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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-10-15 PacketMinutes of the Regular Meeting of the Energy and Environment Commission Edina City Hall Community Room Wednesday, October 15, 2008. Members In Attendance and Roll Call: Raymond O’Connell, M. Germana Paterlini, Bill Sierks, Surya Iyer, Julie Risser, Dianne Plunkett Latham, Paul Thompson, Hailey Lee, John Owens. Absent: Staff Present: Heather Worthington 1. Welcome & Roll Call 2. Approval of September, 2008, Meeting Minutes Approved. 4. Public Comment Sean Gosiewski, Alliance for Sustainability: Sean Gosiewski from the Alliance for Sustainability made a brief presentation regarding the Alliance’s work on transit, bike access, open spaces, and increased outreach to suburban communities around issues of sustainability. He suggested a “summit” with adjacent cities in the near future. On March 18, 2009, the Alliance will hold a large meeting, with follow-up in smaller group discussion sometime in April or May. Chair Iyer noted that Commissioner Owens has been designated as the Commission’s liaison with adjacent communities, and that a meeting has been scheduled with Minnetonka. Commissioner Paterlini is also working with the City of Northfield to schedule a meeting. Mr. Gosiewski suggested that on March 18th, 2009, the City’s staff could be involved in a day-time training event, and have commissioners join the group for an evening session will all participants. He noted that the Alliance partnered with the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency last year. He also told the Commission that the next Natural Step classes would be on October 30 and November 6. He invited Commissioners to attend those classes, and noted interest in a class aimed at staff in 2009. Mr. Gosiewski also informed the Commission of work the Alliance is doing around coordination of bike lanes/pathways utilizing the “Cyclopath” wiki online tool. Chair Iyer asked Mr. Gosiewski to prepare a proposal for training, outlining the Commission’s role and how it will match the ICLEI goals, and see if it can engage the community in the upcoming workshops. Michael Seaman, Higlands Elementary School: Michael Seaman, a teacher at Highlands Elementary School, explained his classes grant proposal in the amount of $20,000 for the installation of a vertical axis wind turbine at Highlands. His class has been working on the project for the past four years. He is now seeking the School Board’s support for the installation of a vertical axis wind turbine on the roof of the school. Students would use the turbine for study and data collection. The Class recently received a grant from the Edina Education Fund to purchase a weather station. The turbine was invented by an Edina resident, Jim Ellis. If this project went through, a prototype turbine would be built for the installation. There is no prototype at this time. Chair Iyer suggested that Mr. Seaman work offline with students in the Project Earth group at Edina High School, and report back to the Commission in the future. 5. Work Group Updates Recycling and Solid Waste Working Group: Commissioner Latham reported. Commissioners will participate in a joint workshop with the City Council on December 2 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the Community Room at City Hall. The Working Group will meet at 7:00 p.m. after the work session. They will release the next draft after that meeting. By December 17th, the RSWG will finalize the RFP and then meet with the haulers. The WG has now toured the three MRFs (Materials Recovery Facility) in the metro area, and have gathered more information about how recycling and waste is separated in dual stream facilities. Climate Change Working Group Commissioner Paterlini reported. The WG has been finalizing the CDP disclosure. This document is focused on city operations, and contains “city- only” data. She asked the Commission to approve the CDP disclosure document. Chair Iyer asked that Commissioners review and reply to Commissioner Paterlini with issues or corrections by Thursday evening (10- 16-08). Motion by O’Connell, second Thompson, to approve CDP disclosure conditionally. Unanimous Approval. Education and Outreach Work Group Commissioner Thompson reported. The Energy Workshop was a great success. He commended the Communications staff for their work in taping the event, and conducting interviews. He said that the publicity was very good. Their next work will be on the “Green Holiday Project”, an effort to educate the public about “greening your holidays” through better insulation, conservation of energy, use of greener technology. He asked the Commission about potentially inviting stores in Edina to make presentations; engage the Holiday House Tour in highlighting energy saving decorations/approaches; having a presence at large events through the end of the year; finding a “mascot” to help promote the Commission’s Education and Outreach work. Commissioner O’Connell suggested having open houses in the City’s park buildings. Commissioner Thompson also reported that Jennifer Bennerotte, the City’s Communications and Marketing Director, suggested that the Commission do a PSA to promote energy conservation. 6. Commission Business Allocation of grant funds: Deleted: E The Commission discussed next steps in fulfilling the objectives and goals of the grant from the MPCA. They identified the following action items: Work more closely with Project Earth group Establish a document that highlights goals and objectives through ICLEI and CDP documents Hire a facilitator to guide the Commission through the process of setting goals and objectives Consider a May-term project for students at Edina High School Consider covering students under City’s liability insurance for activities involving volunteerism Engage the three “legs of the stool”: Chamber, Schools and Faith Community; arrange conferences with all entities, including service clubs, etc… The Commission directed Worthington to bring back the Commission’s financial standing and link that financial data back to the MPCA grant so that they have a sense of how much they’ve spent, and which goals have been met. 8. Staff Report Worthington showed a recent PSA developed by the City to educate residents about water conservation. 9. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Heather Worthington, Secretary