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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-17-14 Bozeman Climate Partners Communications Working Group Minutes Bozeman Climate Partners Communications Working Group Meeting Minutes September 19, 2014, 9:00am, 121 N. Rouse Ave., Bozeman City Hall, Madison Room Members Attending: Jay Sinnott, Heather Higinbotham, Kristen Walser, Natalie Meyer (Staff Liaison) 1) Call to Order -9:00am 2) Changes to the Agenda – none 3) Public Comment- Kristen Walser and Rita Rozier are organizing the People’s Climate March & Speakout in Bozeman on Sunday, September 21st at 9:30am in conjunction with the UN Climate Summit to take place in New York. There are marches planned all across the country. The march will start at MSU MT Hall and end at the Courthouse on Main. They are seeking a sound system and volunteers to assist with the event. They have a videographer recording personal testimonies that will be uploaded to 350.org, Twitter, and Instagram. James Hanson will speak in New York the night of the 21st. 4) Minutes – Without a quorum, approval of 8/20/14 minutes was postponed. 5) Non-Action Items a) Rouse Justice Center Sustainability Update i) Meyer reported that preliminary whole-building energy modeling for the Rouse Justice Center indicates that the building will have an Energy Use Intensity (KBTU/SF/YR) of 49.2. The target EUI was 55-60. There are still more energy saving alternatives left to model. In addition, this number does not include the savings generated from the 50kW Photovoltaic array planned for the project. Adding the PV will reduce this number further. ii) The Design team is also considering the feasibility of including solar wall technology to pre-heat air entering the air handler. MSU has installed two systems, to date. We have organized a tour of their newest installation on the College of Business. This is schedule for September 25th at 8:30am. Members of the design team and city officials will be there. Members of Bozeman Climate Partners are also welcome. b) Hydro Resolution i) The Hydro Resolution was pulled off the September 8th agenda after the Public Service Commission announced that they would effectively make a decision on the matter on September 4th. Instead, the Mayor took language from the resolution and submitted a letter to the Public Service Commission in support of the hydro purchase. ii) The PSC voted in support of the acquisition on September 4th, 4-1. Roger Koopman voted yes. Final voting will take place later in the month. iii) Meyer noted that while no Commissioners had expressed opposition to the resolution, some expressed concern that the addition of hydro resources might dampen our climate and sustainability efforts. She believes that all possible solutions are needed if we wish to reach our climate goals. Sinnott said that the hydro acquisition might only make up for some of the ground we are losing as new growth occurs. c) Bozeman Energy Project/Energy Smackdown i) Higinbotham shared updates on the Bozeman Energy Project, including overarching updates to the Bozeman Climate Partners website. The changes will improve the look and readability of the website by using tabs and accordion features more prominently. She also shared images of the collateral pieces developed by Classic Ink, including participant window decals, outreach folders, letterhead, and business cards. Walser expressed enthusiastic support for the appearance of the website and collateral pieces. Sinnott asked for clarification on whether there would be two different levels to recognize participating businesses. Higinbotham said certified businesses will receive a wall plague if there is room in the budget. Meyer thought that there was definitely funding in the budget for this. We could also consider a secondary window decal to recognize businesses that go to the trouble to certify. Sinnott asked about the communication plan. Heather detailed that we have a draft press release that is nearly ready and that she has a Phase I list of target businesses that she is reaching out to prior to project launch so that we will have businesses signed on relatively quickly following launch. Walser asked if we planned to contact businesses that are not commonly recognized for their sustainability efforts. Heather shared the list of businesses and noted that we were trying to capture a variety of businesses from different sectors. Walser asked if we could contact Ferraro’s. Meyer thought this was a great idea. She also thought we should contact the Chamber of Commerce about participating, as well as Bozeman High School. She said that the High School Sustainability Club has a new advisor and President and they might be willing to help the High School certify under the program. ii) The Energy Smackdown is still on hold as we wait to learn from WattzOn whether or not they can automat downloads directly from NorthWestern Energy. There was also a considerable miscommunication from WattzOn on the pricing package. Higinbotham is waiting to hear back whether they would accept the price we can afford to pay for Bozeman to sign on. d) Investment Grade Audit & Performance Contract i) Meyer described that the contract has been delayed as Montana DEQ reviews our LED Streetlight project. We were pursuing financing through the Department of Commerce’s Board of Investments for this project. The DEQ is in the process of tightening the guidelines around Performance Contracting and the Streetlighting project is proving to be problematic. Meyer is meeting with the DEQ later in the week. ii) Sinnott asked about the new streetlights associated with new developments. He said retrofits can be expensive, but as new lights go in it is important to make sure they are installing better technology. Meyer explained that we had been fortunate that recent new developers have been willing to include LEDs in their parking lots and streetlighting. The Engineering Department is developing a request for proposals to contract with an engineering firm to help us develop the design guidelines for LEDs for all future developments. e) Green Fleet Assessment i) Meyer met with the Yellowstone Teton Clean Energy Coalition, our Public Works Director, and Streets Superintendent to go over fleet data. We see a great opportunity to improve the efficiency of our light-duty fleet. ii) Meyer reported that our Streets Superintendent recently replaced his City truck with a Prius. The idea was to start replacing vehicles at the top level in order to avoid any pushback from employees. f) Upcoming Events i) Odyssey Day, October 15th, 7:30pm at MSU’s Linfield Hall. There will be an electric car film screening and a panel discussion of local alternative fuel experts, including Deputy Mayor Carson Taylor. The goal is to help dispel myths about driving electric vehicles. ii) Community Choice Aggregation with Paul Fenn, October 1st in the afternoon. Meyer has been coordinating with Joan Kresich to host a few events in Bozeman with Paul Fenn. Paul was one of the innovators of Community Choice Aggregation, which is a hybrid energy procurement model in which units of government form an energy office to purchase energy independent of the utility, but they still use the utility’s infrastructure for delivery and distribution. Customers then have the option of opting out from using the local jurisdiction’s energy supply and continue using the utility’s supply. There will be an afternoon meeting with Paul Fenn at MSU and an evening meeting with Paul Fenn for the general public. Meyer is also considering holding an event for elected officials. She will send out event details later in the week. g) FYI/Discussion i) Next Regular Meeting: Wednesday, October 15th. (1) Meyer asked what other guests speakers might be of interest to the group. Jay suggested that we invite MSU Sustainability or the High School Sustainability Club as a means of exchanging information and building awareness around our efforts. SWMBIA Green Building Committee might be another group to invite. He said having a guest speaker will keep people’s interest in attending. ii) Meeting adjourned at 10:30am.