Minutes

Sustainable Greater Green Bay Task Force

Thursday, 5/21/2009, City Hall Room 604

3:00 PM

 

Members Present:  Paul Linzmeyer, Mayor Schmitt, Nic Sparacio, Nancy Nabak, Karen Kohlbeck, Derek Lord, Ned Dorff, Jeff DeLaune, Merlin Raab, Dan Lindstrom, GB Planning, Rich Krieg, Sue Perz, Renee Wery, Lisa Evenson, Paul Rentmeester, Mary Haupt

 

Others Present:  Scott Matejov, Doug Daul, John Gosling, Dept. of Workforce Development 

 

1.    Call meeting to order

The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm by Vice Chair, Nic Sporacio.  Introductions were made and new members/visitors were welcomed. 

 

2.    Approval of minutes from the April 16, 2009 meeting.

The minutes of the April 16th meeting were approved.  Nic stated that item #5 would be addressed next due to Derek Lord and Mayor Schmitt needing to leave for another meeting at 3:45.

 

     5.    Stimulus Projects

Derek Lord reported that we received the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant application materials and need to apply for it, with the deadline for applying in June. He distributed a list of eligible projects, adding that it is energy and water related programs.  He said as a Task force we need to prioritize what projects we feel are most important to the city.  He suggested setting up a working group to come up with projects that would be available to the community as a whole. Jeff DeLaune said for water conservation and using less water, on average we save a kilowatt hour for every gallon of water, so water projects shouldn’t be ruled out.  Derek stated that in June we have to submit to the Dept. of Energy one of two things: an application saying we are interested and will have a strategy to view in the next 120 days, or to submit a strategy with a plan done by the application deadline in June.  He said he doesn’t see us having the strategy completed by that time since the city programs and initiatives would need to be approved by committee and the full city council. Derek said we would work with various city departments to come up with an internal list of priority projects and then come up with a list of projects from the Task Force and find a balance between projects and financing mechanisms that are available to the public as well as some of the programs that we can use internally to help the city to be more sustainable and to help with some of the budget issues.  He asked for volunteers to form a group to meet regularly to look at projects.  J. DeLaune said he is not certain about the 120 days, saying he understands that the dollars need to be encumbered by September and said there will then be a competitive round of grants so we should have projects ready to be submitted at that time, adding that there are several other grant programs available as well that we should look at.

 

Derek explained the way the 120 days work, stating that we can spend up to 10% of our allocation on administrative costs so a municipality is allowed to say they are going to move forward with this but we need funding now to help put that strategy together and said that’s where we can buy the 120 days and said we have $250,000 up front to get started and said the city has $1,300,000. Mayor Schmitt inquired about partnering with the county with Scott Matejov responding that the county received about $600,000 and have allocated that money for specific projects on county buildings. Mayor Schmitt asked for this committee to be updated on what the county is doing so we don’t duplicate efforts.  Derek stated that the Dept. of Energy will be critical of every application and said the county may not receive approval for all of their internal projects.  Derek said we need representatives from Focus on Energy, the Homebuilders, WPS and other entities in the working group to look at projects.

 

Discussion ensued regarding critical dates with June 25th as the date to notify the Dept. of Energy that we are moving forward with this and will then have 120 days after they accept our application to have a formal strategy.  Mayor Schmitt inquired about the timeline for bringing a paid staff member and notifying the Dept. of Energy sooner, with Derek stating that as soon as we notify the Dept. of Energy they will give us $250,000 and 10% can be used for administrative costs. Sue Perz stated Focus on Energy has dollars available for dedicated resources toward energy efficiency for employees but isn’t certain if this has come down to government yet.   John Gosling, Career Counselor with Wisconsin Job Service commented that there are a lot of skilled workforce out of work and inquired if this committee would take solicitations for making homes more energy efficient?  Derek responded that this is something that will need to be discussed and said part of the national initiative through the stimulus is to create jobs and that will be on the front of everyone’s mind as we decide as a group to move forward.   Mayor Schmitt responded that we have $2 million coming in for neighborhood stabilization and explained that this committee is the Sustainable Greater Green Bay Committee and said there is another pool of money coming in quickly and this committee will need to be in on the discussion how much we’re going to put in a house and who we’re going to target.  He added that there will be jobs out there and it will need to be a partnership with Job Service, the Homebuilders and this committee to coordinate it. 

