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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-03-12 PACKET 06.City of Cottage Grove Environmental Commission Workshop February 12, 2014 A workshop meeting of the Environmental Commission was held at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 Ravine Parkway South, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, on Wednesday, February 12, 2014, in the Council Chambers and telecast on Local Government Cable Channel 16. Call to Order Chair Owen called the Environmental Commission meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Attendees Members Present: Karla Bigham, Ryan Fleming, Rita Isker, Shauna Klug, Thaddeus Owen, Rosemary Palmer, Brandon Smith Members Absent: David Olson Others Present: Jennifer Levitt, City Engineer Ryan Burfeind, Graduate Engineer Emily Schmitz, Code Enforcement Officer Jen Peterson, City Council Liaison Approval of Agenda Bigham made a motion that the agenda be amended to add 6.3 Environmental Award for Busi- ness. Klug seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Bigham made a motion to approve the amended agenda. Klug seconded. The motion was approved unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). Open Forum None New Business 6.1 Update from Washington County — Danielle Lesmeister Danielle Lesmeister stated that Washington County is looking to work more closely with cities and townships in the future. She presented information on Divert 70, which is the County's im- proved internal recycling and composting program. She offered to provide more information to if the City is interested in modeling the County's recycling programs for City use. Owen asked if the Phase I rollout included plastics 1 through 7, single sort, and composting. Lesmeister re- sponded yes. Owen asked where the compost is sent. Lesmeister stated that she would find out that information and update the Commission on that. Bigham asked if they are planning to do a final report to see if the program would work for the public. Lesmeister responded the report would probably be done after Phase II rolls out. Bigham asked if that could be shared with the Environmental Commissions in the County. Lesmeister said yes, along with sharing promotional Environmental Commission Minutes February 12, 2014 Page 2 of 5 materials. Owen stated that he likes the labeling and coloring of the cans and he would be inter- ested in knowing how the employees reacted to having less trash space at their own desks. Lesmeister then provided background on the scorecard and recycling grant program outcomes. She stated that the County is working on the financial aspects of the programs, which are an effort to increase residential recycling rates. Owen noted that the UK will be issuing a report re- garding recycling rates utilizing positive reinforcement. Lesmeister stated that the two -year recy- cling grant that Cottage Grove receives was extended for 2014 so the funding application would stay the same for this year but there will be changes in 2015 with the implementation of the best practices continuum. The County now realizes that they need to be more active with cities to offer more assistance; one idea is to host quarterly recycling coordinator meetings. Lesmeister reported on the website, BizRecycling, which was developed through the Ramsey/ Washington County Resource Recovery Project. This site provides resources for businesses in both counties to receive free technical assistance on recycling programs. She brought brochures on the program that can be passed out to local businesses. Lesmeister then talked about the progress of the ISD #833 recycling program. Owen asked for an update on the activities being conducted in the schools. Levitt stated that the City has been approached by the schools to initiate programs and staff reached out to Pine Hill, Hillside, and Crestview Elementary Schools to offer resources and assistance to help bring environmental education into the schools. Pine Hill Elementary expressed interest in scheduling a date in March for the Klein Theater to provide performances. She asked the Commission to brainstorm an incentive program that the City could partner with the County, such as a no -waste lunch. She noted that Reduce - Reuse - Recycle lunch bags were handed out at elementary schools and maybe that could be expanded school wide, but ideas are needed on how to measure levels of improvement for the incentive grants that the County offers. 6.2 Update LED Street Lighting Conversion Feasibility Study — Kent Wolf, Ameresco Kent Wolf, Business Development Manager with Ameresco, which is an energy solutions com- pany, explained they are working with the City on opportunities to reduce energy consumption using a performance contract. He stated that they are working on a detailed audit /study on con- verting street lighting to LED -type lights from the high intensity discharge fixtures currently being used. He provided a power point presentation describing their company; the performance con- tract, which is a process where energy improvements can be made and the savings generated pays for the project; and the audit /study they are performing for the City. He stated that his company guarantees the energy savings from any improvements and equipment installed for 15 years. The City Council directed them to develop a project that would have an effective cost payback within 15 years. The project will be done in a multi -year approach. Phase 1 will be ar- terial streets and roads. The equipment will last for 100,000 burn hours; the high pressure sodium lighting that is currently used lasts about 20,000 burn hours. The City has over 2,200 street lights total, and Phase I includes 755 lights, which is the equivalent of about 500,000 kilo- watt hours of electrical savings and gas emissions of 72 cars or 131 tons of waste sent to land- fills. LED lights have directional placement within fixtures, which helps reduce light pollution. It also has higher lumens per watt. He displayed a map showing the locations they are looking at for Phase 1. They will also be providing street lighting monitoring solutions that gives the capa- bility of monitoring outage reports automatically through wi -fi. They are still working on the final numbers. Environmental Commission Minutes February 12, 2014 Page 3 of 5 Owen asked about the comparison of material and life -cycle cost savings. Wolf responded that the City has a five -year cycle for re- lamping their street lights and ten years for re- lamping and re- ballasting. There is no maintenance for the LED fixtures, and the life expectancy for the drivers and modules is 100,000 hours of operation at just a fraction of the energy consumption costs for high pressure sodium fixtures. Wolf stated that they have done the concept approval and the preliminary analysis, and they are doing the final analysis in the detailed audit. They will ask the City Council to approve an energy services agreement. The next step is for Ameresco to complete the study and deliver a detailed audit to the City in early March. Before the