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Meeting ID: 871 5665 5349
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Minutes note: Attendance (12 members): Erick Shambarger (acting chair in absence of Pam Ritger), Linda Frank, Glen Radford, Cara Walls, Dan, Elizabeth Ward, Jennifer Evans, Kathleen Ellis, Rock Ridolfi, Victor Nino, Jermaine Alexander - Sherman Park Community Association; Freida Webb - NAACP (10:20) | | | |
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| | 1. | | Minute taker for this meeting. Following info to be recorded:
• Call to order time.
• Roll call
• Actions (with votes) if appropriate (including approval of prior meeting minutes)
• Appearances
• Adjournment time
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| | 2. | | Approve minutes from 8.4.21 Green Buildings Work Group meeting.
Minutes note: On motion of Hittman and no objections, the minutes were approved
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| | 3. | | Update on partnership with the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative
Minutes note: Shambarger - Health Dept. reached out to him on combining lead abatement and efficiency work and had recommended Green & Healthy Homes of Baltimore, Greenandhealthyhomes.org; ; ECO and Health Dept. each paid $5,000 on the contract with Green & Healthy Homes; they are providing a report today; we anticipate guidance on being successful with rental situations (homeownership rate is only 40% in high energy burden neighborhoods); asthma, pest infestations and mold are health issues that are not being adequately identifies and addressed; coordination of various homes programs will be a challenge
Focus on Energy could provide some of the funding per Radford; there are 2 programs, one is income-based and the other provides rebates regardless of income; however, ECO had a collaboration between ME2 and Focus but participation was not high possibly due to barriers like income verification barrier, paperwork and waiting for approval Alexander has been running a home improvement program for the last 10 years – he cites barriers such as ownership/titling issues, the income eligibility is unduly low, insurance which may demand that a roof be replaced, as a result, about 50% are turned down
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| | 4. | | Update on ARPA funding for energy efficiency and clean energy jobs
Minutes note: The mayor’s Stronger Summer $96 Million ARPA proposal includes $5 M energy efficiency program and $2.7M green jobs workforce development initiative, items which came about due to the TF work
Slido poll was conducted on details of the home energy efficiency program
About 80% want both owner-occupied and rental properties to be covered
Discussion: loans for “responsible landlords” could be explored; homeowners may be more invested in the property; consider a higher % allocation to homeowners; landlord could be required to contribute a portion of the money; still, we do need to provide ways for tenants to benefit; consider the impact on landlords of the moratorium on evictions; City should monitor building maintenance
Prioritizing recipients - High lead levels with children under 6 (although, often the children are spending much time at the grandparents’ home) – 56%, retirees and disabled – 33%, first come first served – 11%
Discussion: Strong coordination between weatherization and asthma has been found by EPA and reported in a recent article and has been found in the schools as well – weatherization and ventilation must be combined although the fan will require energy, still resulting in a sizeable reduction in energy and positive impacts on asthma and lead; elderly have challenges with property tax increases on a fixed income; Coggs and Stamper are looking into expanding a displacement fund for owner-occupied residents; a suggestion is that Lead abatement and elderly and disabled both be prioritized; We want to reach those in between the low-income weatherization program and ME2
There did not seem to be a real consensus on this question of establishing priorities.
***Neighborhood Assn partnerships will be important
Income eligibility or not? Our Task Force ARPA recommendation stated that high burden census tracts would qualify w/o income eligibility
What improvements should be covered?
Heat pumps would be very expensive and take up a lot of the funding; Ellis suggested prioritizing items like insulation, air sealing, ventilation plus health and safety first; later the upgrades in heating and cooling could come
Type of financial assistance – Grants, 63%; cost-share, about 35%; deferred loan repaid at point of sale, about 15%; zero interest loan, not selected
Discussion: How about cost-share for landlords, grant for homeowners?
Contractor selection - “City selects” was preferred over “customer selects”
Discussion: There are pre-qualifications for City contractors and these can apply to customer selection as well; contractors have problems when City pays at project completion and they don’t have up front funds for materials, etc.; look for contractors in the city
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| | 5. | | Update on Commercial Buildings recommendations
Minutes note: Haeffel reported on the progress of the Code Council; the Council is to be completing their review of recommendations in November; one year then to write the code language; unknown which committee this will go to then; next, the residential code council will begin work; when recommendations get to the legislature, some contractors groups and builders groups will lobby in opposition to the changes; no lobbying group is specifically dedicated to lobbying in favor; what about ASHRAE? Most conversations up to this point have been supportive; objections will come at a later stage; WI Local Governments Climate Coalition (WLGCC) submitted a statement of support; getting positive media coverage could be the best strategy; Midwest Decarbonization Coalition has been approached but it’s too early to say if they will be involved
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| | 6. | | Suggestions of future meeting agenda items.
Minutes note: Tabled. | | | |
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| | 7. | | Adjourn.
Minutes note: Adjourned at 11:30 am on motion of Hittman.
Minutes provided by Pam Ritger. | | | |
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