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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.2.26 MinutesCITY OF OSHKOSH SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORY BOARD Minutes February 2nd, 2026 SAB PRESENT: Margy Davey, Vic Oliver, Jacob Klaameyer, Alyssa Reinke, Lisa Moore, Jaden Zurn, Brad Spanbauer, Amy Schuler, Paul Treder EXCUSED: ABSENT: STAFF AND OTHERS: Emma Dziengeleski (Planning Staff), Staff (Oshkosh Media) I. Call to Order Vice Chair Vic Oliver called the meeting to order at 6:00pm and a quorum was declared present. II. Public Comment Ms. Oliver asked if there were public comments. No public comments occurred. III. Approval of Minutes, January 5th, 2026 Mr. Spanbauer motioned to approve the minutes. Ms. Reinke seconded the motion. The board approved the January 5th minutes 9-0 (Reinke/Spanbauer). IV. Sustainable Activities and Events Ms. Davey stated that the League of Women Voters is hosting a candidate forum on Tuesday, February 3rd at 6pm in Council Chambers. This will be for all candidate for Common Council, School Board, and County Board District 14. Mr. Klaameyer shared a Farmers Roundtable event at Brighton Acres on February 5th at 9:30am to 4pm. Ms. Reinke specified that registration is closed for the Farmers Roundtable event and said the event is solely for farmers and conservation staff, not necessarily for the general public. On Tuesday, February 17th from 5pm to 6pm, the Citizens Climate Lobby will be speaking at the Oshkosh Tool Library. On Sunday, February 22nd from 11am to 1pm, the Oshkosh Tool Library is hosting an event for residents who want to learn to mend clothes. On Sunday, March 1st from 12pm to 2pm, Oshkosh Art Collective is hosting their annual supply swap at the Oshkosh Tool Library. Any unwanted items will be donated to the Christine Ann Center. Also, on Sunday, March 1st, the Oshkosh Seed Savers will be having their seed swap from 2pm to 4pm at the UW-Oshkosh Culver Family Welcome Center. V. Municipal Code Chapter 26: Trees and Vegetation Edits & Urban Strategic Forestry Plan Ms. Dziengeleski shared that she had reached out to City Forester, Travis Derks for updates. She shared that there had been a delay on projects with the holidays, but staff received some draft recommendations for Chapter 26 as well as a draft plan that are still being reviewed. She will share more updates as they become available. Mr. Klaameyer asked if any feedback was received on the comments the SAB recommended. Ms. Dziengeleski said not yet that she has seen, but will keep the board updated. VI. Stormwater Utility Credit Policy Ms. Dziengeleski shared that Public Works staff is actively working on updating the policy and application as a result of their recent ordinance updates. Public Works staff recommended SAB wait to have conversations on the policy until Common Council reviews and approves the changes, at their February 10th meeting. She will add this item to a future agenda to discuss. Mr. Klaameyer asked for clarification on the ordinance updates. Ms. Dziengeleski explained that it sounded like a number of different updates took place for Chapter 14 Storm Water Management. Mr. Klaameyer stated that he noticed that there is a portion of the stormwater utility credit application for non-residential that appears to be tied to TSS removal rates. He said the application includes percentages of TSS removal that makes non-residential buildings eligible for a stormwater utility credit, and if the ordinance is updated to be more stringent than the credit amounts, then it would allow everyone credit eligibility, or they could apply by just meeting the ordinance. He suggested updating the credit ahead of time, so the incentives are in the right spot, and not just you get the credit for meeting the ordinance. Ms. Davey asked if the Department of Public Works is aware the board is interested in looking into this further. Ms. Dziengeleski responded yes. Mr. Spanbauer and Ms. Davey asked if this is something to further discuss at the March meeting. VII. Review 2026 SAB Goals Ms. Dziengeleski brought up the draft goals and explained that staff had reviewed and provided a couple of questions and comments based on where the goals landed after the January workshop. She said that the board could simply delete the redlines and keep the goals as is, or they could run through each edit and discuss if they wanted to make any updates. Mr. Klaameyer asked for clarification on the redline edits. Ms. Dziengeleski shared that the redlines were from staff, but everything else is where the board’s conversation landed at the January workshop. Ms. Oliver asked if staff reviewing is a new practice moving forward because she can’t recall that ever occurring in the past. She wanted to know how solidified the redline edits are. Ms. Dziengeleski said the redlines are not solidified at all. She said the goals can be changed back to what they were after the workshop, or they can be further altered and discussed. She reminded the board that they are still their goals and they can edit as this wish. There was discussion amongst the board on whether to adjust the working of the first goal. The goal was edited to, “Recommend methods to increase native plantings in Oshkosh”. Ms. Oliver introduced the second goal and explained that historically they have kept this goal on public education on outreach vague to allow the board flexibility to adapt and grow on what they feel passionate about at that particular time. She clarified that she is not opposed to changing it, and reiterated flexibility for how they would like to get information out to engage the community. Mr. Spanbauer followed up with the last couple of years being the farmers market, he feels they have gotten better in tracking how many people they speak with. He then broke what the goal and shared