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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSCMinutes_2024_02_15City of Brookings Sustainability Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, February 15, 2024 4:00 PM City & County Government Hall Room 300 Sustainability Council Members: Bruce Pengra, Cynthia Kunkel, Kyle Jamison, Louis Hesler, Albert Patin, Samuel Krueger, Anthony Shanks, Robin Buterbaugh, Emily Abele, Kiley Rath, and SDSU Student Representative Valentyna Stopul. City Staff: Samantha Beckman Assistant to the City Manager. 1. Call to Order Meeting called to order by A. Shanks 2. Approval of the Agenda Moved: B. Pengra Second: R. Buterbaugh Aye: All Opposed: None 3. Approval of the Minutes Moved: R. Buterbaugh Second: A. Patin Aye: All Opposed: None 4. Open Forum At this time, any member of the public may request time on the agenda for an item not listed. Items are not typically scheduled for the end of the meeting; however, very brief announcements of invitations will be allowed at this time. - No Additional Items 5. City Update - City Retreat was on the 23 and 24 of January. Only questions were related to the food forest. Sustainability council was not assigned additional duties. - Public works department is evaluating the purchase of a hybrid truck. - Parks department has purchased a Turbo Line paint unit. This unit will reduce the amount of paint and necessary work hours. - New Tree voucher have been completed. Voucher will be available in April. - Food Forest is still in progress. Additional meeting will be conducted. Overall sizing of the forest may need to be reviewed in addition to the location. - Library and Activity center potential renovation. Open house today until 600pm for citizens to stop by and give their feedback. - Downtown listening sessions have been held. Interactive maps are available. Requesting feedback. - Fire Department have implemented a battery recycling program at the east fire department. - City clean-up will be in April - Frost Fest will be the weekend of 17 & 18 of February 27, 2024 - 77 Single family permits were filled in 2023. - Market Place Elections – Did pass. Will move to engineering phase . Hope to start this summer. 6. SDSU Sustainability Projects ⁃ Would like to partner on projects for Students to work on in conjunction with BSC. ⁃ Students could be a resource on projects. ⁃ Projects would need to be a semester length if for a single student. ⁃ For the Fall semester the BSC would need to communicate projects during the Summer. Projects could be incorporated in the Syllabus for the class. ⁃ The council would identify action items for the students to work on. ⁃ To facilitate the project the council will develop a list of projects and meet with the university in June 7. Stormwater Best Practices, Charlie Richter, City Engineer Updates since last meeting in January - A web resource for rain barrels have been identified. Rain barrels can come in different colors. Address https://rainbarrel.ca - fundraising.com will keep track of the reimbursement and substitutes. - Citizens could go directly to web site to purchase barrels. - As part of the BSC and city we could identify a day or location for pick up - Shipment priority will be for organizations that order at least 100 barrels. - Updates from R. Buterbaugh regarding NPI - NPI can not be the only provider of native plants. The city will need to follow-up with local Green Houses. City will take the action item of contacting the the green houses. City will outline the expectations to the green houses. - To enhance the process, recommend a listing of approved native plants. For the voucher we will need to have the address of the citizen for processing. Additional logistics will be need to be defined and outlined for the process. - Maximum purchase will be $250 with a reimbursement of $125. - Education workshop will be at the Garden Discovery festival Date May 19, 2024 - R. Buterbaugh to set up a meeting to review the voucher. 8. Seed Library Presentation Contact - Amanda Owens Seeds for the future - Seed library for the city and county of Brookings - Why is it important – Storage of seed that are adapted to the area and community. Would allow for food security. - Logistics, library could be fed by county extension. Would help gather and distribute. Sponsors and host could bring back seeds. Additional Seed collection - Donation, storage, seed providers purchase from seed companies. - Inventory of seeds in storage would be an element. - Who can receive, Brooking County citizens - Proposal would be to keep the seeds at the library. - Would need to establish training for citi voucher zens 9. No Mow May - Prior to May Web site will need to be updated - Signs – More signs are needed. 100 signs for $650 - Additional follow-up is needed with the printer. Waiting on a response for printing. - Will discuss in greater depth during March meeting. 10. Bee City update - R. Buterbaugh and L. Hesler completed the follow-up. - 3 South Dakota communities Rapid City, Spearfish and Sioux Falls belong to Bee City. - Entry will not take much effort. - Application fee $300 and annual $300. - We would need to identify our partner in the city. - An annual review will be required. - As part of the application the city would need to commit to pollinator habitat. - As part of the application, we would need to have another committee and or committee members engaged. - We would need to add locations city and private lands. - City would need to track and reduce the amount of pesticides. 11. Discussion & Action on Mission Statement ⁃ Please continue to provide feedback. ⁃ We will update as needed. ⁃ Will discuss in greater depth during March meeting. 12. Updates on the 2023/2024 Budget ⁃ Sponsored Sustainability conference. April 22-25 in Iowa. ⁃ Registration by March 1 ⁃ Need to budget for an additional person and hotel. ⁃ Will try to carry over for the food forest. ⁃ Action A. Shanks and A. Patin to establish an ongoing spreadsheet of budget cost and projects. ⁃ Potential projects include updated Banner additional Radio announcements Brookings register ads 13. Discussion/Possible Action on Subcommittee Membership and Structure a. Marketing and Communication: No Updates b. Climate Action Plan: No Updates c. Waste: A. Patin. No Updates d. Energy: No Updates e. Local Foods: No Updates 14. Upcoming Community Events ⁃ Garden Discovery The BSC would like to continue to participate in Garden discovery festival at McCrory Gardens. ⁃ Will discuss more in future meetings including who can volunteer. ⁃ Farmers Market The BSC would like to participate in Farmers markets 15. Call for Future Agenda Items None 16. Adjourn Motion to Adjourn Moved: A. Patin Second: B. Pengra Aye: All Opposed: None Respectfully submitted, Albert Patin