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| | 1. | | Roll call.
Minutes note: Meeting convened: 2:05 P.M.
Members present: Pam Fendt, Erick Shambarger, Rafael Smith, Barbara Richards, Ted Kraig, Nik Kovac, August Ball, Pamela Ritger, Janet Meissner Pritchard, Julie Kersick and Supreme Moore Omokunde
Members excused: George Martin and Ayanna Lee | | | |
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| | 2. | | Review and approval of the minutes of the November 11th meeting.
Minutes note: Ms. Richards moved for approval of the minutes. There were no objections. | | | |
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| | 3. | | Presentation by the county on their sustainability efforts, focusing specifically on clean energy initiatives.
Minutes note: Gordie Bennett, Milwaukee County Sustainability Director, present for this matter. He said that the county is working on equity and eradicating racism. Milwaukee County owns 579 buildings and has a fleet of 2,700 vehicles. Their primary source of fuel is fossil fuels and, due to its size, the county has a significant environmental impact. In 2017, the county board adopted a "green print" resolution which created his position and also supported the principals and targets of the Paris Climate Agreement. The zoo adopted a clean energy plan in 2016 which included a 5-year roadmap. In 2018, the airport adopted a sustainability plan relating to its buildings, but not the planes flying in and out of the airport as those are privately owned. Currently the county is focusing on reducing its energy use by 20% and has reduced energy use by 11% since 2014 in all county buildings combined. The county also created a position to retro-commission its existing buildings. They also have 9 solar projects and will be creating an initial fleet of 15 battery-electric buses, pending approval of the county board. The county also created a PACE program in 2018 to help finance private energy conservation efforts within the county. The bus proposal did pass the budget - it is currently a pilot project to see how it handles Wisconsin's weather conditions. Ms. Richards encouraged the county to talk to the DNC. Mr. Bennett thinks there are about 400 buses in the county fleet.
Mr. Bennett will be doing a carbon emissions inventory for 2016-2018 and from there a plan will be created to reduce emissions. The report will be include energy efficiency, renewable energy, fleet electrification and green infrastructure. There is a lot to be discussed with the county looking at a BRT system (rapid transit) and it is currently proposed to go down Wisconsin Ave. from the lakefront to the medical complex in Wauwatosa, if it proceeds. The routes are not fixed at this point and is tentative at this point in time. They are trying to balance stopping enough, but not too much, and where stops should be located. The BRT would have a dedicated lane and be able to move quickly even during rush-hour traffic.
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| | 4. | | Formation of work groups - how many and who should be on them.
Minutes note: Mr. Shambarger would like to hire a consultant to do an emissions inventory rather than use students as these are harder than one might think. There is also the question of a city-area or the county-area study. There are international standards on how things are measured. Decisions will need to be made at the work-group level. Ms. Fendt thinks the Task Force should be supporting the city and county inventories going forward and those can be moving forward as the Task Force meets.
Mr. Kraig said we need to have a plan to get to a 45% reduction because the current city plan does not get anywhere near that goal. Ms. Meissner Pritchard would like to see what challenges the existing plans have run into -- are they political? Financial? Ms. Richards thinks the community input should be at the begining to get buy-in and support as the recommendations will be inconvenient. Mr. Shambarger agreed that community input is need for policy, but not for doing an inventory and we do need to follow a standard. He would like to get a study of where we are using energy so informed decisions can be made. Sup. Moore Omokunde said the recommendations might be preliminary and might be outside of the scope of the county and the city. Mr. Bennett and Mr. Shambarger said WE Energies is moving towards renewable energy.
Ms. Richards was looking more at creating process work groups while Ald. Kovac was thinking more of topical work groups. Most members agreed with Ald. Kovac.
Transportation, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency would be 3 work groups with an overlaying equity emphasis for each one. Mr. Smith recommended a Jobs and Economic Equity work group. Ms. Kersick would prefer that every work group would have to address the economic equity aspect of it. Ms. Meissner Pritchard also noted that the Task Force needs to define what equity looks like and define when it is achieved.
Creation of an Emissions Assessment Work Group and Equity Work Group were two possible work groups.
Mr. Shambarger would like to focous on greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet the resolution goals.
Funding was another suggested work group.
Community Outreach was another suggested work group.
Mr. Shambarger moved to create an Emissions Assessment and Inventory Work Group composed of himself, Pamela Ritger, Barbara Richards, Gordie Bennett from Milwaukee County, Linda Frank from Milwaukee Climate and Economic Equity Alliance and Ted Kraig (added after the meeting). There were no objections to this motion.
Mr. Smith moved to create the Jobs and Equity Work Group composed of himself, August Ball, Supreme Moore Omokunde Julie Kersick, and Nadia Vogt and Lisa Sasso from MMSD, Pam Fendt and Barbara Richards (both added after the meeting). There were no objections to this motion.
Sup. Moore Omokunde moved to create the Education and Outreach to the Community Work Group composed of himself, Rafael Smith and Barbara Richards, as well as someone from MATC. There were no objections to the motion.
Ms. Meissner Pritchard moved to create the Finance and Funding Opportunity Work Group composed of herself, Pamela Ritger, Erick Shambarger and Ted Kraig (added after the meeting). There were no objections to the motion.
Ms. Elmer will e-mail work group membership to all members to see if any other members wished to join any group. Additional members could be added by contacting Ms. Elmer.
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| | 5. | | Job creation and economic equity aspect of the Task Force's charge.
Minutes note: This was discussed as part of item #4. | | | |
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| | 6. | | Creation of a six-month timeline.
Minutes note: Ms. Richards had submitted a timeline to the file, which hopefully will be followed as a base. | | | |
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| | 7. | | Public Comment.
Minutes note: Linda Frank - Milwaukee Climate and Economic Equity Alliance - she would like the city and county to declare a climate emergency. This will be an item for the next agenda. | | | |
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191039
| 0 | | Communication | Communication relating to the preliminary report and activities of the City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity. | | | |
Action details
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