HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-04-2020 Climate Action CommissionIowa City Climate Action Commission Agenda
Monday, May 4, 2020, 3:30 — 5:00 p.m.
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Meeting Agenda:
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Approval of March 9, 2020 minutes
4. Public Comment of items not on the Agenda
5. Staff Announcements
a. Introduce Sarah Gardener, Climate Action Engagement Specialist
6. Old Business:
a. Assigned to the Building's Working Group for further review: Request from Council for
Commission to research and advise the Council on the carbon footprint of buildings of
varying density and scale
7. New Business:
a. Public input on "Accelerating Iowa City's Climate Actions'
b. Ensuring equity is considered for all climate actions
c. Update on working groups
i. Buildings (Krieger, Karr, Soglin)
ii. Transportation (Leckband, Giannakouros)
iii. Outreach (Krieger, Fraser, Holbrook, Bradley)
iv. Equity/Adaptation (Tate, Hutchinson)
v. Waste (Bradley, Sarsfield)
8. Adjourn
If you will need disability -related accommodations in order to participate in this meeting, please contact
Brenda Nations, Sustainability Coordinator, at 319-356-6161 or at brendo-notions(Oiowa-city.org. Early
requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.
MINUTES PRELIMINARY
IOWA CITY CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION
MARCH 9, 2020 —3:30 PM — FORMAL MEETING
MPO CONFERNCE ROOM, CITY HALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: John Fraser, Stratis Giannakouros, Kasey Hutchinson, GT Karr,
Matt Krieger, Jesse Leckband, Becky Soglin, Eric Tate
MEMBERS ABSENT: Madeleine Bradley, Grace Holbrook, Katie Sarsfield
STAFF PRESENT: Ashley Monroe, Brenda Nations
OTHERS PRESENT:
RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL:
None
CALL TO ORDER:
Krieger called the meeting to order.
APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 10, 2020 MINUTES:
Soglin moved to approve the minutes of February 10, 2020 with revisions that will be send to
Nations.
Fraser seconded the motion.
A vote was taken, and the motion carried 7-0 (Giannakouros not present for the vote).
PUBLIC COMMENT OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
None.
STAFF/COMMISSION ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Nations sent out an email about an event tomorrow night and was wondering if anybody would
like to attend, the Mayor is going to attend, it's going to be at Beadology tomorrow from 5:30pm
to 6:30pm and the Mayor asked if somebody from the Commission could talk for five minutes or
so about what the Commission is doing.
Fraser noted he would be willing, assuming no one from the transportation working group wants
to as he feels that would be more appropriate. Leckband stated he has a conflict. Fraser would
like to know what the main message is they want him to communicate. Krieger said it would be
similar to what Tate presented at the event at Big Grove. Nations assumes that they just want a
general announcement about the Commission, what you're doing, etc.
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Second item Nations noted was the City has signed an agreement with Mid -American for the
leasing of land at the water plant for community solar array. If anyone has questions or wants
more information, please let Nations know. Monroe stated on the 24th of March Council will
have a public hearing on whether to enter into the agreement. It's a three-year lease term with
an option to add 10 additional years. There's an annual leasing fee and the City in coordination
with the installation of the panels would be accompanying that with pollinators and low growth
native species so that it's replacing the prairie, but the plan is to continue to provide a habitat of
some type for wildlife between the panels. There will also be educational components that that
go with it at the park. The panels are only about 18 acres worth of the full park so there's plenty
of trail space that's in prairie that's being maintained throughout that area. The public will be
able to come and speak about the issue and the Commission members are welcome to attend
and speak on behalf of the Commission or you personally.
f3:40pm Stratis Giannakouros arrived}
Nations stated they received proposals for EV Readiness Plan and they're going to be
interviewing two consultants in the next couple weeks and hopefully that will be moving along
pretty quickly. They are in the process of interviewing a climate action engagement specialist,
they have some good options and so hopefully soon they will be choosing that person for that
position.
Nations noted she was on the radio with John Thomas discussing the climate action grant
applications, the application period was supposed to close on the 31, but they didn't have very
many applications and they have it open until the 31 st. So, encourage anybody that wants to
apply. Krieger asked if the grants are restricted to nonprofit groups. Nations replied not
necessarily, but a for -profit group would have to be working with a nonprofit.
