1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,120 Everybody speak up because we will be going back to work at the table for interesting. 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:11,840 All right everyone welcome to the sustainability framework advisory committee. We do have a quorum. 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:19,520 It is Friday August 23rd 2024 at 1 30 and we are in the city council work session room. 4 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:29,840 We will go ahead and begin our item for individual consideration. A consider approval of June 7 2024 5 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:37,920 minutes. Anybody have any clarification or questions about those? No I approve. Okay so we have 6 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:46,480 a motion to approve from Ed. I'll second. Item second. All in favor? Aye. Okay so we will move on to 7 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:53,280 B receive a report and hold a discussion regarding Greensense incentive program expenditures 8 00:00:53,280 --> 00:01:00,320 updates and next steps. 9 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:20,880 So just wanted to give you an update on Greensense. It's been going very quickly. Very well received. 10 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,840 So we have some of the just a reminder about what revisions we made for 24. 11 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,080 Where the expenditures are falling out this year and then what our next steps are. 12 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:39,280 Just the background began in 2009. We haven't done a good update on it since fiscal year 18. 13 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:44,320 That was less than every day about some change so we were due for some updates. It's funded through 14 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:51,040 DME and only DME customers are eligible but we do manage that funding. Still comes out of the DME 15 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:59,360 budget but sustainability is responsible for management. We have energy efficiency focused 16 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:04,480 building envelope and building systems. This is kind of where the two categories for how the 17 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:09,520 revakes fall out most in line with what we've been talking about with the climate plan and 18 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:16,000 sustainability framework. And just a reminder we had one million approved for fiscal year 2024. 19 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,600 So this is just a reminder of how we increase the rebates to make them 20 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:29,680 more substantial. With the rising cost of everything it makes sense to go ahead and 21 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:31,760 increase those rebates make it a little bit more meaningful. 22 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:37,920 So as of 8/16 23 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:48,160 we have about 10 percent a little bit less than 10 percent of the funding remaining and it was 24 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:53,840 broken up about 57 percent went to HVAC and smart thermostat. The building envelope the 25 00:02:53,840 --> 00:03:00,080 insulation weatherization type projects had about 19 percent of the funding. Transportation 26 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:07,040 the e-bike and the EV which we did halt those in the spring because we already exceeded what 27 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:12,480 we were planning to spend for those. That took about 13 percent of the funding and then the 28 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:18,640 annual fan giveaway we did the thousand fans again and that's about 3.5 percent of the budget. 29 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:27,760 So just some adjustments from running the program and running about 900 applications through 30 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:34,800 the program this year. We have some lessons learned. We want to change that 31 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,400 time frame after installation or purchase from 180 days to 90 days. So just within 90 days you need 32 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:47,440 to submit all your information if you're going to apply for a rebate. A little bit more outreach 33 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:52,480 to installers. We're having quite a few new installers and just need to have a better 34 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:57,600 communication with them about invoicing and documentation. It requires multiple phone calls 35 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:04,320 between the homeowner, the installer, building inspection sometimes to get all of the information 36 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:09,280 that we need to process the rebate so if they could include everything on the invoice it makes 37 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:16,240 it easier for the homeowner, makes it easier for them. With us going to the more substantial rebates 38 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:23,920 we moved from all of them being a bring sense credit on the bill to issuing checks. If we have 39 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:29,920 customers who say landlords who may get more than one rebate in a year we want an option to have 40 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:36,880 the electronic funds transfer so that we don't have to kind of check every time and then we want 41 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:43,840 to talk about shifting the e-bike and the ev off of the bring sense fund maybe to the sustainability 42 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:57,120 framework fund. So this was the amount remaining on this was on 86. I think this was 16 actually. 43 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:05,840 So you can see we have about 101,000 remaining. I think we've processed about 48,000 last week 44 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:10,720 and another 40,000 this week so we are right at the edge of that. 45 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:22,640 So on the electric vehicle and the electric bike we adjusted those from 45,000 for ev. We planned on 46 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:28,960 45 we adjusted it up with the things that trickled through how the payments come through. We ended up 47 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:35,040 spending 87,000 out of the bring sense fund for those and just under 50,000 for the e-bike. 48 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:42,080 We took that kind of out of the multifamily. We were rolling it forward quarter by quarter 49 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:46,080 to see if anybody had taken advantage of the multifamily and knew that there was a cushion we 50 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:54,800 could use for it. So that's how that worked out and we also didn't want it to 51 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:01,440 start biting away at our energy efficiency. So it was time to, they're well received. 