HomeMy WebLinkAboutSustComMinutes_2020_03_11Minutes 3/11/20
Brookings Sustainability Council
Present: Jake Meshke, Bob McGrath, Norma Nusz-Chandler, Paul Peterson, Nels Granholm, Robin
Buterbaugh, Jennifer McLaughlin, Shelly Brandenburger
Absent: Jane Hegland, Betty Beer, Stephanie Aure, Mike Lockrem
Agenda:
1. Call to Order: 4:02
2. Motion to amend agenda by Shelly Brandenburger to add discussion of duties of BSC – 2nd by
Norma – passed
3. Motion to approve amended agenda – passed
4. Minutes of Jan meeting – moved by Paul, 2nd by Bob – passed
5. Minutes of Feb meeting – moved by Norma, 2nd by Bob – passed
6. No public members present for open forum
7. Discussion of what are the duties of BSC. We visited the Municipal Code which has been in
place since the inception of the Council in 2011. The Code was shared with everyone present
and is attached to these minutes. We clarified some of the Code and how the activities of BSC
and the Strategic Plan fit within that.
a. The code notes BSC should be involved in investigation, proposing new efforts,
education, communication, and advocacy.
b. One concern is the idea that people on the Council may be nervous about taking
political stands such as we did with the plastic bags because of people not being able to
take political stands in regards to their jobs. We talked about ways to protect ourselves
such as including City Council and City Staff in those discussions and actions and having
folks make sure they clarify with their employer that they aren’t representing their
employer.
c. Jake discussed that the City wants to work with the Council and strategies for improving
that cross-communication between the City and BSC, might include things like Jake
reporting at each BSC meeting on what the City is doing in Sustainability.
d. We also talked about the limitations of the Council where we can research something
and bring that to the City (such as Solar Panels) but we aren’t necessarily expected to
create a full plan as that the City will of course put their experts to work on how to
implement an idea.
e. Jennifer made it clear that we want to hear from committee members if they feel a
project goes beyond the scope of the committee.
8. We walked through the Strategic Plan 2020 and how that fits with the Code discussed above.
Also discussed that this is a “living document” that will be modified each year. We also
discussed that our budget for this work is $5000.00 annually.
a. Strategic Initiative 1: Education & Outreach
i. Goal 1A: Mayor’s Sustainability Award (we are in charge of this in terms of
applications, vetting the apps, etc)
ii. Goal 1B: Social media posts (this is in partnership with the City – we just have to
come up with a 2-sentence post and a link to a valid source – the City staff will
take it from there in terms of vetting it and creating the actual post with
acceptable [non-copyright] pictures etc.
iii. Goal 1C: Sustainability themed Common Read (we are in charge of this – the
idea came out of BSC)
b. Strategic Initiative 2: Food
i. Goal 2A: Support the Dakota Community Market efforts
ii. Goal 2B: Continue work on local foods/urban ag ordinances (this is something
the subcommittee has wanted to work on for some time)
iii. Goal 2C: Work with City for Brookings community gardens (the City staff is
leading an initiative on this so we will be informed soon and can provide
support/ideas)
c. Strategic Initiative 3: Energy
i. Goal 3A: Support the City on adding renewable energy (we can do a 1-3 page
recommendation to the City and again, they’ll take it from there)
ii. Goal 3B: Energy efficient codes (the energy subcommittee has been working on
and again is something we will pass on to the City for further work)
1. Norma shared there are some challenges such as affordability of the
Code. For example, there is a proposal that all new homes are built with
a car charging station but that might create some social sustainability
changes because for every $1000 a house price goes up, 600 more
people can’t afford the house (a typical car charging station is probably
around $800).
