Okay.
>> Okay. Welcome everybody. This is the uh
May 13th environmental board meeting. Uh
my name is Don Mcwills. I'll be your
chair tonight. Our meetings are hybrid
in nature. So we have some people
online, some people in the room. Um for
those of you online, if you want to uh
if you have a comment to make, please
just raise your virtual hand and I'll be
watching for it and I'll call you in the
order I see. For those of you at the
table, we flip our sign up when we want
to make a comment and then I'll just
come around and grab you as I see the
signs going.
>> Hi, Roger.
>> Hey, um Stacy, can you give us call to
order tonight?
>> Uh we'll just do a roll call and just
say here if you're uh Tommy Anderson
>> here.
>> Uh Nancy Davidson has an excused
absence. Tommy Dubau
>> here.
>> Pashka Pandi
>> here. Kieran Pond has an excused
absence. Don Mapleium here.
>> Risha Chararma.
>> Shannon Rock.
>> Yep.
>> Alex Lee Tigner
>> here.
>> Susie Dearo
>> here.
>> Uh Keith Grimmer Gonzalez um has an
excused absence. There's potential he
might join later. Okay.
>> And Triar Krishnan
>> here.
>> All right. And um sorry I didn't alert
folks this before. We do have with Nancy
out um one of our alternates. Uh you
want to sit in as a regular member. We
do have an item to vote on tonight. Um I
might just pick Shannon if that's okay.
Uh you're the first on my list and then
what I do is just rotate through. So,
next time we need to alternate, we'll
just go to Susie and then
>> Great.
>> Thank you. Um, next up we have approval
of minutes. We have two sets of minutes
to approve. So, the April 16th meeting
and the April 22nd meeting. Are there
any changes to the minutes anybody would
like to see?
>> I think we only had a couple people that
were at those meetings
>> two there. Okay. hearing. None. We'll
call those approved. Okay. We have any
public comments tonight, Stacy? I don't
see anybody.
>> We do not have any members of the public
and we did not receive any written
public comment.
>> Good. All right, let's start with start
with introductions. Um, so we have four
new members with us tonight.
Congratulations. Welcome. We're happy to
have you here. And I think why don't the
board the existing board members just do
a quick intro of each of us and then if
you guys want to just say a quick word,
we'd appreciate that. maybe just your
name, your interest in the board, kind
of how what brought you here. So, I'm
Don McWills. I joined the board back in
2020, you believe, when the board first
started. Um, and I've been with it ever
since. Uh, moved up from board member to
vice chair to now currently chair. Um, I
came into the board because I've always
worked in the environmental industry and
had a passion for it and just live right
up the street in Preston. So, it opened
up. I thought it would be an interesting
role.
Tom
>> uh Tom Anderson I live here in Isiqua.
I've also been with the board from the
beginning 2020.
And I guess I the thing that kind of
attracted me to getting involved with
the board. I'm I'm a volunteer with the
Isquel Trails Club. So the connection of
Isiqua with the the trails and the
Isiqua Alps that surround us is an
important thing to me. And I wanted to
bring that little aspect of my life into
into the board. And I also volunteer
with the squala history museum. So
maintenance historical aspect of our
community is also important to me and
sometimes that ties in with our work
here. So those things appealed to me. So
I got on board.
>> Thank you Tom Raj.
>> Um hi I'm Praj. Um so I'm an
environmental engineer by education
lived in Samamesh close to Isakwa for
over 20 years and really like the
neighborhood and now I don't work s I'm
passionate about sustainability and now
I don't work in consulting so I wanted
to still do something you know which is
technical and that's why I'm on the
board for a couple of years and I hope
you will enjoy it too being here.
Welcome.
>> Thank you. um whether they're online
folks. Alex, how about you?
>> Good evening everyone. U my name is Alex
Lee Tigner. I am the vice chair of the
board. Um I have been serving for I
think three years now. Um and I work for
a nonprofit called Trout Unlimited that
works out of Lake Seamish State Park
throughout the Lake Seamish um and King
County areas. Um, and I have, um, the
joy of getting to do community outreach,
engagement, education, research and
monitoring, and habitat restoration. Um,
and so my role fits really well with the
s the um environmental board's goals,
and I was um, excited to join a few
years ago and and I enjoy um, getting to
continue on.
>> Thank you, Alex. Tommy.
>> Hi. Good evening. Tommy Dau um grew up
in the Klahani neighborhood sort of
adjacent to Isiqua. Uh my background uh
is really in politics. I studied uh
political science at the UDub and I took
some climate politics classes that sort
of got me interested in
environmentalism.
Um, and through my work in campaigns and
uh, legislative staffing, sort of
interacted with local government, uh,
especially through Isiqua and so kind of
followed some advice to get on the
environmental board. Um, and I now work
as a, uh, legislative political director
for a labor union operating engineers
local 302. Uh, and so good to be here
tonight.
>> Thank you, Tommy. All right. Um how
about we just go around the table? We'll
start with you.
>> Sounds good. Thank you. Thanks for
having me here. I'm glad to join. Really
happy to join here. Um well, I used to
be in business consulting for several
years and um a few months ago I quit
that and became an independent
consultant and wanted to also focus on
environmental issues and climate change
and related areas. And uh I heard about
the amazing work this board does and
wanted to be part of it. and of course
um preserve the community as much as
possible. Um we have a wonderful
neighborhood, a lot of natural assets
and and want to be part of what we do
here. Glad to be here.
>> Thank you.
>> Uh my name is Shannon Rock and uh
similar I feel like to every one of you,
I'm passionate about the outdoors and
want to sustain and take care of the
critters in our environment and as well
as this beautiful area that we live. And
so when uh spot opened up and I had
space in my life, I thought I would try
give it a try.
>> Thank you.
>> Hi everyone. I'm Susie Dearo. I'm glad
to be here and nice to meet all of you.
Um I moved to Isaqua a little over a
year ago now. Um and I've spent my
career working in sustainability on
climate um in a variety of different
spaces from food and agriculture systems
to uh decarbonization strategy uh fleet
electrification and currently working on
climate uh technology innovation. Um
most of my work is on a national or
international scale and I was really
interested um in the opportunity to
contribute locally. Um and I think it's
an important time to be involved in the
democratic process. Um so looking
forward to contributing.
>> Thank you.
>> Hi everyone. Um I'm Risha Sherman. I'm
here as our youth representative. I'm a
freshman at Ezeka High School. I'm also
on our youth advisory board and I'm here
mostly just because I really care about
this community. I've lived here my whole
life and I'm passionate about the
environment. So yeah, I'm looking
forward to working with you all.
>> Thank you, Risha. Thank you everybody.
We appreciate it and um we're happy to
have you here and we hope you enjoy it.
Anything to add?
>> Okay.
All right. Next up, Stacey's going to
walk us through some um changes to our
board rules and regulations. We may or
may not have a vote at the end of this.
We'll kind of
see what we feel like.
>> Right. Can I get a thumbs up? Tommy, can
you see uh the document on the screen?
Okay, great. Um so after discussions,
well, back up. Um our board has rules
and regulations. Um hopefully it may
have been a few years since folks have
looked at them. Hopefully um those new
members that participated in the board
training last week believe they were
mentioned there. Um but they basically
just talk about the operations of our
board. We have modified them over the
last few years um especially kind of as
we came back in person after COVID um
allowing for some virtual attendance
just thinking about our missions and
travel. Um, so they have been modified
over the last couple of years and, um,
this spring we started having
conversations about two additional
potential modifications that we want to
propose to the board. Um, as Don said,
we do not need to make a decision
tonight. Um, there is one item that we
would need to take action on even if we
don't make a decision, which I'll speak
about in a few minutes. Um, but these
are up for discussion. uh really just
looking on the board's input and what
your preferred direction is. Um the
first topic is our rules and regulations
currently state that we elect our chair
and vice chair in May. Um that's because
the new terms are starting then they can
serve a full year um in case they're
going to be rotating off. What's really
challenging is that when we have new
members of the board joining, they do
not have an opportunity to get to know
other members of the board before voting
for a chair and vice chair. And so many
of the city's boards and commissions
have postponed and changed their rules
and regulations to do the chair and vice
chair vote in the fall. In discussing
with Don and Alex, um we thought that
made sense. Um and so we wanted to bring
that to the board for discussion and see
if there's interest in postponing. Um if
we're not ready to take action on this
tonight, we can vote to essentially
delay a vote until June. Um that would
ensure that we're not in violation of
our current rules and regulations that
says we must vote in our chair and vice
chair tonight. Um
why don't I pause on that one and we can
take any discussion thoughts and then I
can discuss the other one.
>> Okay. So our choices are we can either
delay the vote till September and if
that's the case then would Alex and I
remain in our current roles.
>> Yes. So, what I've proposed, and this is
all up for discussion, um, is that we
move the election till September, um,
and then what I thought might make sense
is at the current chair and vice chair
would serve out that September meeting,
um, finish their term then, and then the
new chair and vice chair could start
October and be in their role until
September, the following September. Now,
if we have chair and vice chair that
rotate off in the same year, that might
get a little complicated and I can talk
to our clerks about how other boards and
commissions deal with that. Um, but I
think usually our our terms are
staggered enough that I think that would
be probably a pretty rare circumstance.
Um, so let's say
Don let's say Don and Alex uh remain as
chair and vice chair. Don decides to um
leave the board next spring, then Alex
could move into that chair role until
october and we could elect someone new,
but we can work through those details
with the clerks.
>> Raj,
>> um I think that's a great idea. I
support the vote if you're actually
taking the vote. Uh because you know, as
you said, I mean, this is this makes
sense because the new members don't know
anything about the board or the chair or
the vice chair. So you know it gives
them a little bit of time to and I think
pushing it by few months I think it
makes sense so that they get a feel of
the board and what the board does as
well as they will get to know people
what they do and you know so I I think
it's a great idea and I would vote yes
if you're taking a vote today
Tom.
>> Uh yes I would concur. It sounds like a
a well motivated
idea. I I'm curious though like what uh
what other what boards have decided to
follow this path and have there been any
that have decided no?
>> Yeah, it was only brought to my
attention a couple months ago that some
of the boards do this. I know I can't
name off the top of my head all of them.
