ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE 2020/07/07 MinutesENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE MEETING 1
Tuesday, July 7, 2020 – 6:30 P.M. 2
REMOTE ACCESS MEETING 3
4
ROLL CALL/CALL TO ORDER 5
6
Chairman Melanie Rummel called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. Aldermen 7
Jed Morris and Jim Preschlack were present. 8
9
Staff in attendance included Mike Strong, Assistant City Manager; Chuck Myers, 10
Superintendent of Parks, Forestry and Special Facilities; Robert Ells, 11
Superintendent of Engineering; Jim Shaw, Director of Innovation and Technology 12
and Layla Werner, Administrative Intern. 13
14
Also in attendance was Mike Stopka, Consultant and Crystal Egelkamp, 15
Consultant. 16
17
There were approximately 18 members of the public that attended the meeting 18
remotely. 19
20
Chairman Rummel made a statement in regards to COVID-19 and why the 21
meeting is being held remotely, in concurrence with the Open Meetings Act 22
update from the state of Illinois. 23
24
ACTION ITEMS 25
26
I. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF JUNE 10, 2020 MEETING MINUTES 27
28
Alderman Morris moved to approve the June 10, 2020 Environmental 29
Sustainability Committee meeting minutes subject to the corrections 30
shared with Mike Strong. Alderman Preschlack seconded the motion. 31
The following voted “Aye”: Chairman Rummel, Alderman Morris and 32
Preschlack. The following voted “Nay”: None. 3-Ayes, 0 Nays, motion 33
carried. 34
35
II. APPROVAL TO PARTICIPATE IN THE METROPOLITAN MAYORS CAUCUS 36
CS2 COMMUNITY SOLAR CLEARINGHOUSE PROGRAM 37
38
Assistant City Manager Mike Strong gave a brief update on a 39
municipal sponsored community solar program. He gave an 40
explanation on what community solar is, and how businesses are able 41
to subscribe a portion of their ComEd bill with community solar credits. 42
He stated that the City was able to include eligible residential 43
accounts, which will be on a first come first serve basis. He further 44
stated that an eligible subscriber must be on a ComEd fixed. This allows 45
residents to receive a 20% net discount on their electricity bill. 46
Chairman Rummel asked if there were any questions on this agenda 47
item. 48
Environmental Sustainability Committee Minutes
July, 7 2020
49
The Committee had discussion on comments from the City Attorney 50
and if there were any agreements that needed to be discussed 51
further. Mike Strong explained that the City is not a partner in this, and 52
there was no necessary agreements that needed to be executed. 53
54
The Committee had additional discussion on the potential cost savings 55
for City buildings that are subscribed to this program. Mr. Strong 56
explained that the value of subscription offers a higher benefit for 57
residents for potential savings, and stated that this is more about 58
promoting renewable energy, not focusing only on cost savings. 59
Additionally, Committee members inquired on how residents knew 60
they were eligible for this program. Mr. Strong stated that official letters 61
would sent out by the metropolitan mayor’s caucus to all eligible 62
customers, pending approval of this agreement from City Council. 63
64
Alderman Rummel asked if there were any questions or comments 65
from the public. 66
67
Emily Watts offered her comments on Crystal Point being able to 68
participate in community solar. 69
70
Alderman Preschlack moved to recommend approval to City Council 71
to participate in the Metropolitan Mayor Caucus CS2 Community Solar 72
Clearinghouse Program subject to City Attorney review of the 73
Resolution, seconded by Alderman Morris. The following voted “Aye”: 74
Chairman Rummel, Alderman Morris and Preschlack. The following 75
voted “Nay”: None. 3-Ayes, 0 Nays, motion carried. 76
77
Seeing no additional comments Chairman Rummel moved to the next 78
agenda item 79
80
DISCUSSION ITEMS 81
82
I. SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT PRESENTATION – MIKE STOPKA 83
84
Assistant City Manager Mike Strong introduced Consultant Mike 85
Stopka, representing MIST Environment. He gave a brief presentation 86
about the sustainability initiatives that Lake Forest has conducted, and 87
how MIST is helping the City achieve additional goals. He summarized 88
the project scope and the three phases that are included in their 89
strategic planning process. He discussed the stakeholder meetings 90
they facilitated, as well as the survey results that were collected and 91
analyzed. After this information was collected, MIST conducted a peer 92
assessment including Highland Park and Winnetka. Mr. Stopka offered 93
his recommendations to the committee on how to successfully 94
accomplish strategic goals related to sustainability. 95
96
Environmental Sustainability Committee Minutes
July, 7 2020
Chairman Rummel asked if there were any questions on this agenda 97
item. 98
99
The Committee thanked MIST environment for the work they have 100
done in helping the City. 101
102
The Committee had additional discussion on how the peer 103
assessments were conducted, and how the communities were 104
chosen. Mike Stopka provided comments on how Staff and the 105
consulting firm came to these decisions. 106
107
Mr. Stopka stated that the City is excelling in specific areas in the 108
assessment that was conducted, and offered additional 109
recommendations for the City to accomplish sustainability goals. 110
111
Chairman Rummel asked if there were any additional comments from 112
the Committee, seeing none she asked if there were any questions or 113
comments from the public. 114
115
Mary Beth Nawor offered her comments to the Committee about 116
measuring greenhouse gases and the usage of water from the water 117
plant. 118
119
REVIEW OF FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS 120
121
Chairman Rummel asked if any members of the Committee had any suggestions 122
on items they wanted to discuss at future meetings. 123
124
PUBLIC COMMENT 125
126
Chairman Rummel asked if there were any public comments on any non-127
agenda items. 128
129
Seeing none, she moved to the next agenda item. 130
131
NEXT MEETING DATE(S) – AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 132
133
There was concurrence among the Committee members to meet in the month 134
of August. Assistant City Manager, Mike Strong, stated that he would send out a 135
poll to gauge the availability of the Committee members prior to setting the 136
August meeting date. 137
138
ADJOURNMENT 139
140
Alderman Morris moved to adjourn the meeting of the Environmental 141
Sustainability Committee at 7:54 P.M. seconded by Alderman Preschlack. The 142
motion carried unanimously by voice vote. 143
144
Environmental Sustainability Committee Minutes
July, 7 2020
Respectfully Submitted, 145
146
Layla Werner 147
Administrative Intern 148
149
150
Reviewed by, 151
152
Mike Strong 153
Assistant City Manager 154