2025-08-25_EC_Minutes7800 Golden Valley Road I Golden Valley, NIN 55427
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Environmrtal Commission va
August 25, 2025 — 6:30 pm
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Remote Attendance: Members of the public may attend this meeting via Microsoft Teams by
calling 1-872-256-4160 and entering access code 774 327 980#.
Questions/Comments: Members of the public who have questions about the commission or
any items on the agenda should contact the staff commission liaison — Ethan Kehrberg,
Sustainability Specialist, ekehrberg@goldenvalleymn.gov, 763-593-8083.
Commissioners present:
Commissioners absent:
Council Members present:
Staff present:
Others present:
1. Call to Order
Sarah Drawz, Paul Klaas, Ellen Brenna, Adam Wold, Hannah Byl
Amelia Schulz
None
Chloe McGuire, Deputy Community Development Director;
Michael Ryan, City Engineer;
Carrie Nelson, Engineering Assistant.
Jessica Lewis, Resident, called in.
The meeting was called to order by Chair Klaas at 6:30 pm.
2. Land Acknowledgement
3. Approval of Agenda
MOTION by Commissioner Brenna, seconded by Commissioner Byl to approve the agenda for
August 25, 2025 as submitted and the motion carried.
4. Approval of Meeting Minutes
MOTION by Commissioner Drawz, seconded by Commissioner Wold to approve the minutes
of July 28, 2025 as submitted and the motion carried.
• After further discussion.
MOTION by Commissioner Wold, seconded by Commissioner Byl to approve the minutes of
July 28, 2025 with the following change and the motion carried.
• Section 5.D., "Outdoor Lighting Ordinance" Second bullet point:
o Delete first sentence
NItThis document is available in alternate formats upon a 72-hour request. Please call
763-593-8006 (TTY: 763-593-3968) to make a request. Examples of alternate formats
,may include large print, electronic, Braille, audiocassette, etc.
City of Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeting 2
August 25, 2025 — 6:3.0 pm
o Insert these two sentences:
The. PowerPoint in the agenda packet was presented at an
Environmental Commission meeting on August 28, 2023. Commissioner
Klaos. now, also has a redlined update of Golden Valley's current outdoor
lighting ordinance, but that redlined update is not quite ready for
presentation to the .Commission. yet.
5. Business
S.A. Update on Haha Wakpadao/Bassett Creek Co. -Naming Policy
• This is going to Council on September 2nd for their second approval.
• The Bassett Creek Watershed Commission only reached out to local Indigenous leader,
Jim Rock. The City reached out to a couple more — The Indian Affairs Council and The
Tribal Historical Preservation Office. We're still waiting to hear back from them.
• The language changed slightly.
S.B. Council Communications
• None
S.C. Commissioner/Staff Communications
Outdoor Lighting Ordinance
o Chair Klaas, Chloe (Assistant Community Development Director), Michael (City
Engineer), and'Ethan met a couple of weeks prior to this meeting to discuss how to
proceed. Chair Klaas has sent staff a redlined version of the current ordinance, a
clean -copy of the current ordinance, and a copy of the 2025 briefing that was
previously sent to all commissioners.
o Staff has reached out to both Assistant Police Chiefs and will be working on setting
up a meeting when it works best for them.
o Council Member Ginis is following this and interested in updating the ordinance.
o This is within the Zoning Code for the City. The Planning Commission is in charge of
the Zoning Code so we'll need to have a hearing before the Planning Commission
before it can go further. Chloe has been in touch with the Chair and Staff Liaison to
the Planning Commission.
• Audubon Audit
o Hoping to possibly do an internal audit. Maybe figure out what practices had been
put into place to get the certification previously. Where have we fallen off since we
lost the certification?
o Hopefully once the summer season winds down and the solar installation is finished,
they might have more time to look into this.
o Maybe we can find the records from the initial audit. If we can see what was done
previously, maybe we can make some recommendations without involving a third -
party audit. Chloe will see if she can get these from Greg at Brookview.
o Brookview's annual work is documenting the current practices and they do believe
we're still compliant with Audubon. We just don't pay for the certification. It's just
been city practice to not pay for the certifications and just do the work.
o OSRC would like to share these goals and possibly have a joint work session once or
twice a year.
City of Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeting 3
August 25, 2025 — 6:30 pn
Climate Equity Plan
o Ethan and WSB hosted the first steering committee meeting. There were staff
members from all departments present.
o There was a lot of good input. Everyone was really in favor of the plan.
o There was a lot of discussion about making sure there was a connection between
departments so there isn't double work and making sure the plan is usable and
understandable.
o Make sure staff in the field know about what the plan is since they are talking to the
public are aware of what the City goals are.
o There was a lot of discussion about gathering public input and focusing direct
messaging to gain public trust.
o It was asked to ask what everyone is currently working on that might be impacted by
this plan. Engineering staff mentioned the lighting ordinance.
o There was a lot of really good and diverse input.
o The steering committee will meet two more times.
• Styrofoam/Single-Use Plastics, Bags, and Containers
o Sarah has done the work needed for this. The Commission needs to know how to
find out from the Council whether they are interested in the Commission taking this
on or not.
o If there is a consensus from the Commission that they would like to take this on then
the Chair would send an e-mail to Council Member Ginis and Ethan to ask for formal
directions. Attach what's been done so far to the e-mail.
o With the Climate Equity Plan happening, does the City have the resources needed to
take this project on?
o Possibly do a pilot program on a smaller scale?
o Maybe shift a little and align the work plan with the City Council strategic directives.
They just released a strategic plan for the City and one of those is leveraging city
events with our zero waste values. Maybe pivot to a zero -waste policy for City
events.
Increasing Organics Participation through New Initiatives.
o Commissioner Byl has done some research into what other cities have done.
o The next step will be for Commissioner Byl and Ethan to meet and discuss what has
been done previously and where some new ideas could be added.
o The City has free bags available in the Community Development office.
o Commissioner Byl is hoping to have a plan to report back to the Commission in a
month or two.
• Staff Updates
o The Environmental Manager position was posted. This will fill former staff liaison,
Eric Eckman's, open position. It's a senior managerial position to manage
environmental and water resource projects and that can range from storm water
and water resources to wetlands and flood plains and contamination and
remediation. Ethan will continue to be the EC Staff Liaison.
City of Golden Valley
Environmental mmission Aar Meeting 4
6. Adjournment
MOTION by Commissioner Wold, seconded by Commissioner Byl to adjourn the meeting at
7:14 pm and the motion carried.
ATTEST:
Carrie Nelson, Administrative Assistant
i
Paul Klaas, Chair