I know the transportation advisory board
does this and then I believe there's two
or three others um that have made this
move and as the liaison learned about it
most of the other boards and commissions
are planning to propose this as well.
>> Were there any cases where they learned
about it and they voted it down?
>> Not that I'm aware of nor any cases
where they moved to a later election,
decided that didn't work and move back.
I haven't heard of those situations, but
yeah, great questions.
>> Thank you.
>> I think we're ready to take a vote on
this is what I'm hearing. So, um, how do
you Does it have to be official? Yay,
nay. Or just things for
>> the rules and regulations. We should
probably do an official.
>> Okay.
>> So, um, so Shannon, we'll have you vote
tonight. Um,
>> yes. So, why don't we take this one and
then we can talk about the other one.
So, would we need a motion?
>> Oh, I propose a motion to move our our
uh terms to September instead of May.
>> I second that.
>> And then I can do a You want me to do a
roll call? Okay, we'll do a roll call.
Just say yay or nay. Uh Tom Anderson.
>> Yay.
Tommy,
>> yay.
>> Rush,
>> yay.
>> Don,
>> yay.
>> Risha,
>> yay.
>> Shannon,
>> yay.
>> Alex,
>> yay.
>> Okay, that passes.
>> Congratulations. We haven't done a vote
in a while. Yay.
>> Great. Um, great. Well, we will work
with the clerks to
formalize that and then Don and Alex,
you will end up receiving this document
for a signature um once we that change
official. Um all right. And then the
next change that was proposed was
brought forward by some board members.
Um, we have had several special meetings
in a different meeting room over by the
community center uh this spring as we
were working through the climate action
plan and several of the board members
just found that space a little more
inviting and intimate and easier for
conversation. It is a much smaller space
um and so they proposed or asked if it
would be possible for us to move our
meetings there. That space is in high
demand. Um there's another group that
meets this evening
um on the second Wednesday of the month.
And so the um best option assuming we
don't want to meet on a Friday evening
is the fourth Wednesday of the month.
And so this change would move our
meetings from the second to the fourth
Wednesday of the month and to steal
headroom. Um this is not something we
need to vote on tonight. Uh folks can
check personal calendars. I'm happy to
give those that haven't seen the space a
quick tour. Um,
so there's no urgency with this. Um, the
one item I did mention to Dawn is for
our June meeting, which is currently
scheduled for June 10th, we have many
students slotted to come and talk about
all the work they've been doing this
year and we would not want to move that
meeting to the end of June because they
will be on summer break. So, if we do
make this change tonight, um I would
request it goes into effect for our July
meeting or whichever meeting you all
want to.
>> Um so, Stacey, I've been to that meeting
to that meeting room and it is fine. The
only thing is we do have a lot of times
lot of public uh speakers for public
comment as well as you do have some
guest speakers from parks or other
departments. Um so if we have both of
them at the same time I'm not sure if
there is enough space for everybody
right because I think that can hold
probably 10 to 15 people max I think
well
>> and we have had around 15 or more at
times if we have means more people for
public comment as well as then we have
all 10 members and then we have you know
two or three guest speakers. Yeah, I
think it will exceed. That would be my
only concern. Otherwise, I don't see an
issue with that.
>> Thanks, Crash. Susie,
>> yeah, I have two questions or concerns.
Um, my first question um is wanting to
make sure that um the steelhead room has
equivalent uh like virtual capacity and
like the the level of uh AV that the
space has. Um if it doesn't have that,
that might be a potential downside. Um,
and then the other flag, um, is that
moving to the fourth Thursday or fourth
Wednesday of the month. I imagine that
we'll run into more conflicts, um, in
November and December with the holidays.
>> Um, and curious how rescheduling due to
um, changes has been in the past, if
that's been an issue.
>> Yes, great question. So, um, AV, yes, it
is fully equipped. Um, and some of our
boards and commissions meet there. So,
it would be tight as PR said around that
table. There would be enough space for
us. The public comment is definitely a
little tight. You've you've sat in no
public comment back there. Um, but it is
equipped for the meetings. And then, um,
whenever we meet, not on our regular
date, um, we can do that whenever we
want. we just posted as a special
meeting. So, typically I reach out to
the board members, make sure we have um
quorum for meeting on a different date.
So, we could reschedu those Thanksgiving
um or November, December, but you're
right, we would run into more holiday
conflicts and probably need to schedule
around those. So, yeah, great point.
Uh, is it necessary for us to state the
specific rule in our rules and
regulations? Is this a procedural thing
that
>> That's a good question. It is in all of
the rules and regulations. Um, and it
may be for awareness of the public, but
I can ask our clerks about that. So,
yeah. Question.
>> Well, it seems overly specific.
>> Yes. unnecessarily specific
would be my take on it, but I mean we
still have to decide what we want to do.
But I I would vote for not having it
stated in there or or put in some weasel
words in there and declare uh the
preferred location or as determined by
uh staff.
But then I guess there's complications.
Well, how do you make that announcement
uh in compliance with others and all
that? Is that is that a complication?
>> If um the way we usually do it is if
we're not meeting in our regular room,
we note it as a special meeting and
that's just shared in the agenda that
goes out. So, that's the public notice.
Um, I can ask if we could not list
our meeting location and keep the second
Wednesday and if Steelhead happens to be
open some second Wednesdays, we meet
there instead and rotate back and forth.
Are you interested in more kind of
having a variet being a little more
flexible on where we meet or
>> um Well, so I I support the spirit of
this recommendation and I do prefer the
other room mostly just because it's
closer to me.
I support it, but I also would support
being less specific in the official
rules and regulations to allow more
flexibility,
>> okay,
>> in the future if needed. So for example,
if we were having a presentation that
had we sometimes we have three or four
presenters
>> and it's on a topic that we expect three
or four public people to speak. Well
then maybe we would choose to bring it
here because of that size of the
potential crowd
and we'd have that option.
>> Yeah. or if it's a more kind of intimate
conversation like on the climate plan,
we're gonna have a lot of dialogue, that
other space can be nice.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. I can definitely speak to the
clerks about that and bring back more
information
in June or July about that.
>> Thanks, Tom. Alex, I think you're next.
>> There we go. Um just leading and adding
on to Tom's comment about if and and
project's comments about if we do
anticipate more people coming um if we
have extra presenters or if we
anticipate more public comment what is
the flexibility of the Tibbitz manner
being open on that fourth Wednesday so
that if we needed to shift to that
instead of rescheduling um to a date
that could accommodate is is Tibbitz
typically open also on the fourth
Wednesdays of each month that we could
shift easily.
>> I'll check on that. I'm not sure.
The top of my head, I don't believe that
there are any boards or commissions that
meet on a fourth Wednesday, but I can
definitely check on that. Yeah, in that
case I'd be if it's more flexible and we
could potentially move to Tibbitz
easily, then I'd be fine with listing
the steelhead room as our regular
meeting space and then adjusting if
needed um to accommodate those larger
meetings.
>> Great. Yeah,
>> thank you. Alex Rush, do you have
another comment?
>> Yeah. So, I just had one thing to add uh
to what Tom said. um Stacy because I
have a little bit of concern with moving
you know keeping the flexibility and
moving the room back and forth. I mean
once in a while it's fine but if it's
because every time you know when you're
running late for the meeting and people
might miss where to go. If it's
straightforward here it is every time
I'll just come here because I remember
last month you had a special meeting and
you sent out the email like three times
that it's not on Wednesday, it's not on
Wednesday, it's not on Thursday, it's on
Thursday and I still, you know, got on
the meeting on Wednesday and I'm like
nobody's here. So these things happen.
>> Yeah.
>> So you know it may be a little bit of
nightmare for you guys if there is a on
a regular basis back and forth. That's
once in a while it's fine once you
choose the room for as they mentioned
for public comment. If you want to come
here it's different but
>> for the more or less part it should be
one steady. I think
>> Shannon did you have a comment or is
that good addressable?
>> Well I was just wondering if there was
um flexibility since size of the room
keeps coming up. Is there flexibility
for overflow like or have you guys had
meetings there where people a lot of
people came and you they could
wait on
>> Yeah. Not that room is really
>> there are there are three rows of maybe
four chairs in the back but it's it's
tight. Yeah. You don't
>> I've been in meetings in there where
it's pretty full of people and it it is
workable. Um but it it can get full if
you have um a lot of presenters. So for
example, the student presentations
coming up um you know if they're guests
and parents and whatnot show up it could
get tight that instance.
>> Yeah,
>> I'll add a little bit if nobody else has
any comments. Um hearing what
everybody's saying, I have similar
concerns. I'm not a big fan of the
fourth Wednesday.
>> Okay,
>> I'll just put that out there right away.
for Susie's concern. So, it's going to
get difficult towards the end of the
year.
>> Um,
>> and then, uh, doing the steel head room
for all of our meetings. Yeah, I don't
think we're going to have enough room on
some of our bigger meetings. And I don't
like the idea, like Project says, of
going back and forth, back and forth,
and not having a dedicated home. What if
we use the steelhead room for our
special meetings?
>> Yeah.
>> Or as needed.
>> Yep.
>> We can try it out a little longer. That
way, we don't have to vote on anything
tonight. Yeah, we just leave it as is.
>> That sounds Yeah, I'm hearing enough
questions, some concerns. Maybe we table
this, we'll book that for special
meetings, maybe when we want to have a
little bit more dialogue, engagement,
and we can if anyone wants to bring this
back up throughout the year and look at
switching um or we can revisit next
year too.
>> I work with everybody. Okay.
You're still gonna bike a little bit
further Tom.
>> Okay, great. Well, we will move forward
with the clerks changing the election
timeline. We will hold off on changing
the meeting date or room. If anyone is
interested in bringing that back up,
please let me know. Um, and I can dig
into a couple of these questions in the
meantime so we have that information.
Okay.
I can find the right presentation.
Okay, so next topic um
work.
Okay, great. Um, next topic is, uh, Don
and Alex had just asked with the
beginning of this next year of the
environmental board, could we do a brief
recap of, uh, what the board worked on
over the last year? So, I have some very
basic slides, uh, quick run through and
overview, and I definitely invite, uh,
board members to jump in and share other
insight or thoughts that they have. um
on any of the topics that we went
through over the last year.
