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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018.05.17 CEAP Implementation Minutes MINUTES FOR THE ad hoc CLIMATE & ENERGY ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE Thursday, May 17, 2018 Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way Call to Order Councilor Stef Seffinger called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. Councilor Stefani Seffinger, Rick Barth, Cindy Bernard, Ben Scott, Pat Acklin and Shannon Downey were present. Chris Brown arrived at 5:24 p.m. James McGinnis and Jordan Ely were absent. Staff members Stu Green and Adam Hanks were also present. Assign roles for timekeeper and action item keeper- Stu Green, Staff Member described the positions of time keeper and keeping the meeting on track and the action item keeper helping to supplement the minutes with action items. Committee Member Cindy Bernard volunteered to be the time keeper and Committee Member Pat Acklin volunteered as the action item keeper. Check In —Share your answer to "check in" question-The committee focused on the check in question and explained what each of them are doing to reduce their emissions. The committee discussed walking instead of driving, looking for energy leaks, switching light bulbs to LED, buying energy efficient appliances, clothes drying being done outside, turning heat lower, using wool balls to reduce dryer time when drying clothes, planting a garden and finding an appropriate energy efficient vehicle. Public Input Huelz Gutchen/2253 Highway 99 -Starting my noting an email that he had sent to the committee referencing WACC. He also noted the easy about listening back to meeting recordings and asked about audio from meetings being accessible via the internet. He also spoke to a new law in California regarding solar roofs. In closing he noted the importance of the people making a difference by attending City Council Meetings. Approval Consent Agenda Discussion: Committee Member Rick Barth stated that he would like minutes to reflect that he was in attendance at the April 19t", 2018 committee meeting. Staff Member Stu Green noted that wording that referred to clean air reduction should be changed to carbon air reduction. Bernard/Barth m/s the approval of meeting minutes for April 19t" 2018 as amended with above changes. Voice Vote:All Ayes. Motion Passes. Councilor Seffinger noted the look ahead for the next committee meeting on June 21St 2018. The committee would be looking at co-benefit and equity considerations, and drafting of the community engagement plan, for which Green added that the plan would be a reoccurring item. Councilor Seffinger noted that the consent agenda was then approved. Updates relevant to CEAP Implementation Council Liaison Update- Councilor Seffinger noted the approval of the natural hazards mitigation plan and the valuable information that this plan gives including responsibility and population data. Adam Hanks, Interim City Administrator noted that this item was in the previous council packet but that it could be emailed out to the committee, as the committee agreed that there was a direct tie to climate change. Councilor Seffinger added the ongoing search for a new City Administrator. Additionally, she noted the purchase of Hardesty property that will be effecting the wastewater treatment operation and allow for a training site for police and fire. She also noted the Council's work on affordable housing in the Mountain Meadows area. Commissions Reports • Cindy Bernard, spoke on a wildfire task force sub-committee that she has been working on with the Chamber. She also noted the negative impacts of previous smoke. She spoke to the need for messages about good smoke and ways to use resources with businesses, schools and individuals. She also stated the need to create a message for the use of good smoke to be looked at as a way to reduce the bad smoke. Committee Member Shannon Downey noted the additional resources available on this topic. Green asked about additional information on the campaign that would be taking place for this. She added the need to build the messages through groups within the community such as CERT. Hanks noted additional website and alerts that also are being used for this. • Pat Acklin, stated that the water adversity committee would not meeting until the fall when costing for capital improvement projects is done by Public Works. • Shannon Downey, noted the change chairmanship with Stephen Jensen becoming a Council Member and that as Vice Chair of the Forest Lands Commission she is now Chair. She also noted that the committee is currently looking at management and data updates. The committee also noted an article on the effects of human recreation on wildlife and what future trails look like. Staff Updates Stu Green, Staff Member highlighted items that he has been working on. These included: • Ameresco Feasibility Study initial results and how this will inform for municipal solar, energy efficiency improvements for facilities and utility scale solar. • The City of Ashland has been chosen to have a dialog with Rocky Mountain Institute on topics of rental efficiency standards and net zero energy ready protocols. This work will help with adding new polices to zoning and building codes. Hanks added on this topic that a suggestion has been made by developers to create an ordinance for solar reserves. The committee also discussed the ordinance set in California and the resources that it will provided. Green added that the committee is invited to be involved in this dialog. • Expansion of EV chargers on Hargadine and the development of cell phone app based pay. Also noted on this topic was the development of the rate for these chargers. Hanks added the control that this app will have for backend control. • Wildland Fire Overlay • Making progress on outreach plan. • Formal relationship with Bonneville Environmental Foundation, including a carbon offset and renewable energy certificate program for the City of Ashland. • Exposure of CEAP at the council level and in planning documents. Adam Hanks also noted: • A council item on Uber and Lyft was to be voting on as a formal recommendation from the Transportation Commission. But the commission did not have a quorum in order to vote. Updates relevant to CEAP Implementation and 10 by 20 Hanks began by noting the formal presentations that have been made on this topic. At this time, he noted that City is currently working through a financial rate analysis with a cost of service and rate design consultant. He added that the cost of service study looks at the costs, revenues and equity between the customer classes. It also looks at long term infrastructure needs. These numbers are then being used in the rate design to see what the wholesale price is and how retail rates would play out across classifications. These pre built calculations he added that will then be able to be used to reference rates when an RFP is presented to Council. Hanks also noted the Ameresco feasibility study that the City has already begun. He explained that this is the pre-process to selecting an ESCO provider (of which Ameresco is one) and that this gives a chance for the company to bid if an RFP is created, as this funding structure is different from a BPA model. Hanks went on to note who has been a part of this process and were the process for this project has gone. He explained that this is major for the electric and general fund services. Hanks added details of the environmental biological assessment and how it set some baseline information for the plan as well. The goal he explained was without spending money to explain what is being proposed including the impact on utilities and