City of Lawrence

Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB)

January 9, 2008 (5:30 PM) Meeting Minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Chris Cobb, Paul Dietz, Dickie Heckler, Sarah Hill-Nelson, Daniel Poull, Simran Sethi, Brian Sifton, Cindy Strecker
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Matt Lehrman, Laura Routh
STAFF PRESENT:	Tammy Bennett, Kathy Richardson
CITY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:
PUBLIC PRESENT:	Ian Spomer, Hudson Luce

ANNOUCEMENTS and INTRODUCTIONS

There were a few new SAB members appointed recently.

Action: Kathy Richardson will provide revised list of members and their terms to the Board.

Approval of meeting Minutes

Motion and second to approve the December 12, 2007 minutes (Cobb/Heckler). Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Recycling Survey Update

Tammy Bennett, Assistant Public Works Director, informed SAB that she has completed the purchase order for payment of the Recycling Survey. The purchase order has been approved by the City Manager’s Office. The City will be working with ETC Institute. This company has conducted several surveys for the City of Lawrence including a citizen satisfaction survey, a city employee satisfaction survey and a Transit survey. The City would like to invite Chris Tatham, Vice President of ETC Institute, to present the Draft Recycling Survey to SAB at the next scheduled board meeting in February.

Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Protection

Sarah Hill-Nelson reported on her conversation with Dennis Murphey, Chief Environmental Officer in Kansas City, MO. Details of their conversation had been e-mailed to SAB prior to the meeting. Sarah stressed at tonight’s meeting that Dennis Murphey had been hired prior to the formation of their Climate Protection Plan Steering Committee and she wondered if Lawrence should address the staff issue first before forming the Task Force. It was decided that SAB should proceed with asking the City Commission to form a Mayor’s Task Force.

SAB reviewed their written proposal to the Mayor and City Commissioners regarding the creation of the Climate Protection Task Force (proposal attached).

There was a lot of discussion about the importance of the members picked for the Lawrence Climate Protection Task Force. SAB wants a good balance of industry, non-profit organizations, scientists, citizens, etc. The board would like the Mayor to appoint Task Force members in consultation with SAB.

Action: Sarah Hill-Nelson will make edits tonight to the Climate Protection Task Force proposal.

Motion and second to give authority to the chairperson, Daniel Poull, to approve the edited version of the proposal (Strecker/Heckler).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Final draft memo will be sent to the City Manager’s Office via Tammy Bennett for inclusion in the City Commission Agenda on January 13, 2008.

Sarah Hill-Nelson informed SAB about the KC Climate Protection Plan Steering Committee and how they had a lot of key players within the community. Their members were:

Kansas City Climate Protection Plan Steering Committee

Chairwoman: Joanne Collins, former councilmember, former chairwoman of Mid-America Regional Council’s Air Quality Forum, former member of Missouri Air Conservation Commission

J.C. Alonzo, co-chairman of the Environmental Management Commission
Bob Berkebile, KC American Institute of Architects, U.S. Green Building Council, BNIM Architects
Scott Burnett, 1st District member, Jackson County Legislature
Bill Downey, president and CEO, KC Power & Light
Dee Evans, president, Beacon Hill Neighborhood Association
Pete Levi, president, Greater KC Chamber of Commerce
Bob Mann, founding director, Bridging the Gap
Frank Pogge, director, City of KC, MO, Water Services Department
David Warm, executive director, Mid-America Regional Council
Bridgette Williams, executive director, Heart of America Labor Council, Greater KC AFL-CIO

Lawrence Sustainability II Update

Sarah Hill-Nelson informed SAB that the proposed Lawrence Sustainability week would take place mid-fall this year. Sarah stated that Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to speak at the Kansas Renewable Energy Conference in late September. She wondered if something could be coordinated so that he would also speak at the Lawrence Sustainability week. Sarah will look into it and report back to the board.

Discussion on Airport Business Park

SAB questioned whether or not to a stance on this issue as a board or as individuals. There’s been much discussion in the past regarding this topic. Daniel Poull asked if the board had received the letter from the Citizens for Responsible Planning (CRP) which was forwarded by Carol Schmitt.

Action: Daniel Poull will e-mail SAB members the letter from the Citizens for Responsible Planning. If all SAB members are in agreement then Simran Sethi and Paul Dietz will draft a letter in support of this CRP letter.