Jeez, it went into PowerPoint live and
we'll see things. Um all right so just
as a little background for our new
members refresher for the existing
members the way this board develops our
work plan is um board members can
propose ideas throughout the year of
topics that they want to discuss or that
they want staff to bring to them. Um,
and then a lot of the work plan
development though is staff uh bringing
the priorities of the administration and
council to the board. And so what David
and I do is pull together that draft
work plan usually November or December
of each year. We share that with the
environmental board for one or two
rounds of input. We've been doing kind
of a thumbs up approval in January. Um
and then that is that draft work plan is
submitted to the mayor and council. Um
we don't do necessarily a formal vote on
it because I consider it a working
draft. Things shift throughout the year
if um staff aren't quite ready to bring
the topics because of some delays for
particular reasons um or something new
and urgent pops up. Um it is always a
kind of a working um moving work plan.
Um I have been I forgot the last few
months but um now uh working to make
sure that work plan uh the most current
version is attached to your agenda. So
you'll see where that is um each month.
Um so over it's been a busy year. Um
over the last year we started last
spring by revisiting uh city tree code.
Uh about three years ago, this board was
very very involved in helping reshape
the city's land use code and the tree
code as part of that. Um as the city had
implemented the land use code, they
found that some parts of the tree code
just didn't work, weren't making sense,
and so they wanted to revise it. So it
really did work um on the ground. So
this board provided a lot of input to
that process. Um we've also started each
June having students come to talk about
the projects that they've been working
with us on. Um we have usually a number
of Gibson interns that are working with
us. We've had um university capstone
projects from the UDub. Uh we work with
a group called sustainability
ambassadors. So you'll have an
opportunity next month to hear from
several of those students as well.
Um David presented uh quite a bit on our
municipal projects that were underway
last year. Um
our decarbonization assessment. Um
several of the projects that were
underway such as solar that you'll hear
a little bit more about tonight. Um we
also had a bit of a deep dive into one
of our community programs that I'll also
talk about later tonight, our clean
buildings program.
The board provided input to our
buildings and infrastructure policy.
This was a 20 year old policy, 22 year
old policy
>> um that we updated and it was approved
by council in November. Uh we are now
working to implement that policy and
we'll be bringing updates um throughout
the years.
Uh and then a lot of our work last fall
and uh into 26 was uh focused on
providing input to the climate action
plan update early in the fall was really
providing feedback to staff on process
beginning to review actions. Um and then
I'll talk about in a minute what they've
worked on in 26. Um and then we also do
an annual report each year. So you all
will have an opportunity to do a survey,
self analysis survey. What was your
experience like? What do you think about
um how the board operated this year? Um
and then we pull those results into a
report that also lists out our
accomplishments to council.
Uh moving into 26, uh we have had many
meetings this year so far, uh focused on
reviewing the climate action plan
update, going section by section, um
really digging deep into targets and
actions. Uh David presented on the 2024
greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
And then over the last couple months,
we've heard from um staff on a storm
water management plan update as well as
our transportation improvement program
uh which is our list of all the
transportation pro projects that are
anticipated over the next six years.
Uh what we see upcoming over the next
few months. Uh next month we'll hear
from several
uh students on the various projects
they've been working on the last few
years. Later this summer we'll get into
some of the waste programming and
policies that our solid waste analyst is
working on. Uh we'll be meeting with our
urban forester uh to get an update on
implementation of the urban forest
management plan. Uh each year we look at
the city's natural systems checklist. Um
this is looking at how city code is
doing at protecting the environment.
Um and then we'll be starting to
implement the the hopefully adopted
climate action plan and be sharing with
you our progress on uh actions within
the plan.
>> Questions as you go.
>> That's the end of the slide. So I invite
other board members to share other
things that you remember from this last
year and then happy to take any
questions too.
>> Let's grab Shre's comment first.
>> Oh my question was um so when these
meetings come up the waste management or
urban forest management plan
implementation
of course we'll have a chance to review
it before the thing comes up before the
presentation happens. But what do they
look for? I mean, would we have a chance
to discuss before the meeting meeting
actually happens?
>> Oh, um, do we have a chance to discuss
before the meeting? Not typically. Um,
there's always the opportunity board
members can reach out to staff with
questions that they have to try and get
clarity before the meeting, but really
the meeting is the opportunity to have
that discussion, provide feedback. We
try to work with staff to have very
specific questions they're asking the
board and typically it's policy related
for this board. Um sometimes staff are
just bringformational.
So most of what David and I are
presenting next isformational tonight.
Um but often there's discussion
questions. So
>> Got it.
>> Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah.
>> Makes sense. Yeah.
>> See it goes. Thank you.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And there's always the
opportunity to ask for one-on-one
meetings or a smaller group meeting. We
did that recently um with one of the the
city codes and some couple board members
that were particularly interested. So,
>> yeah, the staff are very responsive,
Vanessa. Um but I would ask that you go
through Stacy if you want to reach out
to any of the staff just so she's aware
of it.
But yeah, I've reached out to several of
them over the years and they're more
than happy to meet with you and talk
about details
on the systems checklist. Stacy,
>> yes,
>> for the last couple of years, we'd asked
for specific examples.
>> See if Minnie can bring
>> specific projects.
>> Yes,
>> that one's been a work in process
progress since I started, I think, on
what exactly we're trying to get at. So,
yep.
any um reflections from other board
members on topics we worked on this year
or other questions folks have
>> so I don't know if we had any field
trips
>> oh yes we did a field trip last summer
yeah
>> oh yeah
>> um I have been talking with Dan about
doing one in July up to um at Tiger
Mountain to talk about the uh forest
management agement plan and maybe touch
a little bit on wildfire preparedness up
there. Um so we're trying to do a little
more field trips or provide
opportunities for board members to get
>> I think we did one more um David was
there
>> yeah flex
>> I I don't remember the name
>> the is creek restoration
>> project so that we did and I think in
summer we did
>> also we have in past couple of years we
have also offered the recology tours
which I've taken at one time um and I
just wanted to had um means it the IAP
implementation just is shown as one
bullet but it took hours and hours and
number of special meetings and all kinds
of things. So that has been the
highlight for 2025 I would say for the
environmental board
and uh there are a lot of small pieces
which go in ICAP like the sustain they
had the climate resilience plan or
emergency prepared plan and there was a
lot of stuff which the city did in
conjunction which we heard about in the
environmental board meetings. um they
had a lot of um um education and
community outreach events where they
actually train people for the emergency
preparedness. So um a lot of it was in
ICAP what comes under the ICAP umbrella
but there were lot of different pieces
which went into it and which we
discussed last year.
>> Yeah.
I just want to mention the field trip
aspect.
>> Sorry, I blurred it out.
>> At the same time,
>> not a problem.
>> Any questions?
>> I don't know if you can. Do you want to
test it out?
>> I cannot.
>> Okay,
>> never mind.
>> We'll figure that out. Okay.
And if any of the newer members, if you
guys do have questions about anything
we've discussed in the past, if it
starts to come up, feel free to reach
out um to any of us and and just ask,
"Hey, can I get a a heads up on this?"
You know, give me a little bit of
background. We're happy to help out.
>> All right. So, I'm going to do a a
hopefully pretty brief presentation on
climate action in city operations. Um
just as a a quick introduction for new
members especially uh my name is David
Rei. I'm the sustainability coordinator
with the city. Been here about three and
a half years uh now. Um and uh I manage
a lot of the programs, projects, efforts
uh related to city operations and and
climate action um directly with um many
of the other departments of the city. So
I work very closely with our facilities
team, our fleet team, our emergency
manager uh and others to um think about
how we can try and infuse projects
across the city with uh a climate lens.
Um
I have my background in environmental
policy uh through my graduate degree.
I've worked in environmental education,
land conservation, solar, uh, sol
statewide solar programs, um,
transportation justice, couple other
areas. So, um, I'm quite a generalist
and I think as you'll see today, I work
on a pretty general wide ranging uh, set
of projects as well.
So,
so the goal of uh the presentation today
is to highlight um what we've been doing
uh around municipal climate actions for
new uh and returning uh board members.
I've talked about many of these things
in passing before um but I believe this
will be my first presentation where I'm
trying to kind of highlight it all
together. So, um, especially as we're
thinking about the updated IAP that's,
uh, hopefully going to get adopted this
summer, um, this presentation is really,
uh, meant to to show where we are, where
we are when it when it comes to leading
by example in climate action at the
city. Um, and, uh, and kind of where
we're going to go uh, in the next couple
years. Some specific questions just um,
for interest. we have uh done our best
to try and communicate a little bit uh
to the public around what we're doing
with uh municipal climate actions to uh
probably varied success. And so, uh, I
think just in in our, uh, evergoing, uh,
goals of improving how we're
communicating and thinking about, uh,
priorities in climate action
communication, um, throughout this
presentation, um, and at the end, we'd
love to hear any thoughts on how we can
improve or or, um, continue to to, um,
prioritize climate communication
specifically related to municipal
climate actions.
So, uh, board members who have been on
the board for a little while have
probably seen this graph before. For for
those new, this is our, uh, municipal
operations greenhouse gas inventory from
2024. There's about a year and a half
lag, uh, between when we get our, uh,
inventories completed. Um,
this uh, inventory is the second
municipal greenhouse gas inventory we've
completed. Our first one was in 2022.
And what I'm highlighting here really is
that uh buildings which are kind of the
yellow emissions uh and transportation
which does encompass the purple as well
as the blue are our largest sources of
greenhouse gas emissions. And so uh at
city operations and so um that is really
where we've been focusing um our efforts
in terms of trying to um decarbonize our
city facilities, our fleet, things like
that. And and I'll dig into that a
little bit more. Um, there's a lot of
data that goes into this, which
buildings we have that are on natural
gas, which are not, right? Our pool is
one of our largest natural gas users in
the city, our on-road fleet. Um, uh, we
have about 150 to 170 vehicles in our
fleet. Um and uh you know a lot of those
emissions are coming from those vehicles
that are driving longer distances uh
versus the ones that are kind of just
boopping around town very for very small
uh amounts of miles each year. So um
there's definitely a lot of nuance in
this. And then I'll also mention right
employee commute is 26% of our uh
municipal operations greenhouse gas
emissions. And so that's um an added one
um that I'll touch on in this, but that
is particularly difficult to uh address
since most of these emissions are things
that the city controls. Employee commute
is one uh we have a little less control
over since our employees get to the city
um on their own. So, we're going to go
into some depth now in a minute on uh
some specific projects, but um I wanted
to mention kind of why we're focusing on
municipal operation uh uh climate
action. And so, the first bit is in the
climate action plan and in the
comprehensive plan. Um it's stated that
the city needs to lead by example when
it comes to climate action. We don't
want to be telling our community to take
climate action, install heat pumps, do
this work without necessarily showing
that we as the city are uh are also
committed to making those same efforts.
