HomeMy WebLinkAboutClimate Council Meeting Summary 05-30-2024 Climate Council
Meeting Notes — May 30, 2024
Attending:
Climate Council Members Role Organization
Amy Fowler Commissioner Board of Orange County Commissioners
Kristie Mather Board Member Commission for the Environment
Advisory Board, Orange County
Robb English Town Council Town of Hillsborough
Wendy Kuhn Board Member Hillsborough Parks and Recreation Board
Representative
Randee Haven-O'Donnell Town Council Town of Carrboro
Greg Randolph Team Member Carrboro Climate Action Team
Melissa McCullough Town Council Town of Chapel Hill
Riza Jenkins School Board Vice Chair Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board
Sarah Smylie Board Member Orange County Schools
Patrick Florence Director of Construction Orange County Schools
Kim Nimmer Planning and Development Manager OWASA
Jonathan Smith Orange County Cooperative NC Cooperative Extension
Extension Director
Ian Scott Vice President of Advocacy The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill
Carrboro
Susan Bowen Chief Campus Operations Officer Durham Technical College
Staff Role Organization
John Richardson Community and Sustainability Town of Chapel Hill
Resilience Manager
Brennan Bouma Sustainability Program Analyst Town of Chapel Hill
Elizabeth Houghton Sustainability Outreach Coordinator Town of Chapel Hill
Stephanie Trueblood Public Space and Sustainability Town of Hillsborough
Manager
Laura Janway Environmental Sustainability Town of Carrboro
Coordinator
Chukwuemeka Kanu-Oji Environmental Planner Town of Carrboro
Amy Eckberg Sustainability Programs Manager Orange County
Mel Gilles Sustainability Projects Analyst Orange County
1. Welcome/Agenda Review and Charge of Council:
Amy Eckberg with Orange County provided a high level overview of the Climate Council past and
present. She discussed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)that was signed by the
Towns and Orange County which lays out the specific charge and goals of the climate council as
well as membership and meeting frequency. The Climate Council consists of 16 members and
includes elected officials, environmental advisory board representatives from the Towns and
County and several other representatives from organizations like OWASA, our two school
boards, UNC-CH, Durham Tech, Chamber, etc.
The Town and County Climate Action Plans were briefly reviewed. The Town of Carrboro
adopted their first CAP in 2017 with updates in 2020,The Town of Chapel Hill adopted their
Climate Action and Response Plan in April 2021 and Orange County and the Town of
Hillsborough adopted their respective plans in 2023.
2. Introductions of Council Members: Laura Janway with the Town of Carrboro led
introductions. Members introduced themselves and spoke about specific actions they are doing
within their organizations to combat climate change and what they hoped to get out of this
group. Members brought forward the following topics/themes during introductions:
• Tap into faith-based organizations to give them the tools to implement energy
efficiencies, clean energy, and resiliency. Real change can happen when we can
"communitize"
• Offer demos/education so people can see firsthand how things work i.e. small scale
solar;work with youth to develop next generation of climate leaders
• Town of Carrboro mentioned the 319 EPA Stormwater grant providing resiliency in
neighborhoods. This is a grant that Kim Nimmer, now with OWASA administered.
• Kim Nimmer with OWASA mentioned they are looking to work on a climate action plan
this summer and would love to receive recommendations from consultants the group
has used for this.
• Sarah Smylie indicated that the schools have a big opportunity with the school bond to
implement climate smart practices in their buildings. She would like to tap into the
passion and energy of the students for climate action.
• Ian Fowler mentioned he wants to help members understand the Inflation Reduction
Act. Is there a fact sheet he can provide along with EV charger installation resources?
He is attending an inner-city trip to Ann Arbor, MI later this year
• Patrick Florence with Orange County schools mentioned the solar project and DC Fast
charger for EV school bus project that they are looking to implement with the support
from Orange County's Community Climate Action Grant program.
• Riza from CHCCS Board mentioned she has been doing renewable energy work for the
past decade. She started at Strata Clean Energy and is working on LED lighting, solar, EV
bus grant, school gardens. She is interested in closing the gap between government and
policy to get down to the community level. They are getting ready to install solar in
their district from the support of the Orange County Community Climate Action grant
program.
• Susan Bowen with Durham Tech—one of their strategic goals is sustainability and will
look to incorporate that in their large capital projects
• Robb English—interested in advancing more bike/ped
Other themes mentioned during introductions were that sustainability staff in the
Towns/County meet monthly and are working together on several joint grants and programs
(Solarize the Triangle, Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant, Community Climate Action
Grant program funding, etc.) Overall members are looking forward to leveraging how we can
work together, shared learning opportunities, having fun, relationship building, networking,
building scale-able projects together(i.e. Solarize the Triangle), using humor to connect, and
overall excitement to have a clear mandate and opportunities to share what we are doing.
3. Review Climate Action Reporting Database (CARD)-
Brennan Bouma from the Town of Chapel Hill provided a review of the CARD document which
was created from the first Climate Council as a mechanism to capture the climate initiatives that
are being worked on by member entities. It's a searchable document with a lot of functionality.
It was noted that several jurisdictions referenced this document when crafting their climate
action plans. This is something we can build upon and update moving forward.
4. Small Group Brainstorming Session
Stephanie Trueblood from the Town of Hillsborough led a group brainstorming session intended
to identify some of the ways we can collaborate on climate action initiatives/education
opportunities. The group offered the following list of ideas:
• Offer a "Year of " campaign similar to "Year of the Trail" —something with
coordinated branding that we can all promote and build off of. Possibly do this year
after year but change out the topic i.e. Year of Solar,Year of the Tree, Year of Energy
Efficiency,Year of E-bikes,Year of No Plastics, etc.
• LIDO—update regulations and add incentives
• Advocacy for policy change
• Offer demonstrations for community members and engage youth
• Durham Tech (EV) maintenance trainings for town and county staff,workforce training
opportunities
• Stormwater, green infrastructure (319 grant)for communities
• Use tech for education/outreach/involve communication departments
• Climate challenge—month leading up to Earth Day
• Coordinate with community groups—educational materials/outreach/tax credits
It was suggested that we revive the Climate Council webpage so that the Towns can link to it and so
folks can review meeting agendas, summaries as well as links to respective climate action plans
S. Next Meeting
Thursday, November 21St, 5-6:30pm