City of Lawrence                                         

Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB)

February 11, 2009 (5:30 PM) Meeting Minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Chris Cobb, Paul Dietz, Dickie Heckler, Sarah Hill-Nelson, Matt Lehrman, Daniel Poull, Laura Routh, Brian Sifton, Simran Sethi, Cindy Strecker

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

STAFF PRESENT:

Tammy Bennett, Kathy Richardson, Toni Wheeler

 

GUESTS PRESENT:

 

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Michael Almon, Andrew Stanley

 

 

 

Call Meeting to Order (Daniel Poull, Chairperson)

Take Roll Call to Determine Quorum of Members

 

Approval of meeting Minutes

 

Motion and second to approve the January 14, 2009 minutes (Routh/Heckler).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

 

Open Meeting Discussion, Toni Wheeler, City’s Legal Director

 

Toni Wheeler, the City’s Legal Director, handed out information regarding the Kansas Open Meetings Act (see attached). The Sustainability Advisory Board is subject to this act.

 

Toni Wheeler explained that if 6 or more of SAB members are meeting it must be an open meeting. This covers informal discussions too. She also mentioned that a series of conversations via phone and/or email would also qualify. A SAB member may email a topic or issue to the whole board but the board members cannot respond to the email. Instead the topic or issue may be discussed at an announced, open meeting. If there is an immediate issue that the board needs to gather about it, the meeting notice needs to be given at least 24 hours in advance. Meetings should not be held in a private place instead utilize public places (i.e. city buildings, library). A member can join a meeting via phone if the phone is on speaker phone.

 

Agendas and minutes are not required by law but if SAB routinely provides them then these need to be available to the public. Cameras and digital recording at meetings are permitted. Meeting rooms need to be accessible (i.e. large enough that all attendees can enter and sit in the room).

 

Recess into an executive session is allowed (like CC) but probably not something SAB will likely need to do. If SAB needs to have an executive session then SAB should talk to Toni Wheeler.

 

Toni Wheeler encouraged SAB to meet more frequently if they have many timely issues. She also reminded the board not to make decisions by email.

 

The board discussed reviewing and revising their bylaws and changing the protocol so that SAB is communicating in accordance to the open meetings act. SAB asked if Toni Wheeler could review possible changes to their policies and procedures.

 

Kathy Richardson informed SAB that the City of Lawrence has a new online calendar at www.lawrenceks.org/calendar and staff has the ability to post the advisory board meetings and subcommittee meetings on this calendar. All the 2009 SAB meetings have already been posted. The public can review the calendar online and they can also sign up to receive notifications.

 

Laura Routh mentioned posting the board’s working drafts on the city’s website so that the public can also review the documents and provide comments.

 

Climate Protection Task Force (CPTF) Update

 

Simran Sethi announced that the CPTF approved the climate protection plan for the City of Lawrence. They are making some final edits. The draft is posted on the city’s website http://www.lawrenceks.org/climate_protection/system/files/cptf_final_draft_report_2-19-09.pdf.  The presentation to the City Commission will be on March 31st (tentatively).

 

Action: Simran Sethi will email SAB the confirmed date of the CPTF presentation to the City Commissioners.

 

Simran Sethi commented that the CPTF article in the Lawrence Journal World was not representative of the climate protection plan. She informed SAB that both Lawrence.com and the Lawrencian expressed interested in writing about the climate protection plan in their papers.

 

Sarah Hill-Nelson and Brian Sifton were both instrumental in putting the CPTF plan together.

 

Lawrence Energy Conservation Fair (LECF) Subcommittee Report

 

Laura Routh, Dickie Heckler, Brian Sifton, and Daniel Poull attended a subcommittee meeting on January 29, 2009 to discuss the future of the Lawrence Energy Conservation Fair. The meeting notes were emailed to all SAB members (see attached). It was the general consensus of the subcommittee that SAB may want to come up with a new vision (i.e. Sustainability Fair). Laura Routh explained the 6 tasks/steps to take their Sustainability Fair idea further.

 

There was discussion on the timeline and what the next steps are. Daniel Poull stated that their subcommittee proposed plans would be for 2010 and not this year. The board agreed that the first step would be to hear staff’s response on the subcommittee’s proposal.

 

Action: Kathy Richardson will discuss with staff and report back to SAB at the next meeting.

 

The LECF subcommittee meetings are scheduled on the third Thursday of each month. Laura Routh asked that the subcommittee meetings be posted on the City’s online calendar.