Motion and second to give authority to the chairperson, Daniel Poull, to approve the SAB letter to City Commission regarding the Airport Business Park (Strecker/Heckler).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Discussion on Enlarging the Sustainability Advisory Board

Motion and second to recommend to the City Commission to enlarge the Sustainability Advisory Board to 12 members (Heckler/Sethi).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Discussion on Greening Our Tax Abatement

Laura Routh, Chris Cobb, Sarah Hill-Nelson and Paul Dietz met with Commissioner Rob Chestnut to talk about the greening of our tax abatements. Paul reported that Commissioner Chestnut agreed that the environmental part of the current policy is very vague. It was also reported that Laura Routh suggested that tax abatement applications include verifiable and quantifiable environmental information, including the following: A company’s EPA ID # (related to their status as a hazardous waste generator); review of facility/company regulatory compliance status and history; proposed usage of and impacts to water, sewer, waste and energy infrastructure. Sarah reported that Commissioner Chestnut believed that the City’s new Economic Development Coordinator could possibly be tasked to create a system for these public incentives.

Sarah suggested inviting the City’s Economic Development Coordinator to a future SAB meeting once the position was filled.

Invitations to Upcoming Meetings

February meeting: Chris Tatham with ETC Institute (Recycling Survey); WRR Staff; Commissioner Dever or Commissioner Chestnut

Future meetings: Peak Oil Task Force; Economic Development Coordinator; Parks & Rec

Waste Reduction and Recycling (WRR) Report

Kathy Richardson reported that 4 new Mixed Paper Recycling bins were ready to be place in the community. The new locations will be Hy-Vee on Clinton Parkway, Dillon’s on 6^th, Hobby Lobby and Hillcrest Shopping Center.

Action: Kathy Richardson will e-mail the WRR report to SAB (attached).

Daniel Poull, Dickie Heckler and Chris Cobb assigned up to help with Earth Day planning. Other SAB members expressed interest in volunteering the day of the event. Kathy mentioned there were plans to look into having an Electronic Recycling Collection Event in conjunction with Earth Day.

Meeting adjourned 7:30 p.m.

Next meeting: February 13, 2008

Attachments:

SAB’s Climate Protection Task Force proposal to the City Commission
Waste Reduction and Recycling Division report

ATTACHMENT: SAB’s Climate Protection Task Force PROPOSAL

As successfully modeled by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, we propose the creation of a Climate Protection Taskforce. This body will undertake planning and goal setting for the purpose of significantly reducing our Community’s greenhouse gas emissions while preserving economic development, and promoting environmental and economically sustainable transportation and energy generation options.

To that end, we request that the City of Lawrence appoint and empower a Mayor’s Taskforce, the mission of which will be to draft a Climate Protection Plan for the City of Lawrence.

This Taskforce shall represent key stakeholders from the Community at large. Proposed membership would include the following: City of Lawrence (Mayor or Commissioner), Lawrence Chamber of Commerce (CEO), Westar Energy (upper level management), The World Company (owner), the medical field, the environmental community (a leader of a regional non-profit), the construction and building trade, USD #497, Kansas University, Haskell Indian Nations University, Hallmark or similar community industry (upper level management), environmental scientist (David Braaten or Johannes Fedemma), building design and or engineering (a regional architect or engineer familiar with the concepts of sustainability), a citizen advocate, and a representative of the Sustainability Advisory Board.

The Plan shall include specific objectives and recommendations to ensure effective climate protection polices and programs, including further implementation of the Cool Cities Campaign, Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, the EPA Green Power Community Challenge, and a baseline assessment of the City’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The Taskforce shall guide the City though the process of effectively implementing the Climate Protection Plan, which will include infrastructure policy guidance and public education components.

The Taskforce shall be comprised of not more than twelve members, balanced among stakeholder interests, each to be appointed by the Mayor.

Sources for more information:

http://www.kcmo.org/manager.nsf/web/cpp

http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/liveweb/Documents/Document.aspx?q=ddw2%2FFkJwdJ5PZlNdDzt4fYlA9cr45sCuUGF2Mnx2278Z71fwXN5S91GB%2BEfJxwY

http://www.climatemanual.org/Cities/index.htm

http://www.marc.org/archives/mayorsagreement.htm

ATTACHMENT: Waste Reduction and Recycling Division REPORT

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Program

Month	HHW Drop-Offs	Battery Bags in Mail	Appt No Show	Home-bound	Saturday Collection	Abandoned Waste	Orphan Waste	SQG Inventory	SQG Drop-off	Product Reuse
January	119	7	12	0	0	2	0	2	2	18
February	76	5	10	1	0	1	0	8	6	8
March	178	3	6	0	0	2	0	5	4	20
April	190	4	13	1	12	5	0	10	9	39
May	258	5	11	1	33	6	0	12	10	55
June	320	5	6	0	15	10	0	8	9	56
July	301	4	9	0	13	3	0	11	11	76
August	263	4	12	0	17	5	0	7	6	80
September	221	1	13	0	15	4	0	10	7	58
October	210	4	6	0	17	1	0	9	11	51
November	188	5	14	0	0	4	0	7	6	31
December	77	3	6	0	0	0	0	3	2	7
TOTAL	2401	50	118	3	122	43	0	92	83	499