MINUTES
February 13, 2007,
3:00 p.m.
City
Hall, Room 310
Members
Present: Gary Delveaux, Ian
Griffiths, Mayor Jim Schmitt, Jeff DeLaune, Rich Krieg, Derek Lord, Andre Jacque,
Bill Lockery, Annette Weissbach, John Miller, Christine Fosse-Rades, Tom
Lesperance, Veronique Van Gheem, Michael Finney, Dr. John Katers, Robert
Laskowski and Ray Jansen of WPS
Gary
Delveaux called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. He stated we are moving to
the implementation and project management phase, now that the report is
completed. He indicated that Mayor
Schmitt asked if Wisconsin Public Service would continue their involvement and
Mr. Delveaux introduced Robert Laskowski, Account Executive with WPS and Ray
Jansen of the Project Management Group at WPS. He stated that these two gentlemen will
be part of the project management team.
Committee members introduced themselves to Mr. Laskowski and Mr. Jansen.
G.
Delveaux thanked Andre Jacque for his time and work in pulling the report
together and thanked the full team for their time and diligent work. Mr. Delveaux said that Derek Lord will
be the key person on the Project Management Team and will work with Ray Jansen
and Bob Laskowski in following through on the implementation; making sure that
the initial projects happen. Ian stated that the full team is going
to be less responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the ideas but added
that the full body should continue to develop new ideas and push the boundaries
with new things so WPS will always have new things to work on.
The
Mayor stated that he had talked about hiring someone to monitor the
implementation plan but said the project management team will work out even
better and they will make sure the group is on task. He agreed that it’s important for
the full team to continue to challenge this community for new ideas and better
things.
Mr.
Delveaux said it’s important that if the team comes up with ideas, the
implementation team is going to report back and measure the group to see if
their projects are implemented.
Secondly, he said when the group gets through the first five or six
projects, what are the next five or six?
These projects will need to be identified.
Mr.
Delveaux opened discussion on key dates. Mayor Schmitt stated that he will be
delivering his annual State of the City address at the Meyer Theater on March 5th
and wants to talk about the Sustainable Green Bay Report and highlight a
few key projects as part of his address.
He said that he will just give a tease about the 67 page report that has
been worked on for nine months and will mention the details will be available
with the release of the report. He also stated that he wants to announce the
date for announcing this report to the media and the public, with a tentative
date of March 22 and opened discussion of the kickoff date. The Mayor mentioned Earth Week which is
April 16 through April 22 and asked if coinciding the
announcement with Earth Week would be a good idea. Jeff D. mentioned a nation-wide event
about global warming called “Stand Up” which will be held on April
14th with two events planned in Green Bay, adding that it may be
good to get the announcement prior to that date so the committee would have a
position and not look like they are being reactive. Andre said for the most part, the report
is ready to go to print, with a few minor changes. Jeff D. inquired about the
Implementation Plan only listing water stuff, with Andre responding that he can
copy the format of what the Water Group did and could add a few key elements
from the other groups.
Mayor
Schmitt said minor changes should be emailed to Andre by one week from
today. The Mayor said the report
will be reviewed by his Senior Staff after the final copy is printed. The Mayor would like to change a photo
on the cover and replace the drain photo with a rain barrel. Andre will follow through on this
change.
G.
Delveaux opened discussion on the key objectives in the Executive Summary. 1)
Energy Efficiency, Building Design & Renewable Energy – the City will
conduct an annual awards programs for energy efficient design and partner with
businesses to expand utilization of compact fluorescent light bulbs; there were
no changes to this objective 2) Walter Quality, Conservation & Air Quality
– city will develop city-wide rain barrel program, upgrade storm-drain
stenciling program. Christine F.Rades said she has been working with Wes Damro
regarding a pharmaceutical collection and will need a police officer present
when the drugs are collected. D. Lord stated that the city has already taken
the initial steps for the stormwater drain stenciling program. He stated that a
random survey of residents showed that over 70% thought that the storm drain
goes to the sewage treatment plant and is treated, which is not correct. 3)
Transportation - The City will
publicize one Green Bay Metro bus that will run on B20 bio-diesel conversion
fuel, encourage walkable neighborhoods and establish an anti-idling campaign
for city vehicles. Safe Routes to school program is already in place and grants
are being applied for in partnership with the DNR and school district. The B20 fuel is obtainable from
Progressive Farmers and the mechanics at Green Bay Metro will need to be on
board with trying this fuel in one bus. The idea of putting a billboard on one
bus was brought up. Discussion
ensued about a logo and a contest for creating a logo. R. Krieg said there are
no marketing courses second semester at his school. Christine F. Rades will
talk to her graphics students about a logo. Annette shared the logo that was
designed by an art professor at UWGB, for the previous sustainability group,
which was an Italian symbol and was representative of the entire surrounding community.
