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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Draft_101221 Jefferson County/City of Port Townsend Climate Action Committee Meeting Minutes Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 3:00 - 5:00 PM ONLINE due to COVID Hosted by Jefferson County Public Health Members Present: Chris O’Higgins (JHC); Kate Chadwick, Jeff Randall (PUD No. 1), Cara Loriz, Cindy Jayne, Laura Tucker (Jefferson County Public Health), David Seabrook, Dave Wilkinson, Nicole Gauthier (Jefferson Transit), Kate Dean (BOCC) Absent: Pamela Adams (City Council), Shelley Jaye, Eric Toews (Port of PT), Kevin Scott (Port Townsend Paper Corporation), Diane McDade, Miranda Nash (Jefferson Transit) Staff: Judy Surber (City of PT), Laura Tucker (Jefferson County) Guests: None Scribe: Judy Surber Topic Recommendation/Action Follow Up Items Call to order Cindy Jayne called the meeting to order at 3:03 PM. A quorum was present. Approval of Agenda & Minutes Cindy requested amendments/approval of today’s agenda and August 10 Minutes. Chris O’Higgins moved to approve; Second by Dave Seabrook. Motion passed. Laura to finalize August 10, 2021 minutes and post to County website. Public Comment None. Draft Forest and Tree Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report for Approval and Next Steps Cindy asked if there were any comments/revisions to the FTGHG Inventory Report. Kate Dean noted state contact was impressed that Jefferson County took this on. Cindy shared edits suggested by Dave Wilkinson. Kate Chadwick suggested edit to Executive Summary. Kate Dean expressed concern about moving forward with CAC approval of the report. She and Cindy Laura to post the Draft report with suggested edits for comment. recently met with Rayonier who had very different calculations, to better understand the differences. Kate Dean recommends digging further into the differences and providing an explanation. DNR helped. Cindy agreed it makes sense. Discussion ensued. Cindy noted the Rayonier report was for broader geographies than just Jefferson County, and a different year, so cannot be compared directly. Motion: Jeff Randall moved to forward the process of the Jefferson Co. WA Forest and Trees GHG Inventory and Next Steps, as amended, by making the draft public and seeking additional comments where it differs from other reports and seeking ways to get to a finalized report. Second by Laura Tucker. David Wilkinson: asked for clarification on process. JS noted CAC, as an advisory group, can approve without additional process. If BoCC and Council wish to consider approval, there would be additional public process. Motion passed with Cindy abstaining since she is a co- author on the report. Kate Dean to email Rainier’s calculations. Updates to City and County Councils Kate Dean recapped the BOCC meeting which included summary of IPCC report, Cindy highlighted CAC recent work and Forestry Report, there was interest in forming a BOCC subcommittee to identify organizational goals. Presentation was well received. Did not have time to discuss NODC grant. County in better position to lead on climate issues given improved financial situation and recent hires. Kate Dean noted the CAC may be of assistance in working on the Port Hadlock UGA details. Agreed that there is interest in including equity aspects in what we do and would be good to cover at a future meeting. City Council – a similar prestation was made to City Council. Council members asked question re: COVID and vehicle miles traveled and green tourism and noted an increase in EV use. Outreach to the Public Cindy and Diane have been working on GHG Reduction report outreach. Proposing one virtual meeting prior to the holidays. Targeting 4PM timeframe. Diane McDade has agreed to help. Kate Judy and Jeff to provide Cindy with deadlines for respective newsletters. Chadwick and Kate Dean also agreed to participate. Cindy will ask if Steve King will. Diane plans to do a press release to the newspapers and write up something for the City and PUD newsletters. Kate Chadwick noted it would be good to have a flyer in public places. Kate Chadwick will create and distribute flyers to libraries, coffee shops etc. VMT Redux Working Group Update Cindy: Group met twice since last CAC meeting. Wendy Clark is no longer with the County; Dave Theilk ran last meeting but is leaving the group. Cindy and Diane are willing to co-lead unless others volunteer. Reaching out to NWMC, Fort Worden for input. Looking into future bike to school day and dump the pump day. Kate