HomeMy WebLinkAboutSustComMinutes_2020_01_08Minutes of Sustainability Council for January 8, 2020
Present: Jennifer McLaughlin, chair, Jacob Meshke, Assistant to City Manager, Betty L Beer,
Robert McGrath, Norma Chandler, Shelly Brandenburger, Robin Butterbaugh, Nels Granholm,
Paul Peterson, Anna Barr
Absent: Jane Hegland, Mike Lockrem, Stephanie Aure
The Agenda and December minutes were approved as sent.
We Discussed goals for 2020 and considered existing goals of:
Sustainability award—Community Engagement
Social Media Posts—Community Engagement—add posts to promote electric cars,
bikes, walking local transport.
Food Co-cop/Pantry
Local foods/update ag ordinances
Renewable Energy---especially research 2 options of community owned vs utility owned
Electric car recharging station
Research energy efficient guidelines
Plastic Bag research
Business Survey—Shelly is nearly done with composing ten questions for local
businesses
We added:
Common Read: “Falter”. Some discussion of author Bill McKibbin coming to campus.
We will discuss this at the next meeting— (note: put on agenda)
Climate Action Plan—long term
Rain Gardens-- Dr. McMain got a grant for Boys and Girls Club (wraps up in the local
foods/ag ordianes line)
Strategic Plan—Jacob will send an outline copy to all S.C. members
We discussed the difference between strategic (rain gardens, collection tanks, no mow
program) and long-term goals (solar, sustainability plan, climate action initiative,
No Mow Education, best practices, etc.—Community Engagement
Recommend learning opportunities/conference for City Department Heads.
Research Community garden options (wraps up in the local foods/ag ordianes line)
Discussed how we should review the Benchmarks to determine goals and action plans.
Single Use Plastic research update:
Paul reported that is it getting harder by the month to recycle 3M waste
Jennifer will contact Hy-Vee and Walmart to see if they would receive and recycle plastic
bags that we collect from other (new) sites.
Bicycle: RFP for bikeshare—City and University will make a decision about this
Adjourn
Respectfully submitted,
Betty L Beer, secretary