iii. Goal 3C: Electric car charging station (the City staff – Jake – found a program
and we are moving forward with this through ChargePoint – should be installed
in April/May)
d. Strategic Initiative 4: Waste
i. Goal 4A: Plastic use (we are working on this…)
ii. Goal 4B: Business Survey (this has been distributed to the Downtown
businesses)
e. Strategic Initiative 5: Climate
i. Goal 5A: Research strategies for a climate action plan (we would be asked to
reach out to other cities that have done one, find out who did theirs as a
consultant if they hired out, ask to see their RFP form, maybe propose an RFP
form to the City as part of a summary of our research).
f. Strategic Initiative 6: City Support
i. Goal 6A: Recommend conferences and trainings for City Staff (Paul has recently
put this as a priority for all City leaders but the BSC could continue to support
this if we find conferences that might be a fit for a department of the City).
9. We talked about asking if the Affordable Housing Task Force – maybe Patty Bacon - could visit
with us about their work and progress since their 2017 Report and other items Patty presented
in Iowa at the Sustainable Communities conference.
10. Jennifer is presenting the plastic-bag follow-up to the City Council next Tuesday evening 3/17/20
at 5pm work session (in our usual room). Jennifer shared the report with everyone via email this
week and would like us to all look at it before she presents next week.
a. We talked about the reusable bags item and ideas for funding that project include the
BATA, the Chamber and Dakota Community Market who all want to participate in a
branded bag project.
11. Common Read: Nels, Stephanie and Jennifer met. Nels has met with Mikaela Neubauer at the
Brookings Library. They selected 2 days for the common read: 1st: June 30th and 2nd: July 15th –
both 6-8pm. They can purchase 5-6 copies of Falter and then BSC can buy the rest.
a. McKibbon is speaking on April 30th at 7pm – the contact person for tickets is Michael
Keller at SDSU. Michael.keller@sdstate.edu 605-651-4403. McKibbon will also be
speaking that afternoon. Nels will ask Michael if we can have a booth there promoting
our Common Read.
b. Nels would be willing to lead the discussion but would like other committee members to
help if they are interested ***Mark Your Calendars***
12. Jake will work on future speakers:
a. Potentially Jackie for stormwater discussion
b. Potentially Patty Bacon for above
c. Potentially Todd Langland for the Citizens Center and Yard Waste Cart program (opt-in
program launches April 1st)
d. Potentially Dusty Rodiek for Community Gardens
13. Robin announced next Thursday there is a talk on Rain Gardens at McCrory (a Third Thursday
presentation)
14. McCory Gardens is having an Earth Day event – we may have a booth there – Stay Tuned
15. Shelly & Jennifer will provide a list to Council members about the City departments if we can
look over and try to find some sustainability related councils that might be pertinent
16. Shelly & Jennifer will develop a SignUp Genius for signing up to do 2 social media posts each.
17. Shelly announced that Dakota Community Market won the 2nd place price from the BEDC for
community innovation and will be using that towards their Market study.
18. Jennifer said SDSU Athletics is doing a sustainability event at one of their games that lands near
Earth Day. They are wondering if BSC is interested in doing something at the event. Their
attendance is mainly community members, maybe 100-200 people. We discussed and won’t be
able to help at this time due to time/budget constraints.
19. Committee Updates:
a. Energy: Norma thinks their report could be done in the next month.
20. Bicycle Committee:
a. There is an RFP out there but the cost was extremely high.
21. Jake talked about the Stormwater best practices work the City is doing in terms of the new
parking lot and also in the Moriarity Park area with installation of a “dry pond” for the
Wyndemere neighborhood.
a. The City is doing a chip seal project in the NW sector of the city
i. Oil is down so we may be able to do more chip seal and overlay work this year
b. The state is doing a widening project (the City doesn’t have much to do with that)
c. The 22nd Avenue project (southern part) will take place in 2023
d. BMU is doing some water/road project on 8th street north over the summer
e. Bob Sheldon field bids are out – that will be a permeable pavement
f. The Armory project is coming to City Council soon
22. Bob motion to adjourn, Norma 2nd, adjourned at 5:44pm