 

Ned inquired if any of the funds are allocated for the schools?  Derek responded that the school district has already received funds, with Doug Daul confirming that the school district received $4 million. Derek will send an email out regarding a meeting to discuss stimulus projects.  Nic offered the assistance of the Planning Dept., wherever Derek needed them, and Jeff De Laune offered to sit on a working committee as well.

 

3.    Committee reports

·         Improving City Hall – Derek said they don’t have a list of anything yet but have ideas.  He said that the energy audit is completed and we informally know what the footprint is.  He said we know what we are using in terms of basic services for gas and water.  He added that this Block Grant program is going to become the priority over pretty much everything, so he won’t have another update for a while.

·         Local Food – Karen reported that they are a bit stalled with the community gardens project and said they tried to partner with the Parks Department and have conversation with the Extension Office and said their conversation spiraled downward on lack of money and manpower and not interested in adding to their workload.  She said they are doing a container garden project with the Navarino Neighborhood Assoc. and will be doing a tomato container garden and story time. Mayor Schmitt said he wasn’t aware that the community garden ran into a stall and said we have many patches of land in the city that are not being used. He stated that his mother-in-law wanted to help with the garden and teach people to can food and said he is disappointed to hear this and inquired about the roadblocks.  Karen responded that it was in allocating people to till the land, preserving greenspace, the cost to leave the lot alone will be the same as if they do something with it, and contention between who should be responsible for it; the Parks Dept. or the Extension.  Karen again stated that the Extension said there is no money and no manpower.  Nancy mentioned other issues brought up included not being the Parks responsibility and figuring out mowing and watering. Nancy said the last meeting with Parks was that there should be a connection with the Extension.  Nancy stated that they were frustrated after putting in all the time and effort and being ready to kick this off.

 

Discussion ensued regarding available property in downtown, neighborhood associations and some businesses such as Gauthier may be willing to till the land. Rich commented that without involvement from people in the neighborhood, community gardens do not happen. Comments that soil testing is needed and the Mayor was hoping for a community garden this year but said if not, next year.  Nancy said they are still hoping to do a passive garden but it won’t be able to happen until July and said they had everything in motion until their last meeting with the Extension, with the Mayor commenting that they do need the Extension and their leadership in telling us what to plant, where and commented that planting needs to be done soon. Ned stated that there are several people in the Downtown and Navarino Neighborhood Associations who would be interested in helping with a garden and suggested contacting Paul Hartman. The Mayor summed up by confirming that this committee is committed to the concept of a community gardens, urban gardens partnered with the Extension, the Neighborhood Associations and the RDA and said he would work with the Extension.  Karen stated that the Food Group is working on another project to do something larger like a farmers park.  Ned and Amanda are working on a school passive garden.  Derek stated that they have an EPA Grant to cover soil testing.

 

Paul Linzmeyer inquired about the powers to be at the Extension that they may say “yes”?  Karen responded that it is a budget issue with Nancy commenting that they did go to the top. Further discussion included the possibility of partnering with Troy Gardens and the comment that there is still time to plant. The Mayor inquired where the cost lies; in the tilling, the education, and said sometimes we have the money but not the staff time.  Nancy responded that they need one responsible person who would champion the garden and explain the basic rules, etc. and Bill at the Extension cannot do it.  Comment was made that fencing and water were cost factors.  Karen said they do not have a business plan in place but have all the information for someone to put one together. Paul offered to contact the Extension or look at alternative sources for funding with Karen stating that three people from the Navarino Neighborhood contacted her when a flyer was sent out. The Mayor summed up by saying that we cannot make this happen in ten days but said next year we will be really ready and said they can promote this concept in fall at the MNLC meetings.  Rich again commented that the stumbling block will be to find ten people in the neighborhood to commit. John Gosling stated that at a meeting tomorrow night with the Seeds Group on the book discussion group on The Natural Step would be the perfect place to get 7 or 10 people to sign up for supporting community gardens.  Paul Rentmeester stated that we can continue working on the other things we have to have in place such as fencing.  Nancy stated that she was very pleased to hear the discussion on this issue and doesn’t believe they will have difficulty getting 10 people interested and this is the time to do this.  She invited other committee members to join this effort.  Paul stated that it’s news to him that the Extension is not supporting this and that the City Council needs to approve it and is disappointed to hear about this obstacle at this late date.

