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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConservation Commission - 07/11/2017 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE CONSERVATION COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY,JULY 11, 2017 5:30 PM—CITY CENTER Prairie Rooms A&B 8080 Mitchell Road COMMISSION MEMBERS: Lori Tritz (Chair), Amanda Anderson, Anna Anderson, Michael Bennett, Gena Gerard, Daniel Katzenberger, Kate Lohnes, Nate Pischke Ashley Young CITY STAFF: Senior Planner Beth Novak-Krebs, Planning Division, Leslie Stovring, Engineering, Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary STUDENT MEMBERS: I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Absent were commission members (Amanda) Anderson and Lohnes. Intern Nick Macklem joined the meeting. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Young moved, seconded by Katzenberger to approve the agenda. Motion carried 7-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Bennett moved, seconded by Young to approve the minutes. Motion carried 7-0. IV. REPORTS A. REPORTS FROM STAFF 1. Communication with Joyce Lorenz This item was deferred until after the other Reports from Staff to allow Lorenz, the Communications Manager, to finish her other meeting. Conservation Commission Minutes July 11, 2017 Page 2 Tritz reiterated the point of this discussion was to have more impactful collaboration with the Communications Division. Lohnes will meet with Lorenz at a later date. Lorenz introduced herself, summarized her department, and gave a PowerPoint presentation that gave a broad overview of the Communications Division. She showed a few examples of Sustainable Eden Prairie brochures, communications platforms (print: newsletter, programs guides, Senior Center News, and citywide marketing materials; online: website calendar City News, City Connect, City TV, City Blogs). Lorenz provided statistics on website visits and page views, and noted most are search driven rather than visiting the City's site and then navigating to the information, a fact that was important to consider when making requests. (For example,placing an item on the home page did not necessarily guarantee it would be viewed first.) She showed 2016 Sustainable EP (formerly Living Green) website analytics as well. Hierarchy of most popular pages: 1. garbage and recycling 2. conservation rebates 3. drinking water 4. managing water resources, and 5. home page. Lorenz showed examples of email communications. These began in 2008, and now have a 26,000 subscriber base for 60+ topics. Gerard asked if, these subscribers were residents. Lorenz estimated 75 percent were residents, with also media personnel subscribed. The Communications Division was strategic in promoting online subscriptions. Discussion followed on how the commission could best utilize the website to communicate and fulfill its mandate. Lorenz added the division used Facebook most often, Nextdoor.com for messages, as well as Twitter and Instagram. No promotional messages were used on social media. Discussion followed on the Facebook page examples from the PowerPoint. (Anna) Anderson asked how it was best to approach the division with ideas. Lorenz asked the commission members to approach Novak-Krebs with topics and content with links, and also photos and video if possible, which increases public interaction and minimizes the amount of research her staff would have to do. Katzenberger asked how the commission could produce video. Stovring replied she has some funding for educational communication. Lorenz suggested the commission use the production studio, or also take video via a phone camera. Tritz stated communicating with the public regarding new initiatives was a priority for the commission and asked if there would be engagement tools with the website refresh, such as residents being able to report the water Conservation Commission Minutes July 11, 2017 Page 3 they save, locate their native plantings on a map, etc. Lorenz replied that level of online engagement would entail creating widgets and things that they are not set up to do, but the division has the ability poll and ask for input on topics (which is done at City Connect). Stovring asked for and received clarification this site sent out notifications. Lorenz advised the commission members to provide a goal, and the division would help the commission achieve it. Katzenberger stated his work with Partners In Energy envisioned 1) get word out to the residents about programs and opportunities, 2)reward residents for the conservation work they do. Lorenz reiterated the Communications Division works on the overall communication, and can design yard signs or other reward items, then work with a vendor to produce them. [Stovring left the meeting at 8:09 p.m.] 2. Swear in New Members Novak-Krebs swore in the new commission members. 