1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,160 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Committee on the Environment. Today is Monday, October 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:23,300 the 5th, and it is 9.03, and we will call the meeting to order. We do have a quorum, 3 00:00:23,300 --> 00:00:30,040 and so we will go ahead and begin with our first item, which is consider approval of 4 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,320 the September 8th, 2020 minutes. 5 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,360 Move approval. 6 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:40,320 Okay, we have a motion, and I will second. All in favor? 7 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:41,320 Aye. 8 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:48,440 Say aye or raise your hand. Larry, Mr. Collister, do we need to do the individual votes when 9 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:53,320 it's just the two of us? Do I need to call that on this meeting as well? 10 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,080 You know what? You can do it by unanimous consent. 11 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:03,320 Okay. All right. So minutes approved by unanimous consent. Welcome, Jesse. 12 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,720 How's it going? Sorry, I have a little technical difficulty over here. 13 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,360 That's okay. You're just in time. We are moving to our... 14 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,320 Yeah, just because it's a good thing you joined, because if we had a split vote on the minutes, 15 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:20,760 it would have had to roll to next meeting. I'm going to break the tie. 16 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,840 We will move to items for consideration B, receive a report, and hold a discussion on 17 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,720 2019 greenhouse gas inventory. And I'll just go ahead and let you know, Jesse, we have 18 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,440 to finish this meeting by 10.30 today. So we'll get through the presentation, and then we'll 19 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:40,440 ask our questions. Okay. Thank you. 20 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:46,320 Good morning, council members. James Douglas, conservation coordinator. I will pull up the 21 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:59,040 screen here and we will get started. As you said, today's discussion, we're going 22 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:05,560 to be talking about the results of the 2019 greenhouse gas inventory analysis. And so 23 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:11,080 for today's focus, we will definitely be focused on those results. We'll also talk about the 24 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:16,200 history and background for the greenhouse gas inventory. We'll talk about the individual 25 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:22,880 changes and impacts associated with the 2019 results, and we'll hit on some current mitigation 26 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:28,800 strategies and we will talk about some next steps. Just to kind of set the stage here, 27 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,920 I did want to go over a few definitions. So you'll see throughout the presentation, we'll 28 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:39,000 be referring to GHGs, which are the greenhouse gases, which are capable of trapping heat 29 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,320 energy in the atmosphere. The three ones that we focus on as a part of our inventory are 30 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:50,860 methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. And you can see their abbreviations there. 31 00:02:50,860 --> 00:02:55,300 Every metric that you see as a part of the analysis is going to be presented in carbon 32 00:02:55,300 --> 00:03:00,900 dioxide equivalents, abbreviated CO2e. And that's basically the global warming potential 33 00:03:00,900 --> 00:03:07,080 of each one of these individual gases converted to that of CO2. And so those will be reported 34 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:12,240 in metric tons, abbreviated MT. And we'll be talking, as I said, we'll be talking about 35 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:16,920 mitigation, which is decreasing the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by addressing 36 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:25,200 that flux, by reducing sources and enhancing sinks. The greenhouse gas inventory, I believe 37 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:31,600 everybody was there for the 2018 inventory, but just as a reminder, is broken into three 38 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:36,640 scopes. Scope one emissions are those that are directly within either the geographic 39 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:42,480 boundary or directly in operational control. Scope two emissions focus pretty exclusively 40 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:47,280 on electricity consumption. And so that's not the generation of electricity as it would 41 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:52,480 be in scope one, but that's when we turn on the light switches, the consumption of that 42 00:03:52,480 --> 00:04:01,040 electricity. And lastly, scope three, which is a little bit more challenging of a scope. 43 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:07,180 Those are also consumption based, but that is outside of geographic scope and outside 44 00:04:07,180 --> 00:04:11,880 of operational control. And so those typically, when we talk about those, we're talking about 45 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:18,320 things that are upstream and downstream and are a little bit more challenging to quantify. 46 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,460 Just a little bit of inventory background before we get into the results. The greenhouse 47 00:04:22,460 --> 00:04:27,640 gas, the baseline inventory was done in the year 2006 and it's been conducted annually 48 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:32,540 since 2015. When we talk today, we're going to talk about the municipal and the community 49 00:04:32,540 --> 00:04:38,520 analyses. Those analyses are run separately, but they are combined into one report. And 50 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:44,060 so we'll just be looking for those differences there. They're done separately because the 51 00:04:44,060 --> 00:04:48,520 scale of the municipality and the scale of the community are a little bit different. 52 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:54,660 In 2018, sustainability staff introduced the contribution analysis, which is a tool provided 53 00:04:54,660 --> 00:04:58,480 to us through ICLEI. And that just helps us better understand our inventories and the 54 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:05,740 year to year change. And so if you remember the blue and red waterfall diagrams from a 55 00:05:05,740 --> 00:05:11,900 few months back now, it basically helps us understand what went well in any given year, 56 00:05:11,900 --> 00:05:19,540 what we need to improve and what's outside of our operational control. And lastly, the 57 00:05:19,540 --> 00:05:24,580 data collection analysis is going to change a little bit from year to year as things improve. 58 00:05:24,580 --> 00:05:29,220 And so ways that that can happen, we can get new data sets, we can get new methods of data 59 00:05:29,220 --> 00:05:34,580 collection and the process is always evolving and improving. And so we had a couple of those 60 00:05:34,580 --> 00:05:41,280 instances this year that we'll go over. Just a brief timeline. So the 2018 greenhouse 61 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:47,340 gas inventory was presented in September 2019. We presented a little bit right on the topic 62 00:05:47,340 --> 00:05:51,980 of greenhouse gas mitigation, which is sort of all-encompassing and the inventory falls 63 00:05:51,980 --> 00:05:57,460 into that category. And so we had a couple meetings discussing the greenhouse gas forecasting 64 00:05:57,460 --> 00:06:03,580 and target setting between inventories. We wanted to present the results today of the 65 00:06:03,580 --> 00:06:10,560 2019 inventory before going into the next meeting in November to revisit the target 66 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:15,100 setting with some updated information. We wanted to make sure that we had one more year 67 00:06:15,100 --> 00:06:20,740 of solid data before going into some of that forecasting data. So that's what we're doing 68 00:06:20,740 --> 00:06:30,940 here today. So we're going to dive into some high-level results first. And so, as I said, 69 00:06:30,940 --> 00:06:35,860 there are two separate analyses that are done as a part of the inventory, the municipal 70 00:06:35,860 --> 00:06:44,780 inventory. We had almost a 15% increase compared to 2018 and a 32.44% increase compared to 71 00:06:44,780 --> 00:06:49,140 our 2006 baseline. And you can see on the right-hand side, that's the top graph that's 72 00:06:49,140 --> 00:06:56,700 presented there. The community inventory had an 18.32% decrease since 2018, last year's 73 00:06:56,700 --> 00:07:03,460 inventory, and a 36.48% decrease compared to our 2006 baseline year. Now, when we combine 74 00:07:03,460 --> 00:07:09,540 those two, we get a combined change there of a decrease of 14 and a half percent compared 75 00:07:09,540 --> 00:07:16,740 to 2018 and 30.14% compared to our 2006 baseline. And as you can see, those are decreases because 76 00:07:16,740 --> 00:07:24,220 the municipal inventory only makes up about 16% of that combined total. And on the right-hand 77 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:30,020 side there is the lower graph represents the community inventory, so that second bullet 78 00:07:30,020 --> 00:07:40,380 point there. So we're going to dive a little bit deeper into the municipal analysis first. 