Council meets, they will present the findings to staff. They would then present the detailed information to the City Council on March 19. Klug asked how long it would take to recoup the cost of the new unit. Wolf responded that state statute allows cities to finance these projects out to 20 years. The City Council's directive is to make sure that the project has a payback within 15 years or less. Klug asked if there is data on how quickly each individual light will pay for itself. Wolf stated that their study looks at all of the lights, so the savings are generated month by month, year by year. It is generally looked at as a grouping of the entire project as a whole. Bigham asked if the savings over 5 years includes labor costs for maintenance. Wolf responded that the directive they received from the City is that they will not use the maintenance savings cost to justify the project. This project will not be eliminating positions; it will generate a positive payback based on energy and avoided costs. Bigham asked if that will be tracked or measured to know what the savings are in labor hours. Levitt responded yes. One of the things we want to strive towards, which was a directive Council provided staff at their workshop, is how we track street lights that are out, how long it takes to respond to it, and how much labor is going to ad- dressing outages. In the feasibility phase we want to look at features such as dimmable con- trols, wi -fi connections to signal which lights need service, and figuring out if there are ways to address wattage output as it starts to decrease in its life and provide those different types of drivers. She noted that the Commission reviewed in great detail the White Group's report on en- vironmental programming for this facility. She stated that it may be prudent provide the detailed feasibility report to the Commission so you can make a formal recommendation to Council. Bigham believes this program will result in big savings and will be a more efficient use of labor hours and taxpayer dollars. Owen asked if the short term savings are from the maintenance and labor of changing out light bulbs more frequently but the long -term savings come once the LED infrastructure is in place after the 15 -year period. Levitt responded that was correct, the main objective was to ensure a financial payback in 15 years, which was thought more beneficial to the taxpayers to see more savings more immediate rather than stretched out over 20 years. Wolf stated that any savings that is generated above what they guarantee goes right back to the City and after 15 years the City would capture all of the savings. Old Business 6.1 Revised Work Plan Discussion Schmitz summarized the revised work plan, including actions required to meet Step 3 require- ments for GreenSteps and education opportunities within the community. Burfeind discussed Environmental Commission Minutes February 12, 2014 Page 4 of 5 continued updating of policies and monitoring of permits and regulations that are part of the work plan. They recommended approval of the updated work plan. Owen asked if the best practices that needed to be implemented in order to reach the Step 3 in the GreenSteps Program are reflected in the short -term goals. Schmitz responded that was cor- rect. She consolidated all the short -term goals that reflect the best practices that need to be completed, so hopefully within the year the City can reach Step 3. Bigham made a motion to accept the Environmental Commission's revised work plan. Palmer seconded. Motion passed unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). 6.2 Youth Member Seats for Environmental Commission Levitt stated that adding two youth seats was discussed last year, but it is now conducive to do this because there are two vacant seats on the Commission. She explained that the ordinance amendment would reduce the Environmental Commission to seven members and add two youth members. Bigham asked if there is a plan to get this information out to the schools directly. Levitt stated that the City's Communications Coordinator would advertise locally, use social media, and partner with the school district to get out the word. Owen asked if they would be full members of the Commission. Levitt responded they would be full voting members. Palmer asked about the selection process. Levitt explained that applicants would have to fill out an ap- plication; staff, the Council Liaison, and the Chair would select those to interview and bring the nominations to the City Council for formal approval. Klug asked if there is an age requirement for the youth seats. Levitt stated that typically youth members on other commissions have been in high school. Smith made a motion to add two youth seats to the Environmental Commission. Fleming seconded. Motion passed unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). 6.3 Business Environmental Award Burfeind stated that the Business Environmental Award would be awarded on Earth Day in April. He handed out information on the award itself and asked which style of award is preferred. Levitt reported that to date only one business application has been submitted and no residential applications have been submitted. The deadline was extended to March 1 as requested by the Commission. At the March meeting, staff will bring forth the applications and recommendations for the award. Owen asked if residents and businesses can nominate themselves or be nomi- nated by someone else. Levitt responded both. After discussion, it was the consensus of the Commission to go with the globe award. Approval of Environmental Commission Minutes from November 13, 2013 and January 8, 2014 Klug made a motion to approve the minutes from the minutes from the November 13, 2013, and January 8, 2014, Environmental Commission meetings. Palmer seconded. Motion passed unanimously (7 -to -0 vote). Environmental Commission Minutes February 12, 2014 Page 5 of 5 Reports 8.1 City Council Update Peterson stated that there will be a joint Economic Development Authority and City Council meeting on February 22 starting at 8:30 a.m. that will cover a broad spectrum of issues and the next All Commission meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 29. She also stated that there will be another round of biomonitoring tests for PFCs coming up. Levitt explained that this will be third round of tests and there are about 50 participants in Cottage Grove. The participants are only on private wells, particularly in the Langdon and River Acres areas, and not on the City water supply. The State Legislature secured additional funding to provide baseline data for Oakdale; new participants are those that have moved to Oakdale since the carbon filtration has been in place, which would help determine what the new baseline PFC blood concentration is. 8.2 Response to Commission Inquiries None 8.3 Environmental Commission Comments and Requests None Adjournment Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Klug seconded. Motion passed unanim- ously (7 -to -0 vote). The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.