JOINT OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON SUSTAINABILITY

 

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Room 3220 – Administrative Center

11:30 a.m.

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Jai Johnson, Jeff Bluske, Dale Hexom, Dorothy Lenard, Tom Rauk, Nick Nichols (exc @12:40)

MEMBERS EXCUSED:  None

MEMBERS ABSENT:  Brad Pfaff 

OTHERS PRESENT: Tim Kabat, Karl Green, Brian Tippetts, Bryan Jostad, Erica Black, Brian Fukuda, Jerry Severson, Doug Kerns, Al Schultz, Cheryl Stephen

 

CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL

Committee Chair Jai Johnson called the meeting to order at 11:34 a.m.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOTION by Bluske/Hexom to approve minutes of January 29, 2008.  Motion carried unanimously; Pfaff absent.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

MOTION by Rauk/Bluske to allow a member of the public to make public comment to the committee.  Motion carried unanimously; Pfaff absent.  Public Comment will be added to all future agendas.

 

Al Schulz, as a citizen of the County and also as a member of the Livable Neighborhoods group, addressed the committee on two issues:  He recommended that Bliss Road not be rebuilt and be left as a bicycle and hiking trail versus spending too much money on a road that is used minimally, which in turn may also result in more urban sprawl.  He also encouraged the recycling of plastics and less dependency on the RDF Plant. The committee thanked Mr. Schulz for his comments and explained that these topics cannot be discussed by the committee today as they are not noticed on agenda.

 

EARTH WEEK PLANNING

Dorothy Lenard has corresponded with Beth Cook, as the Coordinator of 2008 Earth Week.  Dates available for speaker are April 22, 23 or 24.  General agreement to spend 15 minutes on county and city projects, followed by 45 minutes for keynote speaker.  After some discussion, consensus is to bring in Terry Gibs. if possible.  Tim will contact Mr. Gibs as to availability and cost.  General agreement that if the cost is over $1,000, approval will come back to the committee.  Dorothy will reserve a table for Saturday, April 26 (actual Earth Day) at Cameron Park.  

 

UPDATE ON WORK GROUP PROJECTS

Tim Kabat gave an update on various projects that the work group is working on:

·         Bio-diesel pilot project(s) – the group is scheduled to meet February 13th.  More to report at the next committee meeting.         

·         Purchasing policies – status quo.

·         Facilities managers meeting – status quo. 

·         LEED certification – Erica did some research on the internet pertaining to this topic and all of the information was shared with Steve O.  Steve O. said the big question is the cost as compared to payback; he expects County Board decision in April.  Jai will bring resolution for next meeting. 

·         Joint sustainable website is being worked on. 

 

CHANGE PROCESS PLANNING MATRIX (cont.)

Jai Johnson noted for the March 10th County Board Planning meeting, Lisa MacKinnon will be making a presentation on sustainability and The Natural Step.  She is co-founder and coordinator of the North American Eco-Municipality Network and has spoken throughout the U.S. and Europe.  Jai and Jeff will compose a letter to send to County department heads, City Council members, City department heads, local government leaders and county board candidates.  Noted that Facilities Dept. will also be taping the meeting and can possibly broadcast live into the Auditorium as needed for the overflow of guests.

 

Brian Fukuda gave an update on the 2008 Countywide Collaboration Conference as hosted by the County.  It’s a half-day morning session, followed by lunch, and planned for sometime in May.  Focus will be on sustainability, possibly energy conservation.  Invites include elected County and municipal officials, staff, business and community leaders.  In addition to a keynote speaker, may have this group give an update.

 

Regarding the E-course, Jai commented that it includes good information but is somewhat cumbersome and time consuming.  Still need input from Tim & Karl before making decision on use.

 

Jai and Karl Green still working on a presentation for use with staff and community organizations.  Steve O. suggested April 23, 9:00 a.m. for the monthly County department head meeting.  Tim will check at the City as to best date for that group.  Karl will schedule a presentation with the Towns Association.  There was also a suggestion to include handouts at these presentations. 

 

Regarding the County newsletter, Erica plans to meet with Mike McGuire following the meeting today.

 

A calendar will be included on the joint website that is community-wide.  County IT will do the postings to the website.  Jeff suggested links to the other organizations’ sites. Website group needs to determine who is going to be responsible for maintaining the site and who will be the point person for community organizations/news.

 

Regarding email contact lists, Jai’s list has grown to over 200 and has been shared with community organizers. After brief discussion, determined this list will not be used by city/county.  Dorothy noted city/county should not send unsolicited e-mails.  Erica’s newsletter list is also growing.  We will need to continue to maintain one list for newsletter and one for meeting notices.

 

Baseline inventory – Tim still adding to it; this will become part of the strategic plan.

 

Jai shared a book entitled Sustainability Community Indicators; anyone may borrow if interested.  Suggested using this and similar references in developing our indicators.  Brian Tippetts noted the libraries are always willing to purchase books when requested; Jeff offered to contact the County Library Director.

 

INFORMATION SHARING

Karl noted upcoming workshop at Winona State on February 20 – Winona Community Energy Summit.  Also free EPA training session on Green Buildings on February 21 - available via Wisline in room 3200 next to UW Extension Office.

 

Jerry Severson noted a new business is picking up confidential papers from Gundersen Lutheran and instead of paying a disposal fee, the vendor pays them; suggestion to check with Facilities and Solid Waste regarding potential for County.  Brian T. will follow up.

 

NEXT MEETING

Tuesday, March 11th at 11:30 a.m.

 

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION by Bluske/Hexom to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried unanimously; Pfaff absent.  The meeting adjourned at 12:56 p.m. 

 

Disclaimer:  The above minutes may be approved, amended or corrected at the next committee meeting.

 

Cheryl Stephen, Recorder  

Edited by Committee Chair Jai Johnson