The group agreed that a logo was a good idea and suggested engaging the schools
next fall in a logo design contest. After discussion, it was agreed to add
“encourage sidewalks in all new subdivisions”, which will encourage
walkable neighborhoods. Andre stated that neighborhood walks are in place
through the city neighborhood division and the city would like to encourage
more neighborhoods to start these walks.
Michael Finney said he wanted to map the existing trail networks so the
community knows about the trails.
Bill Lockery said the Council had pulled out requiring sidewalks in new
subdivisions, from the Comprehensive Plan. Bill L. said they will be doing an
annual review of the zoning code because it has been in effect for one year and
said the changes may be minor, a word here and there. 4) Land Use &
Economic Development – A Comprehensive resolution will be developed by
city officials and staff in support of sustainable development and green
building design, the city will offer financial incentives for new green
building development projects, which is already in
place in a TIF, and revise city codes and permitting processes to promote and
reward sustainable development.
After
discussion regarding the building codes and review of the comp plan, it was
agreed to change the wording to read “revise and recommend changes to the
city codes” rather than revising the codes. Mr. Lesperance said he would like to see
small things such as putting in an energy efficient furnace, to promote energy
efficiency. Andre said we could tie
something in the resolution with more teeth, such as stating that Council
supports the recommendations of the Mayor’s sustainability initiatives
and call City Council’s attention to what they approved. He added that you cannot get too
specific in a resolution and added that it may not be binding no matter what
wording is used. He said a
quarterly report to Council on the initiatives would be good.
Discussion
turned to a website, with the group agreeing that they could start with one
page and grow from there. Gary
Delveaux said the Mayor talked about renewable energy for city hall. Andre said
this is mentioned under leading by example in the energy section. It was suggested to move this to the
executive summary page. Discussion
surrounded when the group would hold the next meeting and agreed that they need
to meet at least quarterly, so as not to lose momentum. M. Finney talked about outreach to
schools, to the Oneida Tribe, and roll out the
awareness phase to various organizations and groups, and suggested creating a
display module that could be checked out and used for Earth Day and other
events. He also suggested creating
a powerpoint which could be checked out and used. Christine suggested having a display
with the top ten things residents can do this week, tomorrow or next month,
etc. for Earth Week, and reviewed the various events planned for Earth
Week. Michael F. suggested the
group should meet a few times over the next year to decide if there are things
they want to do to help build awareness.
Tom
Lesperance said we need to be aware of and recognize what other people are
doing and have done. Bob Laskowski said the Green Bay Public Schools have added
over a million square feet in the last five years and said their energy use is
down 30% and said their cost is the lowest in the state. He said KI is planning a Saturday this
summer to hand out $15,000 worth of compact florescent light bulbs. M. Finney
said these type of things need to be linked and cited the Baird Creek Parkway
as an example and said they redefined themselves as this great big linear green
thing and said everybody could buy into that. Annette would like to see other
organizations like the Audubon Society on board with the resolution or have
their own resolution. Comment made
that the buy-in is all part of the awareness.
Annette
suggested having a smaller, condensed version of the report and having copies
at the Chamber of Commerce and at the Tourism Office.
After
further discussion, the group decided to hold the next meeting of the full task
force on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in Room 604 of City Hall. The Implementation Team will meet before
this time to get a plan of action.
Derek Lord said the group will need assistance from the entire group,
such as the tips of the week, etc.
The announcement of the report will be held on March 22, definite
time to be determined.
Respectfully
submitted,
Mary
Haupt