the matrix of other relevant items. The idea of take or pay was also discussed in relation to this document with penalties not being built into the financials. The plan was stated as one that would be more of an incremental and not a plan that could be completed in 2020. This addresses electric utility risk management and also allows for better hybrid approaches to build local resources before a contract is renegotiated in 2028. The matrix of options was also listed as something that can be used to help with these resources. These included solar farms to regional grids, solar installations on City facilities, virtual net metering for community solar, expansion of hydro capacity, commercial and residential solar credits and expanding local energy efficiency. Hanks stated that the relationship to this committee and 10 by 20 would happen post the next council with big picture and policy decisions being made. Hanks and the committee also discussed the solar incentive programs with rebates coming from the City and Ashland being one of the foremost cities in the state for this. The committee also discussed take or pay for electric and the impact to the city within this concept, including the moving threshold for power and how rates are calculated. BPA contracts were noted are the same for entities with trade groups and associations helping on the contracts. Ashland historically has had a voice in the small cities arena. The committee also questioned the use of using organizations that specialize in solar during the RFP process, Hanks noted that they city has begun this work. The committee went on to discuss the use of a volunteered rate for the offset in rate power. The committee discussed a "double bundle" proposal and its relation to PACE, acknowledging that this would be a different financial structure than the current solar incentive program. Discussion also included a preference to the use of already degraded property for solar compared to those with high conservation values. The committee ended this conversation by discussing what has driven solar rates up and the incentives that are impacting the future of installations. Review Draft CEAP Outreach and Education Strategy and GIVE INPUT as appropriate Green began by discussing that the goal of the outreach plan was getting citizens to know that the plan exists, to engage with the plan and take action. It was discussed that a good intro piece would be the reading of the plan including the executive summary. The executive summary it was noted will be part of the Chamber Living and Doing Business Guide in the upcoming year. The idea of using personal stories was discussed by Green as something that can be promoted on the website. A supplemental piece of having community members do their carbon foot print was noted by the committee and discussed as an aggregate number. Green noted that there would be some constructs to this. It was also suggested to use peoples generalized area in reporting but to have an address entered and keep anonymous to allow entries to be distinct. The use of one calculator was also noted and to be careful on the tool begin used, but not ask for an emissions profile but rather looking at what actions have been taken. The public input suggested the committee calculate their carbon foot print first using the CoolClimate Calculator. The committee discussed what formats would be best and that this needs to be used as starting point. The use of the data and a comparable interaction of data was looked at as well. The fact of value judgments was mentioned in relation to this, but that this could be optional tool as it compares broad averages. Overall the committee wants people to be able to use this a tool for next steps. The committee then discussed the idea of what format outreach would look like and how this would be integrated. Green began a conversation with the committee to discuss who the audience and that this was all of Ashland. Green listed what he thought was a good list. Green asked for committee input on who she be identified for primary and secondary outreach. The committee suggested plumbers, contractors, homeowners, and car dealers be added to the list. It was also clarified what would be pathways. The committee agreed on contractors as a primary. Youth suggested as secondary outreach including high school students as driver into homes, and using the students to help with data was talked about. The committee discussed homeowners as a primary subgroup as they are easy to reach through such items as electric bills. Engaging visitors was also discussed including zero waste. It was suggested that some of these efforts are already being made through the Chamber and that these area ideas that they can take back to their own communities. Empower Ashland was discussed with the idea use of a marketing campaign and a connection to the people. The committee agreed that it was a good idea and that they should move forward with it. The timeline was also discussed as well as the website being the place for community action on this project. It was suggested by the committee to take the matrix and look at how often people need to hear a message. Green suggested for the future that the pathways could be looked at and discussed that he would like input on this portion. The positive use of the using existing programs during this process was also noted. Green reiterate the need for a timeline and the committee added the idea of a teaser to begin this outreach. The committee suggested using the word as starting point to ask a question to get the public thinking. Using the downtown information booth as a place to house marketing, using Team Ashland, the OLLI program, event tables, and smart recycling cans on the plaza were also stated. Hanks noted that the city has resources to refine and add to this campaign, but that this was a start. He also added that this would fit into the city wide communication plan as well. The committee agreed even without a communication point of contact the plan could still move forward. Green stated that he would begin the work to create an move forward with a teaser. Green asked the committee if a product like the CoolClimate Calculator was used what actions would the committee want to see as offsets? He suggested that the committee look at this and discuss at a later time. Check Out— Discuss meeting process The committee discussed that there was a vote of confidence that the meetings were going well. It was also suggested the use of a roundtable for all committee members to add thoughts in on topics. The committee also noted that they do not feel like there is no overall sense of the plan is to fulfill the given charge. Hanks noted that the key policy items are really the only items that need to go to council for a recommendation, but that there is a value in keeping council updated. Green noted that he does have formal recommendation items for committee input in the future. Alkin/Downey m/s 1 move to adopted the recommendation to move forward with the slogan Empower Ashland for the community outreach program. Discussion:None Voice Vote:All Ayes. Motion Passes. Adjournment 7:04 p.m. Action Items • Green will send natural hazards mitigation plan out to committee. • Hanks will send Green, Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan and a complete history of the 10 by 20 actions from the record. • Green will send committee the Oregon Carbon Calculator (CoolClimate Calculator) • Green will look at timeline for interactions with groups in the left-hand column, • Green will look at teaser promotion for this summer • Green will look at some sort of marketing for the 4th of July. Respectfully submitted, Natalie Thomason, Administrative Assistant