Dean suggested make it fun, offer incentives (e.g., health snacks). Dave Seabrook suggested measures to help folks feel comfortable on busier roads. Laura noted Students for Sustainability may be interested. Chris noted hospital shortages limit their capacity to participate. Nicole noted safety protocols for Transit including UV filters in vehicles. Transit is now fare free. Transit has always participated in National Dump the Pump Day. Cindy continued – group is seeking grant opportunities for employee commute reduction program. A previous item of having the VMT reduction group help with the CAC providing input to PRTPO on climate aspects is not in scope for the group anymore since Wendy is not part of it. Kate Dean noted PRTPO input may need to wait until County fills Wendy’s position. EV Working Group Update PRPTO will be hosting a meeting with charging manufacturers which will help inform future grant application, primarily for Level 3 fast chargers. Researching possible regional grant application. Need to identify participants, lead entity, staff capacity. Jeff noted you also need to identify hosts for stations. Is it sustainable? What’s the business model? May be difficult for fast chargers. Kate Chadwick noted importance of identifying primary user, is it commuter or tourist target? That will impact location of chargers. Dave Seabrook added it’s those with a longer commute that need Level 3 – so either tourist or employees with longer commutes. Cindy noted possible funding sources WSDOT in 2022, Federal funding is also anticipated. Kate D suggested keeping Transit in the loop. NODC applied for grant previously, so they may be good partner/leveraging opportunity. Also exploring Level 2 chargers – could potentially add to PUD Street lights. Jeff thinks this model works better than Level 3. Potential Bonneville Environmental Council Grant. Cindy: Group has started conversation on EV for Low Income, new IBC requirements, EV car sharing etc. Dave Seabrook asked if group is considering other EV vehicles (e.g., bikes)? Cindy: yes, general discussion in terms of “last mile”. Nicole: Transit is looking at improvements to Jefferson Transit Park and Ride to including EV bike chargers. Jeff asked what infrastructure is needed to charge a bike? The chargers can vary. Community wide and Organizational Goals Cindy: Review of Community wide goals is on hold pending the Forestry report. For Organizational goals - all members have been asked to provide goals for 2022-2023. Hospital has responded. Transit and JCH working on their goals. Kate D noted County will likely form a group to identify goals. Chris noted Gov. Inslee signed HB1257 Clean Buildings Act for any building over 50,000 sf. – applies to hospital. Requires them to retain energy consultant. Hospital was pleasantly surprised by results. Continually working to reduce energy consumption. NODC Grant Kate D. Representatives from City and County met with NODC to discuss ideas for participating. It’s a relatively small pot of money so identified two ideas that would be beneficial to both County/City: EV charging and planning for wildfire. Wildfire has gained interest from Navy/Emergency Management. Judy noted city staff is waiting for NODC to indicate their readiness to discuss. Upcoming Organizational Plans and Documents for Climate Review? No comment. Public Comment No comment. Other Updates Judy will be connecting with Nick Shachi of Sustainable Bainbridge. City Manager Mauro invited Cindy to participate at KPTZ Brewacracy next week. Mauro will speak at PTMSC tomorrow. Cindy was interviewed by KPTZ on the GHG Reduction report. LT: UN COP26 will be held in Glasgow Oct 31-Nov. 12. Climate on Tap has resumed in person at Finn River on Wednesday nights; Upcoming Topics: Project Drawdown on Nov. 3rd and COP26 summary on Dec. 1st. Dave Seabrook: EJFR budget subcommittee reviewed possible purchase of staff vehicles either EV or hybrid. Chief Black is interested in calculating carbon footprint. BERK retained to develop EJFR upcoming strategic plan by – will include focus groups. Jefferson Chamber Commerce Climate Change presentations. Kate Chadwick asked who else will be required to meet Clean Buildings Act? JS: Safeway is over 50,000 sf. Cindy has reached out to Port to determine if they still plan to participate on CAC. Next Steps and Agenda Planning Next Meeting: December 14, 2021 (Tuesday); possible Agenda items: Organizational Goals, Forest Report Update, possible City Manager Mauro as guest speaker, equity Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:01 p.m.