what he felt were the forms of how information was getting out versus how it is being measured. Mr. Spanbauer suggested some language to add. Ms. Reinke added that they need to include something about how they plan to measure engagement. Ms. Davey followed up with stating the city had just hired a Communications and Engagement Manager, Drew Bailey, and the board may want to think about inviting him to a future meeting. She asked if they could send him information to be posted and if he could help facilitate the board’s end goal. Ms. Dziengeleski followed up saying that currently anything that the board would like posted or updated on the website can be sent to her and she can work with Oshkosh Media or IT on those changes. She is not yet privy to what Drew’s position priorities will be, but can keep the board updated. Mr. Klaameyer dove into the third goal and explained that it is going to be challenging to know how many initiatives of the comprehensive energy plan can occur in a given year. The board discussed that they liked the language staff provided, but still wanted to allow flexibility as to how many initiatives can happen within the next year. Mr. Spanbauer shared that between now and the next meeting he feels it i important to speak to staff about where this is going and get a better understanding of SAB’s role in this project. He would like to see some more specific projects to point at. Ms. Davey suggested the board review the plan on their own and then workshop all together at the next meeting. Ms. Oliver said it would be nice to hear from staff as to what appears to be more doable for them this year versus what they need additional time to do in future years. There was brief discussion on the last two goals and the board proceeded with the updates that staff had provided in the redline edits. Ms. Reinke asked if they wanted to add Sustainable Oshkosh website updates as a separate goal. The board decided to add it to goal two. VIII. Summer Farmers Market Ms. Davey introduced the topic and asked that the board decide what summer dates would work best. She asked if they wanted to go with three dates again. Ms. Moore shared that she felt three dates staffed by three people has worked best in the past. She would also like the dates be early summer, mid-summer, and fall. Ms. Davey said that she saw something that the board may want to consider pursuing. The idea would be to post frequent tips and tricks on particular issues. She said she could see this being effective for both Facebook and the Farmers Market. Ms. Schuler explained that she likes the idea of using the Facebook page to post weekly or monthly tips on different sustainability topics. Ms. Davey said it could go either direction, such as the group has a great idea for the Farmers Market, then they can find some tips to promote on the Facebook page. Mr. Spanbauer asked if the Farmers Market usually selects dates for the board to attend. Ms. Davey said that the board usually requests a few dates and they work with the Farmers Market on what is available. Ms. Dziengeleski said she would send out a Doodle Poll to give everyone a chance to review their calendars and see what dates will work best. Ms. Oliver said they will plan on reconvening next month to review dates. Ms. Moore suggested they start brainstorming activities to bring to the booth to further engage residents. Ms. Reinke said it would be nice to know if there is any available funding that would give the board could get some engagement resources. Mr. Spanbauer asked what they would need to do to ask for funding. Ms. Dziengeleski said she will have to look into it and get back to the group. Ms. Reinke added that the city is a NEWSC member and has access to a library of stormwater related resources. Mr. Zurn asked for clarification for what to have prepared for the next meeting. Ms. Oliver asked if staff could bring the bin to the next meeting to go through the materials that they already have. Mr. Zurn said that if the thought is to increase public engagement, he sees benefit in everyone bringing one or two topics to discuss further. IX. Sustainability Plan Update Ms. Dziengeleski shared that staff met with paleBLUEdot to kick off the plan on January 15th. She said that they are currently in the process of collecting data from different departments, and there are two open surveys. One survey is for general community input and the other is for the plan input team. She said that the plan input team is open for everyone who is interested in applying. Once that survey closes, staff and paleBLUEdot will determine who is part of the team. She said the timeline is to have the drafting stage completed by late summer, the draft plan in the fall, and the final project completed by the end of the year. Ms. Oliver asked if this has yet been shared on social media. Ms. Dziengeleski shared that there is currently one post, and there will be more to come. She said paleBLUEdot has more content created and ready to post. Mr. Spanbauer asked how many people they are anticipating for the plan input team. Ms. Dziengeleski said that has yet to be decided. Mr. Spanbauer asked how long the first community input survey is open for. Ms. Dziengeleski mentioned she believed June, but would work with paleBLUEdot on getting a deadline posted on the survey. Ms. Schuler asked if they will be using the first draft that GRAEF worked on last year. Ms. Dziengeleski answered that they will be starting over, but will utilize the original document as a resource. X. Agenda Items for Future Meeting Farmers Market workshop, Comprehensive Energy Plan workshop, Chapter 26 Trees and Vegetation, Stormwater Utility Credit Policy XI. Next Meeting is Monday, March 2nd, 2026 XII. Adjourn The board voted 9-0 to adjourn (Spanbauer/Treder) Recorded by: Emma Dziengeleski, Associate Planner