Nations also mentioned that the Historic Preservation Commission would like to be involved with
the Climate Action Plan and they would like Nations and/or maybe one Commission member to
go talk to their group at their next meeting and discuss possible collaborations. Karr will attend
and is very interested to see what there will be for collaboration on that.
REQUEST FROM COUNCIL FOR COMMISSION TO RESEARCH AND ADVISE COUNCIL
ON THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF BUILDINGS OF VARYING DENSITY AND SCALE:
Krieger noted this item has been assigned to the Building's Working Group for further review
and it is on their next agenda.
COMMISSION FEEDBACK OF THE 100-DAY REPORT, "ACCELERATING IOWA CITY'S
CLIMATE ACTIONS":
Krieger noted in the packet was the list of actions with the added column after receiving all the
feedback from the different working groups. He suggested today they just generally walk
through the document and discuss any questions that people had about the comments or the
feedback of any of the other groups.
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Soglin suggested they review it section by section and then if that doesn't address everyone's
concerns, they can go back and review certain issues. For example,
on the building education, there are three actions and did anyone have concerns about those?
Her only question was what dialed -in data meant and perhaps they could use a different word
there. It was suggested to just drop the word dialed -in.
Leckband acknowledged there's some sensitivity to customer information so he is concerned
about that. Soglin noted the neighborhood level details would go to staff in Mid -American.
Krieger asked if neighborhood data level data able to be distributed or provided. Leckband
stated that's still an open question and depends on what the neighborhood is, if it's a
neighborhood with eight people or a large area with not a whole lot of accounts it could be an
issue. Fraser asked if there's like a minimum number of accounts within a certain area to be
able to create a data set. Leckband would have to work through that but thinks there are other
options. Soglin suggested a note saying or "other small-scale data" so it provides an option.
Soglin noted on item two they should probably spell out what EHR stands for. Krieger noted
EHR is included and defined under resource so it was an effort to try to keep things synched up
and not make the chart huge.
Next moving on to the incentive section for building, there are 10 actions there.
Karr stated they ended up trying to reach out to Tyler after the last meeting and Karr was able to
sit down with him and Karyl Bohnsack with the Home Builders Association to pick his brain a
little bit and explain what they were trying to do, and they were receptive to it. They're in the
process of scheduling a meeting with a couple members of the building working group and then
a couple of HPA members and then hopefully the legislative committee chair and the current
president of ICAR as well.
Soglin suggested a revision there then where it says consider moving this from blue to green
priority as the building's working group has taken some action.
Krieger noted there was some comments added to the rehab projects portion of option number
two.
Soglin noted there were five regulations, they didn't comment on the fifth one but could just say
no additional comments on this so it's clear that it is intentionally blank.
Monroe asked to comment on number three, Commission comments. The strict energy
standards for height and density bonuses, the question asked as far as the timeline, staff had to
balance the workload. of their current planning and development staff and had to try to assess
what was reasonable to initiate this first year and they think it's possible to start that maybe next
year. When they redid the TIFF requirements, it was a very long process with the Economic
Development Commission and then there was significant public feedback included within that
process and so that with the revisions and Council's revisions and wordsmithing, and ideas, it all
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took at least close to a year. Monroe noted that's why it's an extensive process and that's why
they placed it within that timeframe. Krieger agreed and said they took it to the next level within
the working group and said, why not just apply this to any incentive program, or anything that's
being done.
Krieger asked if there were any other comments in the regulation section about City policy.
Soglin noted this was the action to advocate for local control of energy codes and this was the
only action for which they're suggesting that essentially be completely revised and replaced with
something else. The main concern here was they can't do it and could probably more explicitly
say the State does not allow local controls. Nations stated however they could advocate for it
and work with other cities, the action is to advocate for that at the State level that we could
change it not to change it. Karr noted from a practitioner standpoint what they discussed was
that if you have varying Codes from municipality jurisdiction to jurisdiction that creates more
potential conflicts and so the recommendation would be to just advocate at the State level that
they update to the most current Code. They were just taking a broader based approach. Fraser
stated then to get the State to enhance the requirements as opposed to cities doing it. Karr
confirmed they are saying it's okay that to have a state -based energy code, but that the State
should be updated. Nations noted that staff recently voted on updating the code for the next
international code and one of the things in there was the zero code and that hopefully will be in
a next version of the Code.
