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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20160516 ESTF Minutes Final1 ENVIRONMENTAL & SUSTAINABILITY TASK FORCE REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Ma y 16, 2016 CALL TO ORDER Pursuant to due call and notice thereof the first meeting of the Environmental & Sustainability Task Force of the City of Rosemount was called to order on May 16, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. in the Conference Room of the City Hall, 2875 145th Street West, Rosemount. Attendees included: Task Force Members Kathleen Koch-Laveen, Mark Glende, Rebecca Higgins, Renee Burman, and Wade Miller; Council Member Vanessa Demuth, Public Works Director Wrase, and Senior Engineering Technician Derick Anderson. 1 INTRODUCTIONS Demuth began by discussing the Task Force in general and noted that the Task Force should not take a lot of time and she’d like to see the Task Force develop into a full City commission. Demuth stated she was passionate about water conservation and as Council Member has helped to implement the master irrigation controller. She is also passionate about water quality and has helped to implement obtaining grants for sealing wells. Lastly, she noted that Flint Hills uses as much water as the entire City and she wants to reuse the Empire effluent. Rebecca Higgins has worked as a hydro logist at the MPCA for 8 years and spent the previous decade in private sector as a consultant. She has a background in petroleum remediation and has had an opportunity to try and conduct job place sustainability, worked on a tech group for green and sustainable remediation. She is an Envision Certified Professional which evaluates infrastructure projects for sustainability; believes this is a great marketing initiative to attract residents to a community. Renee Burman is a 12 year resident and has worked at Dakota County as an environmental specialist in solid waste for the past 15 years. She works with schools and businesses to educate them on waste. She has worked on the 20 year County Plan and wants to see some work on reuse topics incorporated into the Comp Plan. She is passionate about stormwater, is concerned about natural ponds being converted to stormwater ponds. Notice difference between front yards and back yards, wants to develop program to educate residents on importance of stormwater buffers. Wade Miller is an environmental consultant and helps companies achieve a high level of environmental compliance. He has worked in the industry since 1998 and wants to make Rosemount a more desirable city for green companies. He wants to reuse grey water and support renewable energy. Katy Koch-Laveen has a horse farm on Diamond Path and has been on Dakota WHEP for 15 years. She saw a lot of wetlands dry up in Farmington which could have been prevented. She noted that residents should be educated about the small things they can do to protect wetlands 2 including not using bubblers and keeping a buffer to the wetlands. She is concerned about buckthorn and other invasive species. Mark Glende is employed as a custodian by the Burnsville School District. He is passionate about educating students and was involved in the recycling program at school. The school used to fill up a 4 yard dumpster every day and now use a 90 gallon container once a week. He is interested in stormwater management and runoff particularly the phosphorus. City staff Patrick Wrase (Public Works Director) and Derick Anderson(Senior Engineering Technician) were also present and gave a brief summary of their backgrounds. 2 BYLAWS AND ELECTION OF CHAIR Demuth noted that Council had approved the bylaws of the Environmental & Sustainability Task Force. The Task Force will be providing a quarterly update to City Council. Anderson will be the staff contact for the Task Force. The Bylaws call for the election of a Chair of the Task Force. Election of Chair Person Task Force Member Miller nominated Glende for the position of Chair. Motion by Miller. Second by Higgins. Motion to elect Mark Glende as Chair of the Environmental & Sustainability Task Force. Ayes: 5. Nays: 0. Absent: 0. Motion carried. 3 OVERVIEW OF EXISTING PROGRAMS The group discussed the existing programs in which the City of Rosemount was involved including the Star Program, MPCA Green Steps, Regional Indicators and the University of Minnesota Resilient Communities. It was noted that Rosemount was the first City to receive the 3-Star Communities award. Rosemount is currently at the second step regarding Green Steps and it was noted that Eagan was at 3. It was further noted that Rosemount compares well with other cities in the Regional Indicators. Glende noted that Rosemount’s rank was 213th on energy and the City would have the capacity to save $152,000 per year by using LED lighting and making other changes. Miller noted that Xcel is generally easier to work with than Dakota Electric regarding energy savings. Wrase noted that all electric providers must donate 1.5% of their gross earnings for conservation programs. It was suggested that representatives from Dakota Electric and Xcel be invited to attend a Task Force meeting. The group also discussed the reduction of light pollution. There was discussion about the diesel retrofits for city and school vehicles. Wrase advised that the City vehicles are up to date and Higgins will check into whether ISD 196’s are done. 3 Wrase was asked whether developers had to keep all increased storm water on site and he advised that up to the 100 year event was stored on site and the rate and volume was maintained to existing wetlands. The issue of the additional sheet of ice with the pending referendum was also discussed. Miller noted that the waste heat from the ice arena compressors could be used to a heat a pool. The group then discussed the multiple trash haulers used throughout Rosemount. Would it be possible for the City to limit the amount of approved trash haulers? Would it make sense to have recycling picked up every week and trash every other week? Compost bins and sites were also discussed and Burman noted that Empire has a composting site. She will look into a drop site for composting. NEXT MEETING AGENDA Future Task Force meetings will be held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for June 21, 2016 and stormwater will be on the agenda. Demuth asked the members to review the stormwater component in the City’s existing programs. Several comments included that the Task Force should start with the low-hanging fruit on these issues. Miller noted some simple changes including having car washing fundraisers on lawns instead of pavement. 4 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.