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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011.12.07 Conservation Commission Minutes 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon Learn about the City's plan to construct and move the water treatment plant - Clean drinking water is an essential right Agendas and Minutes City of Ashland � Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee cvieWall> Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 Agenda View Agenda Wednesday, December 07, 2011 CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES, 5:30pm-7:30pm -December 07, 2011 Community Development Building---To be approved at the January25,2011h Commission Meeting CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Hartman called the meeting to order at 5:35 pm. Attendees: Risa Buck,Thomas Beam, Sheri Cellini, Stuart Corns, Cat Gould,Jim Hartman,Jim McGinnis, and Mark Weir were present. David Runkel was absent. City Council Liaison: Carol Voisin, absent Staff Representative: Lee Tuneberg, Larry Giardina, and Mary McClary. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chairperson Hartman asked for approval of the minutes for November 19, 2011. https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 1/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon Commissioner McGinnis asked that the summarized report that David Wick created, based on information he gathered from the Commissioners, be included in the minutes. In addition he asked that on Page 3, under the 1Stobjective: The members summarized the prior hour's discussion: • Utilize staff and liaison • Increase Communication o Advocate for a Sustainability Manager • Update Charter, work within the Charter • Create a plan for the City government • CC does have influence and a voice • Conservation Division increase staff o Requests for stats/reports info from city The 5th Item, Create a plan for the city, he felt it should read: Create a sustainability plan for City operations, a comprehensive plan in conservation initiatives. Under the last Council goal: Develop a concise.............The second sentence needs to read Commissioner McGinnis and Commissioner Beam will research this option framed in relationship to the sustainability communities' initiative 10 steps towards sustainability planning. Commissioner Buck remarked the meeting was called to order at 6:05 am not 9:05 pm. Commissioner Cellini stated she and Commissioner Gould were not researching the water issue, but instead researched an Idling Policy. Chairperson called for the question to approve the minutes. Commissioner Cellini made a motion to approve the minutes as amended and Commissioner Buck seconded the motion. Voice Vote:All Ayes. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. PUBLIC FORUM (Tape stamp 3:55) Shaun/SOU, The Student Sustainability Director, was in attendance and would also contribute to the SOU quarterly report. Chairperson Hartman reviewed the timeline of the items on the agenda. https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 2/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon Commissioner Beam would like to know about the meeting rules we follow, if there was any information about spending budget funds. ANNOUNCEMENTS Next meeting January 25, 2012 Commissioner Buck reported to the Commission: Prepaid Leaf Program went well. Public Works contributed $500.00, Conservation Commission $300.00 and Recology paid for the rest of the costs (50 sets). There were 228 sets of 5 prepaid leaf bags that were sold. In addition, there were 3 free leaf drop off days at the recycling center which collected 23, 25-yard containers of leaves. Some local people are taking some of the leaves collected to re-utilize. Leslie Adams reported the City would ask for an extension to finish marking the storm drains by August, 2012. Chairperson Hartman and Commissioner Buck still are working on remodeling the compost area at the recycling center and Ashland Hardware donated a $110.00 rotating barrel composting bin. NEW BUSINESS Item C moved to first place 1. Conservation Awards Commissioner Cellini passed out the press release for the members to review about the Conservationist of the Year award program. The members discussed changes and the press release will be placed on next month's agenda for approval. Commissioner Cellini made a motion to earmark$500.00 towards the Conservationist of the Year Awards. The motion was seconded by Commissioner McGinnis. Voice Vote:All Ayes. The motion passed with a unanimous vote. COMMISSION ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA David Wick gave the Commission a summary/recap from their meeting of November 19th The objectives of the meeting was to respond to the City Council's April 4th study session, and work in a detailed working session. We addressed the following topics: https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 3/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon Logistics Perspectives Diamond Model Objectives Council goals Commission/Staff input Overlooked resources for Commission Commission efficiency Direction for Conservation Commission Work session Sustainable Community Document Next steps Evaluation He felt the objectives for the day were met and they took specific steps and action toward (4) council goals. recommending, and researching policies to the Council. Commissioner McGinnis officially recognized the totality of David's work, and the Commissions appreciation for all his efforts. They felt he went above and beyond his scope of duties. 2. Review of Assignments from November 19, 2011 Commissioner McGinnis made a brief announcement about the City Council Goal Setting(usually held in January)was rescheduled for April. In January, they will look at current goals and implementation, mainly due to a new City Administrator that will be hired in the first part of the yea r. Lee explained thoroughly how the budget process/schedules are implemented for the City. He explained the timeline the Commission had for presenting recommendations to departments for budget input. All items needed to be submitted by the last week in February. (Tape stamp 42.00) Commissioners Cellini and Gould reported on their research for an anti-idling policy citing the City of Ashland has had an Idling Policy since 2002. They requested information/reports from the Public Works Superintendent for total mileage/gallons of gas purchased and costs that were spent. She read about the benefits of not idling, such as wear and tear on engines, length of engine lives, and reducing fuel consumption which was currently 95,434.10 at the cost of$370,658.24 (annually). Commissioner Cellini read from the municipal code, ordinance 28.28. https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 4/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon They would like to see measureable standard in place for anti-idling to determine if the city is adhering to this policy. Commissioner Cellini read a letter to the Ashland City Council; they would like the Conservation Commission to support. She mentioned if 8 cylinder vehicles stopped idling for 5 minutes a day it would save 1 cup of gas