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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016/08/03 - ADMIN - Minutes - Environment & Sustainability Commission - RegularMINUTES ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: SUSTAINABLE SLP ST. LOUIS PARK, MINNESOTA August 3, 2016 Community Room, City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Rachel Harris, Chris Anderson, Joe Barten, Terry Gips, Nancy Rose, Jayne Stephenson, Judy Voigt. EXCUSED ABSENCE: Francie Abramson, Ryan Griffin, Julie Rappaport. STAFF PRESENT: Shannon Pinc, Environment and Sustainability Coordinator; Jane Adade, Staff Intern; and Recording Secretary (Ms. Pappas). GUESTS: Jason Weston 1. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Chair Harris opened the meeting and welcomed the commissioners. The commissioners and staff introduced themselves. 3. The minutes of the July 6, 2016 were tabled to the next meeting. Nancy commented on the minutes and noted that when they are presented to the commission, they need to be in final form. She is hoping that any changes to the minutes can be sent in earlier to Shannon in order to have them included in the final version that goes to the commission for approval, and to the city council. She added it is important the minutes be quite accurate as they are the main communication the commission has with the council. Shannon stated she is willing to include the changes to wording in the minutes, but she is trying to balance this, as opposed to completely rewriting the minutes. Judy asked if recording the meeting would help with minutes. Terry added it would be nice to have the meetings recorded and added to the website or Facebook page for all to hear. 4. Business a. Overarching Goals – 24 goals – 2 goals per month to review i. Comprehensive Plan – Shannon stated she had met with Ms. McMonigal about the comprehensive plan and visioning process. She stated to Ms. McMonigal that this topic is of the most interest to the commission and that they would like input on the vision process sooner rather than later. Shannon explained the council has met with two visioning consultants, and will decide which consultant they will work with shortly. Joe asked what Shannon found out about the general process and timeline of the comprehensive plan. Shannon noted the process will be different this year, and the consultant will be a futurist. The plan will include much community engagement, and there will be meetings with stakeholders present. Visioning will be completed by the end of 2016, or early 2017, data will be reviewed and the comprehensive plan will be completed by mid-year 2018. Joe noted it would Environment and Sustainability -2- Aug 3, 2016 Commission Meeting be helpful if the commissioner were involved and part of community engagement. Chair Harris stated the comprehensive plan will involve community-wide conversations. It is a futurist project and an important part of city planning. She thanked Shannon for being an advocate for the commission. ii. Green Step Cities – Nancy said there is a meeting this Friday, Aug 5th. She noted the Living Streets project has been holding meetings related to 2017. Chair Harris stated it is her understanding the draft of the policy will be written before all elements are rolled out for the 2017 plan. iii. Climate Action Plan – Shannon stated tomorrow the consultants are due to respond to the RFP on Climate Action Plan. Larry Kraft and Ryan Griffin made changes to the RFP and they will be involved as responses are received. There has been lots of interest in this, and there will be opportunity to have input into the plan after a consultant is selected. Nancy asked how was the consultant was selected. Shannon stated a rubric was developed for staff to review, and that Larry Kraft and Ryan Griffin will provide input also. She added the climate action plan is due at the end of 2016. Shannon added the energy plan was written and developed already and has been presented by Ryan to the commission and city council. b. Reflective Exercise on Work Group Actions i. Individual complete assessment for each work group assigned – worksheets were passed out to the commissioners in order to provide feedback related to each work group they are a member of. Each commissioner was to rank the work group 1-5 on various questions, noting challenges and positive aspects of each work group. These rankings and comments will help staff prepare for the November retreat. Jane Adade will compile the results for review at the September meeting. ii. Discussion time on assessment - Chair Harris noted it will be interested to see how the commission evolves. She thanked the commissioners for reflecting on their work groups. Each commissioner reported to the group several of their comments related to the work group they are on. Judy spoke on the communication workgroup, stating the Facebook page was developed and adding it would be helpful to utilize Facebook more as a communication tool. She stated surveys and meeting could be held on Facebook, along with any information to share. She added that summaries of decisions made at meetings or meeting topics could be included on the Facebook page. Environment and Sustainability -3- Aug 3, 2016 Commission Meeting Terry commented on the communications work group also. He stated this group needs to meet with staff and move forward. Terry also commented on the education and action workgroup, saying they are still stymied by the conflict of interest issue. He added they have been asking the Mayor about this issue, and currently it continues to be an onerous burden. He added the conflict of interest policy needs to be clarified, with