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2022-9 AgendaSUSTAIN ABILITY COMMISSION Regular Meeting Agenda Thursday, September 22nd, 2022, 7:00 pm Heredia Room, City Hall Commission Members Staff/Others Liaisons Amanda Kueper, Jeremy Barthels, Adam Burnside, Craig Heinen, Logan Thein, Amy Utley, Santwana Dasgupta Rachel Lindholm (Sustainability Specialist) Ben Whalen (City Council) Jenna Hanson (CSC) 1. Call to Order/Welcome 2. Approval of Minutes/Agenda  Regular Meeting Minutes: August 25th, 2022 3. Public Comment  Any resident comment and items not printed on agenda 4. Staff Reports  Organized Collection (Lindholm)  Partners in Energy (Lindholm)  Community Gardens (Lindholm)  Miscellaneous Items (Lindholm) 5. Discussion Items  Commissioner 2022 workplan items  Digital Resident Sustainability Guide (Barthels)  Tree Species Recommendations (Kueper) 6. Action Items  None 7. Committee Reports  Community Services Commission (CSC) (Hanson) 8. Next Meeting Thursday, October 27th, 2022, 7:00 pm City Hall, Heredia Room 9. Adjournment REGULAR SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION MEETING Thursday, August 25, 2022 Heredia Room, City Hall PRESENT COMMISSIONERS: Logan Thein, Amanda Kueper, Santwana Dasgupta, Craig Heinen STAFF: Rachel Lindholm, Amy Markle LIAISONS: None ABSENT Ben Whalen (City Council), Jenna Hanson, Jeremy Barthels, Amy Utley, Adam Burnside Call to Order Kueper called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. Approval of Minutes/Agenda Heinen moved to approve the agenda and previous minutes, seconded by Thein, approved by all. Public Comment Ava Tamis informed the Commission about the Buzz Fest event and invited the commission to participate at the event. She also requested Heinen to do a presentation on Rain Barrels. Rachel will send an email around looking for volunteers to staff the table. Staff Reports Organized Collection Lindholm discussed the assessment process. An initial review of ~10,000 accounts showed that around 500 people have unpaid balances over $100; some payments are starting to come in. This 5% default rate is on par with other organized collection programs. A letter will be sent out in September notifying people that there will be an assessment public hearing in October. The audit on recycling will start in October. The samples reviewed for each hauler will be analyzed for percentages of each commodity – cardboard, aluminum, glass bottles etc. – and this will be used to determine the amount of credit residents get back for recycling. There are still some bags left for composting food waste and these will be distributed in two steps. They will first be offered to those who still have not received bags, and then all remaining bags will be opened for everyone to come and collect. The bags will be available at the Community Center. Kueper suggested that since the one-year anniversary is coming up, the city can encourage more people to join the program. Partners in Energy The city is launching a campaign for people to consider Windsource for their energy needs. There will be inserts put in bills and those who do not get paper bills will need to access it online. On September 24 th, at the Richfield Farmer’s Market, all energy will be powered by Windsource. There will be a table with information and giveaways. Community Gardens The original plan was to establish three community gardens. The plan has been revised to establish one garden at Veteran’s Park to serve as a model for the remaining two gardens. This initial garden will help address different concerns raised by community members who live near the location of the other two gardens. The overall schedule remains the same; engagement of community members to set up the space will start in the fall and the garden will be launched on Mothe r’s day 2023. It is also planned to have a pollinator garden set up near the community gardens. Butterfly / Pollinator Garden Lindholm gave a background on concerns raised about some of the plants used in the butterfly / pollinator garden in Augsburg Park. Staff removed those plans and replaced them with those recommended by community members on Facebook. Staff will work to present these opportunities to the Sustainability Commission for feedback and take that into consideration on future similar projects. Climate Action Plan The city is exploring the option of hiring a consultant to review the Climate Action Plan and help prioritize the action item s for implementation. Lindholm and Markle also explained the strategic planning process and direction staff have been given by the council and how this pertains to the CAP, mostly by increasing staff and resident education. Dasgupta voiced concern that the strategic planning does not go far enough in recognizing climate emergency or environmental justice. She recommended that the Council consider both as cross cutting issues for all five priority areas and not put the onus of addressing climate change on the Sustainability Commission. Lindholm and Markle will talk to the city manager to see if environmental justice and climate change can become cross cutting issues. Staff also encouraged Dasgupta to voice her concern at a Council meeting. Miscellaneous DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC The city is going to use ARPA funds on three projects: 1) A splash pad for residents to cool off during hot w eather. This will address equity as the usage of the splash pads will be free. 2) Public Works is leading an EAB project in which private resid ents can benefit from a cost-sharing program to remove ash trees infected with EAB from their properties and 3) conduct energy audits on city buildings to recommend how they can be more energy efficient. Discussion Items Tree Trust The trees will be replaced at Donaldson Park on September 15 and at Christian Park on September 22. The commission recommended that the maples be switched out with crabapple and Kentucky Coffeetree, European or Japanese varities should be swapped with regionally native species, and the same tree should not be clustered together. Action Items None Committee Reports None Other/Next Meeting/Adjournment Next Meeting: Thursday, September 29, 2022 Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Heinen, seconded by Thein. Meeting adjourned by Kueper at 8:45pm.