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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 091018Attachment 1 Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary September 10, 2018 Richard Whitted Building, 300 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Present: Bradley Saul (Chair), Bill Newby, Bill Kaiser (Vice Chair), Alan Parry, Kim Piracci, Bill Ward, Carrie Fletcher, Jim Eichel, Jeremy Marzuola, Jody Eimers Absent: Lynne Gronback, Matt Crook, Will Stanley, Laura Doherty, Emily Mixon Staff: Kim Livingston, Brennan Bouma I. Call to Order – Saul called the meeting to order at 7:31. II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – After a brief background discussion the draft roadside wildflower conservation resolution was approved unanimously following a motion to do so that was offered by Marzuola and seconded by Ward. III. Approval of Draft Minutes from August 13th, 2018 – The minutes were approved unanimously following a motion to do so as offered by Ward and seconded by Kaiser. IV. Idle Reduction Petition Update Bouma shared that there were some delays as he was waiting to get a count of the signs needed from the schools. Eimers suggested that a good starting point might be to go ahead and put up 2 signs per school as low-hanging fruit. This would move the project forward while other steps were finalized. There was a desire to review model idle reduction programs, perhaps Park City, Utah, to get best practices. Ward mentioned that implementing this program could be a learning opportunity for the students. Piracci discussed whether there could be a place for parents to come inside to pick up kids where it was climate-controlled. It was noted that parents would still need a place to park but their cars could be off. Marzuola suggested that there could be useful partnerships between schools and Orange County’s strong bike riding organizations to promote additional alternatives to driving in. Eichel mentioned that safety is likely to be a key concern in any non- automotive mode of travel. Staff agreed to ask the state Division of Air Quality to receive two signs per school and about successful models and strategies for implementation. Attachment 1 V. Fossil Fuel Divestment Resolution Ward re-introduced the CFE to the climate change drivers behind this proposed resolution, particularly in electricity generation and transportation, and how the resolution proposes to impact them through redirecting County and state financial resources away from fossil fuel companies. Parry noted that in the context of the emerging lawsuits seeking damages from oil companies for contributing to climate change, these companies can be considered increasingly risky investments. Eimers and Saul commented that they’d like to see a resolution that was shorter and more uniformly specific. Eimers will help Ward in creating this, and potentially the accompanying agenda item to include some further details. VI. Committee Meetings Saul proposed a change to the timeline of rolling out the State of the Environment report to shoot for October-November of 2019 in order to avoid trying to compete with budget discussions during the spring. Then in the following spring of 2020 there could be an update and a reminder. This delay would also provide time to plan an event to accompany the release if desired. Marzuola suggested that the debut of the report could coincide with an existing fall event such as Local Fest. Saul noted that the CFE could also partner with other like-minded organizations such as the Triangle Land Conservancy similar to their “Wild Ideas” event. Saul then shared a potential outline for the State of the Environment Report itself. Each of 3 committees would have 2-4 main issues to present and each would get a page. There may be multiple indicators wrapped into a single issue. There would also be a summary page with a note about the process and the CFE. CFE members liked the idea of a brief report. Committees broke out and met for 30 minutes and then came back together and provided brief summaries of their discussions. VI. Updates and Information Items None were included. VII. Adjournment – Saul adjourned the meeting at 9:10 following the unanimous approval of a motion to adjourn the meeting which was offered by Piracci and seconded by Kaiser.