Krieger noted one thing to do is explore those opportunities for incentive -based programs rather
than just across the board regulation and if a project met the zero -energy code, they could
achieve that incentive. Nations agreed and thinks in the new Code the City may have the option
of having it be different than the State if she remembers correctly. The City could adopt it even
though the State wouldn't.
Fraser asked what do they see as more challenging, getting permission to enhance regulations
beyond what the State is requiring? Is that a tougher sell to the legislature than getting the
legislature to convince the State to enhance the standards that all cities, all municipalities would
follow? Karr feels there is a path that if the right people were elected, adopting a newer Code
cycle as opposed to having 40 different Codes for 40 different communities. Krieger noted a lot
of those jurisdictions don't have a local inspection staff, they defer to the State automatically.
Fraser noted then if they think in stages, the first stage is to convince the State for more Code
changes. Karr stated first the correct people have to be voted in if they don't vote the right
people there likely won't be change as seen now. Fraser acknowledged how much of this is
really out of local control, so they really have to lobby.
The final section in the buildings section is the public project section and there's three options
under there. Soglin noted all of those they generally support.
Krieger moved onto the next section which is transportation, and all these were all items that the
transportation working group submitted last time and no additional updates. Looking at this
section globally does anyone have any concerns about anything. Soglin noted for adaptation
they are going to have to spend some more time reviewing to make sure no one feels rushed.
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Krieger noted at the last meeting there was a presentation from transportation on the transit
study and wondered if there was any other discussion that maybe came out of that would be
applicable to recommendations. Giannakouros stated they need to wait to see what the study
shows, they're still in the process of sorting this out. From the working group perspective,
they're waiting for the data.
Krieger noted the two Commissioners from the waste working group are not here, they did
provide some additional feedback since the last meeting to fill out and speak to each action.
Next section is adaptation, Krieger asked if the working group wants to step through the specific
actions does the working group have any comments or overall recommendations. Hutchinson
stated she put together a table that never made it to this document so she can highlight what
that document said. She noted the initial comments that were in there were very specific and
directives to add this and add that, so these were refashioned to her more general. The first
one was basically direction to come up with something parallel to what is seen for coordinated
efforts with local agencies and health impacts and emergency agencies. Therefore, to come up
with something parallel for stormwater management is to encourage increased use of bmps
which is just a more general statement. Hutchinson noted that was really the main focus of this
section. By them deleting item six was just getting rid of the specific directive to add another
action item and that was something that was already reflected in the table itself, so it doesn't
need to be its own separate statement. Overall going with a more general directive so taking
out actual added action items so when you get down to the projects, this is where these table
put people's focus on residential property and/or voluntary efforts for stormwater and to include
some parallel items that put focus on actual City initiatives and looking for bringing into
development projects, both private and City sponsored projects.
Hutchinson also noted on the natural areas management plan to include some outreach and
education because there are a lot of concepts in that plan that could be broadly applied.
Hutchinson doesn't think a lot of people are aware of what the City is doing as part of that
outreach and educational plan.
The last comment the adaptation working group recommends is changing the prioritization and
also including some specific information related to the data analyst position that the City is
looking to hire and that one of the necessary skill sets that they should have is experienced GIS,
and using census data, especially from an equity standpoint.
Soglin noted those were good revisions and the section does a good job of talking about
bringing in that equity topic as well.
Leckband commented on item five about the coordinated efforts with local emergency agencies,
he always wants to plug for local critical infrastructure, like utility providers like Mid -America.
There is going to be more storms, or more severe storms, and the heating and cooling are
bigger issues, and they are the frontline first responders in a lot of cases.
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Krieger noted the climate ambassadors was the first item under education in this section and so
the outreach committee had their more detailed description of how they thought that program
could flesh out.
