2023-4 Agenda
SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION
Regular Meeting Agenda
Thursday, April 27th, 2023, 7:00 pm
Heredia Room, City Hall
Commission Members
Staff/Others
Liaisons
Amanda Kueper, Bryan Beltran, Matt Dobratz, Adam Burnside, Craig Heinen, Logan Thein, Santwana Dasgupta
Rachel Lindholm (Sustainability Specialist)
Ben Whalen (City Council)
David Vrieze Daniels (CSC)
Call to Order/Welcome
Approval of Minutes/Agenda
Regular Meeting Minutes: March 30th, 2023
Public Comment
Any resident comment and items not printed on agenda
Staff Reports (Lindholm)
Eco Fair
Community Gardens
Tree Sale
Earth Day reminders
Discussion Items
Resident Digital Sustainability Guide (Dasgupta)
2023 Workplan (Kueper)
Action Items
Secretary Election
Committee Reports
Community Services Commission (CSC) (Vrieze Daniels)
Next Meeting
Thursday, May 25th, 2023, 7:00 pm
Heredia Room, City Hall
Adjournment
DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC
DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC
DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC
DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC
DRAFT MINUTES UNTIL APPROVED BY THE SC
REGULAR SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday, March 30th, 2023
Bartholomew Room, City Hall
PRESENT
COMMISSIONERS: Amanda Kueper, Santwana Dasgupta, Logan Thein, Adam Burnside
STAFF: Rachel Lindholm
LIAISONS: David Vrieze Daniels (CSC)
ABSENT
Craig Heinen, Matt Dobratz, Bryan Beltran, Ben Whalen (City Council) </w:t></w:r></w:p></w:tc>
Call to Order
Kueper called the meeting to order at 7:01 pm.
Approval of Minutes/Agenda
Burnside motioned, Thein seconded, approved by all.
Public Comment
Susan Rosenberg with the League of Women Voters attended to update the Commission on the upcoming Eco Fair, exhibitors, activities, speakers, and need for volunteers. Dasgupta shared
a potential community resource for translation services.
Staff Reports
Organized Collection/Organics
Compostable bags are now available again this year for those participating in any of the city’s organics programs. Bags can be picked up at Wood Lake Nature Center or the Community Center.
Tree Sale
A pilot program this year will sell 50 trees and be expanded if successful. The sale will go live on 4/6 and pick-up will be at Public Works on May 6th. More information is available
at www.richfieldmn.gov/treesale.
Community garden
Registration is open for the plots. The timeline for the season remains unknown and dependent on the weather and ground thawing, hopefully early May.
Rain Barrels
The city sale was so successful that it sold out within 24 hours. It will be expanded next year. Pick-up will be at the Richfield Farmer’s Market on 5/6.
Earth Day
There will be a city event at Wood Lake on 4/23. Lindholm asked commissioners if there is interest in having a joint clean-up with CSC again. Commissioners said yes. Staff will coordinate
a clean-up on 4/29 from 10-12 at Roosevelt Park for commissioners and other interested residents. Lindholm will also invite commissioners to the annual Vets Park clean-up held for staff,
council, and commissioners during Earth Week.
CAP prioritization
There will be a joint work session with the Sust Commission and City Council on May 23rd at 5:45 P.M. in the Bartholomew Room. This work session will discuss the work done by pale BLUE
dot and city staff to conduct a greenhouse gas inventory, add targets for emission reduction, and identify prioritized CAP actions.
Discussion Items
Digital Sustainability Guide
Dasgupta shared existing resources from Hennepin County and mentioned using those in compiling the content for the guide to cut down on work needed. There was some discussion over whether
this meant linking to the pages or using the content as a starting point for the content in the guide. The subgroup will meet and discuss content formatting to make sure there is direction
for all commissioners writing content.
Workplan Brainstorming
Commissioners each went around and identified ideas from the 2022 list that they were still interested in pursuing, or new ideas to add to the list. Kueper asked commissioners to review
the list before the next meeting and identify specific project(s) that commissioners might like to be the lead on. Lindholm will send out the list to commissioners and it will be discussed
at the next meeting.
Action Items
Elections
Kueper moved to nominate herself for the chair position. Thein seconded, and all voted in favor. Thein moved to nominate himself for the vice-chair position. Dasgupta seconded, and all
voted in favor. It was decided that the Secretary position would be tabled until the next meeting to see if any of the absent commissioners would be interested. Burnside said he’d be
willing to do it if no one else wanted to.
Committee Reports
For the CSC, Vrieze Daniels reported:
Approaching the MN Legislature about introducing a local sales tax in Richfield. The three projects would include: Wood Lake Nature Center, Veterans Park/Arena Redevelopment, and a new
community center.
Staff testified on behalf of the Wood Lake Nature Center building project in the Minnesota Bonding Bill.
New playgrounds will be built at Sheridan and Monroe Parks (2022 capital budget).
Recreation Department will be working on our mission, vision, and values statements.
Red, White, and Blue Days Committee has had a member being investigated for mishandling of funds. The group will likely have another scaled-down 4th of July event in 2023.
Staff drafted guidelines to outline Richfield’s relationships with non-profit community groups when partnering.
Other/Next Meeting/Adjournment
Next Meeting: Thursday, April 27, 7:00pm in the Heredia Room.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:49 pm