Additionally, some projects can be good
long-term financial investments. So we
are trying to find projects that save
energy um that generate uh electricity
um that you know transitioning some
vehicles to electric uh that have uh
those long-term financial benefits over
the years. They can provide those
savings for us over maybe a traditional
or a like forlike replacement. Um the
city is a long-term entity. We're not
going anywhere. And so one of the
benefits there is that we can think long
term about those financial investments
and say okay even if it we're not going
to see the financial return in two years
that's okay if we'll see it um over over
many years. Additionally projects can
have additional staff and community
benefits. So one of the ones I'll share
uh in the future uh uh later in this
slide is um related to battery
landscaping equipment. Right. Um some of
our uh efforts throughout the city uh
can just improve um the air quality for
staff in buildings. They can improve uh
reduce noise in vehicles or when using
landscaping equipment which can make our
staff uh staff's job that much better.
And additionally, there's community
benefits by reducing pollution in our
community uh by taking uh gas powered
cars off the road, things like that. And
then the final piece I'll mention,
right, is many projects are sustainable
versions of projects we were going to do
anyways, right? So, uh, some of what
I'll talk about are, for instance,
updating our HVAC systems that are at
the end of life and need to happen
anyways. And so by Stacy and myself
getting involved, we get to say, "Let's
choose the climate friendly version
instead of um uh maybe replacing it with
another natural gas HVAC system." And we
like to try and bring money to the table
through grants and other programs. And
I'll talk about that in a little bit as
well to make these possible.
So digging in a little bit to uh project
highlights on buildings. Stacy, I don't
know if we can watch these videos.
Um,
okay.
>> They're in the packet.
>> They're in the packet. I encourage you
to take a look because they are
representative of some of what we've
tried to do related to communication.
This one in particular is a short video
our uh city put out on um the pool
covers. So, showing our pool covers
getting deployed for some of the first
times across our pool.
But over the last couple years, we spent
a lot of time planning some of these
energy efficiency projects, some of
these decarbonization projects,
renewable energy projects, and now we've
been, uh, really trying to implement
them across the city. And so, um, we
just completed our Pickering Barn solar
project, which we've talked about, and
some folks were at the ribbon cutting
for that. Um and then we're still in the
midst of a project installing uh solar
and battery storage at the Isiqua Senior
Center. And that because this battery
storage is a very large complex project.
Um but these projects in combination
will uh increase the amount of solar
generation on city properties five
times. Um before we only had one city
facility that had solar which was fire
station 72 installed in 2011.
Uh we also have a couple solar uh
projects in the transmission line, some
initial designs, structural analyses,
things like that. So that we're always
looking for that extra bit of funding
and and next step where we can move
forward. We also have a number of
different projects to reduce natural gas
use at city facilities. This is a big
one. As you saw, it was one of the
biggest sources of emissions at the
city. So the pool covers is a great
example of that. Um it's hard to make
them look as cool as they are. Um but
they are basically blankets that go over
the pool every night. Um and they
prevent uh heat from escaping from the
pool. And so by keeping that heat in the
pool, you don't have to run your your uh
heaters as long. You're reducing any uh
chemicals getting um evaporated out,
reducing water evaporation. Um and so it
just improves the efficiency of the
pool. And as we've talked about before,
pool electrification, which would be the
best way to get rid of natural gas at
the pool, is very costly and very
difficult. And so this is a great
interim step as we're thinking about the
uh pool full decarbonization over the
long term. We also have some insulation
projects, weatherization projects, and
then a number of heat pump projects. And
I wanted to mention uh for Tom one even
that we're applying for at the Isiqua
Depot um applying for grants there to
try and uh help preserve history in a
way that also supports decarbonization.
So all of those projects in com
combination are expected to reduce our
natural gas use between 20 to 25%. Um
which is uh very exciting. We are also
working with our facilities team to
improve their training so that they can
take a more active role and uh think
critically about how we can save energy
throughout city facilities.
All of this being said, we have a number
of challenges remaining. So we have some
very expensive projects on the horizon,
expensive and complex projects like full
decarbonization. Um we have a number of
natural gas uh HVAC systems at our
public works campus that will be very
expensive to replace uh when it is time
to do that. We've uh been dealing with
some tight time frames. So we've been
seeking funding um and trying to
implement projects uh that have
timelines associated with them. And so
we're doing our best to navigate these
complex changes that uh we're getting
better at, but that are uh a bit of a
departure from how we normally operate.
And so that has uh been a bit of a
challenge. We also have a really busy
facilities team and especially looking
forward, you might have seen we have a
new city hall in consideration. Um and
so our facilities team is pulled in a
lot of different directions. Um, and so
I do my best to work with them and
support them and and work with them and
and we have really wonderful part
partners on that facilities team, but
especially looking forward there's a lot
of facilities needs and so we uh work
really hard to advocate for these
sustainability projects where we can.
Next slide.
Fleet equipment. So the other big piece
here is our electric fleet or our our
city fleet. Um, over the last couple of
years, we've installed 17 uh uh EV
chargers uh last year. Um,
yes, 17 EV charges. I was counting my
head. Um, and then we've been doing
landscape equipment. So, that video was
a um a goofy video that's uh showing
kind of the difference between the gas
powered landscaping equipment versus the
quiet landscaping equipment. and our
parks team kind of had fun demonstrating
what that looks like in a video form.
Um, we've had uh eight new electric v uh
vehicles added to our fleet and we have
a couple of additional ones coming up.
Um, and then I'll also say we're looking
forward to um continuing to expand that.
I was on a call with our fleet manager
today and we're in the process of
identifying those next level of uh
vehicles that we're we're working to
electrify. We um are working also to um
kind of continue to to knock on the
challenge of police electrification. Um
that's one of those more challenging uh
fleet electrification questions um along
with medium and heavy duty vehicles.
those snow plows are uh difficult to
electrify and we want to make sure that
um as we're undertaking these types of
projects that we have the
infrastructure, the planning um and the
support necessary so that we uh can
continue to provide uh the services to
the city necessary even with this
transition. Some challenges on this
front um are charger management, right?
charge electric vehicle chargers are um
they've been around for a long time, but
it's a rapidly changing market of
electric vehicle chargers and electric
vehicles. And so managing chargers that
might not be working as well as they
should has taken up a fair amount of my
time and we're still working through
those growing pains of adding new
chargers to the city and trying to
troubleshoot problems when they've
arisen. Similarly, the EV market has
changed. So some of the best EVs that we
were very excited about purchasing that
we have purchased uh like the Ford
Lightning are no longer on the market
and so we are trying to scramble and say
okay what is the other option that we
can look at here instead.
Um,
and then I'll also say, right, one of
our other continued challenges is is
continuing to work with change
management of our staff who aren't used
to electric vehicles and making sure
that they feel comfortable, supported,
and and recognize that they can continue
to do their job in electric vehicles and
then making sure we're getting the right
ones for them. Take a quick pause here
for a quick question from PJ.
>> Yeah. So, I have one question related to
the EV.
>> Yeah. um text. So I did not know that EV
charges is such a big problem. So how
often like you know how how often or how
frequently do you have to replace or
repair you know the standard EV charges.
I'm not talking about the superchargers
or something, right?
>> I'm I'm guessing you're talking about
the regular chargers.
>> Yeah. So, these are city-owned chargers,
which are um if you're familiar with EV
chargers, they come in kind of level
one, which is just your regular outlet,
level two, which is slowish charging,
but can charge your vehicle overnight.
They are those right there on the
screen, and then kind of the fast
chargers that charge your car in like 20
minutes. We don't have any of those fast
chargers right now. We've been relying
on the level two chargers, which works
for our vehicle fleet at the time.
Um, we have not had to replace any
chargers that are damaged or not
working. Instead, the main issue has
been, you know, charger network
failures. So, they're, you know,
something is wrong with our software
that that's helping run these chargers
or uh the charger something is going on
inside uh the software or hardware of
the charger itself that is causing um it
to charge slower than it should. Um, and
so it's we have not had to replace any
yet. Um, fingers crossed we don't have
to replace any of the ones that we just
installed. Um, but it has been more of
um, continuing to try and communicate
with all of the service organizations
that are intended to help us manage
these chargers. And I'll kind of liken
it with, you know, when you're reaching
out to your internet company or
something and you're trying to get
somebody on the phone and it's just not
quite as easy as you might wish it was
to kind of troubleshoot and fix some of
these problems.
>> Um, thank you for that, David. And I
have a few other questions, but I can
wait till the presentation is over.
They're general questions.
>> Perfect. Tom, do you have Eevee
question?
>> Uh, yeah. Well, I just wanted to comment
that so I recently replaced my level two
charger. It was a perfectly good
charger, but I wanted to participate
with the PSC Flex CV program and my
charger was not compatible in the
program and they have, you know, a
rebate, $300 rebate on on a new one that
is compatible. probably you don't
qualify as a city entity, but any maybe
there is some deal and maybe maybe
they're on maybe they have vetted these
well enough that they're you know a good
choice anyway. But anyway, that was just
a thought. You should look into what PSC
is recommending for their flex program
and uh maybe that aligns with your
needs.
>> Absolutely. I'll take a closer look at
the Flex EV program in particular. Um
PSSE has been an active participant in
helping us electrify. We've um gotten a
lot of funds from them. We intend to get
more funds from them. Um and uh uh they
have been a a good partner in supporting
that.
>> Well, just in terms of the philosophy of
the Flex EV, it would be well for the
city to be on that program as well,
regardless of whether they subsidize.
