Climate Action Plan Standing Committee

CAP Standing Committee Meeting Whitefish City Hall 418 E Second Street, 2nd Floor Wednesday, August 19, 2020 (5:30pm) In Attendance Committee Members: Casey Lewis, Hilary Lindh, Karin Hilding, Ben Davis, Sierra McCartney, Jen Sybrant, Kate McMahon, Zack Darby Public: None A. Meeting called to order at 5:29 B. Minutes from the June 17, 2020 meeting were approved C. Committee Updates Parks & Rec- update from Jen - Irrigation Audit in progress - Working with The Twins to tap into their well to irrigate Memorial Park - Also well going in at the Armory Planning & Building - Hilary- update on the highway 93 south corridor plan. Adding CAP friendly language to the plan: more shade trees, drought resistant plants, etc. - Kate updated on the sustainable tourism plan – The plan has been drafted and shares a lot of goals with the CAP (i.e. sustainable business practices and promotion, water conservation, education, recycling, energy conservation, leave no trace, etc.). Kate will bring an overview of the goals and policies to the next meeting for further committee discussion. - Karin discusses creating a logo for green businesses. - Casey – CSGC provided 50 HEPA filters to low income at-risk homes this summer. Public Works - Karin begins to go through the updated CAP priority list. The list contains high priority action items, project description/update, and the current status of the project. Didn’t get through the entire list, will continue discussion next meeting. - On the topic of a sustainability coordinator, Karin notes that the city has decided to not bring on a Big Sky Watershed Corps member next year. Possibly hire an intern (outside of Americorps) for the summer. - Kate- if funding comes along is the solar project at the WWTP ready to go? - On the topic of EV charging the committee notes that level 3 chargers should be installed at Depot Park. This would be an easy place to hang out while car charges. DEQ has a current grant for level 2 chargers. 1  - Kate: The main barrier to having a xeriscaped yard is the HOA requirements. Discussion of looking into other HOA’s to see how they get around this requirement. Zack to research and share findings with Casey. - Do the same for landscape regulations and try to incorporate this in the corridor projects - Zack talks about energy audit and GHG inventory he has been working on. We have seen energy savings with the streetlights after the LED conversions. However, the new city hall consumes much more energy than the old city hall. Discussion of how to reduce consumption between the building and parking garage. Turn the thermostat up? - Zack is going to get energy data to track City Hall, ESC, and Library for 2017, 2018, and 2019 (current missing data) to have a more complete picture. More updates on this next meeting. - For the next meeting going to discuss the website and make suggestions for the Climate Action page. Please look at other examples of City websites and have some ideas ready. Public Comment: None Meeting adjourned at 7:03 Next meeting scheduled for September 16 at 5:30 2