Fraser stated he would love to attack that more aggressively but noted they can't do that until
they get a new person on board. Nations noted they have worked on it some, she just got some
good materials from the city of Flagstaff and could send those to the Commission to look over
and see if there's things that would be appropriate for Iowa City.
Fraser noted he will be at an Iowa UNA board meeting on Saturday and he will be aggressively
marketing the potential for memberships on both the communications working group as well as
discuss an overview of the ambassador program just to whet the appetite of a few people. He
added he has a concern that the original notes that they worked on had a fairly limited
perspective number of members for the ambassadorial group, it was like six or something like
that for a term of one year and he thinks it needs to be a lot broader than that.
Krieger stated then the only other thing that was discussed in more detail, not included in the
table, was education action item number three on the local health impacts that was coming out
of the outreach group, just kind of expanding on who they thought should be involved in that
recommendation.
Next is sustainable lifestyle within the education section, Krieger asked if there were any
additional comments. Soglin had a question about action two, and the first point is talking about
how it's important to help people track their energy use and recognize that they should be doing
it. The second item says, "eventually roll out a benchmarking program, would start with Energy
Star Portfolio Manager" and she has a concern about the City having to develop its own
benchmarking program. Why wouldn't the Energy Star portfolio be sufficient? Nations replied
that they are waiting to see what is happening in Des Moines because they just started the
energy benchmarking program and the cities that do have an energy benchmarking program
have to share what they enter in Portfolio Manager with the City, it is a requirement to report
building energy with the square footage, the electricity and the natural gas to the City.
Soglin asked if that is using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, and if so, then maybe just a
clarification there noting the benchmarking program would be based on Energy Star Portfolio
Manager. Monroe noted the benchmarking establishes certain standards and requirements for
what they're using the portfolio to track. Krieger added the other intent behind that is just so that
the City can actually get the data.
Nations also noted they are working with some different businesses and they are using Portfolio
Manager and the City did have some apply to the grant program. One of the things that the City
wanted applicants to do first was to use that tracking to give them extra points to see what their
energy is now so they can benchmark and see from there improvements that they would get
from the grant and what changes it made.
Krieger asked if there were any comments on the incentives in the education section or about
the policy, or projects. Nations noted with the wording generally support this action, it kind of
sounds like maybe there's some parts it's not wholly supporting of this action or just supporting
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the action and asked if there was a reason that terminology was chosen. Krieger noted that in
the transportation section they started using that statement and then it was copied in for the rest
of them. Krieger is proposing that from the Commission's perspective they support all the
actions but stated generally support all the actions so then they could provide specific feedback
where they thought it was needed but could remove the word generally.
Soglin asked about hiring consultants and noted communications is different from outreach but
is wondering why that can't be done in house. Nations stated that some cities have hired
marketing experts and they help phrase messages and help figure out the approach and the
logos and marketing programs to the community. Our City Manager wants something that's
highly professional and that can be done quickly. Soglin would agree with that but has a
concern that sometimes with an outside consultant you get things like clip art or you don't get
photos that are the people in our community, and things that are specific to our community. She
acknowledged the City would do a thorough RFP but hopes that they would use actual pictures
of people in our community.
Monroe stated they would appreciate guidance or feedback from an outside group that
specializes in that to give the City an overall strategy or placement, the City has an idea of
where things need to come out and where they need to advertise and all that but just to get
some support and help for existing staff to kind of pull it all together and give a timeframe and
that overall picture of what they could do, what's needed and what those costs might be as an
example for bus wraps and different things. Monroe said it would not be devoid of staff input,
or Commission input either in the selection or in the end product. There's room for everybody to
be involved in that process of working with that consultant group.
Hutchinson was speaking to a friend of hers who worked at the water plant and he was talking
about, while it would be a costly study, there could be major efficiency improvements, say with
water distribution. Hutchinson noted there isn't a section in here that puts focus on assessing
the efficiency of facility processes. Krieger thought perhaps that would be under buildings
projects. Nations said the City did that study, they had a consultant look at the distribution and
pumping, it has been a couple years and doesn't know how often is should be redone. Monroe
noted just at the very last Council meeting the assistant water superintendent presented on a
pressure zoning project where they're going to more effectively create interconnections where
they don't exist currently and also provide improved pressure zoning for the northeast side of
town. There may be at some point, if there's additional development on the west side, that
would mean something like that there too. So while there's a possibility or opportunity to
continue that system evaluation, there is a project in the works right now for bids and specs to
do that work. Hutchinson asked if that is reflected somewhere in this plan. Krieger suggested
adding to the plan because public projects action number three speaks to energy efficiency and
City facilities.