79 00:07:40,380 --> 00:07:44,640 And so on the right-hand side, you can see the four sectors that we take a look at there 80 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:50,540 and the individual change. The left-hand graphic is the 2018 comparison and the right-hand 81 00:07:50,540 --> 00:07:55,520 graphic is the baseline comparison. And so a few of the highlights, the Denton Energy 82 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,980 Center did have its first full year of operation this year. If you remember in 2018, it was 83 00:07:59,980 --> 00:08:04,780 just a partial year of operation. And so this is the first full year and there was an increase 84 00:08:04,780 --> 00:08:12,100 associated with that. Denton Municipal Electric continues towards their renewable energy goal. 85 00:08:12,100 --> 00:08:21,100 And in 2019, that reached an average for the year of 85%. And by that, with that renewable 86 00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:26,440 portfolio increasing, emissions from energy consumption at the municipal level did decrease 87 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:34,220 because we're using a more renewable portfolio there. Continuing in the municipal inventory 88 00:08:34,220 --> 00:08:39,740 with a focus on the landfill here, so the Denton landfill had an increase in methane 89 00:08:39,740 --> 00:08:45,180 capture measured prior to processing. And so we wanted to take a look at this diagram 90 00:08:45,180 --> 00:08:50,980 here. And so if you look at the top portion of the diagram, where this metric is measured 91 00:08:50,980 --> 00:08:55,860 is right there at the end of collection and right before processing. And so it's kind 92 00:08:55,860 --> 00:09:00,320 of right where that hash mark is between collection and processing is where we're pulling this 93 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:05,940 data from for the purposes of the inventory. Waste from municipal facilities decreased 94 00:09:05,940 --> 00:09:13,740 6% compared to 2018. And so that's the waste generated specifically at the municipal level. 95 00:09:13,740 --> 00:09:18,920 And methane increased at a lower rate in 2019 as compared to the previous year. So we did 96 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:25,300 have an increase, but it wasn't as dramatic of a jump as it was in the previous inventory 97 00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:33,620 there. One more here for the municipal highlights. Our fleet services division improved data 98 00:09:33,620 --> 00:09:38,420 collection methods and continues to shift to alternative fuels as they become available. 99 00:09:38,420 --> 00:09:45,700 And so you can see that with a 3.58% decrease there compared to 2018 for the fleet. And 100 00:09:45,700 --> 00:09:50,520 natural gas consumption continues to increase as municipal operations grow to meet that 101 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:55,940 demand. You know, since the baseline we've added more buildings and as the city grows, 102 00:09:55,940 --> 00:10:00,300 the municipality or the municipal operations grow with it in order to meet that demand. 103 00:10:00,300 --> 00:10:08,500 So we have that for the natural gas. Moving into community highlights, you can see the 104 00:10:08,500 --> 00:10:13,820 graphics on the right-hand side have changed to reflect the four scopes as they relate 105 00:10:13,820 --> 00:10:19,660 to the community analysis. As I mentioned previously, DME continues to increase their 106 00:10:19,660 --> 00:10:24,060 renewable electricity portfolio. And this is going to have a larger impact at the community 107 00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:30,060 scale because the scope to electricity consumption values are going to play a larger role in 108 00:10:30,060 --> 00:10:34,860 the community inventory than they are in the municipal. And so you can see that reflective 109 00:10:34,860 --> 00:10:42,200 there in the decrease of the electricity emissions. Along with that, the emissions from electricity 110 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:48,000 have reached their lowest point to date since that 2006 baseline. Natural gas emissions 111 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,640 continue an upward trend. This is influenced by both population growth and year-to-year 112 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:57,780 temperature variation. We are going to follow this inventory up with a 2019 contribution 113 00:10:57,780 --> 00:11:03,660 analysis. And so the variability between those two things, that contribution analysis will 114 00:11:03,660 --> 00:11:09,520 point us in more of the correct direction and let us know which one of those is more 115 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:19,700 likely to influence the year-to-year change. And we did have some updated data for transportation 116 00:11:19,700 --> 00:11:30,020 this year as it relates to efficiency of vehicles. And so the decrease from 2018, a lot of that 117 00:11:30,020 --> 00:11:34,280 variability is going to be encompassed in that updated data. And once again, the contribution 118 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,380 analysis will take a little bit of a closer look at that. But we did get that updated 119 00:11:38,380 --> 00:11:42,820 data set on vehicle efficiency. And so that's going to play a bit of a role there. So we 120 00:11:42,820 --> 00:11:49,460 wanted to point that out. Some current mitigation strategies. These are ones that we already 121 00:11:49,460 --> 00:11:55,100 have in place and we're taking a look at. So we have Denton Municipal Electric looking 122 00:11:55,100 --> 00:12:00,060 at that 100% renewable electricity portfolio and looking to achieve that here in the next 123 00:12:00,060 --> 00:12:06,700 few years. Continued energy tracking and internal natural resource conservation efforts. So 124 00:12:06,700 --> 00:12:10,020 this is something that we already do internally, but it's something that we definitely want 125 00:12:10,020 --> 00:12:15,260 to take another look at. And we want to encompass recycling and waste reduction efforts and 126 00:12:15,260 --> 00:12:20,480 continue to encompass those into that. And on the community side, we're going to see 127 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:26,020 anticipated improvements through the comprehensive solid waste management strategy. With regards 128 00:12:26,020 --> 00:12:31,580 to fleet, continued development of alternative transportation options and support of alternative 129 00:12:31,580 --> 00:12:37,300 fuels. And so this is both on the municipal fleet side and in the community. And one of 130 00:12:37,300 --> 00:12:41,460 the really big ones here is continued participation and collaboration with national, state and 131 00:12:41,460 --> 00:12:46,340 regional partners. And so we value those partnerships very highly and we get plenty of good ideas 132 00:12:46,340 --> 00:12:51,660 on what we can do in the future. And I think encompassed in all of these two is the education 133 00:12:51,660 --> 00:12:58,780 and outreach component of everything that we do with regards to conservation, electricity, 134 00:12:58,780 --> 00:13:06,580 water, and all of those things associated with the community inventory. With that, we 135 00:13:06,580 --> 00:13:12,220 have these next steps. As I said, the 2019 contribution analysis is going to be soon 136 00:13:12,220 --> 00:13:17,260 to follow. And when we have that, we will provide you with those results. Some of the 137 00:13:17,260 --> 00:13:23,100 data there lags about three months behind what we get for the greenhouse gas inventory. 138 00:13:23,100 --> 00:13:27,540 The next discussion, we're going to be focused on revisiting the greenhouse gas reduction 139 00:13:27,540 --> 00:13:32,900 target setting and that's currently scheduled for November 2020. And once we get that target 140 00:13:32,900 --> 00:13:38,980 setting conversation sort of completed, we can explore greenhouse gas mitigation planning. 