 

Students for Bar Recycling, Andrew Stanley (KU)

 

Andrew Stanley formed a KU student organization called Students for Bar Recycling. Their goal is to promote sustainable practices at bars in Lawrence. They have a lot of ideas (i.e. the mug club) but have narrowed their focus to glass recycling. The students have contacted Ripple Glass, a new glass recycling facility in the Kansas City area which will open its doors by end of summer 2009. Andrew Stanley reported that Ripple Glass is interested in having community glass recycling bins placed in Lawrence (i.e. grocery stores, downtown, etc.) Students for Bar Recycling would encourage bars to sign up with current curbside recycling services in Lawrence and the curbside providers would take the glass to the Ripple Glass recycling bins within the community.

 

There was discussion on what the next steps would be and if the City would be open to allowing glass recycling bins placed in Lawrence. Kathy Richardson reported that she tried to get a hold of Ripple Glass prior to the board meeting in order to gather more information regarding their business plan. In addition, she advised that any recycling bin placed on private property (i.e. grocery stores) will need to be approved by the property owner and meet the City’s Planning criteria for setting out public recycling containers.

 

Laura Routh volunteered to attend the meetings of the KU Students for Bar Recycling and help out with whatever she can.

 

Andrew Stanley requested that the glass recycling information be posted on the City’s website www.LawrenceRecycles.org once this program/service is implemented.

 

Peak Oil Task Force (POTF) Update

 

Paul Dietz did not make it to the POTF meeting on January 20th. Michael Almon reported that at the first POTF meeting they focused on introductions and a discussion how the POTF overlaps with the CPTF. There was also a discussion on the scope and the group asked which other community(ies) already developed a Peak Oil Plan.

 

Meetings are monthly but the February meeting has not been set yet. Agendas will be posted on the City’s website http://www.lawrenceks.org/peak_oil.

 

Earth Day Update and Task List

 

The Earth Day Parade and Celebration are scheduled for Saturday, April 18th.

 

The following SAB members signed up for Earth Day tasks:

Distribute posters, prior to April 18th – Brian Sifton (downtown area) and Chris Cobb, but all SAB members agreed to take at a few posters with them

Carry Earth Day Banner in Parade, April 18th – Laura Routh (tentative) and Brain Sifton

Set-up for Earth Day Celebration, April 18th – Cindy Strecker, Chris Cobb, Sarah Hill-Nelson and Paul Dietz & his kids

Break-down for Earth Day Celebration, April 18th – Brian Sifton

  

Kathy Richardson announced that the Earth Day page on the City’s website will launch soon and will have an online registration form for both the Earth Day Celebration and Parade. KU Environs has once again agreed to host the Earth Day Parade. For the Celebration, staff has confirmed the following: inflatables (Jumps 4 Kids), Recycle-Cycle, food vendor (PJ’s concessions), snow cones (SnoBalls), and Animal Outreach of Kansas will host their “Great American Meat-Out” cook-out. In addition “Read Out, Speak Out, Sign Out, Dance Out, Act Out for Earth Care” will take place the same day as the Earth Day Celebration from 8 am to 8 pm and they will set up in the west portion of South Park.

 

Sustainability Advisory Board brochure

 

There was discussion on the value of developing a SAB brochure and participating in community events. SAB members agreed to create a 1/3 page brochure/flyer. Dickie Heckler mentioned that his wife Beth Ann can design the SAB brochure and Laura Routh added that she can subsidize the printing costs of the brochure.

Action: Beth Ann will design the SAB brochure and email the draft to SAB one week prior the next board meeting.

 

At the next SAB meeting, the board will review the brochure and finalize it.

 

Motion and second to develop a brochure for SAB (Routh/Heckler).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

 

Laura Routh volunteered be at the SAB table all day in South Park for the Earth Day Celebration if she does not have prior commitments that weekend.

Action: Laura will check her calendar to see if she is available on Saturday, April 18.

 

Tax Abatement and Public Incentives Policy

 

Today Laura Routh emailed SAB a draft memo regarding the City’s adoption of the tax abatement policies (see attached). The memo includes the recommendations made previously regarding the TIF/TDD policies and also includes a request for SAB to have a seat at the Public Incentives Review Committee (PIRC) table.

 

There was discussion on whether SAB wants to make a statement to the City Commission regarding the tax abatement and public incentives policy.

 

Motion and second to approve the tax abatement and public incentives policy memo with slight changes/edits and to have Daniel Poull submit the final memo (Heckler/Cobb).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

 

Waste Reduction & Recycling Report

 

The WRR report was emailed to SAB today (see attached). Kathy Richardson informed the board that the City’s recycling revenues are still down due to the recycling markets. The City is able to recycle all the materials collected although is currently receiving $0/ton for mixed paper.  

 

Guest comments and miscellaneous

 

Michael Almon announced that the next the Sustainability Action Network meeting is on Sunday the 15th at 5 pm at the Community Mercantile meeting room. The presenter will be Dave Dodds and the topic will be on rain gardens.

 

 

Meeting adjourned 7:30 p.m.

 

Next meeting: March 11th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

 

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