Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting

APPROVED CITY OF URBANA, ILLINOIS SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY COMMISSION Council Chambers, Urbana City Building Tuesday, July 29, 2021 Commissioners Present: James Corbin, Maddy Garbacz, Stacy Gloss, Jessica Lehmkuhl, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, Grace Wilken Commissioners Absent: Tomas Delgado Staff Present: Scott Tess Call to Order, Roll Call, and Declaration of Quorum Chair Gloss called the meeting to order, a roll was called and a quorum was present. Approval of Minutes Commission Member Lehmkuhl motioned to approve the minutes from the March 2, 2021 meeting. Commission Member White seconded the motion and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: James Corbin, Maddy Garbacz, Stacy Gloss, Jessica Lehmkuhl, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, Grace Wilken Nay: None Public Input Susan Monte, Planner and Champaign County Recycling Coordinator shared that the Illinois EPA has been selected Champaign County as one of five communities that the IEPA will sponsor annual one- day Household Hazardous Waste collection. Ms. Monte to provide Commission with more information. Staff Report Communications The following request was posed to staff by the Sustainability Advisory Commission (SAC): “Ask Scott to provide a review of current communication avenues for SAC business – Can we get an analysis of which communication efforts are most effective?” Further discussion clarified the intent to consider sharing information with the community from city and sharing information between the Commission and the public. Staff engages in a number of communications efforts which vary depending on the nature of the communication and the intended audience. Communication efforts include:  City of Urbana website posts.  City of Urbana social media accounts.  Email marketing campaigns specific to sustainability and also appearances in more general City of Urbana email marketing campaigns. Sustainability specific emails garner around 30% open rate.  Print, radio, and internet advertisement buys for Landscape Recycling Center.  Appearances on local, regional, national, and international panels and conferences.  Appearances at University classes. 1  APPROVED  Collaborations such as Solar UC, Geothermal UC, and Community Solar have their own program-specific e-marketing staff and marketing plans. SAC meetings are posted to the City Website and posted in print at the City Building. From time to time SAC meetings have been emailed to news companies and emailed to City email marketing lists. These latter two efforts have shown no impact on guest attendance at SAC meetings. Geothermal Geothermal Urbana-Champaign has secured 13 contracts for installation totaling 55 tons of capacity and has 28 proposals totaling 101 tons of capacity out for review by property owners. The deadline for signing contracts is June 30. Ucycle The May 22nd electronics recycling event collected 75 tons of recyclables. Next Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting August 3, 2021 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building. Presentation Sarah Nixon, an Urbana community member presented about Scraps2farms: viability of a program connecting commercial food scraps to farmers as an animal feed supplement. A discussion with commission members ensued. Andrea Ruedi, Senior Advisor for Integrated Strategy Development, and Lily Wilcock, City of Urbana Planner presented about the imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan. A discussion with commission members ensued. Unfinished Business Report back on Environmental Justice Planning Meeting Commission Members Lehmkuhl and Corbin updated the commission on a meeting with Meredith Moore, Sustainability Programs Manager from Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment of the University of Illinois. Commission Member Lehmkuhl introduced the interactive, collaborative board that Commission members can share their ideas for the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion goals. A discussion ensued. Report back on Food Scrap Project Commission Member Wilken updated that she has been able to distribute some of the printed flyers. Announcements There were no announcements. Next Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting August 3, 2021 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building or by Zoom depending on circumstances. With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned. This meeting was recorded. 2