52 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:07,040 Makes sense to try to continue them but not at the expense of energy efficiency. 53 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:19,600 So yes. So Katherine, can you go back to the, so you want to in this discussion now discuss 54 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:25,920 the shift or would that be, do you want to talk about that in our next discussion? 55 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:31,200 I think we could talk about it a little bit now and then, yeah. 56 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:40,160 So I do, I'm curious, so if we, if the multifamily is not being used and it was okay to take out and 57 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:48,400 adjust, fund the electric bike and vehicles, but we're going to move the propositions to move the 58 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:55,840 EV and e-bike out of this fund to the other fund, does that keep multifamily in there not being used 59 00:06:55,840 --> 00:07:05,440 or, no, we would keep multifamily in there, but we need to do a better job of speaking to our 60 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,680 landlords and management companies about upgrading their property and just making them aware of the 61 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:18,320 program. This was such a big shift that it kind of overwhelmed our office of processing them. 62 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:24,560 Yeah, so it's something that we know we need to do. We're starting to make those inroads with 63 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:29,440 landlords right now, but we need to do it on a larger scale. Anybody have a question? 64 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:37,680 Just some questions. Do we know who buys e-bikes? Is there a, has there been a study done on 65 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:47,680 who buys income? We haven't done a study, we haven't done a study on that. I do, 66 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:52,560 been working on a bike survey to go out to everybody who received a rebate just to try 67 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,800 to get a little bit of that demographic information. I can tell you that the 68 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:06,720 total amount paid for e-bikes swings by very widely. It could be a $700, a $400 e-bike, 69 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:14,240 up to a $9,000 e-bike. So we do, this is just for me looking at the rebates as they come in. 70 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:19,840 Some of the addresses that are around campus, I think that's probably more students that are 71 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:26,400 using the bike as opposed to somebody who's using it maybe for recreation or replace trips. We had 72 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,400 somebody come out to pick up a fan in our office on Bay Hill on his e-bike that he'd gotten the 73 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:39,040 rebate for. And he came from north of, got the program at University. So they're getting used. 74 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:49,520 So is this a situation where if I were to apply for an incentive to get an e-bike, I would receive 75 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:54,880 them as incentive money after I purchased it. Is that correct? Okay, well here's where I have a 76 00:08:54,880 --> 00:09:03,920 problem. What about lower income households who can't afford to put that money out or down 77 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:11,440 out front? Is there any way that, well I think there should be a policy based upon, you know, 78 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:19,120 you set the level. But for people who can't afford to put out whatever they need to put out to get 79 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:25,680 the incentive, I think there should be some sort of procedure where they can get what they want 80 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:37,280 and pay for it upon completion of the project. Or even in some cases a payment program if we're 81 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:43,200 really serious about energy equity in the community. I think we have to look at some aspect of that. 82 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:52,960 And I understand. I think discussing it further than that is getting us outside of what it's 83 00:09:52,960 --> 00:10:01,040 posted for. It doesn't change how much is in the program on the health program. It's about how it's 84 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:13,200 used though, right? So, well, expenditures, updates, and next steps. So I just think discussing on 85 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:21,520 changing a program is not what it's posted for. Fair enough. Still got my message, right? 86 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:28,960 I guess in the end we can ask for a discussion on equality. 87 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:40,240 Any other questions? I have a short question on more of a clarification. You mentioned that 88 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:47,040 you reduced the deadline from 180 days to 90. What's the story there? Why did you do that? 89 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:59,120 It's a very long look back for people to turn things in and it's harder to get the information 90 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:04,320 the further away you get. We've had some that we're kind of struggling with and they're going 91 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:07,920 back and forth with installers and they can't get the information and we don't want to reject them 92 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:13,200 because it should qualify that they don't have the documentation to support it. We're hoping that the 93 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:19,760 90 days helps people focus on getting that in and getting it complete. Okay, so you're just 94 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,840 