equaling 20 gallons a year or $79.84 and 440 pounds of CO2 not omitted into the environment. Eight(8)trucks would save 160 gallons and $628.50 for not idling 5 minutes a day. The Commissioners proposed a study be performed to generate additional data and produce savi ngs. Commission Beam asked how the ordinance was enforced, and Commissioner Cellini explained currently there are no fines in place. Lee explained code enforcement was complaint driven, as the city no longer has staff to enforce codes. Commissioner Gould would like to see the managers have reports on a regular basis so they can monitor the city's fleet in terms of conservation issues. Lee explained this was a great example of a goal. What we want to consider is what do we want the end result to be? Example: Our goal is to have a reduction in fuel byXXamount per year. What is the overall impact that we want to accomplish? Lee explained to the Commission examples of how they make recommendations to be effective and to receive their desired results. When the recommendations are made, then staff looks at ways and choices of implementation, reporting results back to the Commission. The members discussed different options for recommendations, for example, increase in miles per gallon setting reasonable goals, communication to citizens and fines. Commissioner Cellini and Gould would like to formulate their letter some more and bring it back to the January meeting, then take it to Council to create a baseline for anti-idling, and improve the anti-idling ordinance. https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 5/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon Commissioner Cellini left at 6:36pm. (tape stamp 59.25) Lee recapped a memo addressed to him regarding a response from the Conservation Commission retreat about the City's use of power and water in different buildings. He explained each building was and there are different variables involved, although creating a reduction in energy as a goal could be effective. He gave as an example of reduction at the treatment plant would create a savings. He encouraged the Commission to outline their goal in terms of reduction by energy overall, or specifically by city buildings, or on a different venue. Staff can therefore come back with the action steps to accomplish their goal. Chairperson Hartman suggested data collected at the Community Development building, same hour every two weeks to survey the temperatures in the city buildings to determine bench marks and energy usages. Lee explained if the goal was to measure therms used in the buildings, then they could look at utility bills, but if the goal was a reduction in thermos, then some action put in place to reduce usage. He said to identify what they wanted to recommend and let staff facilitate the process. Commissioner Gould would like to see a system of follow-up to make sure the goals are met and/or addressed. Lee left at 7:15 for another meeting. (tape stamp 1:14 hrs) Commissioner Beam met with the Mayor recently and relayed the Council goals were not specific. Commissioner Weir talked about establishing a baseline and then establish a net reduction, for example using a 2008 or 2005 level and reduce based on those numbers. He believed the Commission should wait for the outcome of the environmental protocols from the International UNSCCC meetings. (climate change) He gave an example of a 2008 baseline and a reduction of 5% by 2020. https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 6/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon The members talked about how to implement a reduction goal. (tape stamp 1:23 hrs) Commissioner Weir recapped a report on Leed certification for all new city buildings over 1,000 square feet and emailed the report to the Commissioners. He said in 2008, the Conservation Commission asked that the Fire Station No. 2 be Leed Standard and in 2010 the City of Ashland constructed a building ordinance that building of Leed certification standards would take priority. To present date there are no city Leed certified buildings. He made reference to other cities that have a requirement of all city buildings be Leed certified- Westlin, OR, Albany, CA, Happy Valley, OR and Oregon City, OR. He reported Leed certified buildings don't perform as well as hoped. He said the studies don't show significant savings in the environmental impact. He suggested the city could provide additional incentives to builders after they complete a Leed certified building. He thinks the Commission is well justified to ask the City for Leed Silver certifications, or even just a Leed certification on new city buildings. The members discussed different aspects of reduction for buildings, commercial and residential and a time line set by the Federal government. Larry clarified that Leed is not just an energy saving program, but also a sustainability program. Commissioner Weir felt Leed would include all areas and being more sustainable addresses more areas. The members discussed the extra cost of becoming Leed certified. Commissioner McGinnis suggested the members have sub-committee meetings before the next Commission meeting to further the process of establishing proposed goals for the City Council. (tape stamp 1:42 hrs) Commissioner Beam and McGinnis presented a Brochure "Building Bridges to a More Sustainable Ashland"for the Commissioners to consider regarding sustainability and steps the city could implement to accomplish sustainable goals. The members reviewed and discussed how to finalize the brochure. Commissioner McGinnis will bring final copy to the next meeting and also send out information through email for the Commissioners to review. In addition he hopes also the members would meet with the individual Councilors to help advocate for adoption of sustainable practices. OLD BUSINESS Set aside https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 7/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon QUARTERLY LIAISON REPORT Set aside (December meeting: Southern Oregon University) ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Hartman adjourned the meeting at 7:42 pm. Respectfully submitted by.- Mary McClary Administrative Assistant for Electric, Telecommunication and the Conservation Department. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Community Development office at 541-488-5305 (TTY phone number is 1-800-735-2900). Notification 72 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to the meeting(28 CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title1). https://old.ashland.or.us/Agendas.asp?AMID=4744&Display=Minutes 8/10 8/26/25, 12:20 PM Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11 -Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee-City of Ashland,Oregon Online City Services UTILITIES-Connect/Disconnect, Request Conservation Pay your bill & more Evaluation Connect to Proposals, Bids Ashland Fiber Network & Notifications Request Building Apply for Other Inspection Permits & Licenses A �+ Building Permit Register for Applications Recreation Programs L � s Email Updates Sign up to receive local important News & Events. 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