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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018.08.16 CEAP Implementation Minutes Minutes for the ad hoc Climate and Energy Action Plan Implementation Committee August 17, 2018 Page 1 of 4 MINUTES FOR THE ad hoc CLIMATE & ENERGY ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE Thursday, August 17, 2018 Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way 1. Call to Order The ad hoc Climate & Energy Action Plan Implementation Committee meeting was called to order at 5:09 p.m. by James McGinnis, who volunteered to serve as Chair in place of Chair and Vice Chair being absent. Committee members Rick Barth, Cindy Bernard, James McGinnis, Ben Scott, and Les Stone were present. Staff members Stu Green and Adam Hanks were present. Committee members Pat Acklin, Chris Brown, Shannon Downey, Jordan Ely, and Councilor Stef Seffinger was absent. McGinnis called for volunteers for the timekeeper and action item keeper roles. Green volunteered as time keeper and Bernard offered to be the action item keeper. 2. Approval of Minutes Barth moved to approve the July 19, 2018 meeting minutes as written. Scott seconded the motion. A vote was taken with all present members voting in favor of approving the previous meetings minutes. 3. Public Forum Input Louise Shawkat/870 Cambridge— spoke about water footprint calculators and encouraged the committee to calculate their own water footprint. She gave materials outlining what online tool to use for calculating water footprints. Shawkat also praised the City for hiring Julie Smitherman and her work with water conservation. Shawkat stated that Ashland is currently six inches below the normal precipitation at this time of year and this lack of water is being overshadowed by the smoke situation. She let the committee know that once they calculate their water footprint to send the results to her and she can compare these results to the average citizen of Ashland. Shawkat will continue to educate the public about water footprints and conservation. Huelz Gutcheon/2253 Highway 99—discussed his attending recent Council and other commission meetings and still not seeing communication amongst the commissions and committees. He was particularly concerned that the Planning Commission is not requiring EV charger wiring for new constructions. Gutcheon was hoping that the CEAP 2 committee could communicate with the Planning Commission and decide to assign the responsibility of who will monitor/enforce the wiring on new constructions. Gutcheon mentioned the 10 x 20 ordinance and that citizens who supported the ordinance that with signatures make up the majority of Ashland. Most of these citizens are looking towards solar to meet the 10 by 20 goal. Gutcheon also stated that the CEAP website updates looks great and suggested a website separate from the City website dedicated only to CEAP. Minutes for the ad hoc Climate and Energy Action Plan Implementation Committee August 17, 2018 Page 2 of 4 4. New Business a. REVIEW commission recommendations from LEAP Planning Committee (aka CEAP 1) Staff member Hanks presented CEAP Planning Committee's recommendations to Council and how CEAP Implementation Committee (CEAP 2) can utilize them for the CEAP 2 council recommendation. Items presented included: • Scope and charge of commissions including possible long-term restructure of commissions which could increase community involvement and decrease overlap between commissions • Previous commission restructure discussions and presentations • CEAP 1 ordinance and recommendation as a starting point for LEAP 2's recommendation • CEAP 2 tasks of finalizing tasks and making final recommendation to Council Hanks will send Municipal Code Chapter 2 outlining why ad hoc committees are not allowed to have sub-committees. It was decided to keep the CEAP 2 final recommendation to Council discussion on future meeting agendas to help with forming CEAP 2's final recommendation and possible ordinance to Council. Green will start the draft ordinance for CEAP 2 and send to committee members for general comments to be discussed at the next meeting. 5. Old Business a. APPROVE Sneak Preview Article McGinnis rewrote the Sneak Preview article based on the discussion from the previous meeting. Green on behalf of absent member Ely recommended changing the phrase global heating to climate change. Stone moved to approve the article with the minor recommended change of replacing global heating to climate change. The motion received a second from Bernard. The motion passed with all in favor. McGinnis will send out the final draft of article to the committee. b. RECEIVE staff update on Empower Ashland campaign and GIVE INPUT as appropriate Green updated the Empower Ashland campaign draft from the discussion from the previous meeting. The main change was an addition of Action 3.3 outlining outreach to other community groups to help promote the Climate Energy and Action Plan. Green would like to move forward with the plan, so staff can start implementing parts that require external work. Barth moved to go forward with the plan with Stone seconding the motion. Green asked for clarification if the motion moves to approve as written or if it needs to come back to the committee for approval. Barth clarified that the motion is to approve the plan as a framework for the committee and staff moving forward. The motion passed unanimously. 