 

Sustainable Building – John Miller.  John was not present.  Nancy stated that this committee hasn’t met and guessed that they will need to find out where they’re going with their mission and said the Green Building Committee was talking about the Quality of Life Survey and do people even get what green building is?  Paul Linzmeyer said he spoke to the Fox Valley and Green Bay Chapter of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance in Appleton and wondered if they could engage that group to join this initiative.  Nancy said they did speak at one of their committee meetings and talked about the possibility of forming a chapter here and didn’t recall the reason it didn’t go forward. She indicated that John Miller is very busy and doesn’t have time for this committee.

 

Communication and Marketing – Lisa Evenson reported that they have been working on a new website design and are looking at restructuring the whole website and making it more user friendly so people can find things more easily.  She passed around the draft of the website and welcomed comments.  She stated that a comment was made about possibly changing the tagline “preserving green in Green Bay” and said we may want to make it more general. Lisa will email the link to committee members with Paul commenting that Adrienne was very helpful.

 

·         Community Events – La Vita Local – Karen reported that they are moving forward on this festival which will be held on October 3rd and 4th and said they are looking for interactive, educational booths and partnering with any associations, stating that they want the event to be fun and not handing out paper. 

 

4.    Review mission

Paul Linzmeyer reviewed the minutes from the special meeting held on May 8th where Laura Warner from UWGB took them through a facilitative process.  The thought was to continue this discussion today but stated that he is not prepared.  Paul Rentmeester stated that it was a very in depth, awesome meeting and a good starting point. He feels another meeting soon is crucial to follow up and make sense of it.  P. Linzmeyer said having a facilitator was great and he will contact Laura to see if she would be willing to come back.  J. Gosling stated that  Beau Mitchell from the College of Menominee Nation’s Sustainability Institute came to his Job Club a few weeks ago and talked about their sustainability program and may be willing to speak to this group.  R. Krieg stated that he is a bit frustrated that the original Task Force members spent nine months writing the report which had already been written and said he feels we have lost focus on many things in the report that the committee were going to look at doing.  P. Linzmeyer said we are here now and have to get our hands around this and said we’re in a different place.  He stated that we want to take a more aggressive advisory role to things rather than just doing projects and said we need to look at the direction we want to take this city and give recommendations for the direction we wish the city to go.  He indicated that he met with the Mayor before that document was written and recommended the same approach and said he was impressed with the group of people they gathered to write that document.  He said we need to talk about what people we need to recruit to this committee to make sure we are filling the gaps of skill sets and influence that are not on here today.  He summed up by stating that we haven’t forgotten about that document and if we do, he asked that Rich continue to remind him.  Nancy commented that it’s a living document and some of the things we are doing are add-ons to the original ideas. Rich stated that he liked the original committees such as the Transportation Committee and said we’ve lost some of that.  P. Linzmeyer responded that there is now a regional transportation committee who are very aggressive and looking at rail issues and regional bus service. 

 

J. Gosling stated that he attended a meeting of the Valley Transit people a month ago and was told that Green Bay is not ready to go regional.  Paul stated that he is very much aware of this and we need to convince them that we are ready.

 

6.    Other issues allowed by law

Paul will doodle to see when Laura Warner is available to meet again.  Tom Duffy, the marketing person who attended the meeting wants to be included again.  Jeff De Laune said the mission is a necessary first step but we need to put as much effort into operationalizing this because members of the first group burned out.  Paul agreed that this initiative will not go far without resources and agrees that a paid staff person is necessary. John was thanked for attending and giving his input.  Paul stated that the Job Center in its new location is a much more welcoming place.  John mentioned the Natural Step For Communities Book and said it starts tomorrow at the De Pere Library and Rich mentioned the Transitioning to an Oil Free Future.

 

7.    Adjourn

The meeting adjourned, with the next meeting being held on June 18th at 3:00.