Krieger noted that overall there could be a separate action related to improving water efficiency
across the City that would help reduce electricity bills and the electrical load from the plant
operations. Nations stated that a lot of climate action plans do include water.
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Soglin moved to approve these recommendations with the revisions that the
Commission outlined today, Fraser seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the
motion passed 8-0.
UPDATE ON WORKING GROUPS:
Krieger asked if there were any other updates coming out of the working groups over the last
month. He noted the Commission has done their recommendations as a Commission and as
working groups, so, are there next steps for soliciting additional public input on the 100-day
report or in general now that they have actions out there in the community, what does that next
step look like.
Soglin suggested that be a formal agenda topic to really discuss it. Krieger asked if any of the
other working groups have that discussion and then it can be on the next agenda.
None of the other working groups had those discussions so Krieger recommended adding that
as an agenda item for the next meeting as the public input process for both in person and
online.
Hutchinson stated they had a long discussion in their working group about the how to
appropriately apply the equity component and they talked about making it its own section, but
also toying with the idea of making it column and every single table. Obviously, they didn't come
up with answers during their discussion but were committed to making it an action item that they
continue to work on.
Tate confirmed that was an open question that they had about adding it as a section on the
tables for the Commission to do something about it. They ended up talking a lot about how
trying to implement the existing equity toolkit and integrate that into the processes. Tate noted a
concern that equity is falling behind in this process, there is not an individual table section for
equity and it's not in very many action items. He stated its a cross cutting issue and if they try
and do everything about equity at the end, it's going to fail.
Krieger asked then with each of the actions that they just went through, what is the process
internally for working on that action. Is there a work plan that's developed is to identify the
resources, identify the timeline, identify the process to go about making it happen, because it
seems like if that is done with each action, that would be the ideal time to start having the
discussion about equity?
Nations agreed and likes the idea of having it as a table, edited for each action they try. They
started to do that with the 35 actions that in the original plan, and they were working on that, but
then it just got a little convoluted. If it was with the action, she thinks it would help be a reminder
and things to look for as staff got started on something to consider what might need to be
thought of before they begin the action.
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Hutchinson noted one thing that was suggested in their discussion was Tate drew the parallel to
the NEPA process and there is the existing equity toolkit. With NEPA there are some items that
one can automatically cross off the list immediately that don't need to be assessed because
they fall under certain category and the same can be done with all the action items. One could
go through the action items reusing the toolkit to figure out which ones absolutely have to
receive application of that toolkit.
Soglin stated if they all agree there should be a section, which she thinks is a great idea, they
may need to need to revise their motion to formally add that as a column. Krieger feels it goes to
the process and it could be a general item. Nations feels it will be ongoing and will take a while
so maybe it's something that each working group could work on for their actions. Krieger stated
there should be a work plan that's associated with each action, so it is on file to be able to share
publicly and with the Commission.
Tate stated for example, the equity toolkit has several categories of things that should trigger
action: Citywide proposals, focus on a specific area, capital projects, special populations
affected, internal city proposal. He thinks at a minimum it wouldn't be difficult to just to go
through and assign one of those categories to each of these items. Soglin noted however
perhaps there would be several that apply to certain items. She feels like there needs to be two
things accomplished, one is that there's a visible quick way to understand what needs to be
connected to each goal in terms of equity and then when the work is being is done, they're
using the City's tool and going through that in detail for each item.
Krieger noted it could be part of the required resources, because if they are identifying staff
resources, they can also identify equity needs and apply the equity toolkit. Soglin said it is
important and should be its own stand-alone column, it is different from a resource. Tate added
it is the only piece in this entire report where they don't have a table and it should because it is
cross -cutting.
Fraser asked if City Council has seen any form of this document. Nations stated Council did
see the original document, they just haven't seen any of the edits the Commission has made.