starting the 90 days deadline. You don't have experience with that yet? Don't have experience 95 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:32,320 with that yet. That's what we're proposing. Adam, do you have any questions? I do have a question 96 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:39,040 pertaining to the Green Sense program and the use of the money. It might not because there's not a 97 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:46,720 bullet point in it, but as far as how you use it in availability for multi-family and landlords, 98 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:52,800 do we have a how-to video posted on like D&E website or our sustainability site where 99 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:59,920 somebody like you walk them through the process because it could be kind of complicated for just 100 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:05,600 anyone to try to figure out? We could definitely look at that as part of our education about the 101 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:14,800 program. We're moving towards trying to do more videos. I mean, very fortunate, Marcom is very 102 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:19,680 supportive of the educational pieces. I think we could probably come up with something like that 103 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:25,280 and then our social media folks are great with fun little videos. Okay, all right, thank you. 104 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:34,800 So I guess is that it for this? Do y'all have any ideas? Are you happy with the rebates that we have 105 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:42,320 in here? Anything else you'd like to add? I hope at some point that something can be worked out 106 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:51,040 again for residential rooftop solar and battery storage especially. And as the summers get hotter, 107 00:12:52,720 --> 00:13:00,160 I mean it's, we've got to act. It's not going to get better. We need to get ahead of things. 108 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:07,040 So I hope there will be a discussion regarding that coming up when the physical year starts in 109 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:12,000 October. Adam, I think you had a comment or question? I was just going to say I was kind 110 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:18,160 of waiting because I'm looking at our next item coming up and one of the proposals was shifting 111 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:24,480 one of these items to there. So I thought I would hold that conversation to that because then we'll 112 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:30,240 have a more comprehensive sense. But in general, if you're just asking for feedback, I think these 113 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:37,120 categories are great. It's my understanding, but correct me if I'm wrong, that the especially like 114 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:43,520 the HVAC and the building envelope things have some empirical studies behind it in terms of bang 115 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:50,080 for the buck, energy savings and CO2 reduction. That's a smart way to invest our money, right? 116 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:55,600 And that hasn't changed. We don't have the data or anything about that. No, we actually need to 117 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:00,080 get some updated estimates and then we'll do it after the end of this fiscal year when we have 118 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:06,800 the whole program we ever would have. Okay. Thank you, Catherine. 119 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:14,000 So we will move on to IMC, receive a report and hold the discussion 120 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,560 regarding the sustainability framework fund. 121 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:33,120 So sustainability framework fund. So just a little bit of background, the funding, the estimates and 122 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:38,880 the actual, the projects that we have undertaken and then we want to talk about the prioritization 123 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,760 and adjustments that we might make to the framework fund work plan. 124 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:51,120 The next steps. Before I move off this one, sorry, just a reminder, we have the four million 125 00:14:51,120 --> 00:15:01,760 projection for '22, '23 and so we program for up to four million. Whenever that wasn't realized, we 126 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:07,920 took that same work plan and carried it forward through '23, '24 while we saw what the revenue 127 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:15,360 was actually going to come in and saw what we would actually have available. So we had the 128 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:20,000 five hundred thousand dollars with the seed money whenever the sustainability framework fund was 129 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:25,840 launched and then we got the four million that came in at five hundred thousand. 130 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:33,520 The budget for '24 was adopted for seven hundred and fifty thousand. We don't have the actual 131 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:38,480 budget but the projected revenue is eight hundred and ten thousand for the fund and then they're 132 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:49,360 planning eight hundred thousand for 2025. So any planning that we do and anything that we want to 133 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,240 add to the work plan, those are just the numbers we're reporting right now. 134 00:15:52,240 --> 00:16:02,240 Just some of the projects that we have underway are completed and the costs for those 135 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:08,960 we just got our second round of air quality monitors and we'll be installing those and 136 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:13,600 hope to launch something soon on the dashboard so we can start sharing that data. 137 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:20,880 We have been working with the departments to try to support electric vehicle adoption. That was 138 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:26,640 one of the things that we were really interested in trying to get that adoption level up and let 139 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:33,200 folks maybe some early adopters see how they work and you know if they have an EP and if they don't 140 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:38,320 