the city attorney. Terry stated that most of the commissioners have a conflict of interest, and typically it would just be declared and then the commissioner would not participate in a decision, discussion or vote. Chris added he agrees with Judy and Terry on their comments, adding the top goal of the communication work group was social media, followed by the website and videos. He added the group needs to meet and move forward in this area. Terry added we have let the commission and public down in this area. c. Announcements/Other i. Bring Your Own Bag – Judy noted the city council’s decision on the ordinance. She was in attendance at the meeting where the decision was made by the council. She stated the council decided to drop the Bring Your Own Bag conversation at this time, and noted the majority of the council members were in agreement on this. She said Mayor Spano said this was not an area of priority or where city’s resources should go, and that the climate action plan is the priority currently. Shannon added she was very surprised by this outcome, but thanked the commission for all their effort on this issue. Nancy stated this shows the city council respects our expertise. Terry thanked Judy for her synopsis of the council meeting on this topic, and thanked all the commissioners for their hard work on this issue, as well as Shannon and staff for all of their work. He noted this was a painful year of learning, and the commission all learned much from this process. He added he is concerned about the council members who did not agree with dropping the Bring Your Own Bag ordinance, and stated he hoped they might switch their view in the future. He added there are wants and desires from the council, but there are also some misunderstandings from the council on what the commission does, and what is in our work plan, and this creates much confusion and ambiguity. Chair Harris stated the council respects the commission, and we are fortunate there are many commissioners with expertise in many areas. Environment and Sustainability -4- Aug 3, 2016 Commission Meeting Terry added he wanted to acknowledge Judy and Ryan for their work on the Bring Your Own Bag ordinance, and added at the core, their evidence-based paper was what assisted on the outcome of this issue. He added he hopes the commission can continue to bring it forward. ii. Bike Tour August 14 – Chair Harris stated the transportation work group, bike group, and city staff with Chris Iverson on staff have developed the bike tour, which will be held August 14, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. She added it is an opportunity to come together to meet at the Steel Toe Brewery and there will be a 9-mile route with 6 stops along the way. Additionally, city staff and councilmembers will attend to see what’s working and what’s been a challenge. This information will be used in future Connect the Park plans. She stated those in attendance should bring family members, and there will be a debrief session at Steel Toe Brewery afterwards. Terry thanked Ryan, Rachel and Marc Berg for their work on this event. iii. Potential dates for fall retreat - The commission will look at Sundays November 6, 13 or 20 as potential dates for the retreat, and Shannon will poll the group on the best date and timeframe. Chair Harris stated the November retreat will be held on a Sunday afternoon for three hours, and will be modeled on last year’s retreat, including the agenda and an external facilitator. iv. Other Terry stated on behalf of Julie, the St. Louis Park Eco Garden Tour and Lunch will be held Sunday, Aug 28, 9:30 a.m. Folks will tour various gardens, and do some visioning also during the event. Jayne talked about her student experience at Cornell in New York City. She stated she attended this program on her own and took a three-week class called “Green Cities and Sustainable Futures”. She explained the class was about the history of city planning and design, focusing on ancient civilizations and how they worked with nature. It also covered modern day issues, politics, environmental issues, eco crises, and how capitalism in our future economy will need to shift. She added the class was recommended to her, and it focused on how humans view nature. She will receive three college credits for the class, and added it was basically a whole semester in three weeks. The commissioners commended Jayne on her taking of the class, and all that she learned. Chair Harris stated she has accepted a new position and will be resigning from the commission effective immediately, in order to focus on her new job, with Hub Collective – a company that works with collective impact structures. She stated it is a community-focused endeavor and added she has enjoyed her three years on the commission, and looks forward to cheering the commission on from the sidelines. Environment and Sustainability -5- Aug 3, 2016 Commission Meeting She will begin her new position at the end of August, and this meeting will be her last. Chris stated he will be happy to support the new chair, but cannot lead the commission with his work load. He added that both Rachel and Terry have done a fantastic job as chairs of the commission. Terry asked if staff could review the bylaws to see how the commission will elect a new chair. Jane will look into this. Shannon also thanked Chair Harris for the time they had together, and she added she appreciated working with her. She added Chair Harris helped the commission get clarity and get on track and focus on their goals, adding she will be missed by the group and by herself, and she wished her the best. The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 p.m.