Fraser noted then the next step is this will be presented in its edited format to the Council and
then what happens. Monroe said Council will need to determine whether to accept the report
and move forward with the recommendations or if they need to take formal action to formally
adopt it. So, whether it's a formal adoption of this new accelerated actions report or if it's an
acceptance of the recommendations and feedback from the Commission and a go ahead to
staff to go ahead and proceed with each of these actions. She noted that some of the actions
are already in progress but perhaps not fully developed because they wanted feedback from
this group before proceeding. She thinks there's more once they've solidified the Commission
feedback, Council's go ahead, in terms of what do they working groups need to do or staff need
to initiate work. She noted at that point, when they are fleshing out the project itself is when
they would start working in the equity components and planning to make sure they've got the
right people involved.
Nations also noted Council will need to agree upon whether they want to fund these actions.
Then staff will also need a process to track the progress of these things so they're going to be
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working on metrics so they can show the progress. That's one of the next steps that the
Commission can help with is finding the metrics to show whether we're successful in some of
these or not. Regarding funding, she noted it is a yearly thing the Council will allocate funds
each year and so that is why the plan is color -coded so they can work through the 66 actions in
priority format as not all funding will be readily available.
Fraser noted this is good information to have because as a member of the outreach committee.
he wants to be able to carry the appropriate message of where'd this start, where have they
been and where are we going. That is all critical to that message to keep people engaged and
get them motivated and keep them motivated. Nations agreed and noted it is also going to be
really important to show progress and show if something is having an impact.
Krieger had another thought related to equity, color -coding is not equitable, and how people
interpret and read the document may be misconstrued so he recommends a phase one, phase
two, phase three or something as part of the description. Monroe stated that would be fine and
they can modify the format.
Krieger also stated since the Commission had approved the motion with the recommendations
that they had incorporated, the revisions, this new column and parameters to include the equity
toolkit application are included in that motion.
DISCUSSION OF THE DRAFT LIST OF NON -ECONOMIC CO -BENEFITS FOR CLIMATE
ACTIONS:
Krieger noted they discussed this list in the Buildings Working Group and the question is what
do they think about the use of this in the overall process. Soglin noted it would be a document
for the working groups and the Commission, an awareness building document, not a
replacement for what staff can write.
Krieger noted the equity toolkit is for staff to follow and make sure they're following a process
and protocol, check things off as following City policy, the Commission is not going to do that.
So is this document useful for working groups as a guideline or checklists to use as part of
discussing specific actions.
Nations wondered if there would be disproportional benefits. Tate stated he thinks it'd be helpful
to have this because they talked about it when he was in the equity working group that
decisions are formed, and suggestions are made before anybody makes a consideration. As
they bring people into the working groups who may have a different skill set but may not have
experience in different considerations, he thinks it's good to do that. This would be a helpful tool
for the working groups to continue to go through and help force the conversation as they make
recommendations.
Hutchinson asked if this list is to basically justify something as a priority because of these co -
benefits or is it to not there are co -benefits that we're not recognizing that are available with this
action item that we need to capitalize on. Soglin noted it is both.
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Tate stated during the equity worker group meeting, one of the things they talked about was
inviting Stefanie to participate in the equity work group, if possible, and talk about the adequacy
of the kinds of things we're talking about such as integrating equity. Or present to the entire
Commission perhaps and all go through equity training. Soglin likes the idea of training but also
feels they need a tool to use out of training it's hard to maintain. Nations noted they could tell
Stefanie what we're looking for and she might be able to help guide us and have some really
good input for a toolkit.
Fraser also noted that along with training and toolkits, there's no better cure for resolving blind
spots than having representation of the underrepresented groups in the room. He
acknowledged however that the challenge is how many under representative categories are
there and how do you keep the working group diverse enough without having a working group
that's 35 or 40 people.
Nations noted the City isn't releasing the stakeholder map because they don't want groups
identified as most vulnerable but Kuann did take the information from Stefanie and added to it
something like 173 organizations and then she color coded them in a way of how the
organization themselves and the members who they serve
Krieger revisited the co -benefit list and noted it appears the group thinks it would be nice to
have this. Hutchinson likes the list but wants to make sure everyone knows it is a guide and not
ever intended to replace the equity toolkit process.