3. Sustainable Eden Prairie Update (Anna) Anderson stated she had reached out to schools and business regarding the Sustainable Eden Prairie Award Nominations, and asked if there would be other businesses for her to reach out to. Gerard asked if she had contacted the Chamber of Commerce, which meets near Eden Prairie mall. Tritz said the third Tuesday of the month the Chamber held a breakfast meeting. Discussion followed on nominations. Tritz suggested a category for group projects as well as individual efforts and for more publicity before the August 31, 2017 deadline. Gerard suggested an e- news effort, to send out information on people's phones. Stovring state she was preparing a Living Green email blast. She added she had met with two representatives of the Pioneer Trails homeowner's association to encourage nominations. Discussion followed on what work the HOA has done thus far. Novak-Krebs also distributed the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed Tour of offices announcement. 4. Waste Management Plan Update Stovring stated there was a city-staff kickoff meeting June 20, 2017, to inform staff about this initiative. Items examined included wishcycling, the Nextdoor website, practices of haulers, city codes,recycling of bulky Conservation Commission Minutes July 11, 2017 Page 4 items and grass clippings, recycling drop-off versus pickup, inspections checklist, a survey on languages spoken, and how to stimulate demand for organics. The City Attorney is looking at whether or not staff needs to go through solid waste ordnances, contracts, and at the city code. There will be a workshop August 8, 2017 with the City Council at 5:30 p.m., earlier than the usual Conservation Commission meeting, and then the initiative will be discussed at the Conservation Commission meeting. Stovring encouraged the commission members to attend the workshop. Bennett asked why only recycling was being discussed instead of trash in general. Stovring replied the mayor is in support of recycling, including organics,but not trash management, as it was difficult, time consuming, and controversial. Pischke noted Bloomington also excluded trash from its own recycling initiative. Discussion followed on the lawsuits filed in Bloomington. Stovring said the state had requested cities manage recycling but not trash in its solid waste management plans. Stovring distributed the City of Eden Prairie Clean Up Summary and noted the changes for 2016. Discussion followed on the results. (Anna) Anderson asked what was meant by "charity." Stovring replied the Goodwill and Salvation Army have unfortunately stopped holding collection events as they did in previous years. B. REPORTS FROM CHAIR 1. Partners In Enemy Update Tritz presented a summary of the Partners In Energy initiative, and reminded the commission members that it was charged with coming up with a list of recommended goals. The areas of outreach focus were residents, large businesses, and institutions (faith communities, schools, city). Each group will have a different motivation: residents by saving money or participation, businesses by corporate image and ROI (return on investment), and institutions by leadership and stewardship. Bennett, on the businesses small team, stated corporate image was important to businesses but the true focus was saving money. There were over 2,000 businesses in Eden Prairie, and the 80/20 rule focused his group at 20 percent of the top 500 businesses committing to the "low hanging fruit" or a basic level of conservation. Many of these businesses have already achieved this. Other challenges were who to contact and how to get the message out that there are programs businesses can participate in, as Excel Energy already has people who work with large businesses. The struggle for Bennett's group is these businesses are already participating in programs, so further inroads become difficult. Conservation Commission Minutes July 11, 2017 Page 5 Gerard asked if Partners In Energy leaders have identified the opportunities and roles the commission could take. Bennett replied they had not, as this was really a partnership with the city. Tritz replied the commission had to define its own roles. Gerard asked what Partners In Energy needed to be successful, and Bennett replied this too was not defined. Tritz asked how the commission could ensure it would achieve the goals it sets, and Novak-Krebs replied the second phase of the Partners In Energy process is addressing implementation. (Anna) Anderson urged the group to push to be more ambitious than 20-30 percent implementation goal if possible. Bennett asked Novak-Krebs if there would be a meeting with the City Council to sign off on goals. Novak-Krebs replied there was, but first it would come before the commission. Novak-Krebs added once goals were adopted or