topics to future agenda . Andrew Stumpf seconded the motion. Stacy Gloss, Andrew Stumpf, Grace Wilken, Morgan White and Tomas Delgado all voted affirmatively to this motion. The motion passed. No Ameren Shut off Discussion Grace Wilken was given the floor and mentioned that the end goal was for the Commission to propose an ordinance to be passed along to City Council to have a moratorium on utility shutoffs in the City to be consistent with the ICC in Illinois until the winter of 2021. Avenues on achieving action towards this was discussed at this time. 2  APPROVED 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. University of Illinois Climate Action Plan is being released on October 20, 2020 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. There will be a Zoom meeting and a live stream on Facebook for the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment The Champaign County Design and Conservation Foundation is holding its annual meeting on October 25, 2020. Information is available at www.ccdcf.org. The next Sustainability Advisory Commission meeting is scheduled for November 10, 2020. With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m. This meeting was recorded. 3