141 00:13:38,980 --> 00:13:46,300 So when and if we get a target, we'll be able to address whatever that target is. Whatever 142 00:13:46,300 --> 00:13:52,100 it is, we will need a plan to address it. And so we'll be talking about that at a later 143 00:13:52,100 --> 00:13:58,660 date. And with that, I know that was a lot of information there very quickly, but I will 144 00:13:58,660 --> 00:14:06,180 open it up for any questions that you might have. Oh, do I have to pull down the screen? 145 00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:15,540 Yeah, can you pull down the screen please so we can see the numbers? Okay. Paul? Councilmember 146 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:22,420 Carter? I think I want to get a shirt that just says 147 00:14:22,420 --> 00:14:31,540 unmute on it. Really, I should give that to everyone else. You might have said this in 148 00:14:31,540 --> 00:14:37,820 your comments, but I'm just not quite sure I got it. My concern is to understand the 149 00:14:37,820 --> 00:14:45,300 big increases on the municipal level in the last two years. And we've got the percent 150 00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:50,260 changes on each of the contributing components, but it's not like a stacked bar where I could 151 00:14:50,260 --> 00:14:56,540 see how big the contribution is of each of those elements. So can you tell me maybe in 152 00:14:56,540 --> 00:15:09,340 terms of metric tons of carbon or in absolute terms, what contributed the most to that big 153 00:15:09,340 --> 00:15:13,100 increment in the last two years? Definitely. I've got both of those. I can break 154 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:16,780 it down in the four sectors first. I think that might be helpful. So on the municipal 155 00:15:16,780 --> 00:15:25,940 side, the electricity made up 52.9%, waste was 43%, transportation 3.6%, and natural 156 00:15:25,940 --> 00:15:31,540 gas 0.6%. Of the bar? Or are you telling me percent of the bar or percent of the increase? 157 00:15:31,540 --> 00:15:37,540 Percent of the total. So electricity made up 52% of the total bar. Correct. I'm sorry 158 00:15:37,540 --> 00:15:41,940 to interrupt you. Not a problem. I don't think I framed my question correctly. So if let's 159 00:15:41,940 --> 00:15:51,860 say you sliced off the last two years at exactly the height of three years back, what's the 160 00:15:51,860 --> 00:16:03,980 composition of the increment? You know, what's the biggest contributor to the increase? And 161 00:16:03,980 --> 00:16:06,700 you might not have it now. That might be the thing to cover. 162 00:16:06,700 --> 00:16:11,820 Yeah, I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the portion of the bar. I think I understand 163 00:16:11,820 --> 00:16:18,940 your question. And so you're talking about the percent above 2017 values. I think it's 164 00:16:18,940 --> 00:16:27,480 about, I forget exactly what the units are that slide, but it's like 100 roughly. Right. 165 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:35,700 So you had of the four major components, some went up, maybe some went down, I don't know. 166 00:16:35,700 --> 00:16:41,700 But of the pluses, what would the composition of that be? So then we could really say like, 167 00:16:41,700 --> 00:16:46,700 oh, wow, it's really driven by, you know, it might be a small percentage, let's just 168 00:16:46,700 --> 00:16:52,660 for argument's sake, it could be a small percentage increase in a very big factor. You know, that's 169 00:16:52,660 --> 00:16:58,540 what percent increase, I don't know, it's what drove the quantity of carbon. 170 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:04,220 Right. And to point out kind of an example of that. So natural gas emissions from 2018 171 00:17:04,220 --> 00:17:13,900 to 2019 increased 6.29%, but only make up 0.6% of the entire large total of that. 172 00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:19,660 Yeah. So it could change a lot and not really be that much worth focus. 173 00:17:19,660 --> 00:17:27,100 Correct. And so the values previously that were, and I don't believe that this was included 174 00:17:27,100 --> 00:17:35,980 on the slide, but of that total 2019 municipal bar, electricity was about 53% and waste was 175 00:17:35,980 --> 00:17:40,300 about 43%. And so that's going to make up the vast majority of those. 176 00:17:40,300 --> 00:17:45,100 So whatever the changes were in those, that's what drove it. So it's kind of retelling me, 177 00:17:45,100 --> 00:17:48,180 mostly because it's 9% of it. 178 00:17:48,180 --> 00:17:49,180 Yes. 179 00:17:49,180 --> 00:17:53,500 Okay. And what drove the big increases in the last two years in electricity and waste? 180 00:17:53,500 --> 00:17:59,900 I don't feel like, you know, not happy about having presided over such a big increase in 181 00:17:59,900 --> 00:18:05,180 municipal carbon. 182 00:18:05,180 --> 00:18:08,460 So am I still, okay. I was making sure I wasn't on mute. 183 00:18:08,460 --> 00:18:13,060 So Keeley, you're sort of barreling through there with about 17 points out. 184 00:18:13,060 --> 00:18:19,220 Yep. So some of the larger contributors. So one of the highlights there was the Denton 185 00:18:19,220 --> 00:18:25,500 energy center did have its first full year of operation. And so that was at about 104,000 186 00:18:25,500 --> 00:18:33,340 metric tons CO2e. And then you have the landfill as well at roughly about 97,000. So those 187 00:18:33,340 --> 00:18:37,900 are going to be your two components there that are making up a large bit of the, the 188 00:18:37,900 --> 00:18:41,820 electricity and the waste, which are those two higher percentages that we discussed. 189 00:18:41,820 --> 00:18:49,620 Okay. So don't get, keep kind of pressing to like in this direction. I realize I'm taking 190 00:18:49,620 --> 00:18:50,620 your time. 191 00:18:50,620 --> 00:18:51,940 Yeah. Yeah. If you have a question. 192 00:18:51,940 --> 00:18:58,060 Yeah, I think I'm, you know, I'm, I'm, it's just all one question and I'm trying to barrel 193 00:18:58,060 --> 00:19:07,100 down to the answer. So what is it about the landfill that, you know, I mean, well, we 194 00:19:07,100 --> 00:19:09,420 landed on two, a two part answer. 195 00:19:09,420 --> 00:19:17,020 So what is it about the landfill that is that is so dramatically increasing carbon and, 196 00:19:17,020 --> 00:19:22,820 or is that really, are we really talking about the deck and even though it's operating within 197 00:19:22,820 --> 00:19:28,260 TCEQ guidelines and so on, it's still a major contributor of carbon. 198 00:19:28,260 --> 00:19:32,420 Sure. So I'll take that in two parts and I'm actually going to defer to Brian here for, 199 00:19:32,420 --> 00:19:39,300 for the first part for the solid waste bit. 200 00:19:39,300 --> 00:19:41,980 Good morning, madam chair. I'm member of the committee, Brian Burner, director of solid 201 00:19:41,980 --> 00:19:45,460 waste. Appreciate the opportunity to talk a little bit about the methane generation 202 00:19:45,460 --> 00:19:51,060 at the city of Denton landfill. Part of what you have to remember in this data is it lags 203 00:19:51,060 --> 00:19:57,140 somewhat in the way that it's reported as 2019 data. Several things happened in 2019 204 00:19:57,140 --> 00:20:04,340 that would allow us to capture more data or at this point. First of all, we did install 205 00:20:04,340 --> 00:20:10,140 additional landfill monitor wells at the facility. So going back to that landfill map that should 206 00:20:10,140 --> 00:20:17,100 that JT showed that, you know, you've got the, the generation or the capture, the processing, 207 00:20:17,100 --> 00:20:22,580 we're actually recovering more because we, we have more straws in the drink for lack 208 00:20:22,580 --> 00:20:27,220 of a better term. We're able to capture more that way. Also the regional growth in this 209 00:20:27,220 --> 00:20:34,140 area. We've, we've seen over 2018, 2019, additional trips by private parties, mom and 210 00:20:34,140 --> 00:20:42,060 pop generators, you know, city of Denton residents hauling material themselves to the landfill, 211 00:20:42,060 --> 00:20:48,860 as well as a slight increase due to the beginning of the closure of the DFW landfill in Louisville. 212 00:20:48,860 --> 00:20:53,460 So instead of taking it further into Dallas, people are hauling, you know, their individual 213 00:20:53,460 --> 00:20:58,580 waste here into Denton. So that's where, where we see a lot of this, this capture happening 214 00:20:58,580 --> 00:21:03,660 right now as a result of the methane generation. As we go into 2020 and we have a full year 215 00:21:03,660 --> 00:21:11,560 of, of additional growth, additional difference because of the, the DFW landfill closure, 216 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:17,820 as well as our third party waste contracts, we may see some alterations alter alterations 217 00:21:17,820 --> 00:21:21,820 due to that, but we've also put additional wells in, in 2020. So we would anticipate 218 00:21:21,820 --> 00:21:29,980 being able to capture more and recover more methane as a result of that. 219 00:21:29,980 --> 00:21:42,380 Thank you. Okay. Thanks, Brian. And to the question about the, the Denton energy center. 