have a bad experience with it you know them they can they can show it to others in the in the city 141 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:47,120 that it can't work. We're supporting an electric fire engine that will be at station one and then 142 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:55,280 we're working with PD for therapy bikes this year. They purchased some last year PD parts and fire 143 00:16:55,840 --> 00:17:04,560 have them and the bike officers love them. They're much more in the mix. They're not in the 144 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:09,600 car. If they're on the bike it's a lot easier for folks to talk to them and have better interactions 145 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:15,040 with the public. They use them around the square a lot during events. They're great. We don't have 146 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:26,960 another vehicle going through the item. So just a reminder we did just move forward with that work plan. 147 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,880 These are the budget members that we're working with. 148 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:40,080 And then we want to work on the prioritization. So just some ideas. Transportation shift EV and 149 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:45,760 EV right to the framework plan. Consider that and then energy conservation efficiency, water 150 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:52,080 conservation strategies, and then the privet restoration projects that we're working on with 151 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:57,360 parks where we're going to go back and replant. We'll continue that so that we see that through 152 00:17:57,360 --> 00:18:02,400 in the end. And this is what we talked about about a year ago. 153 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,480 So what we're trying to do now is start to develop our 2025 work plan. 154 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:17,440 We'd like the committee to identify the priorities and then we will work with the team to 155 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:22,000 develop the scope and cost and see what that might look like when we build it into the plan. 156 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:29,920 And then we'll bring that back to the committee for review and then consideration for presentation 157 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:38,160 council action. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Adam would you like to 158 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:45,920 share your comments with this item? First of all just a question. Can you tell us what is the 159 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:58,000 source of the revenue for this fund? It is earmarked. The city council earmarked funds for the 160 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,920 sustainability framework fund and a couple of other funds whenever it was created in 2021. 161 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:16,560 So I think our plan is to have a discussion where we're going to talk about priorities. 162 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:28,240 I'll just kick the ball off, use that metaphor. Do we have criteria in mind for how we would 163 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:34,240 prioritize things? For example a couple things that come to my mind is we just have the climate 164 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:41,360 action plan which meshes with other plans so we can look to those plans to identify what are our 165 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:48,800 priority areas right. Built into those plans I also would imagine is some data some empirical 166 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:54,160 studies about where we would get the most benefit different kinds of benefits from spending money in 167 00:19:54,160 --> 00:20:00,480 different markets so that that may be how we want to frame the discussion I don't know generally. 168 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:05,840 And then specifically I kind of liked your idea but I guess I want to hear more about it 169 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:14,720 of moving the EV and e-bike funding over here. It seems like it's kind of swapping some other 170 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:22,640 priorities in the other fund and we already are doing some electric vehicle work here so consolidating 171 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:29,600 that just as a first blush makes some sense to me so those are just my kind of initial thoughts 172 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:36,880 about how to go about doing this. If we did though would the process change because this sustainability 173 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:47,440 the framework fund isn't necessarily a rebate fund. It's not a rebate fund but we would only 174 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:54,640 be changing the funding source for the program. I mean we would have to work through that with 175 00:20:54,640 --> 00:21:02,160 financing and just make sure that that all works. My concern would just be that it would just stick 176 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:07,520 out like it would be different and then okay so you have one that you're taking money you're 177 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:16,000 rebating from this bulk of money. Does it switch back and forth or are we pulling other things out 178 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:23,520 of green sense because you know what I'm saying like I don't know I mean it's a topic for discussion 179 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:30,800 but that's just one of my would be one of my concerns because of that. Well and it was a 180 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:38,480 great way to pilot the e-bike and the e-B but it's not necessarily an energy efficiency 181 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:47,600 program so it does make sense to move it off of DME and onto another sustainable source of funding 182 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:54,880 but we could we could air market of course we have to adopt a work plan and discuss that first 183 00:21:54,880 --> 00:22:04,400 but we can figure out how to put something else on that. So we're saying because it's clean air 184 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:14,880 it it more satisfies I mean it's over here in this fund. It doesn't reduce energy pollution 185 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:20,640 it can reduce pollution absolutely. Right yeah yeah reduce vehicle almost travel and reduce 186 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:29,840 