>> Absolutely. the Chargers. It I like the
idea of it anyway. That's why I took
action on it. Uh but there haven't been
any Flex EV events since I went online
with this. So I I I haven't seen the
whole process, but um I it sounds like a
good idea.
>> Excellent.
All right. Next slide.
>> All right. So beyond specific projects,
we've also been active in the policy
space. So, we have a staff EV charging
policy. Staff can charge at our EV
chargers so long as there's not a fleet
vehicle there. Um, we have passed a
sustainable purchasing policy that we've
been working to implement. We've updated
some municipal waste policies related to
uh making sure there's composting and
waste audits and things like that at
city facilities. And then also what was
mentioned earlier as I presented last
year on our updated sustainable building
and infrastructure policy um which got
passed last November and Stacy and I are
working to implement that right now. And
so we are we have uh tenatively uh
identified some projects with our public
works team that will be triing the
envision framework which is shown on the
right hand side of the screen. Um, and
it's, you know, if you're familiar with
LEA, it's a a framework that allows you
to get points for projects based on the
sustainable sustainability principles of
those projects. We are not seeking
certification on these projects at this
point, but really assessing our projects
against the framework to understand how
how would we do if we were to use it.
Um, what are the areas that we can try
and push further on some of these
infrastructure projects? And part of the
idea here is really thinking beyond the
building, beyond um the vehicles
themselves. How do we think about
sustainability when it comes to uh
complex infrastructure projects um uh
that uh are not quite that might not be
as straightforward on on kind of the the
the big changes we might want to make.
So, um, we're excited to dig into that
and hoping to get, um, some lessons
learned over the LA next couple of years
on on triing that process out. And so, I
anticipate you'll get a presentation
from me on that in the future. Next
slide.
All right. Project funding um, to
support these programs. I counted up
we've gotten around two almost $3
million to help support these programs.
um everything from the micro grid
project uh to heat pumps at the
community center to um PSSE incentives
to help us put in uh insulation etc. the
external funds covered up to 100% of
total project costs such as in the case
of the micro grid senior center um and
as low as I think 8% on some energy
efficiency projects right and I think
what's again important to note here is
that uh many of these projects are
projects that needed to happen anyways
and so by working with the
sustainability team working with uh the
facilities team we've been really active
trying to leverage those external funds
so that it becomes an easy choice for
the city to take the sustainability
route instead of the um you know like
for like natural gas boiler or something
else. And so um we've been really active
on this front. Um we've had a lot of
help from the climate commitment act uh
through this from Puget Sound Energy and
we're uh still actively looking. I will
be submitting another couple grants in
the next few weeks. So uh definitely
active there as well.
Yeah, I'm curious about um kind of the
the overall budget for um the
sustainability and environmental
programs that you've been discussing and
and working on um and how this 3 million
fits into that. Um I'm curious whether
um you know for uh decarbonization
projects like replacing HVAC systems at
end of life um whether that is coming
from uh what would be earmarked for
sustainability or for uh you know
typical facilities budget.
>> Excellent. I I might have Stacy talk
about the full budget uh sustainability
budget question, but um for many of the
facilities projects, so things like um
uh an upcoming project where we'll be
putting heat pumps into the community
center, the costs for that project
beyond the grants that we've been able
to secure comes from our facilities
fund. So there is and then you know for
example the um uh this includes some
money we got for supporting our
transition to electric vehicles from the
elective pay tax credits before those
expired. Um the the uh balance of funds
beyond the elective pay tax credits we
got came from the departments and the
fleet replacement fund for those
projects. Right. So there's kind of a
mix. There are some others like the
solar project at Pickering Barn where
sustainability put some of our own funds
into that. Um and so this the the
projects that this almost 3 million
supports supports um uh augments our
budget that we're putting into projects
as well as broader city budget as well.
Stacey, you want to highlight kind of
the full budget?
>> Yeah, I can touch on the budget briefly.
We'll probably dig into budget in June
or July as the city embarks on its
budget process. So, um, as of now,
sustainability's been really fortunate.
We have a dedicated funding source. It
comes from our waste hauler. Um, it's
called an administrative fee. It's
basically, um, a small fee that
residents or, um, not only residents,
but businesses play pay on their ecology
bill. Um, that goes into a fund. It's
varied from about 600 to 900,000 per
year that it generates. It's a flexible
percentage um for the administrative fee
that council can change over time and we
share that those funds with our solid
waste program. Um we've also used it to
fund like additional communication
staff. Um we generally use it for more
program type work. Um but we have tried
to budget for some capital projects the
last couple years. So like the Pickering
Barn, we paid pretty much exclusively
out of our budget with a few um we had a
small award and a few other things, but
um we have been trying to put in kind of
one or two capital budgets, some of the
EV charging going in um to that budget,
but typically it's covered more kind of
the programmatic type projects. So
that's where we are now.
>> Yeah.
>> Can I ask one quick question on the
funding here? So I had a question on
that too. I mean this this number looks
good but so how has it been in 2025? I
was just wondering if this is something
which was you know which the grants and
stuff you got before or has it been
steady source of grants for you or have
you had difficulty recently?
>> Yes.
>> Some of the policy changes at the
federal level and stuff too. It's a good
question and and I'll clarify this is
only for municipal projects Stacy and in
your presentation we'll talk about
grants also for community projects. Um
we I would say we have not seen a
slowdown in
uh external funding to support municipal
projects as of right now. Um we have not
really tried uh super hard to get
external funding from the federal
government. It's been mostly state state
and and utility funds from uh the
climate commitment act which is still in
operation and so um as of right now we
have not seen large slowdowns. you know,
I think we are um prepared and and you
know, eager to take advantage of funds
while it does exist, recognizing that
there are existing and and potentially
future budget challenges that the state
will face and that you know um different
entities will face. And so we are trying
to take advantage of these funds as
whenever we can as soon as we can
recognizing they have the potential to
go away or reduce in the future.
>> So seems like you do have funds for at
least the immediate future to continue
with the projects, right? That was
>> our current projects we have funding for
and we are
>> because especially for solar solar
panels and stuff these are long-term
projects, right? So I means you need to
have funds to at least till the break
even point to continue the project.
Right. So
>> one you know for example on solar the
federal elective tech tax pay credits
that the cities can get um that one
actually expires later than the EV1
does. And so this uh we can still get
30% of solar projects covered uh through
July next year through June next year.
um battery projects, we can actually
keep getting a percent of that covered
up through 2032 still. Um and so there
are um still some of those existing ones
moving forward. Um solar projects, it's
a little bit, you know, we'll see how uh
what other external funds we can find um
once the elective pay tax credit goes
away, but um we're still optimistic on
on a couple options.
>> That's good to know. And yeah, I was
just going to mention the Climate
Commitment Act was designed to bring in
less money and provide more grants over
time as emissions reduction go down. Um,
and so we definitely, as Dave mentioned,
anticipate seeing less and less grant
opportunities over time. We have an
action in the 2026 IAP update for
looking at a more sustainable funding
source. So a lot of cities have been
doing in-depth studies of what are their
options. So we very much anticipate over
the next two years having those
conversations with you allunities.
>> Thank you Tommy.
>> Yeah. Um I do apologize if it was
already mentioned, but um what can you
provide some examples of uh projects
that CCA dollars have helped fund and
sort of on top of that um has it been a
pretty good experience uh for the city
uh getting projects um you know to
qualify for CCA dollars? What's that
been like?
>> Yeah, that's a great question. So um we
have Sorry,
>> so many projects. We have a lot of
projects that have gotten CCA funds. And
so, uh, you know, an example is we've
had we've used CCA funds for a lot of
the design and planning around some of
these projects. So, even though we might
know a project needs to happen, we need
to get the feasibility study and the,
you know, the permitting and the 100%
design and everything else so it can get
through permitting. Um, and CCA has
helped support, uh, the Pickering Barn.
solar feasibility study, the uh senior
center solar and micro grid feasibility
study. It's supported
um couple the fuel transition
assessment. Um
>> heat pump, our heat pump program. I'll
talk about we have three grants with
PSSE right now that are all CCA dollars.
We have um we have our grants and awards
list, so we're happy to share that out.
Um yeah, we pretty much have tried to
pursue almost every CCA related grant um
if we're at least somewhat eligible.
>> I also we would not have been able to
make the uh projects that we have done
happen without CCA funding uh generally
so or at least the same amount of
projects
>> and in ter I think you asked Tommy too a
little bit about the experience. It's
really varied by the grant. I think for
some of them um some grants department
of commerce have tried to make it very
streamlined where they have almost an
allocation to cities or jurisdictions.
So application is very streamlined. The
reporting is very streamlined.
A lot of the projects David has pursued
like the the micro grid it's very um
in-depth applications reporting process.
So it's really dependent on the
particular program grant program um how
much of a capacity lift and kind of the
experience of managing that grant and
being an applicant
for my
>> I will say generally much better than
federal grants though. So you know no
matter what uh they're not federal
grants that's good in terms of ease on
our staff time.
>> Questions?