220 00:21:42,380 --> 00:21:47,780 And so previously, obviously prior to 2018, that wasn't a part of the municipal inventory 221 00:21:47,780 --> 00:21:54,180 at all. And so, you know, we kind of go from, from nothing to something there. But there's 222 00:21:54,180 --> 00:22:03,980 the, the other side of that coin, which is the, the production there allows DME to have 223 00:22:03,980 --> 00:22:11,860 a little bit more of an aggressive stance on the renewable energy portfolio. And so 224 00:22:11,860 --> 00:22:17,660 the thinking there is some of the reductions from the consumption, the scope to emissions 225 00:22:17,660 --> 00:22:22,180 that we see in both the municipal inventory and the community inventory can be in part 226 00:22:22,180 --> 00:22:26,660 tied to those scope one increases, if that makes sense. 227 00:22:26,660 --> 00:22:37,500 Yeah, I heard that. Okay. I'll relinquish the mic for Council member Davis. Do you have 228 00:22:37,500 --> 00:22:41,860 any questions or follow ups? Sure. Thank you. I'm kind of toggling my screens 229 00:22:41,860 --> 00:22:47,380 back and forth here. So I have the numbers in front of me. I'm not sure if I quite understood 230 00:22:47,380 --> 00:22:54,260 the response to the municipal waste side, like things coming from the city, you know, 231 00:22:54,260 --> 00:23:00,580 are our trash cans more full at city hall? Are we not recycling as much like a city generated 232 00:23:00,580 --> 00:23:07,580 waste the increase in that? I wasn't quite sure I understood the answer to that. 233 00:23:07,580 --> 00:23:16,260 So the, I believe on that, that municipal slide, it was a reduction of 6.01% in municipal 234 00:23:16,260 --> 00:23:20,700 generated waste. And so that would be the waste that you're talking about in the dumpsters 235 00:23:20,700 --> 00:23:27,460 outside of city facilities in terms of the emissions themselves, scope one falls because 236 00:23:27,460 --> 00:23:33,380 it's municipal landfill, essentially. Got it. Thank you for clarifying for me. That 237 00:23:33,380 --> 00:23:39,580 wasn't making any kind of sense at all because we're doing a lot of good stuff at the city. 238 00:23:39,580 --> 00:23:44,740 Then I guess to Paul's question, I understood why he was asking the question earlier about 239 00:23:44,740 --> 00:23:49,660 breaking the bar into pieces and how to better understand some of these increases, because 240 00:23:49,660 --> 00:23:53,820 some of them are pretty concerning. Are we going to have a better insight into some of 241 00:23:53,820 --> 00:23:59,460 those when we have the contribution analysis? Because right now I'm having the same trouble 242 00:23:59,460 --> 00:24:06,040 wrapping my head around, you know, targeting the problem, how to actually go about crafting 243 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,360 solutions without better understanding the contributing factors. 244 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:13,940 We definitely will. And that's part of the reason that we introduced the tool. And the 245 00:24:13,940 --> 00:24:19,620 good thing about the contribution analysis tool is you can break it down in terms of 246 00:24:19,620 --> 00:24:25,740 granular data. You can break it down as granular as you have the inputs. And so an individual 247 00:24:25,740 --> 00:24:32,820 input that changes, if it's a dramatic change, it will be more highlighted in the contribution 248 00:24:32,820 --> 00:24:39,700 analysis in terms of that. And so if you remember those waterfall diagrams from a previous presentation, 249 00:24:39,700 --> 00:24:42,740 when we take a look at that, if we take a look at the more granular data, we can see 250 00:24:42,740 --> 00:24:47,020 those individual items. Okay. I'm going to probably hold off on some 251 00:24:47,020 --> 00:24:52,620 of my more pointed questions until we have that information. I do want to say though, 252 00:24:52,620 --> 00:24:58,660 I mean, to see the community moving in generally a good direction means that we've got a good 253 00:24:58,660 --> 00:25:02,780 base of support to keep building on. You know, we only have, we can move the numbers we can 254 00:25:02,780 --> 00:25:07,940 move from the city side, but to know that the community is moving in a good direction 255 00:25:07,940 --> 00:25:13,980 as well. I mean, that really empowers us to make some big strides from municipal perspective. 256 00:25:13,980 --> 00:25:23,380 So thank you. Okay. Jesse, I hope you come back. So I have 257 00:25:23,380 --> 00:25:29,660 a few questions. I know that we received, there you are, we received an email about 258 00:25:29,660 --> 00:25:34,980 the, using the equivalency calculator from the debt commissions. And it says that it's 259 00:25:34,980 --> 00:25:50,620 equal to 22,514 passenger vehicles driven for one year. And that's about 11,726,117 260 00:25:50,620 --> 00:25:58,300 gallons of gasoline consumed. And I know that we've used this equivalency calculator before. 261 00:25:58,300 --> 00:26:03,500 Does that, is that, does that sound correct? And in our future discussions, are we going 262 00:26:03,500 --> 00:26:11,260 to talk about ways to offset, offset these emissions? 263 00:26:11,260 --> 00:26:15,860 So as we get into more of those discussions about the target setting and the greenhouse 264 00:26:15,860 --> 00:26:20,660 gas mitigation plans, that can definitely be a part of the conversation. And so when 265 00:26:20,660 --> 00:26:28,740 we talk about mitigation, it can be reduction, it can be increasing sinks, it can be offsets. 266 00:26:28,740 --> 00:26:33,260 Those are all things that are encompassed into that conversation. And so once we get 267 00:26:33,260 --> 00:26:38,300 to, to that planning process, that's definitely something that, that we can have the discussion 268 00:26:38,300 --> 00:26:39,700 about. 269 00:26:39,700 --> 00:26:48,940 Okay. And looking into the actual report, were the, I did see some emissions from street 270 00:26:48,940 --> 00:26:56,660 lights. Were the LEDs included in that or not yet? So they'll be reflected in 2020 and 271 00:26:56,660 --> 00:26:59,460 not 2019? 272 00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:04,260 Those will, those are reflected and will continue to be reflected as a part of that. 273 00:27:04,260 --> 00:27:09,900 Okay. So the ones that had been updated, so it's kind of a mix in 2019, but as we go, 274 00:27:09,900 --> 00:27:11,900 it will, okay. 275 00:27:11,900 --> 00:27:15,700 Correct. And you're going to see two different things there. So you're going to see the conversion 276 00:27:15,700 --> 00:27:21,220 to LEDs as an increase in efficiency, but we're also going to see as the renewable energy 277 00:27:21,220 --> 00:27:26,340 percentage increases as a part of the portfolio, that's going to impact those as well. 278 00:27:26,340 --> 00:27:33,020 Okay. And was that, I'm sorry, was that street lights or traffic signals that you're referring 279 00:27:33,020 --> 00:27:34,020 to? 280 00:27:34,020 --> 00:27:39,020 Well, well, there was a section for street lights that I was asking about, but I do realize 281 00:27:39,020 --> 00:27:44,640 that the traffic signals have already been converted for the most part. So it would be 282 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:49,780 the street lights that would make the impact in the future, I believe. 283 00:27:49,780 --> 00:27:54,940 And then the next, when we're talking about landfill waste, I looked at the different 284 00:27:54,940 --> 00:28:03,860 breakdowns and the most waste besides paper at 22% is food waste at 13%. And then the 285 00:28:03,860 --> 00:28:11,040 other things kind of significantly decrease a little bit. When, and this may be a question 286 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:20,380 for Brian, if we're looking at reducing those municipal landfill emissions, when we're going 287 00:28:20,380 --> 00:28:23,700 to address the food waste aspect of it. 288 00:28:23,700 --> 00:28:28,340 Yep, I will defer to Brian for that one. 289 00:28:28,340 --> 00:28:29,340 Okay. 290 00:28:29,340 --> 00:28:30,340 Good morning again. 291 00:28:30,340 --> 00:28:31,820 Good morning. 292 00:28:31,820 --> 00:28:38,580 With regard to food waste, we do anticipate that being a major segment of what we review 293 00:28:38,580 --> 00:28:43,020 as part of our comprehensive solid waste management strategy. I mean, currently there are, first 294 00:28:43,020 --> 00:28:47,020 and foremost, what we are going to be doing with this strategy is doing a waste characterization 295 00:28:47,020 --> 00:28:52,460 study in both our residential, multifamily and commercial sectors to find out exactly 296 00:28:52,460 --> 00:28:59,580 how much food waste and other waste is there for us to deal with. And then from that, back 297 00:28:59,580 --> 00:29:03,780 calculate best practices. We know there are cities out there that have curbside collection 298 00:29:03,780 --> 00:29:08,580 programs that may or may not be effective, both economically and environmentally. We 299 00:29:08,580 --> 00:29:21,620 have backyard composting programs that may be a better state. There are digester programs 300 00:29:21,620 --> 00:29:27,300 where the material is actually contained, methane is digested out, and then as part 301 00:29:27,300 --> 00:29:32,740 of a biosolids program, the material is covered. So what we're going to be doing is evaluating 302 00:29:32,740 --> 00:29:37,780 both how much we have versus what the technologies are available, couple that with environmental 303 00:29:37,780 --> 00:29:45,180 impacts and fiscal opportunities, and then from that roll out opportunities for the council 304 00:29:45,180 --> 00:29:50,460 to consider as we create that plan to move forward in that program. So we're a little 305 00:29:50,460 --> 00:29:56,020 bit down the road, but within a year, we should have a very, very good go-forward process 306 00:29:56,020 --> 00:30:01,380 on how we want to affect all organic diversion within the city of Denton. 