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Agendas and Minutes

Conservation and Climate Outreach Committee (View All)

Conservation Commission Meeting

Agenda
Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Audio for July Conservation Commission Meeting

MINUTES FOR THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way

1. (6:00) Call to Order

Chair James McGinnis called the meeting to order at 6 p.m. Commissioners Risa Buck, Larry Cooper, Marion Moore, Jamie Rosenthal, and Bryan Sohl and staff member Stu Green were present. Absent were Commissioners Marni Koopman and David Sommer, staff liaison Adam Hanks, and Council liaison Julie Akins. Moore volunteered to be an action item recorder.

2. (6:03) Consent Agenda

2.1. June 26, 2019 Meeting Minutes

Cooper/Sohl moved/seconded approval of June minutes. Voice vote: All ayes. Motion passed unanimously.

3. (6:04) Announcements

3.1. Next Regular Meeting: August 28, 2019

McGinnis announced the next meeting. Sohl will be absent and Rosenthal might also be absent.

3.2. Upcoming Sub-committee meetings

Moore announced that the Marketing and Outreach Subcommittee is meeting every two weeks. The next meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 25 at the Geos Institute, 84 4th street. Buck stated that the Waste Prevention Subcommittee is not officially meeting, but has split into two groups to work on their current projects.

3.3. Other Announcements from Commissioners

Buck announced the Laundry to Landscape Graywater workshop on Saturday July 27 at Southern Oregon University. McGinnis announced that the Climate Policy Advisory Commission’s (CPAC) appointments has been moved to the August 6 Council meeting.

4. (6:13) Public Forum

Huelz Gutcheon, Ashland, OR - spoke to the CPAC appointment list from the July 16 Council meeting. He also spoke to land use codes and the Comprehensive Plan regarding new constructions being cost effective.

5. (6:17) Reports/Presentations

5.1. CEAP Marketing and Outreach Priorities (including reaching out to SOU, RCC, AHS and Rogue Action Center), plus discussion of Marketing and Outreach Sub-committee progress. (Green)

Issues and suggestions discussed included:

• No current consolidated effort on climate issues with entities listed above;

• Adding outreach or education language to second reading of amended Conservation Commission;

• Time sensitivity of climate plan and moving forward;

• Using Commission monthly meeting to update on the work groups/sub committees work done in between monthly meetings;

• Pilot programs helping with the climate, but not directly related to Climate and Energy and Action Plan (CEAP); and

• Using CEAP and Empower Ashland plans for work group/subcommittee tasks.

Green gave recommendations for the Commission:

• Continue with same topics the Conservation Commission has been dealing with and connect them back to CEAP;

• Move away from Subcommittees and identify tasks and deadlines for work groups or individuals; and

• Begin with neighborhood identification, citizen consumption manual, and underrepresented populations identification.

5.2. Council Liaison Update

None. It was requested that staff update the Commission on potential Council items of interest to the Commission with either a verbal or written report each meeting.

5.3. City Operations/Administration Update

Green informed the Commission of his current projects including:

• Creating a new website for CEAP to be utilized as an outreach tool;

• Finalizing a generic climate outreach presentation;

• Compiling transportation emissions data;

• Refining the GHG inventory update;

• Creating a new electric vehicle (EV) incentive for business EV chargers; and

• Installing more public and City fleet EV chargers.

The Commission expressed interest in having space on the new website for Conservation Commission to list activities and the Conservation Corner articles. Staff stated that the Conservation Commission can edit their current webpage on the City website.

6. (6:57) Old Business

6.1. Commission Monthly Column in Sneak Preview

• September – Climate Equity (Koopman/co-author from community – July 15)

• October – Rogue to Go Box Pilot Program (Buck – August 19)

• November – Leaves and Composting Options (Rosenthal – September 16)

• December – CPAC Joint Commission article (McGinnis/CPAC members – October 14)

• TBD – pilot program for Straws on Demand, Juicebox Electric Car Charger, and addressing consumption emissions articles.

Koopman wrote the article “Closing the Climate Gap”. Buck/Moore moved/seconded the approval of the article as written. Voice vote: all ayes. Motion passed unanimously.

6.2. Sub-committee updates

6.2.1 Water

Stated above under other announcements.

6.2.2 Waste Prevention

Rosenthal and Koopman have been working on communication for the continuation of the Straws on Demand program. They will be informing businesses about the passing of State Senate Bill 90 which bans plastic straws as of January 1, 2020. Buck and Green are finalizing the Rogue to Go reusable to go containers program. They hope to order the containers in August and launch an external website for the program.

6.2.3 Air Quality

None. The Commission expressed interest in having the Subcommittee reach out to ACE hardware for a demo or sale on electric landscaping equipment.

6.2.4 Marketing and Outreach

Moore announced that the Subcommittee has had two meetings. The first included:

• Discussing action items presented by Green (see item 5.1 above);

• Setting up a possible communication website, potentially with an external sponsor; and

• Utilizing SharePoint documents for the Subcommittee to update.

Some discussion surrounded if the SharePoint documents should be shared with the entire Commission for everyone to view and edit. The conclusion is that individual or small groups should be assigned to different documents (no more than four Commissioners on one document) to avoid having an illegal public meeting. The documents in a draft form can be brought to the entire Commission at the regularly scheduled meeting for approval.

The second meeting focused on what projects Subcommittee members wanted to start. Cooper working on the climate stories video project and will have a script for approval at the next meeting. McGinnis and Moore are focusing on outreach in the form of presentations to neighborhoods in the hopes that the neighborhoods would set up work groups of their own.

7. (7:37) New Business

7.1. Task Teams/Sub Committees – what is more appropriate and when?

Discussed above.

7.2. What are the rules that govern both (a topic for Public meeting law)?

Discussed above.

8. (7:39) Wrap Up

8.1. Items to be added to next agenda

• Debrief on State Laws after legal review

• August: Plastic Wrap, Public Meeting Law, 10 by 20, Idling Ordinance

Rosenthal updated the Commission on the most recent conference with the Association of Oregon Recyclers. Hot topics from the conference included:

• New legislation on bans. Portland is enacting a ban on certain single use items as of October 1;

• Communities are dealing with recycling changes by limiting items that can be recycled, enacting rate increases, or both;

• The excess of plastic items and the extended producer responsibility (EPR); and

• A legislative plan to propose a bill for nationwide bottle redemption, ban on single use products, carry out bag fees, and labeling for recyclable or disposable products.

Rosenthal also mentioned the Fourth of July celebration Green Committee. The Committee sets standards for parade participants, such as not handing out excess flyers, and setting up bottle and can recycling containers around downtown.

Chair McGinnis adjourned the meeting at 7:51 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Taylor, Executive Assistant