>> Yeah. Um thank you. Um question is um we
can take it off different time if
there's not as in the context I know the
context here is all on municipal
projects right yeah my question was more
around community projects right
non-munipal community projects I'm
assuming those are larger in scope and
bigger perhaps my question is uh twofold
basically um one is I don't think I I
assume it's a public works and the fleet
and the different department they take
more ownership of it and in the planning
and execution ution of it. Right?
question is um how much of a say do you
do we have for a sustainability team
into their planning into their um
setting the parameters around um what to
buy and how to buy how to execute um
especially from the point of view of
emissions reductions resiliency and
that's what your focus would be and and
and last related thing is what are the
typical challenges that you've seen
again we can take it off in different
time since it's not municipal projects
but I'm curious Yeah. So, what I'll say
is on communitywide projects, Stacy will
talk about that has a a separate
presentation kind of in a minute. And
and I will say a lot of those projects,
right, recognizing our community
emissions are the largest source of our
emissions, right? That's where um we
have a lot of funding going, right, is
for those communitywide programs. A lot
of these municipal programs are are
helpful for us partially because we have
control over what's going to happen when
a system needs to be replaced or
something like that.
on how we how the board can kind of uh
uh have a say and an impact on kind of
what these different departments are
doing. Um I would say a lot of that
comes through the advocacy in the
climate action plan and the climate
action plan update as well as the
policies that we've brought. So for
instance um when the uh sustainable
purchasing policy, sustainable building
and infrastructure policy have come to
the board as well as the IAP itself have
come to the board um incorporating
strong language related to
sustainability and climate action into
those policy level pieces. then assuming
passed by council, then go down and help
direct what public works and parks and
facilities are going to end up doing
with their dollars. And then you know on
the side uh Stacy and I have worked very
hard to kind of build those
relationships with those departments so
that if they have any question or any
opportunity they come to us if not first
at least second or third so we can kind
of come up with uh solutions that that
do kind of check those sustainability
boxes. Um and then what was the second
question? basically the kind of
challenges you've had push and uh I know
it's very situation contextual depends
on the project but
>> uh yes all sorts of different challenges
from design challenges to you know
structural issues of buildings to um I
think some of the big ones are balancing
uh all of the different trade-offs and
priorities that go into any given
project right some projects need to
happen past. Some projects uh don't have
the budget uh for kind of the ideal
sustainability option we want to go
down. Um sometimes uh projects
uh we just we need to put funds and and
staff time and effort in other
directions, right? And so, uh, we are an
active city with a lot of really
wonderful folks on our staff and, uh,
those many folks across the city are
are, um, uh, working hard and and don't
have a whole lot of extra capacity. And
so, uh, I think those have been some of
the challenges that we've been working
hard to address and and sometimes
successfully sometimes uh less
successfully, but is is overcoming, uh,
capacity challenges, funding issues,
things like that to make sure that these
projects actually happen. And I will say
like some of these projects uh we might
go into them thinking they're going to
be nice and simple and instead it takes
a good portion of my time plus our
facilities time plus our fleet manager's
time etc. And so um those capacity and
funding issues are real uh real
challenges there.
>> Anything else you want?
>> No.
>> Good stuff.
>> Thank you.
>> Awesome. And I think I'm near the end
but just what comes next finishing
projects underway. We don't want to
leave anything kind of hanging. So,
we're going to make sure we finish our
current projects. We're trying to
maintain our existing decarbonization
projects. That's talking about some of
our easy chargers and things like that.
We don't want to make a or our solar
system. We don't want to put it up and
then just say wipe our hands of it and
don't check on it in for five years,
right? So, we want to maintain what
we're doing. Um, we are going to be
looking at uh our third round of EV
purchases and EV charging expansion. Um,
we have our first round. We have
chargers ready to go. Um but uh we want
to make sure that we are as positioned
as poss well positioned as possible for
the EV transition. Um and then I will
also say some major building retrofit
planning. So thinking about our new city
hall, thinking about transitioning our
existing city hall and police department
to a full police department. There's
going to be work at those facilities for
those uh efforts. And so thinking about
how can we do that uh sustainability and
incorporate sustainability and
principles into those projects where we
can. So those are some of the next
pieces.
Finally, feedback and question from the
board. These are just some of what I
posed at the beginning. Um if you have
any questions generally about what I've
talked about, I'm happy to answer them.
If you're really excited to dive into
data or or projects specifically with
me, send me an email. I'm happy to also
do that as well. always happy to meet
folks um and chat about this, but we are
also interested in hearing about how we
can better talk about um our municipal
projects. They're these things that take
a lot of my time, a lot of our city
time. Um and they're kind of it's it's a
little difficult to talk about an
insulation project or a pool cover
project. And so any suggestions, ideas
are are really valued so we can think
about how to lead by example and and
communicate that as well. So thank you.
>> Thanks David Raj. I think you're up
first.
>> Yeah. Uh so David I have two questions.
So the first one is um you said there
were 26% emissions by employee commute
right in your greenhouse gas accounting
and that seems to be a huge amount
uncontrolled by the city per se. Um I
was just curious to see how that
compares with the neighboring cities
because if you have looked at that
because I know you do look at what
typically Belleview, Redmond or you know
no Kwami or other cities do and I was
just curious how does it compare?
>> A great question. It's been a little
while since I've specifically looked at
those numbers at other cities. Um I know
so the nearby enter uh east side cities
that we've compared to um the ones that
have
better public transit access generally
have a smaller employee commute
greenhouse gas emissions percentage. So,
you know, think about Belleview, right?
A lot of or at least many staff are
having an easier time at least biking in
or taking public transit in, especially
with the two-line extension. Um, that
includes Redmond now. Uh, now that
that's uh that project has passed,
Mercer Island, right? Um we I think
we've seen more similar employee commute
numbers to cities that are kind of a
little bit further uh removed from
Seattle and and might have a little bit
um less full um transportation and and
bike networks connecting to where people
live. So
>> um and the other question I had was um
how many years is typically a break even
period for solar projects because you
know when does the actual capital
investment you know
>> meets the efficiency for the benefits or
the savings you will have right per se
energy savings is it typically set I I
was curious how much is it municipal So
>> or the city projects because
>> that will drive because the capital
investments will be big that will drive
the funding or the efficiency or the
operation of the project I would say.
>> So uh it varies depending on the
project. So for the Pickering Barn
project I think we're expecting uh
payback in I think it was like 12 to 14
years. Um and those solar panels are set
to operate for 25 plus years hopefully.
Um the senior center project is fully
grant funded. So that's payback day one.
As soon as it's turned on, we start
making money off of it compared to where
we were before. Um future projects, it's
going to depend a little bit on which
grant funds and which additional funds
we can secure for it. Um if we cannot
find any additional funds, then it
becomes a little more challenging to get
kind of a lower payback number.
>> Yeah. So the point I was getting at was
and I'm I'm guessing probably you guys
have some analysis in place to see what
is the break even period for each
project and if you have funding enough
funding to you know at least continue
till that time or forward right to
really get the benefit out of it.
>> Absolutely.
>> Okay thank you
>> Tom.
Uh yeah, my comment is on the
communication question, the what method
should be used for communicating to the
public about uh your work and all that.
Are you familiar with uh the Redmond
sustainability
newsletter?
It's it's pretty spiffy. It's pretty
nice. Um so for example uh so a
Pickering barn project um so a verb
about that was set out in the Isiqua
Insider as a a means of communicating to
the public. Um, we don't have something
comparable that as far as I'm aware
comparable to the Redmond newsletter.
But who all gets that Redmond
newsletter? Which is the more effective
way of communicating? I don't know the
answer to that. I'm kind of would be
worried that the spiffy thing was well
only certain people are going to sign up
for that. The the quiet the people who
already are on board are going to sign
up for that. And if and perhaps it is
more effective to communicate to a
broader uh segment of the
citizenry if you just weave it in with
the other news coming out. I don't know
the answer but that would be a good
study for your your interns
with that question.
>> Fair enough. you could do some
experiments and and well anyway um I'm
just offering that uh I I like their
uh their messaging. Whether it's more
effective than the messaging you're
doing now, I do not know.
>> Okay. But maybe maybe there's been some
research in that uh as to what what are
the most effective ways to communicate
with um citizens on things like this,
but I don't know the answer to that.
>> Thank you. It is something we've
discussed before.
>> Great Gibson Act project for next year.
Yeah, we've struggled with that a lot
and played around with the idea of a
newsletter.
>> Is it getting a newspaper too?
>> Yes. Yeah,
>> that's option.
>> Yeah.
>> All right. Thanks, Tom. Jan,
>> I just had sort of a basics question. I
realized that I'm not familiar with um
what is owns in terms of the number of
buildings or the space. Is that
>> question?
>> Yeah. on website or the fleet or all the
different departments like is there a
big org chart for the city? I don't know
what the scope is.
>> Uh it's a great question. Um I do not
believe we have a publicly available or
chart.
>> We could put it in the resource guide
which I'll mention maybe a quick for the
board resource guide.
>> Yes, we can do that. It as a brief
answer to the to that idea and question.
We have about 280 employees, okay,
>> give or take there. Um, we have
20ish buildings.
Um, I have not counted specifically
recently, but part of the problem here
is that we own a lot of small buildings
and we lease a couple of these out. So,
um, in front of the community center
there's like a couple little houses. We
own those and we have a couple staff
members working out of those. Generally,
when we're talking about our climate
emissions and things like that,
greenhouse gas emissions, climate
impact, there's a handful of larger
buildings that we pay more attention to
since they have a bigger impact.
Community center, public works, the
pool, and city hall. Those are kind of
the four big ones. And then soon to be
the next big one will be our new city
hall. when we purchase that that will
become our third largest building. Um
our fleet uh I do not believe that uh is
is publicly available anywhere but we
have around 150 to 170 vehicles. Um they
are spread out across the city which has
posed a problem a challenge with uh
electrification because there's not one
central location where they all sit. We
have building inspectors here. We have a
lot of our public works staff and uh
equipment over at our public works
campus. Police vehicles are downtown. We
have our facilities and parks shop in
downtown Isiqua kind of tucked away and
that's where a lot of the parks
maintenance vehicles are at. Um so we
have our vehicles really widely spread
which is an extra challenge there. Um
but our vehicles travel about 3,000
miles every year. It's the average since
it's a small city. Uh they go up to
about 12,000 miles uh for for the
farther traveling ones. But
>> yeah, thanks rough details.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> Um my comment was going to be on um the
communication piece. um without knowing
like the the means of communication that
you already uh reference and and use. Um
like I tend to think about it through
where do people uh spend time physically
and where they spend time virtually. Um
physically I think um you know if you
don't already have placards um or
signage um it would be great to add a
did you know sign at the pool um and a
like look up and details on on solar at
Pickering Barn. Um and then um virtually
um I think there's also an opportunity
to use um you know when local elected
officials are sending out flyers um is
there an opportunity to partner with
them add a blurb in that um so that
you're already taking advantage of
communication that's going out. Um, and
then I think, um, with regard to, uh,
kind of emails, um, there's the city
emails of course, um, but then there's
also like third party, um, east side
events emails. Um, and if there's a
press release, that'd be a great place
to publicize that. Um, and then, uh, you
know, making a post on the Isiqua Reddit
or Next Door is another way to to get
the word out to folks as well. Um I
think it's also helpful to communicate
uh not only with the lens of
sustainability um but talking about the
other benefits in terms of cost
efficiency
um applicability to your own residence
um so that we're not only speaking to
the choir and folks who are interested
in sustainability.