approved, they become the energy piece of Sustainable Eden Prairie, and the part of the commission's role is to help achieve the goals, Novak-Krebs added one of the city's goals is for city buildings to get more energy from renewables. (Anna) Anderson suggested a stakeholder engagement approach, in which the commission listed the institutions and how to engage them. Discussion followed on creating an outreach spreadsheet. Tritz suggested the Chamber of Commerce would have a list, and possible contact people. (Anna) Anderson suggested prioritizing, establishing a city goal, detailing what the institution could do, and the recognition it would get as a result of reaching that goal. Discussion followed on this process. (Anna) Anderson asked how other cities have gone through this process. Katzenberger warned he often heard"Edina is doing that" when he brought up ideas, and feared the commission could "reinvent the wheel." (Anna) Anderson suggested borrowing the tactics of other cities. Gerard noted the city already has goals established,but Katzenberg emphasized these goals are separate from the Partners In Energy initiative. Discussion followed on how the city's comprehensive plan fit into this process. Novak-Krebs stated it would be helpful to know what resources Xcel Energy has. Bennett replied that would help the commission know what outcomes it could expect from Excel, as this initiative dovetails with Xcel's efforts to become more sustainable and efficient. Tritz replied Xcel was willing help the commission with events, marketing,but not to set out goals. Gerard stated she did not feel prepared for a goal-setting conversation, and Young concurred. Tritz emphasized the point was to define modest goals; target audiences had already been defined. Anderson reiterated that she did not know what a reasonable goal was. Young and Gerard agreed with her that more ambitious goals were preferable. Tritz reassured the commission members the commission gets to set its level of participation and she was not expecting a high level of work or even a Conservation Commission Minutes July 11, 2017 Page 6 certain amount of weekly hours on this. Discussion followed on possible goals for this partnership. [Pischke left at 8:30] [Gerard left at 8:32 p.m.] Bennett suggested targeted events. Novak-Krebs urged the commission members to think about what the most important achievements the commission could work toward. Bennett replied the commission has four main goals, and should not burn out working only on energy. Anderson asked what a tangible, achievable project could be. Katzenberger stated the commission's expertise was distributed among different members—for example, Katzenberger's expertise was in energy—and he suggested distributing the goals and work accordingly. Tritz agreed those with an expertise could spearhead related efforts toward concrete goals and achievements, and systemic influence; this was the whole point of having the subgroups. The questions were how to be strategic and where to put the commission's energy. Discussion followed on how best to harness the commission members' talents with the Partners In Energy initiative. Bennett noted Excel Energy was offering the ability to buy units of solar, but when this was brought up at the Partners In Energy meeting, the members enthusiastic about this had not followed through with having an energy audit at their house, and this was a problem Bennett was seeing, the lack of follow-though and what to realistically expect from the people. Tritz replied the commission has held events in the past, and could again leverage this as the commission's contribution, such as sponsoring an energy event to get residents signed up for an energy audit, solar credits, etc. Tritz added she reached out to Tree Huggers in Eden Prairie schools, which could be another area of focus; schools do a good job of energy conservation but want to get that extra 10 percent of effort, and would possibly involve a partnership. Katzenberg suggested the commission look at getting the city to build a solar garden, with pollinators, water filtration, rain garden, recycling, etc., to cover the four focus areas in one installation in a public park, as an example to the community. Young agreed, and suggested Round Lake. Tritz and Bennett agreed. C. REPORTS FROM COMMISSION D. REPORTS FROM STUDENTS V. OTHER BUSINESS Conservation Commission Minutes July 11, 2017 Page 7 VI. UPCOMING EVENTS The Solar Power Hour—Midwest Renewable Energy event will be held on July 20 at 7:00 p.m., Eden Prairie Community Center. VII. NEXT MEETING The next CC meeting will be Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 7 p.m. at City Center, Prairie Rooms A & B. VIII. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Bennett moved, seconded by Young to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:54 p.m.