2021-11-22 EC Minutes7800 Golden Valley Road I Golden Valley, MN 55427 City (firWAO
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November 22, 2021— 6:30 pm
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
Remote Attendance: Members of the public may attend this meeting via Webex by calling 1-415-655-
0001 and entering access code 1773 93 4642.
Questions/Comments: Members of the public who have questions about the commission or any
items on the agenda should contact the staff commission liaison — Eric Eckman, Environmental
Resources Supervisor, eeckman@goldenvalleymn.gov, 763-593-8084.
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Chair Weirich at 6:30.
2. Roll Call
Commissioners present: Scott Seys, Wendy Weirich, Tonia Galonska, Shannon Hansen, Jim Stremel,
Dawn Hill, Felix Fettig
Commissioners absent: Debra Yahle
Council Members present: None
Staff present: Eric Eckman, Environmental Resources Supervisor;
Drew Chirpich, Environmental Specialist;
Ethan Kehrberg, GreenCorps Member;
Carrie Nelson, Administrative Assistant.
3. Approval of Agenda
MOTION by Commissioner Hill, seconded by Commissioner Stremel to approve the agenda for
November 22, 2021 and the motion carried with the following addition:
• Add December 2021 meeting and 2022 meeting dates as new item 6A, moving the other items
down sequentially.
4. Approval of October 25, 2021 Regular Meeting Minutes
MOTION by Commissioner Hansen, seconded by Commissioner Galonska to approve the minutes of
October 25, 2021 as submitted and the motion carried.
S. Old Business
A. Partners In Energy
i. Ethan has been reaching out to Multi -Family building owners, managers, and tenants to
look at energy efficiency practices they could be using as well as working on recycling
best practices.
ii. Home Energy Squad post card sent out to 4,000 of the oldest homes in the City.
iii. Social Media posts throughout October for Energy Awareness Month.
iv. Low Income program flyers going out with the LED lighting kits. Also given to PRISM.
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City of Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeting 2
November 22, 2021-- 6:30 pm
v. Ethan had a table at the winter farmer's market to give out LED kits and talk about the
Energy Action Plan, the Organics Recycling Program, and Chloride Reduction.
vi. A letter will go out to small and medium sized businesses from the City and Xcel to talk
about energy efficiency opportunities.
vii. Eric, Xcel Energy, CenterPoint, and a representative from Mortenson will talk at the next
Golden Valley Business Council meeting on December 9.
viii. Staff, Communications, and the PIE team have been working on the award and
recognition program to recognize businesses in Golden Valley who are taking steps to
help make progress on our Energy Action Plan.
ix. Created an Electrify Your Ride flyer to hand out.
x. EV charging station is installed at Brookview.
A. Federal Government passed the infrastructure bill with funding allocated to MN. Some
will be allocated to clean energy and sustainability efforts — specifically EV charging
infrastructure. $68 million.
B. Environmental Justice Commission Collaboration
i. Scott talked to Commissioner Mitchel from the DEIC. They've been taking a lot of time
with their commission and figuring out what their goals are. At their last meeting they
did vote to continue their collaboration with the EC. Speaker, Tree Equity, etc.
i. Staff still interested in collaborating on a speaker or community event.
iii. Will update mapping showing inequities in green infrastructure.
iv. 2020 census data becoming available soon.
C. Draft Climate Resolution
MOTION by Commissioner Hill, seconded by Commissioner Galonska to approve sending the
Draft Climate Resolution to the City Council with the changes discussed tonight and the motion
carried.
• A revised draft will be sent to commissioners to review and provide feedback,
individually, before sending to council.
• Change Title:
A resolution joining cities and counties across Minnesota declaring a
climate emergency impacting the environment, economy, and human
health.
• Take out some of the global info and keep it more local info? Inquire about this at
the next MN Climate Conference meeting in early December to see if others are
trying to shorten their resolutions by eliminating use of global information. Maybe
if they all feel it's important to include it we will include it, too.
• Eliminate or combine repetitive language.
• Under'BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED':
• Change the first bullet point to start out 'Continue to collaborate with
residents, businesses, institutions, and non -profits to implement...'
• Change the 511 bullet point to include the read 'with an increasing focus
on...'
• Add 'the' in between Position and City in the 6th bullet point.
City of Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeting 3
November 22, 2021-- :30 pm
• Add a bullet point -Consider the environment, energy, and climate in
the development of its annual legislative priorities.
6. New Business
A. December 2021 Meeting and 2022 Meeting Dates. The Commission discussed the City's Equity
Advancement Team's work on a new inclusive holiday calendar and potential policies to support
that effort. More information to come in 2022.
i. Commission voted to cancel the December 2021 meeting
ii. Commission voted to approve the following 2022 meeting dates:
1. January 24, 2022
2. February 28, 2022
3. March 28, 2022
4. April 25, 2022
5. May 23, 2022
6. June 27, 2022
7. July 25, 2022
8. August 22, 2022
9. September 19, 2022
10. October 24, 2022
11. November 28, 2022
12. December - Cancelled
B. GreenStep Cities Metrics
i. MOTION by Commissioner Seys, seconded by Commissioner Galonska to approve Action
12.5 Transportation Mobility Options as submitted and the motion carried.
ii. MOTION by Commissioner Hill, seconded by Commissioner Galonska to approve Action
22.7 Sustainable Consumption and Waste as submitted and the motion carried.
iii. MOTION by Commissioner Galonska, seconded by Commissioner Hill to approve Action
24.6 Resilient Economic and Community Development as submitted and the motion
carried.
C. Program/Project Updates
i. 6300 Olson Memorial Hwy —City had received an application for light industrial buildings
—the current building will be demolished, the property divided into two lots, and two
new buildings built. This property is not zoned for multi -family.
D. Council Updates
i. None
E. Other Business
DEIC's had an open forum that was televised to explain to the community who they are
and what they do and allowed calls and a -mails from the community members to ask
questions. Would the EC be open to something like this?
There are 3 areas where the community can participate with the environment.
1. One is with the DNR - They have a pine cone and seed collection:
htt s://www.dnr.state.mn.us/newsi`2021/10/25/state-forest-nurse -
has-urgent-need-lack-pine-red-pine-and-black-s�)ruce-cones
City of Golden Valley Environmental Commission Regular Meeting 4
November 22, 2021— :30 pm
2. Bumblebee Watch
1. https:JZwww.bumblebeewatch.orgJ
3. MN Dept of Agriculture Arrest the Pest Site
1. http://www.mnitap.umn.edu/publications/exchange/`2017/June/arrest/in
dex.html
4. Can we have links on our EC page to these? Possibly in the future. The City is
launching a new website in December 2021 and this will need to be evaluated.
7. Adjournment
MOTION by Commissioner Stremel, seconded by Commissioner Hansen to adjourn the meeting at
8:20 pm and the motion carried.
ATTEST:
Carrie Nelson, Administrative Assistant Wendy Weir h, Chair