>> Great.
>> Excellent. Thank you for that. Thank you
Susie.
Um, my comment was also on the
communication. Um, I definitely agree
with what she was saying there about
maybe like Reddit. I think a priority
should definitely be having easy access
if we don't want just people who are
already aware of these projects to be
involved and we want to spread the
information. And I think in terms of
making youth aware specifically with
projects like the pool project, I would
say the majority of people who go to the
pool are like swimming teams, high
schoolers, teenagers. Um, I think every
high school has like newsletters or
weekly showings that they show to
classes. And I think schools will be
happy to share information on these
projects, especially since a lot of high
schools have environmental clubs that
would love to advocate for what this
team is doing, what the sustainability
team is doing. And then, I'm not sure
how many of you are aware, I come from
the Highlands. We have like a Highlands
newsletter
>> um, I think every month or every season.
I think something similar to that or
even having it included in the Highlands
newsletter if possible would be a good
way to like access the community and
have a um better reach. I think a lot of
people go to those kinds of newsletters
or like the Highlands newsletter to
understand what's going on in the
community, stay updated. So again, like
what was being talked about with the
newsletter would be a great way to keep
people updated.
>> Great. Awesome.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay. Well, thank you all. I appreciate
it. Uh that was I think one of my first
presentations with all of it encompassed
in one. So hopefully it wasn't too
overwhelming.
>> Yeah, great great questions and great
input. Um we are at 8 o'clock so I will
um
good discussion though. So, I am going
to go pretty quickly through some of our
community projects. Um,
and then I can absolutely bring back any
of these for a deeper dive.
Okay.
Um, so I was just going to talk through
some of our current programs that we run
for the community and then what might be
coming up. Of course, a lot of that may
be decided as we um have the new climate
action plan adopted um and some new
programs that may come from that.
Uh just as an overview of how we
approach our community programming,
um we look to the climate action plan.
Um we've really followed that path that
was laid out in 2021 based on the
actions, policies or projects that were
identified. Um we are also strategic in
terms of setting up a budget that will
um help support those programs. But we
have also been opportunistic when needed
to pursue grant opportunities.
um maybe to move a program or project
forward ahead of when we were planning
or to shift it a little bit to meet a
particular grant opportunity.
We have also approached our programming
with trying to focus on programs that
would increase equity. So for instance,
a lot of our programs um provide a
higher rebate or free services for
households with low income or for um
seniors. We are moving forward some
programs for renters this year. Um but
have really tried to lead with that in a
lot of our um grant applications and
then how we design our programs. Um, and
then another piece is we've really tried
to build partnerships. And I'll I'll dig
into this um the next couple slides, but
looking at programs that we can run
across multiple cities in order to
increase um our efficiencies um or if
there's other organizations that we can
partner with in the community.
uh as David spoke about for our own city
operation emissions um very similar when
we're looking at community programming
as we are very focused on buildings and
transportation um those are our biggest
emissions also across the whole
community
um and so we do particular programs and
projects associated with those uh we do
a lot of outreach and education that is
embedded within those programs but we
are also out doing kind of general um
education
as well. Um, and then I did want to note
that uh we've touched on some of this.
We work a lot with our solid waste
analysts, our urban forester. They are
doing a ton of work on waste education.
Um, really creative waste programming
and policies, our green isqua, um, our
forest steward programs. That's all
managed by other departments. So, I'm
not going to talk about those programs
tonight, but they are very essential
components of our climate action work.
and you'll hear more about them uh
throughout the year. Um so uh one of our
really great opportunities is working
with our neighboring cities. Um this
started a bit ad hoc uh when I joined
the city about four years ago. There was
some shared interest. We decided to test
out some shared programming. We have now
developed into a formal partnership that
we call the east side climate
partnership. We have a interlocal
agreement makes everything official. Um
and it allows us to pursue grants
together. We have shared staff. Um we
take on different components of work.
Some of us will hold a contract for the
project while others might uh be leading
the outreach for example.
Um there's four main programs I'll touch
on tonight. We have done a lot of other
work with this group like our greenhouse
gas emissions inventory. we did as part
of this partnership. Um, but I'll touch
on these four programs this evening.
So, Energy Smart East Side is one of our
biggest investments both in terms of the
amount of city budget we put in, but we
have also been very aggressive in the
grant space. Um I think we're nearing
say
uh I will find the numbers but something
around $8 million that we have um
pursued and secured for this program
between city budget and grants. Um but I
can provide those numbers to you. Um
it's one of our greatest opportunities
for working with uh our residents. This
program is focused on transitioning
folks that are on natural gas primarily,
very few folks that are still on oil on
the east side, but transitioning them to
electric heating um to specifically to
heat pumps. We also work with households
that have older inefficient electric
heating. Um we are approaching our
thousandth heat pump install across um
the six cities. will be doing a big
press release um uh in the next month or
two around that. Um and this program
really focus on heat pump rebates for
all income levels. So, we work with heat
pump distributors to have um a discount
that's applied for all income levels and
then we have other rebates that are
funded by cities or grants or the
utility um that support those in kind of
a middle income as well as households
that have low income. Um we have a free
heat pump program for those lower income
households.
Um we uh sorry for the acronym here. We
also had a program last year that was
focused on adult family homes. So, we
worked with um we actually reached out
to all adult family homes across the
east side um and we were able to um do
heat pump transitions for uh those that
were interested through a state grant
program.
Most recently, we've had um this newer
approach where we're focused on more
clusters of households and even condos.
typically those that u might be Arch
Housing um or King County um housing
authority housing or have some
proportion of the residents that live in
those households. It's allowed us to
work with that community and then
advance 20 to 30 installs at one time.
Um so often there's a discount from the
distributors. um we're able to kind of
focus our efforts in a more concentrated
way and advance those um installs pretty
quickly and uh at less cost and more
efficiently. So we have two projects
right now in the Isiqua Highlands um and
a third I think will be coming on later
this summer. We'll be doing some
celebration up there this summer with
one of the um associations. So, we'll um
make sure the board is aware of
um we are also going to be expanding the
program beyond heat pumps. It was always
envisioned it would go beyond heat
pumps. Um where we'll be looking at
weatherization and we also want to start
testing out hot water heater
heat pump hot water heaters as well. Um
this year we're also going to be
starting to work with rental properties.
There's just there's it's a little bit
complicated, which is why it's taken us
a few years um where we need to be
working with um the home owner um to get
their agreement, but then we also need
to have an agreement in place with the
homeowner that they're not going to
increase rent after we've
partially funded to make these
improvements to their home. So, a little
bit more complicated. Um but we're
excited to be rolling that out uh this
year.
um just drop this in here. I won't go
through the data, but just to note that
we are uh we have a new system in place
now to really be tracking all of these
installs from um what we call our boost
program is our free heat pump
installation. We'll start to see these
big spikes when we have these um condo
association projects go in. Um, we track
our what used to be called our market
rate, which was um kind of more the
moderate income rebate. And then, um, we
track any kind any distributor
rebate that they offer. Um, there's
usually quite a lag from the
distributor's reporting, uh, issuing the
rebates. Um, so sometimes we also see
those boosts um, after they've submitted
a a number of invoices. Um, and then we
do actually track all of our permitting
data. Um, so those that go outside of
our program and didn't um, take
advantage of one of the rebates, we are
starting to track that data over the
last couple years, too. So, we just know
the rate of transition to uh, heat pumps
in the community.
Um, so this summer, I'm excited to see
we should see some really big uh, bumps
here from some of the projects happening
in the Aqua Highlands.
Um, the next program I'll talk about,
this is a new partnership under the East
Side Climate Partnership, our clean
buildings incentive program. We did a
deep dive into this program, I think
last August or September. Um but in a
one minute summary, there is a state law
um where buildings over 20,000 square
feet, including multifamily buildings,
have um energy efficiency requirements
to meet and they have some reporting
that they have to meet. Um if they do
not meet the reporting requirements by a
certain time or um those larger
buildings with energy efficiency
requirements, there are uh fines that
can be put in place. There are also
incentive dollars available for them to
complete the reporting um or complete
the energy efficiency upgrades.
So for about three years, we ran our own
program in Isiqua that was to support
the building owners of Isiqua in meeting
state the state uh requirements. And we
did that because we believe that many
building owners would not make the
change without that technical support
and some incentives. Um, and because it
was it was beneficial to the city to do
that and seeing our own emissions
reduced through those energy efficiency
requirements. Um, and also to secure
more incentive dollars in our community.
We have now partnered with Belleview and
Redmond. We just relaunched the program
about a month ago um where we're working
together with one contractor to um help
building owners across all three cities.
Um, we are focused on the more
disadvantaged buildings and supporting
them first and helping them get through
some of the compliance requirements. Uh,
but we are also a education u resource
for any building owners. We're
anticipating with the funding we have
this year, we will help about 8 to 10
buildings um get through their full
compliance and cover costs for that. Um,
but we're anticipating many others will
uh advance their compliance through uh
the outreach and education that we're
doing. So, an example of the types of
buildings that were looking to support
meeting compliance would be um like the
YWCA,
uh Hutchinson House, um
uh or some of the some of the senior
living facilities, for example. Um, ones
that we've worked with in the past
include Timber Ridge, uh, the school
district. Um, we've worked a bit with
Village Theater, for example.
>> Really great question. Yeah.
Second compliance is they electrify the
buildings using heat pumps, things like
that.
>> Not necessarily. Yeah. So, um, buildings
of a certain size have what they call an
energy unit, um, a target that they have
to meet and that target varies on where
you are in the state based on kind of
weather and climate. Um, and it varies
on the use type. So, every building has
every building type and depending on
where it's located has a different
target. So like a medical facility that
might be open 24 hours a day is going to
have a different target than a office
building that operates 8 to5. Um and so
so I lost my train of thought. Sorry
your specific question.
>> I was wondering compliance how deep does
it go?
>> Yeah.
