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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015.01.28 Conservation Commission Minutes Minutes for the Conservation Commission January 28,2015 Page 1 of 4 MINUTES FOR THE ASHLAND CONSERVATION COMMISSION Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way 1. Call to Order Mark Weir called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. in the Siskiyou Room. Commissioners Bryan Sohl, Shel Silverberg, Jim McGinnis, Risa Buck, Jim Hartman and Councilor Rich Rosenthal were present. Staff member Adam Hanks was present. Commissioners Thomas Beam, Marni Koopman, and Roxanne Biegel-Coryell were absent. 2. Consent Agenda Buck/Silverberg m/s to approve the minutes of December 17, 2014. Voice vote: All ayes. Motion passes. 3. Announcements The next commission meeting will be held on February 25. The climate and energy subcommittee will meet on February 18th from 2-4 at the SOU library. Buck let the group know that SOU will be hosting the movie, Bag-It on February 10 from 5:30— 7:30. Both Buck and Weir will be participating in a panel discussion following the movie. Buck thanked the City for using mostly all-durable goods at last night's State of the City Celebration. The only things she noted as not being durable were napkins and nametags. She thought the event set a good tone for the rest of the community. 4. Public Forum Louise Shawkat—thanked the group for the amount of work they do, especially the climate and energy subcommittee. She would like the group to consider working with local banks to provide loans for conservation and energy retrofits/remodels. This would help owners who otherwise can't afford to do so improve their energy efficiency. Reminded the group that we need a plan to develop more alternate energy resources. Huelz - Stated he had also given this information at a recent City Council meeting. He informed the group that global warming is bad and more disasters are on the way. Society created this problem with bad growth. The least Ashland could do was stop building homes and buildings designed with carbon pollution. Stopping bad growth would not ruin the economy. Bad growth reduces quality of life. He also suggested that we lease Tesla vehicles for Council members, so they know what we can achieve. Believes that people in town do not want growth and that our water and streets are at their maximum capacity so he wonders why people are still coming here and ruining our quality of life,making life more dangerous, and adding more carbon. He would like to create a new department, since no building would mean no need for any planning or building departments. This new department would focus on programs for efficiency and he would run it. He would call it the Ashland Renewal Acquisition Department. He will send links to the Commission on a recent speech which talks about the carbon problem and gives clear solutions of how to solve it. 5. Reports/Presentations/Updates Minutes for the Conservation Commission January 28,2015 Page 2 of 4 Council—Councilor Rosenthal informed the group that he's been re-appointed as the liaison to this commission for the next year. On January 2nd, Council approved their goals for the next biennium and 22.1 (Develop and implement a community climate change and energy plan) was approved and labeled a priority goal for the Council. Next Tuesday(February 2) SOU is presenting information to the Council regarding their co-generation project, if any commissioner wants to learn more. Recently, Representative Buckley and Senator Bates presented to Council their upcoming legislative priorities. Climate change is one of their top priorities. McGinnis thanked Rosenthal for last night's State of the City Event and expressed his appreciation that it focused largely on vision rather than entirely on history. Buck agreed and hopes that the City continues to be more celebratory. City Conservation chi Operations—Hanks updated the group on installation of LED street lights. Ones for Siskiyou Blvd. have been ordered and they are receiving partial funding from BPA. McGinnis requested that information regarding savings from the LED lights be kept for future reporting (particularly as part of the Climate and Energy plan). Hanks informed the group that results of a recent energy audit mean changes to water heating system at the waste-water plant, which should provide good savings. Quarterly Report from Gary Sisk(Ashland School District)—Mr. Sisk informed the group that the report in the packet shows a snapshot of what they are currently working on. He feels it is very critical that large entities like the school district track and work hard to make their buildings as energy efficient as possible. Described to the group some of the LED lighting changes they are making. The true cost savings for LED lighting is not in the energy savings but in the maintenance savings. If they only have to replace lighting once every few years rather than once a year, it's a huge savings. Group thanked Mr. Sisk for his report, enthusiasm and continued efforts. Group