307 00:30:01,380 --> 00:30:07,420 Okay. Yeah. Thank you for that. It's going to be important as we continue our discussions 308 00:30:07,420 --> 00:30:13,500 on ways to reduce the emissions and waste at the landfill as well for this committee 309 00:30:13,500 --> 00:30:20,620 and also for the full council. Councilmember Meltzer, do you have a question? 310 00:30:20,620 --> 00:30:29,580 Yeah. I know that tomorrow we're going to be looking at beneficial reuse alternatives 311 00:30:29,580 --> 00:30:38,740 related to the methane, and should we understand compost collection as one of the alternatives 312 00:30:38,740 --> 00:30:48,380 in that set of options? Like in other words, if we did end up doing curbside compost and 313 00:30:48,380 --> 00:30:54,660 I heard you about the kind of economic and environmental assessment, but if we did end 314 00:30:54,660 --> 00:31:00,660 up doing that, is that instead then of generating methane? Is that where the methane comes from, 315 00:31:00,660 --> 00:31:02,920 I guess is what I'm really asking. 316 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:09,140 And that's something we're looking at. What we found and what the data that's available 317 00:31:09,140 --> 00:31:17,200 is telling us is that in the short term, there would be no impact to the rate of generation 318 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:23,240 at the city of Denton landfill. Secondarily, if we were to affect that growth curve long 319 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:30,660 term, we would have to significantly divert the amount of organic material that is being 320 00:31:30,660 --> 00:31:35,180 put into the landfill. But what state of California and some of their recent studies are showing 321 00:31:35,180 --> 00:31:42,900 us these massive centralized composting programs have much greater fugitive emissions, methane 322 00:31:42,900 --> 00:31:49,980 emissions from them than the landfills do themselves. So right now what we're seeing, 323 00:31:49,980 --> 00:31:54,840 because again, they're closed cells, the amount of times they're turning, the piles actually 324 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,820 go anaerobic, even though that they're being turned on a regular basis. So we have significant 325 00:31:59,820 --> 00:32:07,180 fugitive methane emissions from those processes. So what we're looking at is how do we capture 326 00:32:07,180 --> 00:32:12,440 the methane, keep it from going in the environment, be able to process it, manage it appropriately 327 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,780 without emitting it into the atmosphere. And that's one of the things that we will be looking 328 00:32:16,780 --> 00:32:23,380 at. But right now we're still looking at potential cost benefit in composting as a result of 329 00:32:23,380 --> 00:32:32,140 adoration processes. You need to unmute, sir. 330 00:32:32,140 --> 00:32:36,260 Paul you're on mute. Yeah, I got to give you that shirt that says 331 00:32:36,260 --> 00:32:47,180 on mute. So I understand that analysis is to come. You're kind of opening up a possibility 332 00:32:47,180 --> 00:32:52,340 in my own thinking now, is it possible for those two go together that, you know, if composting 333 00:32:52,340 --> 00:32:59,860 were were to pencil out, you know, could it be complementary and go with methane collection? 334 00:32:59,860 --> 00:33:04,580 In other words, you're collecting all the compost, now you're putting it in one place, 335 00:33:04,580 --> 00:33:07,820 you capture it there and you do the beneficial reuse? 336 00:33:07,820 --> 00:33:12,740 Currently, you know, our beneficial reuse program is complementary to what we're doing 337 00:33:12,740 --> 00:33:17,620 at the City of Denton landfill. We, all of the organic yard waste that we collect goes 338 00:33:17,620 --> 00:33:23,900 to that process. So, you know, once we are able to get, you know, if we're lucky, if 339 00:33:23,900 --> 00:33:28,340 we're, if we're fortunate enough to get our expansion permit, which would actually allow 340 00:33:28,340 --> 00:33:35,140 us to do a source separated organics program, such as we're discussing now, then, you know, 341 00:33:35,140 --> 00:33:42,140 there may be some additional beneficial diversion that could be done. But right now, you know, 342 00:33:42,140 --> 00:33:48,100 it's steps that we have to undertake and evaluate to determine, you know, the cost benefit of 343 00:33:48,100 --> 00:33:49,100 those. 344 00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:55,540 Yeah, I get that. I just want to understand conceptually if they were complementary, potentially 345 00:33:55,540 --> 00:34:01,260 complementary in the future rather than competing. It sounds like maybe so. 346 00:34:01,260 --> 00:34:04,140 The potential exists, but it will have to be evaluated. 347 00:34:04,140 --> 00:34:08,340 Yeah. Okay. Thank you. 348 00:34:08,340 --> 00:34:09,340 Thank you. 349 00:34:09,340 --> 00:34:13,220 Councilmember Davis, do you have any follow-ups to that conversation? 350 00:34:13,220 --> 00:34:20,620 No, no, I was just, while Brian was talking, looking over some of our stuff for tomorrow, 351 00:34:20,620 --> 00:34:25,020 deciding what's on posting now and what's on posting for tomorrow. So, I'll, I'll hold 352 00:34:25,020 --> 00:34:27,020 off for that. 353 00:34:27,020 --> 00:34:31,860 Okay. I do, Brian, thank you so much. 354 00:34:31,860 --> 00:34:32,860 You're welcome. 355 00:34:32,860 --> 00:34:43,620 I do have a follow-up question back to Jesse's comment earlier about the waste emissions. 356 00:34:43,620 --> 00:34:49,940 So I think seeing where he had that question, it says 2019 baseline comparison, and it says 357 00:34:49,940 --> 00:34:57,860 an increase of 50.73% on waste emissions with a little trash can beside it under municipal 358 00:34:57,860 --> 00:35:02,120 highlights. And so I think that's where just by reading that chart, it looks like we've 359 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:07,660 increased our municipal waste significantly. So, and you're saying that it's decreased. 360 00:35:07,660 --> 00:35:10,260 So can you explain that just a little bit? 361 00:35:10,260 --> 00:35:17,300 Sure. So those, those four images that are on the right-hand side there in that graphic, 362 00:35:17,300 --> 00:35:24,120 those are representative of the entire sector of those emissions. And so those waste emissions 363 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:31,300 include waste from municipal facilities, but it also includes any emissions from the landfill 364 00:35:31,300 --> 00:35:37,060 itself, which when we're talking about that is all of the waste that the landfill collects. 365 00:35:37,060 --> 00:35:42,840 But because it is a municipally run landfill, that's why those emissions would fall under 366 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:48,180 the municipal analysis and the municipal scope one emissions, if that makes a little bit 367 00:35:48,180 --> 00:35:52,380 more sense. So those are, those are two different sources of emissions, but we put them together 368 00:35:52,380 --> 00:35:56,220 under the waste category when we break it out into those four sectors. 369 00:35:56,220 --> 00:36:01,020 Okay. Okay. So what we're seeing the increase in mostly is, is the landfill and the municipal 370 00:36:01,020 --> 00:36:06,500 aspect of it, like the trash from city facilities is the one that... 371 00:36:06,500 --> 00:36:13,540 The trash from city facilities has decreased 6.01% correct from, from the previous year. 372 00:36:13,540 --> 00:36:21,340 Okay. All right. Um, I think that is, is that all for now on this item? Everybody okay? 373 00:36:21,340 --> 00:36:28,380 I believe that a lot of the more in-depth conversations on, um, ways to control things 374 00:36:28,380 --> 00:36:36,740 that we can discuss to reduce, will come in our next reduction carbon reduction, uh, presentation. 375 00:36:36,740 --> 00:36:41,460 I agree. And, uh, we definitely, we wanted to give you one more sort of known data point 376 00:36:41,460 --> 00:36:44,860 before diving back into that conversation. So we wanted to make sure that we got this 377 00:36:44,860 --> 00:36:48,540 analysis and this presentation done prior to that conversation. 378 00:36:48,540 --> 00:36:54,740 Perfect. