HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.a. August 16 Regular Meeting Minutes
ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY TASK FORCE
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
August 16, 2016
1 CALL TO ORDER
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof the meeting of the Environmental & Sustainability Task
Force of the City of Rosemount was called to order on August 16, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. in the
th
Conference Room of the City Hall, 2875 145 Street West, Rosemount. Attendees included: Task
Force Members Rebecca Higgins, Mark Glende, Wade Miller, Council Member Vanessa Demuth
and Senior Engineering Technician Derick Anderson. Task Force Members Kathleen Koch-
Laveen, and Renee Burman were not in attendance. Guests attending included: SKB Landfill and
Enerkem representatives.
2 ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS TO AGENDA
There were no additions or corrections to the agenda
3 APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion by Higgins. Second by Miller.
Ayes: 3.
Nays: 0. Absent: 2. Motion carried.
4 PRESENTATIONS
Enerkem Corporation
Hosted by partners from SKB, Enerkem and supporting consultants. The presentation was heard
for the majority of the meeting.
- The site will be a commercial-scale operation;
- Waste Connections is the parent company;
- Sustainability goals and community participation are keys to the company’s philosophy;
- The waste-to-energy process is a next-generation process whereby waste is processed
into ethanol;
- The process emphasizes momentum for ‘top-end reuse’ of materials;
- This brings reuse to the next phase which is waste-to-energy;
- This process is not organics-dependent;
- The plans currently take into account community stakeholder concerns for line-of-sight
by grading the site below the primary residential area’s line-of-sight;
- Traffic safety, roadway demands, noise and light pollution considerations are being
included in the site design plans; and
- Job creation potential and tax base increases along with other financial contributions to
the city of Rosemount were described.
5 UPDATES
Leprechaun Days
The Task Force discussed Leprechaun Days:
1
- Good outreach success; all but 5 handouts were distributed (30-50 of each topic area
including Junk Mail Reduction Card, NonToxic Cleaning Recipes, How To Grow a No
Waste Lawn and Garden, Where to Find Green Building Products (courtesy of the
MPCA), and "Landscaping for Green Water" initiative (From the Vermillion River
Watershed District in partnership with the SWCD) plus sustainability-themed buttons
for children.
- Survey results were reviewed with some questions about interpretation of answers from
respondants.
Organic Drop-off Site
No update as Renee was absent; will be discussed in September.
Diesel Retrofit
No update
“Freeze Out”
No update
Additional items
Dakota Electric Partnership:
Question of task force support of the partnership involvement: All attendees were in
support of recommendation for participating in the partnership. A formal
recommendation should be made to apply to the partnership. Rebecca motioned to
make a recommendation to the City Council for entering the Energy Partners program,
seconded by Wade and passed.
The next meeting is scheduled for September 20, 2016.
6 ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
2