>> So it's around the energy use. So for
some of the buildings it could be um
switching to LEDs and maybe putting in
Ruba automated lighting system and that
might help them reach compliance and
that could be a really inexpensive
pretty quick change. Others may need to
do a complete HVAC retrofit um for
example and install solar and do an
automated system if it's a really old
inefficient building. Um, but we've had
really good feedback um from Isiqua
School District. I can't remember if it
was the middle school or high school.
They made one of the changes they need
to needed to make. Um, the the school
district invested around $150,000.
They had a grant to cover the rest of
the work and it was a lot around the
building automation and they're
expecting a payback within uh two years
for that project just through the energy
savings. So, we're hearing great
feedback from a lot of buildings that
are making these changes. They're
actually going to see um the payback
from their investments pretty quickly.
>> Amazing. Is that what you factored in?
>> Some of them are going to be a lot more
complicated and expensive. Um I
shouldn't expect that. The school
district also had a grant to help cover
some of that, but um that's we're hoping
to help buildings secure um these
incentive dollars to help cover some of
those costs soon.
Um the next one I'll mention that the uh
cities are partnering on again with
Belleview and Redmond. We received a
grant from Puget Sound Energy to do an
electric bike rebate that is going to
launch in June. Uh we're expecting uh
distributing about 30 to 40 rebates in
Isiqua. The rebates amounts will vary
depending on income level. Um, and we're
working really closely with our local
uh, bike retailers. Um, as we work to
implement our own city rebate, we are
also working to promote a state program.
That state program is open now. Um, they
do have a lower rebate amount. They have
a more limited selection of bikes. Um so
we're very interested to see kind of the
difference of uptake of folks that
receive the rebates
um if they use them depending on
comparing the the two programs. Um the
one advantage of the state program is it
is a year long program. Um ours will be
kind of a one-time and we'll see if
there's a lot of interest we may run it
again.
Um, and then the last one I I put under
ECP because we are partnering with
Seamish uh for the first time this year.
And I'll have um Oh, this is my older
presentation. Sorry, I took out the the
question marks around the trees there.
Um, I'll have maybe David fill that in.
Um, so last year, as the board is aware,
was our first year in doing a tree
giveaway. Uh, David really ran that with
our uh urban forester. Uh this is a
partnership with a local nonprofit
called 300 trees. Um the city has a lot
of discretion and picking which tree
varieties to make sure they really meet
our needs here. Um,
uh, the team did a really great job of
kind of phasing the outreach, making
sure that they were reaching out to, uh,
neighborhoods that had less tree canopy
first, um, and then opening it up more
broadly to the community. Um, last year
was the first year 250
>> 290
>> 290 trees and then this year we're going
to have more trees,
>> 350 to 375 in Isiqua, about 300 in
Seamish.
That will be November again.
>> Yes, November 7th. Applications open
July 10th. If you want a tree and you
live in Isqua,
>> write it down now. July 10th.
>> Great. Um, so I did open my older
presentation, so hopefully there's no
other weird marks in here. Um, so I'll
just mention a couple other programs as
we start to run out of time. Um these
are uh just city alone, not through our
east side partnership. Um but we are
super excited to be partnering with King
County Library System on opening their
first uh tool library or what they are
calling a curiosity collection. Um
because it will also include um things
like canning equipment and a cider press
and giant Jenga if you're having a
summer barbecue. Um, these are all items
you'll be able to check out at the
library. Um, and so we've been working
with them. Actually, Sam, our solid
waste analyst, is using some of her
budget to purchase a lot of those items
and we'll be partnering with them on uh
programming as well. So, um thinking
about uh like a edible landscaping
workshop and then folks can go and check
out um the canning equipment or the food
preservation equipment um from the
library as well as all the the gardening
tools that they need. Um and then our
team uh
received uh ownership of the commute
trip reduction program last year. Uh
this is a statewide law where employees
employers of a certain size um with
certain work hours um are required to
participate in a commute trip reduction
where they're really um encouraging and
incentivizing employees to choose
alternatives to drive alone commuting.
Um so thinking about that 26% of our
emissions coming from staff commuting.
We're thinking about ways to encourage
our staff to think about alternative
trips um as well as working with the
city's largest employers. So, this is
like Costco, King County Library System,
uh Sanmar, um for example.
Um and then I did want to note, we'll
hear a little bit about this from the
students, but um we're also trying to
think about programming where we can
really better promote transit. um think
of new ideas around transit in the city.
Um students are working on kind of a
circulator shuttle research project for
example um as well as doing uh some
interesting promotion around um bus use.
Let's see. I'm going to move through
this quickly. Um these are items coming
up um that are community focused. Um, so
we're working closely with human
services and our emergency manager on
what we call a clean air giveaway. This
will be a fan and filter um distribution
program. Um, primarily working with or
looking uh to work with our more senior
communities, um, households that may not
have air conditioning, lower income
households. Um, we ran uh induction
cooking uh cooktop classes this last
winter uh in partnership with uh PCC.
We're interested in possibly doing that
again. They were super popular, so that
might be something we bring back in the
fall. Um and then we also
last year um prepared a business
resource guide on sustainability
um uh at the the uh recognition that
many businesses were looking for more
resources. Um so we're thinking about
how we might be able to get back out
into the business community and promote
that resource guide.
Um, and then just mention a couple of
our more community-f facing capital
projects. Uh, we are working with PSSE
on transitioning
uh, street lights to LEDs. A lot of ours
are transitioned already, but we have a
lot um, uh, remaining to transition.
LEDs uh, use a lot less energy. Um, and
then as part of that, we are also uh
working with PSSE to dim lights during
certain hours because LEDs are also a
lot brighter. Um, and we're seeing
already with some of those initial
transitions uh some huge savings. Um, we
are covering some of the cost of this
transition, but then also receiving
incentives back from PSSE. So, we
anticipate um it'll either be
costneutral in terms of the actual
project or payback in less than a year
depending on the incentives and then the
city will be saving tens of thousands of
dollars each year in energy use.
Um we're also installing our second pole
charger with PSC that'll be going up on
the north side of the senior center in
the next few weeks. And then we're
starting work on an EV charging project
at Tibbitz Valley Park. It'll be in um
the parking lot right here by the um
skate park.
So, a few capital projects too for the
community.
Um and then I will probably wrap up
here, but just a note, we do a lot of
community events. We thinking of
communications, we try to be out in the
community as much as possible
um at tableabling events for our
different programs and and then of
course our sustainability fair is our um
major event that David and I lead each
year. Um we are trying to partner more
with community events um by offering
kind of like a sponsorship or some uh
service. So, uh, we're going to test out
sponsoring a bike ballet service, uh,
for a new festival coming this summer to
Isaqua. Um, and then partnering with,
uh, some of our regional partners on
other classes that they do.
And I will probably leave it by saying
2728.
We'll continue a lot of programs, but
we'll we'll see what's in the IAP and
and what's in our budget.
Okay. Any questions for Stacy? Comments?
We have a couple of minutes.
>> Yeah.
>> So, I just have a comment. So, Stacy, I
think the additional programs you have
listed are great. Um, I do think the
ideas you have to do with the King
County in conjunction with the King
County are really I think great programs
and I think they will be really
successful outreach events. Um I was
going to suggest the shuttle also when I
saw it on your slide as well. um you
know for reducing the specifically for
the employee commute emissions
>> um and I don't know if the city already
provides or
>> gives any benefit um employer benefit
for you know subsidized bus passes or
anything but that would be a good option
to do but if there is a possibility of
shutters especially if you're working
with Costco or the nearby bigger
employers
um to provide you know with the
employees that may be a good option to
look into.
>> Yeah, great great um points there. Yeah,
the city does provide free Orca cards
for staff and then there are um we are
trying to be better about educating
internally about like band pools and
those types of programs. And then um
Costco has asked for a lot of support
around um their van pools and shuttles.
And especially we've been talking a lot
about how to connect from the South
Belleview park and ride for their staff
that are coming in from Seattle on the
light rail to get them here so they
don't have to transfer multiple times to
buses. Um but they are a big van poolool
user but trying to think of kind of that
um last mile or couple mile um commute
for those coming in from Seattle in
particular. Um, yeah, in the shuttle, I
think we're really interested in
exploring different ideas for that.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> You got a few minutes left. If you want
to go through the work plan real quick.
>> I'll um I don't think I need to. Yeah,
the updated work plan. There are a few
adjustments made to that. Just mostly
moving things out that haven't been
quite ready um to come to the board. Um,
I might just touch base on what happened
Monday night at the committee of the
whole and then I have just a few items
coming up. Um, so David and I presented
Monday night to our council's committee
of the whole. Um, so it is all council.
The mayor doesn't usually attend the
committee of the whole meetings, but
it's a little less formal of an
interaction between the committee
members where they can really get into
more dialogue dialogue and discuss than
at a regular council meeting. Um, we uh
had a brief amount of time to present.
So really focused on the process we've
gone through to update the climate
action plan and then we touched on some
of the major changes in particular some
of the targets and um more aggressive
actions the policy related actions that
are being proposed in the climate plan.
Um what was determined by the committee
is that we will return to that committee
on June 8th. uh we are planning to bring
them a full draft of the plan and uh dig
deep into um some of the major changes
and components of the plan. Um they will
provide their feedback. David and I will
try and incorporate that feedback on the
9th and then our goal is to come to you
all on the 10th and summarize the
feedback that we get um from council um
and then work with you all to prepare a
recommendation letter uh back to council
on council on whether or not you approve
the plan.
depending on what happens on the 8th,
that may change. If they want to see
major changes, um we may delay bringing
that back to the environmental board,
but that is our plan right now. So, you
all will receive a full draft of the
climate plan in your meeting packet for
the 10th, but just know you'll receive
an update from us on the 9th on kind of
what happened the evening of the 8th.
>> Um,
great. And then next meeting so we'll be
talking about climate action plan and
then we are planning to have the
students come and present on their
projects from this year. Our budget
process is a little um shifted. We have
new staff in budget or in finance
department. Um so we may bring kind of
an intro of the budget in June but we
may delay that um till later in the
summer. So that's a little bit about
what's upcoming over the next month.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you everybody for coming tonight.
>> It was a good meeting. So we are
ajourned.
>> Thank you all.
Dallas speak.