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. So we'll go ahead and move on to 379 00:36:54,740 --> 00:37:02,140 item C. Receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff direction regarding the following 380 00:37:02,140 --> 00:37:09,300 certification processes. National Wildlife Federation's Community Wildlife Habitat Certification 381 00:37:09,300 --> 00:37:14,180 lead for cities and communities and Bird City, Texas. 382 00:37:14,180 --> 00:37:20,220 Good afternoon council or committee on the environment. How's everyone doing today? 383 00:37:20,220 --> 00:37:25,740 Good. Good. Good morning. Welcome. My name is Sarah Luxon. I am the sustainability coordinator 384 00:37:25,740 --> 00:37:29,780 for the city of Denton. So I'll be in the interest of time trying to go over these three 385 00:37:29,780 --> 00:37:33,540 programs with you rather quickly. So that way, if there is any discussion, we'll have 386 00:37:33,540 --> 00:37:42,860 time for that. So, 387 00:37:42,860 --> 00:37:52,580 all right. So we'll be discussing three different certification processes that the city of Denton 388 00:37:52,580 --> 00:38:00,180 could pursue should you guys wish. So, uh, I will be seeking y'all's feedback regarding 389 00:38:00,180 --> 00:38:06,900 these three programs. I believe that we are capable of meeting any of these programs. 390 00:38:06,900 --> 00:38:11,260 The city of Denton is already doing many of the things that are required in each of these 391 00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:15,740 certification processes. And so we would like y'all's direction on whether or not to move 392 00:38:15,740 --> 00:38:23,300 forward. The first is the national wildlife foundations community certification. So this 393 00:38:23,300 --> 00:38:29,820 program is hosted by the National Wildlife Federation, which is a large conservation 394 00:38:29,820 --> 00:38:35,540 minded nonprofit. So they've been hosting this program since 1997 and there are over 395 00:38:35,540 --> 00:38:41,180 200 different communities nationwide that are already signed on. We're proposing to 396 00:38:41,180 --> 00:38:46,740 move forward with the certification process. Cities like Austin, Houston, and White Springs 397 00:38:46,740 --> 00:38:51,620 in Texas have already completed the certification process. I do want to note that it will take 398 00:38:51,620 --> 00:38:57,380 some time. Typically after you sign on to pursue this certification, it takes about 399 00:38:57,380 --> 00:39:03,300 two years to complete. And part of that is because you have to accumulate points at the 400 00:39:03,300 --> 00:39:07,980 community level. So this is something that wouldn't just be require the city to take 401 00:39:07,980 --> 00:39:12,700 initiative. It's going to require community to take initiative as well, because we can 402 00:39:12,700 --> 00:39:18,020 certify certain wildlife habitats here at the city, but individuals within our community 403 00:39:18,020 --> 00:39:23,780 are also going to have to certify their gardens or habitats that they have, as well as schools 404 00:39:23,780 --> 00:39:31,060 and businesses. So at our population, we will need about 400 community points. Currently, 405 00:39:31,060 --> 00:39:37,340 we already have 87 points. That means that there's already 71 National Wildlife Federation 406 00:39:37,340 --> 00:39:43,500 registered wildlife habitats here in the city, 65 homes, four common areas, and two schools. 407 00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:50,580 So we will need about 313 more points. As you can see in the slide, homes account for 408 00:39:50,580 --> 00:39:55,820 one point, common areas and universities and other businesses will count as three, and 409 00:39:55,820 --> 00:40:00,780 then schools. So actually you get five points for every school or nature center that signs 410 00:40:00,780 --> 00:40:08,740 up. So there is a $100 registration fee that's a one time fee. But one of the benefits of 411 00:40:08,740 --> 00:40:14,820 this program is National Wildlife Federation will help support in providing different outreach 412 00:40:14,820 --> 00:40:21,740 material. They'll provide staff support to help you meet that certification. And so they're 413 00:40:21,740 --> 00:40:27,220 going to you're going to get a lot of support from their, their program to meet this certification 414 00:40:27,220 --> 00:40:36,540 requirement. Ah, next we have lead for cities and communities. So in 2018 lead for cities 415 00:40:36,540 --> 00:40:42,020 and communities, it actually replaced the star communities certification process city, 416 00:40:42,020 --> 00:40:49,300 the city of Denton was already a star community. And so we were adopted into that silver membership 417 00:40:49,300 --> 00:40:54,860 for lead for cities. But since then, we have not re registered for that program and or 418 00:40:54,860 --> 00:41:00,700 that certification process. And so we are looking at re registering and recertifying 419 00:41:00,700 --> 00:41:06,260 as a lead for cities community. And the other cities that in Texas that have done so are 420 00:41:06,260 --> 00:41:13,700 Houston, Austin, Corinth, and Plano. One of the areas we'd like to pursue is is pursue 421 00:41:13,700 --> 00:41:18,320 why we would like to pursue this is because it is a great way to measure sustainability 422 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:25,580 against other communities in Texas. So by using their program, we can see what practices 423 00:41:25,580 --> 00:41:31,100 we're doing and how those look compared to other communities in our area. So this is 424 00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:37,020 the dashboard, they use a dashboard called arc. It's a software that allows you to track. 425 00:41:37,020 --> 00:41:41,340 And then once you input your information, they will actually rank that information and 426 00:41:41,340 --> 00:41:50,180 we'll be able to get a score based on our inputs. Now, they do offer a grant that covers 427 00:41:50,180 --> 00:41:56,100 the cost of recertification. And that is something that we would like to pursue the the grant 428 00:41:56,100 --> 00:42:02,340 will typically open up in December and close in January. And if we are able to pursue that 429 00:42:02,340 --> 00:42:10,460 grant that will cover the cost as well as offer different training for recertifying. 430 00:42:10,460 --> 00:42:16,620 And just just to know if that grant lead for cities can be a little bit costly in the sense 431 00:42:16,620 --> 00:42:22,460 that it's ranges from about 10 to $15,000 to register your community. So if we are able 432 00:42:22,460 --> 00:42:32,460 to receive that community's grant, it's pretty substantial. Bird City, Texas. So this is a 433 00:42:32,460 --> 00:42:38,540 program that is handled by Texas Parks and Wildlife. It's a relatively new program. It 434 00:42:38,540 --> 00:42:45,140 was developed in the last three years. And it's become pretty popular here in Texas already. 435 00:42:45,140 --> 00:42:51,460 So you have communities like Bashrup, Dallas, Houston, and Port of Kansas, and as well as 436 00:42:51,460 --> 00:42:57,220 many others. I think they this last year, they were added a substantial number of new 437 00:42:57,220 --> 00:43:03,060 communities as well. But it basically is a community focused certification process to 438 00:43:03,060 --> 00:43:10,420 help protect birds, as well as the habitats in communities. So the city of Denton is already 439 00:43:10,420 --> 00:43:15,300 doing a lot of the measures that are required to meet the certification process. There's 440 00:43:15,300 --> 00:43:22,300 just a few things that we would need to do to complete the requirements for this certification. 441 00:43:22,300 --> 00:43:27,260 And to but if we are pursuing this program, it will definitely help support those habitats 442 00:43:27,260 --> 00:43:31,920 and educate our community about what they can do to support not just native birds, but 443 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:38,580 also migratory birds. Now, there are two different types of certification. You have the basic 444 00:43:38,580 --> 00:43:44,640 and the high flyer. We would be interested in pursuing the basic, which is again, a lot 445 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:51,380 of the requirements were already meeting when because those measured in community engagement, 446 00:43:51,380 --> 00:43:57,700 they measure habitat enhancement and protection as well as creating safe spaces for birds. 447 00:43:57,700 --> 00:44:02,300 The high flyer takes it a step further, and that will require some substantial changes 448 00:44:02,300 --> 00:44:06,940 to the city. However, in a couple of years, we may be able to meet those requirements 449 00:44:06,940 --> 00:44:15,980 as well. So again, the the certification we're recommending is the basic bird, and it'll 450 00:44:15,980 --> 00:44:21,340 take about a year to complete because you have to already meet all of the requirements 451 00:44:21,340 --> 00:44:26,820 before you can submit your application, which is typically due in December. That certification 452 00:44:26,820 --> 00:44:33,460 will last for three years, and then you'll need to recertify. So we would like to get 453 00:44:33,460 --> 00:44:39,540 y'all's feedback and direction on each of these certification processes. And please 454 00:44:39,540 --> 00:44:42,060 let me know if you have any questions. 