MINUTES
October 12, 2006,
2:00 p.m.
City
Hall, Room 604
Members
Present: Mayor Jim Schmitt, Jeff
DeLaune, Gary Delveaux, Ian Griffiths, John Miller, Annette Weissbach, Jessica
Garrels, Rich Krieg, Tom Lesperance, Bill Lockery, Rob Strong, Derek Lord,
Clarence Wickham, Vijai Pandian, Josh Arnold and Connie Lindholm via telephone
Gary
Delveaux called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.
Mr. Delveaux
said we will be hearing from the various subcommittees and turned the floor
over to Jeff DeLaune to speak for the Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy Group.
J. DeLaune
distributed a copy of the draft outline for his group which included
background, how they would accomplish their goals, i.e. energy efficiency through
building design, and goals for renewable energy. He also distributed a list of potential
projects covering energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy
efficient building design. The list will
be prioritized following the process discussed at the previous meeting.
Discussion surrounded Energy Awareness Month with J. DeLaune suggesting having
Mayor Schmitt appear on the morning news shows to challenge citizens to change
their four most commonly used light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs and
having Focus on Energy track the savings.
Mayor Schmitt stated that he has already done this last week with Focus On Energy, in his home. He said he discussed the challenge
at his Neighborhood Leadership Council meeting and said the Associations are going
to include the challenge in their newsletters. Further discussion included
involving the school children or one school to accept the Mayor’s Challenge and
sending a pledge card to take home for their parents to accept the challenge. After further discussion it was agreed that
there is a short time frame this year but that the group would follow up with
Lambeau Field, Habitat Homes, the Apartment Association, Freedom House, and
next year involve the youth and do many other things. Mr. Lesperance said his inspectors can
encourage home buyers to change out the light bulbs when they perform their
inspections.
The Mayor
reported that the Marketing & Funding Group has nothing to report at this
time but will work on a website, and the report, which will be written for the
next meeting.
Land Use
& Economic Development – Rob Strong distributed a copy of the outline this
group prepared listing items for background and recommendations. He stated that
two things were added to the recommendations: marketing downtown for an organic
food store and promoting Transit use in downtown and major employment
centers. He said they will get to the
next step of how they are going to implement these things. Comment made to
continue working with the New North and the Downtown BID District to develop a
program with them and to put these projects at the top of the list.
Water and Air - Ian Griffiths
said their subcommittee has met with the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewage District
and Green Bay Water Utility. He stated
that both of them have an item coming down the pipeline in terms of
requirements to meet national codes and agreements that are pushing both of
them into a mode of being more concerned about the water usage and the type of
water that’s used. The Water Utility
said that conserving water is not in their best interest and they sell as much
water as they can, but added that is changing.
He said there is a 2001 plan that is still being worked through by the
different states around the great lakes and those mandates they use for
conservancy in order to withdraw more water from the lake.
Ian stated
that the Metropolitan Sewage District’s biggest item right now is
pharmaceuticals in the water and said the group is looking to meet with Brown
County Waste to see if they can get a day for people to be able to drop off
pharmaceuticals. Bill Lockery said they
also met with the storm water management person from the city to get a better
handle on what the city is doing. Derek Lord said the City is part of a larger
group; the Northeast Wisconsin Storm Water Consortium; a group that is
implementing a lot of storm water practices in the next few months. The subcommittee might piggyback with some of
the things the Consortium is working on.
I. Griffiths said this group is looking at a $40,000 educational drive
to let people know what happens to their storm water, how to clean their storm
water and how to deal with it properly.
B. Lockery said they have contacted the DNR and are trying to get a meeting
with the air quality people.
Ian said tips
for conserving water are basic; turn the faucet off when you don’t need it and
putting a brick in the tank of the toilet. B. Lockery said the Water Utility
gave their approval for a flyer to be sent with their bill. The Mayor said we have measurable things that
we can do for a tip of the week to conserve water in our homes and this will be
looked at in City Hall as well.
No one was
present from the Transportation Group to report.
Mayor Schmitt
stated that the format for all reports will be the style used by the Energy
Group and each draft will include background, recommendation and
implementation. He reviewed the timeline: in two weeks each group will have
their sections done and the group will review all sections and make comments. The reports will be turned in for compilation
to one central location.
A final
report will be done two weeks from then, (November 9th) then the
press will be called in and will be told what the committee is doing and kick
off the announcement in early or mid December.
A Tip of the Week may be tied into a New Years Resolution. In May the Mayor would like to invite
municipal leaders in from around Northeast Wisconsin at the Meyer Theater and
tell them this is what we have done and challenge them to do the same.
The next
meeting will be held on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 604
of City Hall. All groups are reminded to bring their final draft of their
sections to this meeting.