discussed ways they can encourage the school district to continue becoming more efficient. Conservation Awards sub-committee—Next meeting of the subcommittee is Monday(February 2) at Recology at 4:00 p.m. So far both the middle school and John Muir school are on-board with the Earth Bowl idea. The committee is hoping for eight teams of four, mixed boys and girls. They are looking for three coaches to supervise the kids and are hoping to get the science teachers involved. Chip Lindsey from ScienceWorks would like to help edit the questions. The committee would like the commission to consider skipping the regular April meeting and instead have the "meeting"be attending and working on the Earth Bowl event. The group agreed to have further discussion of this request at the February meeting. Hartman/Silverberg m/s to spend up to $100 to bring lunch to the middle school science teachers to discuss their possible participation. No discussion. VoiceVote: all ayes. Motion passes. 6. Old Business Sneak Preview Column—Hartman/Buck m/s to approve the February column as submitted. Discussion: It would have been helpful if this topic was actually one month out for better Minutes for the Conservation Commission January 28,2015 Page 3 of 4 confirmation of dates and details. Group recognized that this wasn't possible due to submittal due dates. Group agreed that webpage for additional information would be ashland.or.us/EarthBowl. Voice Vote: all ayes. Motion passes. Group discussed possibility of having a column regarding Gary Sisk's work with the School District. Agreed that it would be a good idea. Upcoming column topics: • March—Energy Efficiency, written by Hanks • April—Water Conservation, written by Weir • May— Overview of Climate Action Plan, written by Koopman and McGinnis • June— Compost Classes, written by Buck • July— School Efficiency Improvements, written by Hartman Carbon Fee/Dividend Discussion—discussion postponed due to absences of group members. Earth Day—Buck informed the group that she expects a request to the commission at the February meeting to support the Earth Day event. She would like the group to take a few minutes to decide if they are interested in participating or sponsoring the event this year. Last year the commission supported with money but did not participate. With the upcoming Earth Bowl the group has transitioned away from the Earth Day event. Group discussed pros and cons of participating in the Earth Day event. Discussed whether it would be the right venue to get the message out. Group determined that it's probably not the best as there is too much going on for the message to really be heard. Group discussed how difficult it is to say yes or no to any financial requests as they don't really have a clear picture of priorities and budget regarding those priorities. Silverberg agreed to create a draft "budget" for the commission's financial priorities. Group is to send him projects/ideas as well as rough costs so he can begin prioritizing. Climate and Energy Sub-committee Presentation—McGinnis informed the group that the meetings have been going well. He gave an overview of the plan to-date. The biggest changes from the last version are inclusion of examples in the appendices. They would like the group to approve it and move forward with the proposed document. McGinnis/Buck m/s to adopt the plan, minus the Corvallis plan appendix, for sending to Council in their March meeting. Discussion: Group discussed what was left to be done (the presentation). Councilor Rosenthal believes this plan is what the Council requested. Group discussed the format of the groups in the plan and determined that using a Technical Advisory Group and a Policy Group format would work best. They agreed to amend the plan accordingly. Voice Vote: all ayes. Motion passes. 7. New Business Compost Classes—Buck informed the group the new teacher will be Jim Flarity. Planning for a total of four classes and hoping to utilize the compost areas at the Recycle Center in-class. Minutes for the Conservation Commission January 28,2015 Page 4 of 4 Buck/McGinnis m/s to approve the new teacher for four classes, running from 10:00 a.m.— noon and that two classes will be basic classes, with the remaining two advanced classes. Voice Vote: all ayes. Motion passes. Group discussed possibility of a rebate for those who have taken both the basic and advanced classes and show proof of purchase on start up system. Agreed this topic should be on a future agenda (maybe April or May). Group agreed they will have a later discussion on approving a gift certificate for the teacher as that money would come from the next budget cycle. Fourth of July—Buck requested that the group consider ideas for what to do in/at the parade and new ways to "get the message out". 8. Wrap Up Group requested the following be on the upcoming agenda: Climate Action Plan Follow-up Earth Bowl/Conservation Awards Earth Day Event Draft budget/financial priorities Carbon Fee/Dividend Fourth of July Meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Diana Shiplet Executive Secretary