455 00:44:42,060 --> 00:44:53,420 We can pull the slides down. Thank you. Yes, Councilmember Davis. Thank you. So for a couple 456 00:44:53,420 --> 00:44:58,700 of those, first off, those all are very interesting for the city to pursue, especially because 457 00:44:58,700 --> 00:45:03,580 we might be part of the part of the way there on a lot of those requirements you're talking 458 00:45:03,580 --> 00:45:09,020 about. You mentioned recertification for a couple of them specifically, but the the wildlife 459 00:45:09,020 --> 00:45:14,980 certification, I'm wondering, especially because it's points based on homes and schools and 460 00:45:14,980 --> 00:45:21,020 things that are outside of our control. Do we just have to keep up the education outreach 461 00:45:21,020 --> 00:45:27,260 or do we have to maintain a certain number of points to be recertified over time? Kind 462 00:45:27,260 --> 00:45:33,380 of what are we getting ourselves into as far as keeping track of people's yards and school 463 00:45:33,380 --> 00:45:41,220 stuff? Great question. So typically, sometimes whenever you register, you're registered for 464 00:45:41,220 --> 00:45:46,660 about 10 years. I think schools, it's about that certification for them. The habitat lasts 465 00:45:46,660 --> 00:45:51,740 about three years. And so for a lot of these, we would not be going after these individuals 466 00:45:51,740 --> 00:45:59,300 to recertify or remit those certifications. National Wildlife Foundation, they will actually 467 00:45:59,300 --> 00:46:03,620 communicate with those individuals and make sure that they're keeping up. But my understanding 468 00:46:03,620 --> 00:46:09,740 is that once you meet those community level points, you you are no longer. That's no longer 469 00:46:09,740 --> 00:46:14,980 the focus. The focus is maintaining the education because there are different educational components 470 00:46:14,980 --> 00:46:19,500 to it, to where you have to be have, you know, a group that you're meeting with. You have 471 00:46:19,500 --> 00:46:25,340 to be doing so many workshops. You have to be doing so many things in areas which I would 472 00:46:25,340 --> 00:46:31,580 like to note that we're pretty much doing all of those requirements already. The thing 473 00:46:31,580 --> 00:46:38,300 that we need to do for this program is basically get that community buy in. But it shouldn't 474 00:46:38,300 --> 00:46:44,580 be an on taking of once we sign up, now we're going to have to continually be on citizens 475 00:46:44,580 --> 00:46:51,220 to maintain their certifications since those certifications last so long. It wouldn't necessarily 476 00:46:51,220 --> 00:46:56,600 hurt for us to send a email or a flyer or something to our folks who have contributed 477 00:46:56,600 --> 00:47:01,460 to our score every so often to make sure they're keeping up. But you're saying we don't take 478 00:47:01,460 --> 00:47:08,460 on any additional responsibility for maintaining a score over time. No. And my understanding 479 00:47:08,460 --> 00:47:13,100 too is once you meet that level, it should be the amount of education that you're doing 480 00:47:13,100 --> 00:47:20,000 and should help you maintain that community score. But I don't believe and I will double 481 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:27,500 check with them. But after you have obtained that community score, you're then trying to 482 00:47:27,500 --> 00:47:34,620 maintain the amount of education. Got it. Thank you. Councilman Meltzer, do you have 483 00:47:34,620 --> 00:47:49,560 any guidance? You got it. So thanks for bringing these forward. There's definitely pluses in 484 00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:54,860 getting recognized for what we're already doing. I see positives and almost kind of 485 00:47:54,860 --> 00:47:59,460 from an economic development point of view, like just to brand that these are things that 486 00:47:59,460 --> 00:48:06,660 we do. And they're positives from an education point of view and awareness. I'm interested 487 00:48:06,660 --> 00:48:18,300 to know what would lead to actual improvements in these areas as part of participating. There's 488 00:48:18,300 --> 00:48:23,940 a little irony in if we seek recognition from the National Wildlife Foundation while we're 489 00:48:23,940 --> 00:48:31,600 destroying habitat at a great clip. So I mean, that's just sort of that was one that sort 490 00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:39,820 of jumped out at me like, you know, it would almost be ironic. So my question to you is 491 00:48:39,820 --> 00:48:46,400 for each of the areas, could you describe where by participating we would make actual 492 00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:57,140 improvements in wildlife habitat, energy conservation, or energy efficiency and bird habitat? Yeah. 493 00:48:57,140 --> 00:49:01,140 So I can go through some of the advantages of each of these programs. For instance, lead 494 00:49:01,140 --> 00:49:05,620 for cities, a lot of the advantage is going to be in the improvements in measuring and 495 00:49:05,620 --> 00:49:11,820 benchmarking. So that is really the purpose of that program is to measure your sustainable 496 00:49:11,820 --> 00:49:18,340 actions. And so we'll have more benchmarking capabilities through that program. And those 497 00:49:18,340 --> 00:49:22,220 that's also beneficial because those benchmarks we can then compare not just to our community, 498 00:49:22,220 --> 00:49:28,920 but also to other communities that are participating in that program. For National Wildlife Federation, 499 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:33,820 that community that program, it'll allow us to have better support for wildlife habitats 500 00:49:33,820 --> 00:49:38,900 in our communities. So instead of just focusing on what we're doing at the municipal level, 501 00:49:38,900 --> 00:49:42,900 we'll also be able to get buy-in and have citizens in their own homes that are meeting 502 00:49:42,900 --> 00:49:50,220 certain requirements to create habitats. So to become a certified habitat, you have to, 503 00:49:50,220 --> 00:49:55,860 there's three different areas that you'll have to meet with that program. So, and that's 504 00:49:55,860 --> 00:50:01,860 based on, are you providing housing for animals? Are you providing food? Are you providing 505 00:50:01,860 --> 00:50:07,660 water? Are you using organic practices? So citizens will have to meet those requirements 506 00:50:07,660 --> 00:50:12,820 or schools or whomever signing up for that program. Those are the requirements for those 507 00:50:12,820 --> 00:50:18,460 habitats. And by getting more members to sign up, we are ensuring that we're having more 508 00:50:18,460 --> 00:50:28,620 local habitats for animals within our community. And then for Bird City, Texas, that does have 509 00:50:28,620 --> 00:50:36,940 requirements that make sure that you are creating habitats for birds. So I've got the requirements 510 00:50:36,940 --> 00:50:43,380 pulled up here. So some easy things that we could is, it requires that we develop areas 511 00:50:43,380 --> 00:50:47,900 that are specifically designed for migratory birds. Now we could enhance areas that the 512 00:50:47,900 --> 00:50:54,680 city already has, or we could decide to take a habitat that we have and update that so 513 00:50:54,680 --> 00:51:00,680 that it's for migratory birds, but it requires us to maintain those areas and habitats that 514 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:08,300 are safe for birds. So both the National Wildlife Federation, as well as the Bird City, Texas, 515 00:51:08,300 --> 00:51:16,180 have requirements that we maintain habitats for animals and pollinators and basically 516 00:51:16,180 --> 00:51:24,020 any living organism, organism in Denton. That's a great response. I have two other brief questions, 517 00:51:24,020 --> 00:51:31,980 Kiwi, if I could keep going. Sure. We're going to hit them pretty quick. Yep. Okay. Is there 518 00:51:31,980 --> 00:51:37,780 a cost from, is there any reason why we wouldn't just say, sure, do all three? Or is there 519 00:51:37,780 --> 00:51:44,820 some kind of a cost in terms of staff time? You know, should we, or do you have any suggestions 520 00:51:44,820 --> 00:51:53,940 like pick one? Definitely. Cost is pretty minimal for both the National Wildlife Federation 521 00:51:53,940 --> 00:52:00,900 program, as well as Bird City, Texas, they're pretty much application fees, which are both 522 00:52:00,900 --> 00:52:07,140 under $500. Again, the National Wildlife Federation is $100. I can't remember what the Bird City 523 00:52:07,140 --> 00:52:13,420 one is, but it's pretty low cost in the scheme of things. It will require some staff time, 524 00:52:13,420 --> 00:52:19,460 but again, a lot of these things are practices we're already doing or could easily implement 525 00:52:19,460 --> 00:52:24,460 into the things. And they may even be things that we're already working towards. So for 526 00:52:24,460 --> 00:52:29,500 both of those programs, I would say the amount of staff time required as well