Fraser also noted it doesn't have to be perfect, they can modify it and as they learn and grow,
it's just important to have it to start with.
ADJOURNMENT:
Krieger asked if there were any additional agenda items for next meeting? He noted within this
packet but from the previous meeting there was a draft letter attached and they haven't talked
about that and any comments around that. He will send it back out and if anyone has any
specific revisions let him know by the 13"
Krieger made a motion to adjourn.
Tate seconded the motion.
A vote was taken, and the motion passed unanimously.
11
Climate Action Commission
March 9, 2020
Page 12 of 12
CLIMATE ACTION COMMISSION
ATTENDANCE RECORD
2019-2020
NAME
TERM EXP.
N
N
N
N
N
0
tD
0
tD
0
tp
oN
o
O
0
Madeleine Bradley
12/31/2022
X
X
X
O/E
John Fraser
12/31/2020
X
X
X
X
X
X
Stratis
Giannakouros
UIRep
X
X
X
X
X
X
Grace Holbrook
12/31/2021
X
X
X
O/E
O/E
O/E
Kasey Hutchinson
12/31/2022
X
X
X
X
GT Karr
12/31/2020
X
X
X
X
X
X
Matt Krieger
12/31/2020
X
X
X
X
X
X
M idAme rica n
Jesse Leckband
Rep
X
X
X
X
X
X
Katie Sarsfield
12/31/2020
X
X
O/E
X
X
O/E
Becky Soglin
12/31/2022
X
X
X
X
Eric Tate
12/31/2021
X
X
X
X
X
X
KEY: X = Present
O = Absent
O/E = Absent/Excused
NM No
Meeting
-- -- = Not a Member
12
Climate Action and Outreach Office Updates
April 2020
Community -wide Climate Action
o Implementation of Accelerating Iowa City's Climate Actions, tracking and reporting
o Commission will be updated monthly on first year actions
o Annual community -wide ghg reporting and reporting
o Administer Climate Action Grants, post grant information, coordinate awards, pay invoices, etc.
o Climate at Work (Green Business) pilot (with Economic Development Coordinator)
o Climate Action Commission and working groups, meetings and associated work
o Develop annual CAAP metrics and tracking process
Current Grant Protects
o IEDA-Eastern Iowa EV Readiness Planning (consultant identified, contract in progress, 9 mos to
develop)
o Heartland Carbon Sequestration (USDN grantjust awarded with Columbia, MO and Lincoln, NE,
9 mos -1 yr)
Event Planning
o Climate Festival Planning, assistance with Climate Action Engagement Specialist
o Monarch Festival Planning, and implementation, turning overto Parks and Rec next year
o Farm to Street Planning Committee and Implementation
Communications (with part-time Sustainability Communications Assistance)
o Sustainability Newsletter, communications strategy, news releases, etc.
o Create handouts, manage website, etc.
o Coordination with Communications on all events, grants, etc.
Municipal Energy and Climate (with part-time Climate Action Assistant)
o Municipal utilities tracking and analysis
o Start tracking water usage of municipal facilities
o Municipal ghg inventory reporting (— every 5 years)
o Staff Climate Committee — municipal climate plan
o Working with staff to incorporate ghg reductions and increasing sustainability practices
within City operations
Sustainability Groups and Committees
o USDN groups, Innovation Fund grant committee, annual meeting
o Heartland (Midwestern) Monthly calls, annual meeting
o Johnson County Sustainability Working Group, quarterly meetings
o Occasional travel for various climate workshops and projects, often with other City staff
members (ex. Communications, Transportation, Affordable Housing, etc.)
Onboarding Activities with Climate Engagement Specialist
Climate Ambassador Program
o Develop program, assist in training ambassadors as needed
Event Planning
o Climate Festival Planning (co -coordinate first year)
Equity Outreach Program
o Assess forthcoming equity report (due to staff May 15), work with equity working group, and
introduce to community groups to begin equity outreach program development
Annual CAAP Reporting to Public
o Co -develop metrics, annual reporting to public