6. Task List a. DISCUSS current action items (see last minutes) The committee reviewed the previous meetings action items. Those action items were: • Green will send out the presentation on commission structures to committee members. Completed. Minutes for the ad hoc Climate and Energy Action Plan Implementation Committee August 17, 2018 Page 3 of 4 • McGinnis will research interested groups and volunteers in community who might want to help spread the word about the current Climate and Energy Action Plan. McGinnis looked over Green's list in the Empower plan and was satisfied with the various groups and volunteers listed. • Acklin will help with background work on the committee structure and organization Acklin was absent from this meeting and could not present her background work. • Stone would like to present CEAP to different allied groups and the public. Stone and Green attended the Drawdown Solutions hosted by Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance Community and presented CEAP 2 goals and outreach plans. Many attendees of the event were aware and in support of CEAP 2's mission. Green made a presentation to the group and will include the presentation in next meetings packet for the group to review and finalize. This discussion led to the way the committee can showcase these partner groups in terms of success stories. Green will build a form for social media suggestions and candidates for success stories for the committee to add to and discuss at next meeting. • Stone and Scott will assist Green in revising the Empower Ashland Plan draft. Stone and Scott approved of Green's revises to the Empower Ashland Plan draft. 7. Informational Items a. RECEIVE Updates relevant to CEAP implementation Green discussed the Greenhouse Gas inventory update and the deadline to publish in March meaning a draft would need to be prepared by the end of this year. Hanks stated that setting up audit trails from the previous Greenhouse Gas inventory update will help with CEAP 2 to make this end of the year deadline. Green is compiling an activity summary for CEAP 2 to work on that will accompany the committee's final recommendation for Council. Green had a meeting with the City's Fleet Manager and stated that the Fleet Manager has been productive in making electrification of the City fleet a priority. Hanks stated that the issue they are currently having is the logistics of charging stations at City service centers. Currently, the City has a small, but growing number of electric and hybrid vehicles, but plans on converting more when vehicles need to be replaced. Green presented the website dashboards and will send a link out for the committee. He is also working on exploring software tools Empower. This could possibly be tools the City already uses that can be expanded upon. Scott brought up the discussion on community solar in relation to 10 by 20 and solar projects within the City limits. Green stated that currently there are only two community solar projects, Pioneer I and II, and there are no commercial projects. Barth commented that there has been a debate concerning virtual net metering and its potential effects on the Imperatrice solar proposal that is at the forefront of 10 by 20's mission. McGinnis stated that the Ashland Climate Team has been getting together to discuss community solar as well as Ashland Electric Vehicles. The Team is hoping to work with City staff on how to incorporate the recent Hardesty property purchase in to this goal. Minutes for the ad hoc Climate and Energy Action Plan Implementation Committee August 17, 2018 Page 4 of 4 8. Future Meeting McGinnis announced the next regular scheduled meeting will be Thursday, September 20, 2018. McGinnis also read the future meeting look ahead: • Sept—Discussion of final Commission structure, Empower follow-up as needed • Oct—Final recommendation of Commission structure • Nov—TBD, as needed Some discussion was made as to the end date of the CEAP committee. Hanks stated that the Council did not give a set time for CEAP 2 to end, but once the final recommendation is made to Council CEAP 2 will be disbanded. 9. Adjournment McGinnis officially adjourned the meeting at 7 p.m. Action Items • Hanks will send Municipal Code Chapter 2 preventing from ad hoc committees having sub- committees to committee. • Green will build a form for the committee to submit comments on the CEAP 1 commission recommendations. • McGinnis will send out the final draft of Sneak Preview article to the committee. • Green will include CEAP presentation designed to present to outreach groups in next meetings packet. • Green will build a form for social media suggestions and candidates for success stories for the committee to add to and discuss at next meeting. • Green will send a link to the website dashboards to the committee. Respectfully submitted, Elizabeth Taylor, Executive Assistant