Agendas and Minutes

Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee (View All)

Conservation Commission meeting of June 26, 2013

Agenda
Wednesday, June 26, 2013


Conservation Commission Minutes
6:00-8:00-June 26, 2013
Community Development Building
51 Winburn Way, Ashland, OR 97520
 
CALL TO ORDER
Chairperson Beam called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
 
Attendees:
Thomas Beam, Risa Buck, Marni Koopman, Jim McGinnis, Shel Silverberg, Mark Weir, Roxane Beigel-Coryell (arrived at 6:15), Cat Gould.
           
Not present: Jim Hartman, Adam Hanks (staff)

City Council Liaison: Rich Rosenthal
 
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairperson Beam asked for approval of the minutes for April & May 2013.
 
Commissioner Buck moved to approve the minutes for April 24 and May 22, seconded by Commissioner Weir.
Voice Vote: All Ayes. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
 
Commissioner Gould moved to approve the Fourth of July sub-committee minutes for May 7 and June 4, seconded by Commissioner Silverberg.
Voice Vote: All Ayes. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
 
Announcements
Next Regular meeting is scheduled for July 24, 2013.
 
Commissioner Beam mentioned that the SOU presentations were wonderful and he stated that they will repeat in the future.
 
PUBLIC INPUT
Winston Friedman; representing Southern Oregon Climate Action/recent SOU graduate.
They primary focus is to promote the idea of fossil fuel divestment (global warming). The idea behind it is that investments are pulled out of fossil fuel companies. He is hoping that the Conservation Commission will support this stance against climate change. He stated that SOU is supportive of this action & is actively seeking how they can get on board. Discussion was had regarding how the City of Ashland could show their support & they recommended that he approach City Staff first to see if there is any support. The Commission agreed to add it as a future agenda item. Commissioner McGinnis invited him to attend the next meeting for the Sustainability/Climate sub-committee.
 
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Nomination and election of new Chair and vice chair
 
Commissioner Weir spoke about his constraints & the way he would Chair the meetings.
 
Commissioner McGinnis moved to nominate Commissioner Weir as Chair, seconded by Commissioner Gould.
Voice Vote: All Ayes. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
 
Commissioner Gould moved to nominate Commissioner Silverberg as Chair, seconded by Commissioner Koopman.
Roll Call Vote: All Ayes (Silverberg abstained). The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
 
COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT
Chairperson Weir would like to see a council liaison report at each meeting at the very beginning of the meeting.
 
Commissioner Beam recommended that the commission read the minutes & email any questions to the Council Liaison rather than using up their time.
 
Commissioner McGinnis thinks there should be a list of issues that are being worked on and the liaison should keep those issues in mind when giving reports.
 
Councilor Rosenthal stated that he really enjoys serving as the Council liaison for this Commission. He stated that the Mayor changed the responsibility of the liaison earlier in the year. It is now up to the individual commissions to provide a report to Council.
 
QUARTERLY LIAISON REPORTS
SOU, Commissioner Beigel-Coryell
Commissioner Beigel-Coryell spoke about the Greenhouse program which will involve 50 students each year. She talked about the Sustainability Farm that was recently approved. She also stated that SOU partners with Goodwill for the student move out each year.
 
NEW BUSINESS
Fourth of July Planning-Commissioner Buck
The float is in great shape. Everyone is committed to attending except Larry who will be out of town. The group is to meet up at 9:00 am on Beach Street. It is the 2nd to last float in the parade. The Chamber of Commerce has made two signs for the float.
 
Sustainability sub-committee report-Commissioner McGinnis
The sub-committee hasn’t met yet. Their first meeting will be on July 17th in the Siskiyou Room.
 
Commissioner Weir stated that back in December 2011 they had requested benchmarking numbers in regards to the City’s energy use and those haven’t been received.
 
Commissioner McGinnis thinks a letter should be sent to City staff requesting the bench marks & if it’s still not received then they should take it to Council.
 
Car wash kit purchase-Commissioner Beam
There are now 2 car wash kits available. 1 is owned by the Conservation Commission and the other is owned by the Rogue Valley Council of governments.
 
Commissioner Beam moved to bring back a memo addressed to Public Works regarding the car wash kits, seconded by Commissioner Gould.
Roll Call Vote: All Ayes. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
 
Council Liaison Rosenthal recommended that the commission interact with Ann Seltzer regarding this.
 
Commissioner Gould would like there to be a future agenda item regarding the car wash program being offer3ed by the City of Sacramento.
 
Chair person Weir requested Staff provide a report to the Commission regarding the recent fish die off in Ashland.
 
Storm drain pilot project memo to PW-Commissioner Beam
Commissioner Beam read his draft Memo to Mike Faught regarding the car wash pilot project.
 
Commissioner Gould moved to approve sending the Memo to Mike Faught, seconded by Commissioner Buck.
Roll Call Vote: All Ayes except McGinnis. The motion passed.
 
McGinnis would like to see a plan similar to the City of Portland’s and additional wording in the Memo to be sent to Mike Faught.
 
Commissioner McGinnis moved to add the following verbiage to the Memo addressed to Mike Faught “the end goal of the pilot project is the development of appropriate storm drain management policy” & to delete “water sub- committee” from the second paragraph, seconded by Commissioner Gould.
 
Roll Call Vote: Commissioner’s Gould, Beam, Buck, Koopman, McGinnis and Weir YES; Silverberg & Beigel-Coryell NO. The motion passed.
 
Review of goals and assignments
 
 
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
 
 
Respectfully submitted,
Tami De Mille-Campos
Administrative Assistant

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