trips so. Adam I saw your hand up. Yeah I mean I don't know how we're approaching it maybe we're 187 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:35,040 just throwing stuff out there and we'll see. Another question I had was the air quality monitors 188 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:40,320 you had mentioned something I didn't quite catch it we had that down for two hundred thousand 189 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:45,840 dollars is that a program where we it was kind of a one-time thing where we're getting some 190 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,960 infrastructure in place and then that money could be available the next year to do something else 191 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:59,120 or is that going to be an ongoing expense? There is an ongoing expense for the data but the initial 192 00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:04,400 cost the initial outlay for the monitors was one time and then there's recurring cost and 193 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:12,720 I think it's $28,000 I don't know don't quote me on that one but I'll look that out the money now. 194 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,000 Okay so because that's the follow-up then if there's some things we do with this fund 195 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:22,000 that are initial costs but then there's a follow-up cost we need to be sure to budget that in right 196 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,840 maybe this was 200,000 last year but this year it only needs to be 20 right but it does need 197 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:33,920 to be something. It does need to be something. Okay and we're trying to look over one-time purchases 198 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:41,360 so that we don't have that right. Right okay tell me if I get out of balance yeah 199 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:50,800 I'd just like to throw out an idea for a priority is that acceptable now? Absolutely. Yeah I would 200 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:59,920 like it if we looked into community solar as a project which has obvious benefits in reducing 201 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:07,600 pollution also feeds into the equity issue feeds into people who have trees and can't have solar 202 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:16,960 panels feeds into economic issues keeping keeping the prices down. There's really no downside 203 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:23,600 to community solar so I would definitely like to see that included as a priority. 204 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:32,000 And can you tell me a little bit more about I mean I have to do some research on that to put us 205 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:37,600 together so are you thinking what pieces of community solar are you thinking that this fund should go to 206 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:46,800 to purchase of land to installation to? Yes I mean there are models already Austin has a community 207 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:58,720 solar program so does San Antonio and run by the utilities so it would be a matter of I guess DME 208 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:06,640 stepping up to the plate and working on this it's to their advantage as well because it reduces 209 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:15,680 transmission costs infrastructure costs but there are models available both in Austin and San Antonio 210 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:21,920 and I'm sure other places too but those are the two that I found and as I say it's something that 211 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:28,400 is set up by by the utility because as you know Austin San Antonio both have their own utilities 212 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:37,520 just like we do so there's there's a model for it. I believe Austin San Antonio has a third party 213 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:42,640 that they work with on that yeah they do and it's pretty far outside of San Antonio 214 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:50,240 at least the most recent one was yeah well there was there was just another aspect of this when 215 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:57,520 when the DEC was being discussed and approved eventually their DME spoke about having 216 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:05,760 the possibility of putting in community solar or a solar field out by the DEC on the land there so 217 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:14,080 there is land available evidently for for this sort of thing so I'd like it to be looked into 218 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:22,720 as a priority. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Yeah I have a question about the 219 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:31,520 pre-beat removal and restoration so is this one time how many times a year you do that 220 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:40,160 and what do you mean by restoration? So we did one larger project over all the building green 221 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:50,480 and we have to go through a two year growing cycle approximately what best practices is two to three 222 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:59,200 years of remove mechanical removal and some treatment and then after we get past that 223 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,200 growing cycle where we don't see a lot of it coming back then we go in and do the restoration 224 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:12,160 with the native plants, pollinated plants. So how do you remove it chemically or goats? They've tried 225 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:20,320 parses use goats on that site we they did the mechanical removal with the forestry mulcher. Yeah so if 226 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:27,200 you remove the roots then we use less chemicals to kill and they were doing this but we we worked 227 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:33,520 with parks to develop SOP for the removal to make sure that it was the most effective means possible 228 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:40,800 so that we could get them. So you plan to do it every two years? The first pass is the hardest 229 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:47,040 and the most labor intensive so there's been a little bit of maintenance but not as much as we 230 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:51,920 thought we would. We've done a couple of different sites and used different methods to see what works 231 00:27:51,920 --> 00:28:00,800 best. So it grows fast. It grows fast. Yes. It does grow fast. There's one on Spencer poster breaker where 232 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:07,520 they cleared between Spencer and DCTA. That one they treated a little bit differently and it came 233 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:14,240 back a lot shorter so trial and error but we're working on the parks properties. If we have an 234 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:19,200 opportunity to remove it before it gets out of control then they're going to take that 235 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:24,000 but we're working with them to help get that taken care of and then actually do the restoration 236 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:28,480 afterwards. So $48,000 do you think is enough? 