as cost is 527 00:52:29,500 --> 00:52:34,860 pretty, pretty low on the spectrum. But with Lead for Cities and Communities, if we did 528 00:52:34,860 --> 00:52:41,260 not receive that grant, I could understand why that cost can be fairly high in the scheme 529 00:52:41,260 --> 00:52:52,980 of things since it does run between $10,000 to $15,000. However, there is staff time. 530 00:52:52,980 --> 00:52:59,160 It would be pretty low on staff time. There would be some training. So I would have to 531 00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:03,840 get back to you on an estimate of how much actual staff time we would have to utilize 532 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:09,580 to maintain that process. But I do think that if we were to receive the grant, it would 533 00:53:09,580 --> 00:53:11,420 be well worth it. 534 00:53:11,420 --> 00:53:17,460 Thank you. And then my last point is just a comment that if we have people participating 535 00:53:17,460 --> 00:53:25,380 in the habitats, wildlife and/or bird, rather just as a sort of communication spin, rather 536 00:53:25,380 --> 00:53:33,620 than a follow up to say, are you still doing it? If we had the resources to communicate 537 00:53:33,620 --> 00:53:39,020 with those people, I would think positive reinforcement would do the trick. Continuing 538 00:53:39,020 --> 00:53:44,500 to thank them for doing it and giving them tips. Here's what to do at this time of year. 539 00:53:44,500 --> 00:53:49,780 So I think the positive reinforcement would keep them engaged. But thanks, that's all 540 00:53:49,780 --> 00:53:50,780 I have. 541 00:53:50,780 --> 00:53:58,180 Okay. So it looks like the committee is, from what I can gather, in favor of going forward 542 00:53:58,180 --> 00:54:03,740 with all these three. I just want to have a few comments and a question. So the National 543 00:54:03,740 --> 00:54:09,180 Wildlife Federation was brought forth to us by a community member a while ago. And so 544 00:54:09,180 --> 00:54:14,380 I'm really glad that we're going forward with that. And I wanted to say, you know, we have 545 00:54:14,380 --> 00:54:19,620 TWU and UNT when it says schools, we have universities that are already committed to 546 00:54:19,620 --> 00:54:24,540 doing these things, I think would make really great partnerships. And then we have our sustainable 547 00:54:24,540 --> 00:54:34,260 schools program with the ISD, which can also help with the school aspect of it. My question 548 00:54:34,260 --> 00:54:40,980 would be, is there any code changes that we would need to make to allow homeowners to 549 00:54:40,980 --> 00:54:49,120 do this, to provide this type of habitat in their yards? I think we need to look at that 550 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:53,460 and see, you know, if we need to have a little asterisk, you know, if you're doing this and 551 00:54:53,460 --> 00:55:00,620 maintaining this or have the certification you're allowed to, you know, not mow or... 552 00:55:00,620 --> 00:55:08,260 At this point there, earlier in the presentation, there was, I mentioned there was already 71 553 00:55:08,260 --> 00:55:12,460 habitats in our community. So there, technically you would not need to change the code for 554 00:55:12,460 --> 00:55:17,700 people to create habitats in their yard. This is already something that the code allows 555 00:55:17,700 --> 00:55:26,460 for. Okay, perfect. The next comment would be for Bird City. I think that's great. And 556 00:55:26,460 --> 00:55:33,540 I know, I noticed lately there's been a campaign for Lights Out. Is that part of this? And 557 00:55:33,540 --> 00:55:37,940 is that for like the high flyers that we're not looking towards? Or would that be something 558 00:55:37,940 --> 00:55:42,820 that we could look into? I know that I put in a request after I saw it that Dallas was 559 00:55:42,820 --> 00:55:49,920 participating. Is that part of this? That's a great question. And yes, there it can be. 560 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:54,780 So in each of those sections, there's criteria that you must meet. However, they give you 561 00:55:54,780 --> 00:55:59,500 about like 10 to 15 options and you have to choose four or five of them. Lights Out is 562 00:55:59,500 --> 00:56:04,380 one of the options and one of those criteria. So that is something we could opt into through 563 00:56:04,380 --> 00:56:11,260 this program. However, it's not a requirement that we have to opt into it. Okay. And so 564 00:56:11,260 --> 00:56:17,180 I guess as this comes back to us, we'll be looking at things to opt in, opt out, how 565 00:56:17,180 --> 00:56:22,300 we want to participate. Okay, perfect. And then the last thing I wanted to talk about 566 00:56:22,300 --> 00:56:29,900 was the LEED certification. If we do that and we're recertified, is that public information? 567 00:56:29,900 --> 00:56:36,540 Can someone come onto a website and look and see how we're doing as a city? Yes. They can 568 00:56:36,540 --> 00:56:41,860 go on to the LEED for cities and communities and we should be able to make our dashboard 569 00:56:41,860 --> 00:56:47,540 public and they can see where our numbers are and then compare us to other cities. 570 00:56:47,540 --> 00:56:51,820 Because I had a similar comment to Councilmember Metzler on economic development that goes 571 00:56:51,820 --> 00:56:56,540 along with our sustainability strategy. And if somebody is looking to move to Denton and 572 00:56:56,540 --> 00:57:01,660 can research that and see how, you know, really good we're doing, that could be a benefit 573 00:57:01,660 --> 00:57:06,780 to us to have that. So I would, I would like to see us go forward with, with all of these 574 00:57:06,780 --> 00:57:13,060 things. All right. All right. Well, thank you for that. And so we will go ahead and move 575 00:57:13,060 --> 00:57:24,740 down to the D management reports. Dr. Banks? Yes, that is me. Good morning, everyone. We 576 00:57:24,740 --> 00:57:31,180 have two very quick items. I'm sorry. Sorry. I know. I just saw apologies. Yeah, I'm still 577 00:57:31,180 --> 00:57:37,900 getting used to it. I need Paul's shirt. Good morning, everyone. I just have two very brief 578 00:57:37,900 --> 00:57:44,860 items. The first is a brief report from Catherine Barnett and Elizabeth Ruiz concerning Soul 579 00:57:44,860 --> 00:57:51,860 Smart. We were designated under this program under bronze. We've now moved up to silver. 580 00:57:51,860 --> 00:58:01,020 And so just want to bring that to everyone's attention. We also received a special recognition 581 00:58:01,020 --> 00:58:06,340 for the permitting side because of the number of points that we had increased in that particular 582 00:58:06,340 --> 00:58:12,820 area. So kind of two awards there and one, so to speak. Catherine's here if anyone has 583 00:58:12,820 --> 00:58:22,060 any questions on that. And then just want to point out very briefly our matrix. We have 584 00:58:22,060 --> 00:58:27,460 finished the item number three, which is the Soul Smart report that we just provided to 585 00:58:27,460 --> 00:58:34,300 you. And I did want to point out that the Sustainable Advisory Committee is slotted 586 00:58:34,300 --> 00:58:40,180 for October 13th at the full council. So that will be going forward next week. And that's 587 00:58:40,180 --> 00:58:44,420 all I have. Okay. Yes, sir. Yeah, I thought we could go ahead and take two and three off. 588 00:58:44,420 --> 00:58:50,860 Those were mine and they're doing just fine. Did anybody have any questions about either 589 00:58:50,860 --> 00:59:04,540 of those two? I just want to know if the beard is because you're a short timer. No, sir. 590 00:59:04,540 --> 00:59:11,300 I had it before it was a short timer. Thanks for asking though. Well, while you're here, 591 00:59:11,300 --> 00:59:15,620 Dr. Banks, I do want to say thank you for your service and let you know that we appreciate 592 00:59:15,620 --> 00:59:22,500 all you've done for our city and all the information that you have brought to us when requested. 593 00:59:22,500 --> 00:59:29,140 You've been very beneficial and we've appreciated you very much and wish you well on your next 594 00:59:29,140 --> 00:59:35,020 journey. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I don't know where we're going to find 595 00:59:35,020 --> 00:59:42,100 10 people together would know as much as you know. Thanks. That's very kind of you to say. 596 00:59:42,100 --> 00:59:48,500 All the knowledge that you had. Yes. So stay near a phone for a while. I plan on doing 597 00:59:48,500 --> 00:59:55,700 that. I will. Thank you so much. And so we will move to our concluding items really. 598 00:59:55,700 --> 01:00:00,980 Well, we're actually ahead of schedule. Good job, everybody. Does anybody have any concluding 599 01:00:00,980 --> 01:00:10,980 items? No, no, I just I would like to have an update on our green business program sometime 600 01:00:10,980 --> 01:00:22,420 going forward. Other than that, I think we're good. We're good. All right. So if there's 601 01:00:22,420 --> 01:00:30,420 no other questions and we can adjourn at 1003, everyone, thank you so much for the presentations 602 01:00:30,420 --> 01:00:32,460 and join us today. Thank you.