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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClimate Council Meeting Summary 5.30.24Climate 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 Patrick Florence Board Member Director of Construction Orange County Schools Orange County Schools Kim Nimmer Planning and Development Manager OWASA Jonathan Smith Orange County Cooperative Extension Director NC Cooperative Extension 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 Resilience Manager Town of Chapel Hill Brennan Bouma Sustainability Program Analyst Town of Chapel Hill Elizabeth Houghton Sustainability Outreach Coordinator Town of Chapel Hill Stephanie Trueblood Public Space and Sustainability Manager Town of Hillsborough Laura Janway Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Town of Carrboro 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. • UDO – 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 5. Next Meeting Thursday, November 21st, 5-6:30pm