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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016.03.16 CEAP Minutes Minutes for the Climate and Energy Action Plan ad hoc Committee March 16,2016 Page 1 of 5 MINUTES FOR THE CLIMATE & ENERGY ACTION PLAN ad hoc COMMITTEE Wednesday, March 16, 2016 Gresham Room, Ashland Public Library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. 1. Call to Order Councilor Rich Rosenthal called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. Committee members Claudia Alick, Roxanne Biegel-Coryell, Louise Shawkat, Greg Jones, Jim Hartman, Marni Koopman, and James McGinnis were present. Committee member Bryan Sohl arrived late. Committee member Stuart Green was absent. Staff member Adam Hanks was present. Andrea Martin and Marc Daudon from Cascadia Consulting were in attendance. 2. Introductions Rosenthal welcomed the group and the members of the public in attendence. He stated that, unlike a normal committee meeting, public comments will be taken at the end of the meeting. He introduced Andrea Martin and Marc Daudon from Cascadia Consulting. The members of the committee introduced themselves. 3. Project Overview Rosenthal read aloud the scope of work for the committee. Daudon reviewed the agenda and informed the group that the goal of today's meeting is for Cascadia to get to know the group and get a better understanding regarding the group's intent and goals for the plan. He asked the group to answer three questions; what are the group's goals (aspirational), what milestones and actions does the group want in order to creation a good plan, and what does leadership mean to the group? Overall, the Group's responses included: • Glad to see Cascadia addressing adaptation and mitigation together • We tend to be biased towards actions—want to look on a broader scale • Want to make sure social equity isn't forgotten—how does what we propose effect community members of all ages, incomes, abilities, etc? • Want to coordinate efforts going on at other entities (SOU, AHS, OSF, etc.) with this plan Daudon asked the group, what does success look like to you? How do you see this plan being used? What is one top priority to be addressed? Group responses included: • Focus of the plan should not be solely on changing City of Ashland practices, but should be community inclusive • Ways to monitor and evaluate changes (how do we track successes/failures/needed changes to the plan/etc.) • Ensure accountability is built into the plan (budget solutions built into plan) • Understand co-benefits (how can we solve other community problems and challenges in tandem with this plan?) and avoid shifting impacts to other groups • Clear short-, mid-, and long-term actions with solid priorities • Want to end with a better aware community(more engaged & knowledgable) Minutes for the Climate and Energy Action Plan ad hoc Committee March 16,2016 Page 2 of 5 • A plan with an accessable/understandable narrative for use by public at large • Engage members of the public who aren't the ones typically involved(create new "champions") • Capitalize on our tourism sector—become a showcase for the state • Have greater participation of the business community • Understand/focus on fire-risks and forest management practices • Continue/strengthen/capitalize on the partnership with the Forest Service • Acknowledge our limitations—this plan is just the start and we may not be able to cover everything or please everyone (some will think we've gone to far while others will think we haven't gone far enough) Daudon asked the group if there were plans (or parts of plans) from other communities which they admired? • Eugene—particularly they way it was organized with internal and external plans • Cleveland—had good immediate and long-term actions, good at getting other groups involved, and had a podcast to inform community • Corvallis sustainability plan—good community engagement • Portland—good use of media such as video Group members acknowledged that it is difficult to match Ashland with other towns of similar size, as they rarely have as much "going on" as Ashland. They also mentioned a desire to include lots of on-line public engagement. 4. Work Plan Martin reviewed an outline of the plan process and timeline. Goals and timeline will likely need to be adjusted as actions are developed. Group discussed where the data will be sourced and whether the data will be usable for other communities (or will it be too Ashland specific?). Martin stated that, in general, the data will be Ashland focused, but in order to gain context, some will naturally need to be on a broader scale. It is important that the plan be clear with what assumptions are used as the basis of the plan so that data can be replicated or tracked successfully in the future. Martin gave an overview of what Cascadia Consulting staff will be working on the plan and what their specialties and roles will be throughout the process. 