Agendas and Minutes

Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee (View All)

Conservation Commission Monthly Meeting 12/07/11

Agenda
Wednesday, December 07, 2011

 

CONSERVATION COMMISSION MINUTES

5:30pm-7:30pm –December 07, 2011
Community Development Building---To be approved at the January 25, 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.
 
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 1st objective:
The members summarized the prior hour’s discussion:
  • Utilize staff and liaison
  • Increase Communication
  • 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
  • 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.
 
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:
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.
 
  1. 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 year.
 
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. 
 
They would like to see a 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 savings.
           
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 by XX amount 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.        
 
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. 
 
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 a 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
 
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).
 


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