2021-11 AgendaSUSTAINBILITY COMMISSION
Regular Meeting Agenda
Thursday, December 9th, 2021, 7:00 pm
Held Virtually on WebEx
Commission Members Staff/Others Liaisons
Jeremy Barthels, Carolyn Engeldinger, Amanda
Kueper, Alyssa Sanden, Brian Shaw
Rachel Lindholm (Sustainability Specialist)
Roxanne Nelson (MN GreenCorps)
Ben Whalen (City Council)
Jenna Hanson (CSC)
1. Call to Order/Welcome
2. Approval of Minutes/Agenda
Regular Meeting Minutes: October 28th, 2021
3. Public Comment
Any resident comment and items not printed on agenda
League of Women Voters (Donna Drummond)
4. Staff Reports
Organized Collection (Lindholm)
Partners in Energy (Lindholm)
Other (commissioner recruitment/applications, etc.) (Lindholm)
5. Discussion Items
Letter of Support for Hennepin County Anaerobic Digester (Kueper)
2022 Commission Work-plan Brainstorming (Kueper, Lindholm)
6. Action Items
Letter of Support for Hennepin County Anaerobic Digester (Kueper)
7. Committee Reports
Community Services Commission (CSC) (Hanson)
8. Next Meeting
Thursday, January 27th, 2021, 7:00 pm
Bartholomew Room, City Hall
9. Adjournment
REGULAR SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday, October 28th, 2021
Bartholomew Room, City Hall
PRESENT
COMMISSIONERS:, Carolyn Engeldinger, Amanda Kueper, Alyssa Sanden, Jeremy Barthels, Brian Shaw
STAFF: Rachel Lindholm, Roxanne Nelson (MN GreenCorps)
LIAISONS: Jenna Hanson (CSC)
ABSENT Laura Durenberger-Grunow, Ben Whalen (City Council)
Call to Order
Kueper called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
Approval of Minutes/Agenda
Engeldinger moved to approve the agenda and previous minutes, seconded by Barthels, approved by all.
Public Comment
None
Staff Reports
Other (PiE, commissioner re-application)
Lindholm gave an update on the PiE Business Blitz this week – helping businesses with lighting audits. Lindholm also talked
about the commissioner re-application process for those with 2 year terms. She will send details and application information out
to the commissioners. Shaw reminded commissioners of the Buckthorn event at Wood Lake Nature Center on 11/14.
Organized Collection
Lindholm recapped the organized collection roll-out and transition to service in the new system. Almost all households had new
carts delivered by the end of the first week. Waste Mgmt’s roll-out was slower and had more problems, and the City worked to
hold them accountable through the process. All haulers spent time removing extra carts and swapping sizes for resid ents,
especially if they were delivered sizes that were different from what they had before.
Most current complaints are related to missed pick-ups. City staff are working with the specific haulers experiencing these issues
to confirm service details, like walk-up service and routing details. Staff are also working in-depth on organics education as the
new service becomes adopted more by residents. Commissioners pointed out that Aspen organics carts aren’t all labeled and
suggested using the county labels for them, potentially as an MRC project. Commissioners also suggested posting on social
media about billing info and misconceptions, including auto-pay, refunds, and more.
Discussion Items
Hennepin County Anaerobic Digester
Chair Kueper described her previous communication with Ben Knudson from Hennepin County regarding their efforts to
construct an anaerobic digester. She described the significance of establishing this site in relations to many organics progr ams
starting in the County in the near future, especially Richfield’s own program. She proposed drafting a letter of support from the
commissioner and commissioners discussed points to include in the letter. Lindholm will research and provide the tonnage
collected from the curbside organics program and the drop-off program to use in the letter.
Action Items
No official action items happened during the meeting but Kueper did discuss action items for commissioners to do before the
next meeting, including:
Committee Reports
Hanson reported on the CSC’s last meeting, giving an update on:
- Fremont and Christian park playgrounds are on hold until 2022 due to supply chain issues
- DNR grant was received to plant 100 trees
- Half-Haunted Halloween event was a success
- Dog costume contest at the dog park
- WLNC bonding bill tour went well – legislators came to learn about the project!
- VEAP food drive – 12/1 – 12/15 with a 5,000 lb goal. 11/24 deadline for signing up to host. There will be public drop sites at
many city buildings as well.
Other/Next Meeting/Adjournment
Next Meeting: Thursday, November 18th, 7:00 pm, Bartholomew Room.
Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Sanden, seconded by Shaw. Meeting adjourned by Kueper at 8:10 pm.
DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC