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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesCITY OF OSHKOSH SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD Minutes August 3rd, 2020 PRESENT: Margy Davey, Michelle Bogden Muetzel, Vic Oliver, Eric DeGroot, Bradley Spanbauer, Ken Osmond, Bob Poeschl EXCUSED: Pat Dwyer Hallquist ABSENT: None STAFF AND OTHERS: Brandon Nielsen, Steven Wiley, Jake Timm (Oshkosh Media), Jim Collins (Transportation) I. Call to Order Chair Margy Davey called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm and a quorum was declared present. II. Election of Vice Chairperson and Chairperson Chair Davey nominated Michelle Bogden Muetzel as Vice Chairperson and Vic Oliver seconded the nomination. Ms. Bogden Muetzel accepted the nomination and a vote was taken. Vote Passed 6-0. Declaration of Michelle Bogden Muetzel as Vice Chair Ms. Oliver nominated Margy Davey as Chairperson and Ms. Bogden Muetzel seconded the nomination. Chair Davey accepted the nomination and a vote was taken. Vote passed 6-0. Declaration of Margy Davey as Chair. Bob Poeschl requested a point of order, asking for introductions from the board. All board members did a quick introduction of themselves for Mr. Poeschl. III. Approval of Minutes, March 2nd, 2020 Chair Davey asked if anyone on the board would like to make a motion to accept the minutes as written and Eric DeGroot motioned to accept. Vic Oliver seconded the motioned. Chair Davey requested a change to article VII. from "Mr." to "Ms." in the first sentence. The board approved the March 2nd minutes 3-0 (DeGroot/Oliver). IV. Presentation from Transit Dept. on Hybrid Bus Procurement - Jim Collins Jim Collins (Mr. C) from the transit department introduced himself and two of his staff members. Mr. Collins explained how right now the city has a special opportunity to purchase hybrid buses and the differences in cost between a clean diesel bus and a hybrid bus, noting that a clean diesel bus costs about $450,000 and a hybrid bus about $750,000. This year the city received a significant amount of money from the Cares Act and the transportation department would like to purchase two hybrid busses with some of that money. The procurement process takes little more than a year to order and receive the buses, meaning if a bus was ordered at the end of this year it would not arrive until 2022. These buses would replace 2010 hybrid busses. Mr. C explained how the Cares Act pays 100% of the hybrid busses so there is no upfront city investment. Mr. C asked that the board support the transportation department's decision in pursuing the purchase of these buses with the Cares Act funding. He said that putting together a procurement can take 6 to S months so the city will be pigging backing off of the state contract because it is already established. Mr. C explained that electric buses cost about one million dollars and the infrastructure needed to run them makes the cost even higher, which the city does not currently have in place support, nor the funds needed to install that infrastructure. Additionally, Mr. C added that he feels the testing on these buses has not been thoroughly tested in northern, cold weathered climates. He said the transportation department would like to update the downtown transit center, which will maybe be a good opportunity to install the needed electrical infrastructure for EV buses. In 2025 Mr. C hopes to have a better idea of how the electric buses operate in northern climates. Ms. Oliver asked about the lifecycle of the buses and Mr. Collins explained that because the buses are purchased with federal funds they have to be used for at least 12 years. Mr. Osmond asked about the Eau Claire examples that were provided in the presentation and Mr. Collins explained how their landscape is slightly different but they run about the same as Oshkosh so the numbers provided are close. Chair Davey asked Mr. Collins if he would prefer the board take a vote on support of this procurement. Mr. Collins asked the board to please take a vote in support of the procurement. Chair Davey asked about the storage of these busses and if that area could be upgraded to support an electric bus in terms of charging. Mr. Collins and Go Transit staff explained that the electricity needed to charge an electric bus would have to be determined by the city electricians, and how they have been in communication with them about this possibility in the future, if deemed achievable. Chair Davey explained how the SAB had been talking with a solar energy company about their grant program which is used to add solar to city owned buildings. She added that maybe this type of grant would be a good thing for SAB, and the transportation department, to collaborate on because it could help power electric buses. Ms. Oliver motioned to support in the procurement of hybrid buses, Second by Mr. Poeschl. The board approved the motion 6-0 (Oliver/Poeschl). V. Community