237 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:37,360 I can talk to parks so if we think maybe more on that we can talk to parks and see what they have 238 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:42,640 coming up this year where we may need to do some of that and we can build that in. I can go do that. 239 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:54,960 Adam go ahead. So a couple of like process questions. One is in the process of setting this fund 240 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:03,280 I think I saw a flow chart you're talking to us and to council. Is there a public input or 241 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:10,480 I don't know how far this goes in terms of. No we have worked with the committee to develop a 242 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:16,640 recommendation for council and that's how we did the first two rounds so this would be the third 243 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:23,600 week. We don't have a community input per se on the prioritization. That's okay I just kind of 244 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:28,880 want to know because then a little more responsibility for us to try to think about all the interests and 245 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:35,040 things we can represent here on this committee. Which brings me to my next question was 246 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:39,040 this is a fund we've got eight hundred something ten thousand dollars I would say 247 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:47,440 which probably in the city's scheme of things not very much money and there's other funds out there 248 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:53,840 that do some things so for example I would love to spend eight hundred thousand dollars planting 249 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:59,840 trees okay but I don't know if that like isn't there there's other programs like KDB has its 250 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:04,960 tree giveaway and there's other things and parks has their tree planting parks has things so I'd 251 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:09,440 love to spend eight hundred thousand dollars buying up green space to preserve land but 252 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:15,040 that gets rolled there's other mechanisms that that gets funded through so when I look at this 253 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:20,160 list it seems like part of what's going on here is these are worthy things that doesn't have another 254 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:27,440 home to get funded through is that fair to say like nobody else was going to electrify a fire engine 255 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:36,960 that's a cool thing to do I think that's probably very accurate statement okay and then we've got 256 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:42,800 this other fund which is doing a lot of the energy efficiency stuff but it seems like there's such a 257 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:50,560 demand for that that you could look at this fund in that like too and there'd be a demand for more 258 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:55,920 of that would you say like if we added we're not going to do another climate action plan right so 259 00:30:55,920 --> 00:31:07,120 let's say there's 140,000 we could add more building envelope help or not we could good so if we're 260 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:18,240 looking at the so if we look at the 750 or the 810 from this year 261 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:25,360 you think about planning for that and maybe 25 percent more 262 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:33,760 programs I think that that's a good number so so we can just kind of take a fresh start going 263 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:41,360 forward looking at the 810 and with everything being one times for the most part we can build 264 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:46,880 in that continuing cost for the monitors but everything else is kind of a one-time or is a 265 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:55,280 one-time so well I guess what I'm asking is we could add different kinds of things yes because 266 00:31:55,280 --> 00:32:00,960 interview efficiency not necessarily reflected here okay right right this could be something that 267 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:07,440 we haven't identified another source exactly for funding for that and we have a crosswalk 268 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:12,880 that would probably help kind of see where the other departments are doing things 269 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:20,960 we it was presented with the climate action plan but we could do a little bit deeper 270 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:26,320 data on that and how they're funding and what they're working on okay all of that is a setup 271 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:35,120 thank you my own sense of what I would prioritize would be things in the transportation sector so 272 00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:41,200 these vehicles the bikes and the reason for that is because I think one of our big problems that 273 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:47,360 we've discussed through the climate action plan on other discussions is a local air quality 274 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:55,040 and I feel like here's a place where we could make headway on that so that would be a priority 275 00:32:55,040 --> 00:33:03,360 for me I also second ed's idea that sounds pretty cool too yeah sorry okay oh yeah I was just going 276 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:08,320 