5. Public Engagement Plan Martin stated they want to figure out how best to use our limited resources to get the most people and sectors involved in this process. Cascadia sees three main goals of the public input process; 1) promote an understanding of purpose for the project and process (educate) 2) otain support from a wide cross-section of the community and elected officials (include), and 3) ensure that the plan has clear direction, accountability and identifies commonalities (keep citizens involved). Cascadia recognizes there needs to be a sort of climate change 101 for most people in order to Minutes for the Climate and Energy Action Plan ad hoc Committee March 16,2016 Page 3 of 5 start with a common background. The next focus is to move into the more personal changes and impacts here in Ashland. Commissioner Sohl arrived S:32 p.m. Group discussed ways to reach and excite people who are only focused on co-benefits of actions, not on climate change. Group discussed how to use the input from the November kick-off. Group discussed what they would like to see in the first public engagement open-house—an education process, deepening of the questions asked at the kick-off meeting, a focus on"next steps", and a presentation of the Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Group discussed ways to engage groups or stakeholders who are not normally engaged. Ideas included; effective social media, leveraging other active groups (churches, non-profits, social groups, etc.), holding events in an appropriate location (venue matters), talking with your neighbors/ engaging your neighborhood on a door-to-door level, and using stakeholder's already established networks. Daudon asked the group to list some of the organizations, institutions, and businesses that should be targeted for engagement in this process: • Oregon Shakespeare Festival • Southern Oregon University • Ashland Chamber of Commerce • Ashland School District • Rogue Climate • GEO S Institute • SOREDI • Ashland Hospital (Asante) • ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum • City commissions, boards and committees • Local farmers (Rogue Valley Farm-to-School) • Lomakatsi • KS Wild • Recology Ashland • Rogue Climate • Ashland Daily Tidings/Jefferson Public Radio (Media) • Homeowners Associations • Property management companies • Faith community • Mountain Meadows SOCAN group • CORP (railroad) • RVTD • Service Clubs (Elk's, Kiwani's, Rotary, Amigo Club, etc.) • Homeless Resource Center Minutes for the Climate and Energy Action Plan ad hoc Committee March 16,2016 Page 4 of 5 6. Next Steps Martin stated that Cascadia will now take all the input from the meeting and update the plan process and timeline accordingly. They will continue working on planning an open-house, hopefully to be held in late April. The next committee meeting will be on April 6 at 3:30 p.m. in the Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way. 7. Public Forum Sara Lashaff—is a student at Ashland High School. She is part of a group there called Rogue Climate Youth Action and they are looking into creating a climate ordinance for the City Council to approve. She appreciates the work that this committee is doing and wants to make sure the ordinance they create is connected with this plan and is something with accountability for both the City and the community. They want the ordinance grounded in science. The goal of the ordinance is to connect policy and priorities in the same way that Eugene's Our Children's Trust ordinance did. They know this is feasible, even if it is challenging. Isaac Beavers—is also a student at Ashland High School and is on the same committee as Sara. He is also on another committee that is creating a climate action plan for the high school. That plan will focus on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while saving the school money. They hope to implement the plan in conjuction with the next school bond cycle. Currently they are collecting information and recently did a survey of students with similar results to national results regarding the importance of climate change issues. He wonders how the students and this group can integrate their plans and how students can get more involved with this process. Also wanted to know if information could be shared between the groups. Huelz Gutchen—believes that we are in the right place and the right time to work on this process. The knowledge we have is getting better and better and Cascadia will be a good communication between government and the committee. We have lots of things we need to do to acclaimate to new changes in the climate. We need to have a good website to bring all the public engagement and information together. Public engagement is like herding cats. Solutions to climate change are done through policy and technology. It takes governments being willing to make difficult change a requirement to get those big changes to happen. This is often just a matter of money. He is very glad for this process. Ann Barton— she has experience in organizing neighborhoods and is willing to support GEOS Institute in that if they are taking on that role as part of this process. There is a group starting at the Unity Church which is looking into doing an inter-faith taskforce. She suggests motivating the community to make change by having the City (and city staff) lead by example. Also wants to make sure that this process is connected with the Climate Challenge from the kick-off event. She stated that we need a PR person to build excitement and to form a leadership program in order to use leaders already in the community to spread the word. We are talking about behavior Minutes for the Climate and Energy Action Plan ad hoc Committee March 16,2016 Page 5 of 5 change and how to motivate people to get out of their comfort zones. She thanked the group for their work. Morgan Lindsey—is with Rogue Climate and wanted to offer a big thank you to the group for their long hours and hard work. Stated that Rogue Climate is available to offer support and help throughout this effort. 8. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Diana Shiplet, Executive Assistant