HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014/11/05 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - RegularMINUTES
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: SUSTAINABLE SLP
ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA
November 5, 2014
Community Room, City Hall
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mark Eilers, Terry Gips, Rachel Harris, Tom Hillstrom, Cindy Larson
O’Neil, Alex Sundvall, Judy Voigt, Chris Anderson, Nancy Rose, Karen Kaphingst, Rene
McGarvey and Ryan Griffin
STAFF PRESENT: Phillip Elkin
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:34 p.m.
2. The minutes of the October 1, 2014 meeting were unanimously approved.
3. Phil introduced the new commission members Nancy Rose and Karen Kaphingst. Nancy
and Karen gave a brief background of their experiences and their reasons for joining the
Environment and Sustainability Commission. The introductions continued as each of the
current commissioners introduced themselves to the new members and shared their own
background stories. Each of the work group leaders gave a brief description of their
groups and accomplishments.
4. Chair Harris reminded each of the work groups about producing their work group
description for the ESC web page. Currently, the Energy Work Group and the
Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Work Group were the only submissions.
Commissioner Anderson stated that he would like to see a new work group that focused
on land, water and wildlife and proposed that it could be combined with the native
landscape group. The commissioners discussed the possibility of merging groups to
become more effective.
5. Commissioner Hillstrom led the next discussion, updating the commissioners on the ESC
web page on the City of St. Louis Park’s web site. The discussion focused on the layout
of the page and the current buttons and improvements. Commissioner Hillstrom had
previously sent each of the commissioners several examples of web pages from other
cities for ideas. Commissioner Anderson questioned the accessibility of the ESC page,
noting that the homepage has a link to environment which is not connected or linked to
the ESC page. It was also noted that there was an energy resources page not linked or
associated with the ESC. The group discussed ideas on how to configure the ESC page
to look cleaner and attract visitors. Suggestions that came out of this discussion were:
• Add the words “work group” to the descriptions
• Change the buttons to photographs or images rather than the logo icons
• Replace the current buttons with Green Step Cities; Energy; Environmentally
Preferred Purchasing; Communications; Education; and Water, Land and
Wildlife.
The discussion ended with Commissioner Larson volunteering to go through the web site
and look for duplicity, and Commissioner Hillstrom would meet with Jamie Zwilling to
discuss the proposed changes.
6. Commissioner Larson and Commissioner Voigt gave the commissioners an update from
the Energy Work Group, focusing on opportunities with the Clean Energy Resource
Team (CERTS).
7. The work group discussion was tabled as each group leader was asked to submit a written
write-up of activities for the next meeting. Commissioner Kaphingst and Commissioner
Rose were asked which workgroups they were interested in and both responded favorably
to the newly formed Water, Land and Wildlife Work Group.
8. The meeting adjourned at 8:05