to say that anytime say we discussed this here anytime an item gets to council there will be 277 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:14,240 public input for people to speak on it before they vote on something right so that's there's always 278 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:29,440 that just answer the question thank you well I feel like we've got a pretty good start here 279 00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:38,320 and some places to go for priorities I think that if whenever it comes back maybe have a better idea 280 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:45,520 of what was one time what's reoccurring what will fall off you know like you know maybe if there's 281 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:50,880 maybe if parks can pick up the restoration or the privet or whatever out of some of their fund 282 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:58,400 I don't know necessarily how why that would keep ending up in ours I think maybe if they 283 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:10,080 have the word for it that would just be my my suggestion there on that reducing reducing the 284 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:18,080 pollution and making our air quality better is a goal here so whatever priorities we can move 285 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:23,040 over to this fund to do those things for the health of our residents the better 286 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,840 that that would just be my idea 287 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:35,280 I think I think we're good you have another comment 288 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:48,000 I have only one concern about I agree with the transportation completely but I my wildest dreams 289 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:58,240 I can't see people riding e-bikes when it's 105 106 107 degrees out so I think there's we we have 290 00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:04,080 to look at not only clearing the air but we also have to look at initiatives 291 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,720 that fight climate change in other ways too 292 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:16,480 and that's why I'm quite adamant about things like renewable energy 293 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:25,840 that's a given I don't see EVs or electric bikes as being practical in some ways but in others 294 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:31,840 you know what's amazing I don't know if you saw the saw the article in the newspaper but 295 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:40,000 last week at Nettie Schultz elementary school is this on topic yes it's on topic it's about the heat 296 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:46,880 the the kids came out to get on their bikes after school and all their tires were flat 297 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:54,880 because the heat had melted the inner tubes I know I'm pushing it here but I mean that's what 298 00:35:54,880 --> 00:36:00,320 that's what the earth it's it's urgent it is really urgent and the more we can do to get ahead 299 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:06,160 of the eight ball on this the better so risk my risk my case thank you and then on the priorities 300 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:12,720 for us too since we're in a drought too for our water conservation because of certain issues 301 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:19,760 I would say maybe move that up because that's going to be more likely every summer a thing that 302 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:26,640 we're you know experiencing and I know that we have the warnings and the requests for people but 303 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:33,760 I see water going off every day all times a day no matter what we say with our you know 304 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:40,640 only water once if you're odd or even nobody's paying attention so you know if we're going to 305 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:46,640 run out of water there should be some other kind of notification system for the threat for the 306 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:53,840 people and along adam's comment we're working closely with water and they just brought someone 307 00:36:53,840 --> 00:37:01,600 in to work on the enforcement so education first a lot of folks just don't understand what it means 308 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:08,080 or didn't get the message so I feel I didn't know that so we do have tools to use there and water's 309 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:12,240 proposing some other things in the next budget year that I think will complement what we do 310 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:18,720 and I also don't think they know the seriousness of it you know I mean because we've always had 311 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:25,680 well it's it's you know well they see the legs full yeah um yeah just to follow up because on 312 00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:30,080 both of these comments I'm glad you said something about water because I had been wondering but I 313 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:34,480 just didn't know what we could do in the budget so it's glad that I'm glad to hear there's some 314 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:40,240 ideas coming out there so maybe in addition to enforcement and notification if there are some 315 00:37:40,240 --> 00:37:45,440 technologies or something for increased efficiency and we can identify big users where we could put 316 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:50,480 something in place that really gives a lot of reduced use without hurting whatever they're 317 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:55,680 doing in their operations that would be really cool I just don't know enough and then on ed's 318 00:37:55,680 --> 00:38:01,600 point that's interesting about the bikes I think the bikes still should be in there but I also when 319 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:06,960 I said electrification and transportation I am talking about vehicles as well I mean I know 320 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:11,600 plenty of folks who want to get an electric vehicle but they're just worried about the 321 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:16,560 infrastructure to charge it and I know with our little bucket of money we can't maybe do much but 322 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:22,240 maybe we could strike a blow in that direction to build some more infrastructure to