City of Lawrence

Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB)

February 8, 2012 minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Sarah Hill-Nelson, Matt Lehrman, Chad Luce, Dale Nimz, Kathleen Nuckolls, Andrea Repinsky, Ian Spomer
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Megan Poindexter
STAFF PRESENT:	Tammy Bennett, Eileen Horn, Kathy Richardson
PUBLIC PRESENT:	Michael Almon, Matt Schwabauer

Call Meeting to Order (Chad Luce, Chair person)

Take roll call to determine quorum of members.

Approval of Meeting Minutes

Motion and second to approve the January 11, 2012 minutes (Spomer/Nimz).

Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Recap of the Kansas Preservation, Energy, and Sustainability Conference in Wichita

Dale Nimz attended the Kansas Preservation, Energy, and Sustainability Conference in Wichita last month. Many vendors participated in the tradeshow and there were approximately 200 people in attendance. He shared a copy of the conference agenda and also informed SAB of an upcoming Galloway Lecture Series presentation by Professor Michael Boswell on Thursday, February 23^rd at 7:00 pm at the Kansas Union.

Solid Waste Task Force (SWTF) Update and Review of the Final Draft Report

Chad Luce attended the SWTF public input meeting on January 19^th and spoke on behalf of SAB. He also passed around a copy of the SWTF meeting’s handout. A summary of this public input meeting is available online. Tammy Bennett informed SAB that a Study Session with City Commissioners has been scheduled for February 28^th at 4:30 pm to discuss the SWTF recommendations.

Chad Luce prepared a letter on behalf of SAB addressed to the Mayor and City Commissioners in support of the SWTF recommendations.

Motion and second to submit to the City Commission the SAB’s support of the SWTF recommendations letter as amended tonight (Hill-Nelson/Spomer). Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Review the Final Complete Streets Policy and Consider Providing Final Feedback by February 10th

The SAB reviewed the revised Complete Streets Policy and agreed that they did not have any specific feedback to submit to the Planning Department by February 10^th.

Chad Luce prepared a letter on behalf of SAB addressed to the Mayor and City Commissioners in support of the Complete Streets Policy.

Motion and second to submit to the City Commission the SAB’s support of the Complete Streets Policy letter as amended tonight (Nimz/Lehrman). Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.

Staff Report: Waste Reduction and Recycling Division

Kathy Richardson discussed program updates included in the Waste Reduction and Recycling Division report. She also announced that the glass recycling drop-off bins will soon be placed in four locations throughout Lawrence.

Staff Report: Sustainability Coordinator

Eileen Horn addressed all items included in the Sustainability Coordinator report. She also informed SAB that the City is working on completing a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory update and the City has more and better data now than in 2008 when it was first completed. Eileen Horn posed a question to SAB in regards to the City continuing to use the old GHG calculator which is not a perfect system or developing a new method to calculate the GHG inventory. There was discussion about the pros and cons of each. If the City alone develops a new calculation method, it would not be standard across communities. SAB recommended sticking to the old software for now, keep collecting and holding on to good data, and in the future going back and retroactively fixing the GHG calculations.

Eileen Horn shared a Municipal Climate Protection Survey Results completed in 2011.

Miscellaneous Announcements and/or Public Comments

Tammy Bennett stated that there was discussion about the 12/14/11 SAB minutes at the City Commission meeting last night. Matt Schwabauer expressed to City Commissioners that the 12/14/11 SAB minutes were not accurate and did not reflect the detail of his comments on “fracking”. The City Commission recognized that these meeting minutes are a summary of the meeting discussion. They also acknowledged that the 12/14/11 SAB minutes had already been approved by the board at the January meeting, but the City Commissioners would like SAB to re-confirm or re-consider the 12/14/11 minutes.

Chad Luce asked Matt Schwabauer to submit text that he would like considered by the board at the next meeting in March for possible inclusion in the 12/14/11 SAB minutes. Matt Schwabauer agreed to this next step.

Matt Schwabauer commented that efforts discussed at tonight’s SAB meeting like the LED Christmas lights and conversion of Eagle Bend golf fleet to electric carts our tiny efforts. He believes the City needs to be taking bigger steps. The book he is currently reading states that we are in the verge of complete and total collapse. He said that every little bit counts but if all everyone does is a little then all we will accomplish is a little. He believes people need to be panicking and that government needs to be making a lot of changes.

Michael Almon commented that he agrees with Matt Schwabauer. He is frustrated with incrementalism. He suggested that SAB read the book “End of Growth” by Richard Heinberg. It shows why growth is being blocked by three factors: resource depletion, environmental impacts, and crushing levels of debt. Sarah Hill-Nelson mentioned that SAB works on what is achievable and endorses what is attainable which has led to changes and improvements. Michael Almon challenged the board to keep pushing forward.

Michael Almon also shared with SAB the comments he submitted to the Solid Waste Task Force.