Composting with UW Oshkosh — Informational Michelle Bogden-Muetzel presented information on UW Oshkosh's Biodigester and how the City of Oshkosh and UWO can work towards a partnership to bring the communities organic waste to the digester. She explained that the university has been looking at grants to help fund a program like this. Brad Spanbauer explained that the USDA's Community Compost and Food Waste Reduction grant was the grant that the UWO was mostly considering to pursue. He explained that the grant requires a city or county partnership and how they are the main recipient of the grant. Chair Davey asked if Mr. Spanbauer or Ms. Bogden-Muetzel would be able to tell the SAB what is needed from the board and Mr. Spanbauer explained that this would require involvement with the waste management department, or whomever plans for their operations, so the proper meeting can be held to prepare for the grant application. Ken Osmond asked if the cooperation between the city and university is to set up the city to be a central collection point for multiple end users within the community and then to move that organic material to the digester. Mr. Spanbauer explained that the USDA grant encourages community composting from both residential and commercial businesses with the goal being to reduce food waste going to the landfill. Mr. Osmond explained his personal experiences with composting for his commercial business, how a local option would be a better option, and to his knowledge roughly ten local business could utilize something like this. Mr. Spanbauer stated that UWO is currently working on a strategy so they can partner directly with local business to do just as Mr. Osmond expressed. Ms. Bogden-Muetzel explained that this process will require a fair amount of piecemealing because there are so many steps needed to take place in order for this all to operate correctly. Chair Davey recommended no further action on this item but to leave it on the agenda for the next meeting for further discussion. VI. Rain Barrels — Informational Chair Davey explained a SAB partnership with the Oshkosh Housing Authority to provide six rain barrels for local areas that could benefit, however the exact locations have not all been determined at this time. She added that education about rain barrels, such as installation, will be part of the next steps in this partnership. Chair Davey added that OHA employee, Justin Mitchell, said that he would like to see a community day as part of this process too, where interested people could come and paint the rain barrels. Vic Oliver updated the Board about an educational event on rain barrels that she is going to be a part of. She explained that a local church has asked her to do a virtual rain barrel workshop to demonstrate the benefits of rain barrels, where supplies can be procured, and how to build one. Ms. Oliver added that this event may be something that is shared on social media. VII. Duck Ordinance — Discussion Chair Davey provided the background on this topic, which included where this stemmed from, and why it was being brought before the SAB. Chair Davey explained some differences between chicken and ducks, and why those differences matter. Oshkosh currently has a chicken ordinance but does not have a duck ordinance and within the animal ordinances it specifically states that housing waterfowl on a property is not permitted within city limits. She added that the ducks to be considered in a duck ordinance are called heavy bodied ducks, meaning they cannot fly. Chair Davey said she would like to see this item be worked on more during the winter months and Ken Osmond would like to know more about what the county DNR has in place, if anything, and what they would consider. Bob Poeschl asked if we would be amending the existing chicken ordinance to include ducks or if we would be creating a new, separate, duck ordinance. Chair Davey believes this would likely need to be its own ordinance. VIII. Permanent Community Gardens - Discussion Chair Davey explained that the garden subject has been discussed by the SAB many times in the past and that SAB has supported garden creation, however most of those gardens were not permanent. She identified some of the key issues with permanent gardens, such as, the lot not being taken care of once interest in the garden has dissolved. Chair Davey stated that many requests for permanent gardens within city limits have come up and is aware that the RDA has also discussed this topic. Bob Poeschl shared his personal successes with community gardens on some of the properties he manages and how they are now self-sufficient, not requiring his guidance at all anymore. He added that he is willing to work on this topic going forward and the board members were supportive of that request. Ken Osmond asked if there has been any criteria established for community gardens. Chair Davey stated that there are some guidelines within the Sustainability Plan, but