help this 323 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:27,040 nation technology get off the ground so that's kind of what I meant that in addition 324 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:36,160 just some things about water water efficiency I think the the way we do irrigation now is 325 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:44,880 not sustainable first of all and then second let's give up on this green lawn that we have a passion 326 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:53,920 for let's go native let's go plant native plants which do not require fertilizers and lots of water 327 00:38:53,920 --> 00:39:00,800 that's my day and we need to rethink the irrigation I mean people need to rethink the irrigation not 328 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:11,040 spraying in the air just dripping those native plants that then use mulch around them on our 329 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:21,200 on this fund underwater I don't did we talk about rebates for smart watering systems in this fund 330 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:25,360 under that conservation I mean if we're talking about having money left over 331 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:34,400 so maybe maybe just add that to some priorities I mean if we're going to start rebating people 332 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:40,640 maybe adding water conservation under some of those rebates we did call out irrigation incentives 333 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:45,840 I wanted to double check so we got irrigation incentives smart controllers trip and then the 334 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:53,520 workshops that we put on so okay okay so adding that maybe even the irrigation tune-up 335 00:39:53,520 --> 00:40:02,800 incentive like we do for the HVAC tune-ups we have the infrastructure here to process it so 336 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:09,040 okay well I think that's all for this item if you have enough to kind of go on 337 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:17,760 we will move on to our next item staff reports we have the green sense business program 338 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:23,200 and the matrix does anybody have comments about either one of those 339 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:31,200 I have some stuff for the matrix okay I want to go Catherine get situated thank you 340 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:43,120 you have some questions about it you want to add to it I'd like to add to it okay yeah all right 341 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:47,440 so we're not going to have the other presentation what's the other presentation 342 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:55,840 that you did both oh you did the green business oh well that's under staff reports do you have 343 00:40:55,840 --> 00:41:00,560 questions about the green business that's not a presentation it's not a presentation okay if 344 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:05,520 you have a question about it at this point you can ask oh yeah I have a question about it 345 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:13,440 is the chamber of commerce involved in it too we presented to the economic development partnership 346 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:19,920 born last week and we got feedback from businesses and requested feedback from businesses in the 347 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:25,200 chamber and our economic development folks are they positive yes it was good thank you 348 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:35,520 okay let's move down to the matrix okay thank you since we've adopted a climate action plan 349 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:47,360 I'd appreciate a presentation on the priorities and timelines for adopting 350 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:55,920 those priority policies in other words I'd like to see whatever blueprint is being put together 351 00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:07,920 to enact ordinances supporting what is presented in the climate action plan 352 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:14,240 then I'd like to go have a discussion of equity issues 353 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:20,560 and solutions for low-income homeowners who cannot afford to pay out front for incentivized 354 00:42:20,560 --> 00:42:30,240 improvements I'd like a discussion about the benefits of community solar especially for 355 00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:51,200 lower-income households have there been any links to the inflation reduction reduction act website 356 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:58,800 regarding the the sustainability initiatives that are listed there not yet okay but will that 357 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:14,800 happen do you think okay thank you and I think one last thing oh if could we get a report on 358 00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:22,080 if or what the city if if the city has applied for and received any IRA grants 359 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:34,560 and finally I'd like a progress report on the status of the dent and renewable resource plan 360 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:44,320 the revision of that see how that's coming along thank you and I think that one's on our matrix 361 00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:46,560 to be scheduled 362 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:57,680 it is on the matrix but I've been received information that 363 00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:02,800 well I'd like to find out if it's on track 364 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:13,360 I mean I just second Ed's first proposal because that's what I was going to suggest is now that 365 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:19,600 we have this climate action plan has been approved I'd love to have a discussion about how we can 366 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:30,320 start implementing it and we will move to number two concluding items 367 00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:40,240 I would I do have something this is my very last meeting today and so I would like to thank 368 00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:46,000 the members board members and staff for all your work this last few years 369 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:53,120 I had the time of my life serving on this board so thank you all thank you thank you thank you very 370 00:44:53,120 --> 00:45:04,160 much all right and with that we will close the meeting at 2 14 thank you