it is not laid out very specifically and asked if anyone had anything more to add. Eric DeGroot would like to see population density and walkability in comparison to vacant lots that could be potentially used as gardens. Bob Poeschl described his experience with a garden creation in Stevens Park. This occurred as a collaboration between Stevens Park Neighborhood Association and the Parks Department. IX. Electric Vehicle Project - Update Eric DeGroot stated that Board member Pat Dwyer Hallquist did find some grants but they are currently not available and would re -open later this year. Mr. DeGroot explained that he has found a few vehicles within the fire and water department that could be switched over to electric but most of the city's fleets are large scale. Chair Davey said at this time, because there is only one vehicle here and one vehicle there that could be switched to EV, the board does not have any new recommendations at this time. Michelle Bogden-Muetzel asked what the downside is to using a grant to purchase just one, for example, firetruck and the infrastructure needed to operate it. Mr. DeGroot explained that this first step is the hardest and that his initial proposal was for the city to adopt some sort of legislation that, when available, departments should purchase EV's instead of gas or diesel vehicles. Ms. Bogden-Muetzel added that she feels it would make sense for the city to invest into infrastructure first and then as time continues, begin the changeover to EV's because this approach could potentially be more financially feasible rather than doing it all at once. Brandon Nielsen explained that some work has already taken place to determine where in a public lot EV charging stations could be installed based on the electrical grid below ground. X. Menominee Shoreland Restoration - Update Michelle Bogden-Muetzel explained that because of the pandemic it has been difficult to organize volunteer days so that activity involvement has been lower than past years. Ms. Bogden-Muetzel said that this year has definitely been smaller scale but she has still been able to get out to both the Millers Bay site and pump house site to check on things. She explained that Lakeshore Trail is overgrown a bit but they are working on getting it cleaned up. Ms. Bogden- Muetzel will be giving a virtual talk about the Shoreland sites on Sunday August 16, 2020 at 1:00 PM with the First Congregational Church. The board encouraged that the virtual talk be shared on social media if possible. XI. Social Media - Discussion/Action Currently the staff liaison for city boards is required to manage social media pages. Vic Oliver explained how this operation of maintaining and posting to the SAB's Facebook page is not ideal and does not allow the page to function how social media is meant to function. Ms. Oliver explained that since she has not been allowed to manage the FB page the interactions on the posts have decreased significantly, and therefore proposed to have a conversation about getting access back so it can be managed more effectively. Ms. Oliver shared some examples of what she feels are good FB posts going forward. Brandon Nielsen and Vic Oliver agreed to set up a time to meet and discuss this further. Ken Osmond questioned if Facebook is the only social media channel the SAB is currently on and Ms. Oliver explained yes, and why. Mr. Osmond explained that he would like to see the SAB on Instagram, as that is where the majority of younger people go for social media, and Ms. Oliver explained that getting an Instagram page started was one of her goals but if she cannot administer it, it becomes difficult for it to be successful. Chair Davey seconded Ms. Oliver's remarks, stating that when Ms. Oliver had control of the FB page it was more successful and there was a lot more engagement. She added that it is probably time that the city board(s) ask the city to reconsider the rule that does not allow administrative rights of social media pages by residents who serve on the boards, and only to city staff. XII. Review Goals Sheet Chair Davey went through the list of goals and checked in with each person who was listed as the responsible individual to see if they are still working on these items. Brad Spanbauer explained a student group that is involved with a fossil fuel divestment campaign and Chair Davey asked if Bob Poeschl would be interested being a part of the fossil fuel divestment goal, he agreed. Ken Osmond agreed to be a part of the permeable paver and plastic pledge goals. XIII. Agenda Items for Future Meeting Brandon Nielsen and Chair Davey stated that the next meeting in October would include Community Composting, Duck Ordinance, Menominee Shoreland Project, and Social Media. XIV. Next Meeting, Monday October 51h - City Hall Room 404 Chair Davey reminded the board of the next meeting. The board voted 7-0 to adjourn at 7:30 pm (Oliver/Bogden-Muetzel). Recorded by: Brandon Nielsen, Assistant Planner