Citizens' Environmental Commission

MINUTES CITY OF DEKALB CITIZENS’ ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION January 4, 2018 The Citizens’ Environmental Commission held a regular business meeting on January 4, 2018, in Council Chambers at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 South Fourth Street, DeKalb, Illinois, 60115. Chairman Kenney called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. A. ROLL CALL The following members of the Citizens' Environmental Commission were present (indicated by x): _ Mark Hein X Dan Kenney (Chair) X Ken Koch X Clare Kron X Bill Oleckno X Sharon Skala X Ann Shult The following ex-officio members were present (indicated by x): X Amy Doll, DeKalb Park District X Mike Holland, Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District X Melissa Burlingame, Northern Illinois University X Michelle Gibson, DeKalb County Health Department Chair Kenney announced that Michael Lundgren has resigned from the commission due to other personal commitments. B. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION - To approve the agenda. Ms. Shult moved to approve the motion, seconded by Ms. Skala. Agenda was approved unanimously by voice vote. Chair Kenney added the following: New Business – Approval of the 2018 Goals and Objectives Old Business - Addition of a presentation by 350Kishwaukee The amended agenda was approved unanimously. C. PUBLIC COMMENT None Citizen Environmental Commission January 4, 2018 Page 2 of 4 D. APPROVAL of MINUTES from December 7, 2017 Ms. Skala moved to approve the minutes of December 7, 2017, seconded by Mr. Oleckno. Minutes were approved unanimously by voice vote. Mr. Holdeman thanked Mr. Oleckno for proofing the minutes. Ms. Gibson submitted some minor changes that were added with unanimous approval of the Commission. E. NEW BUSINESS 1. Acceptable methods of raising funds for the CEC. Dean Frieders, the City Attorney, attended the meeting and discussed different approaches to fundraising. He also provided Commission members with a memo outlining some important items to consider, such as the need for approval of the City Council, possible problems working with not-for-profit agencies, and the required regulatory paperwork to create a separate 501c3 agency. Chair Kenney asked if we could apply for a grant separate from a fundraising activities. Mr. Frieders said yes, but the Commission still could not approve expenditures. Ms. Kron asked if this is connected to the City's budget. Mr. Frieders said yes but there is flexibility. A budget amendment could be made and a placeholder could be placed in the budget. Ms. Gibson asked if the money could be used by CEC for something else if it’s in the budget. Mr. Frieders said most grants are for a restricted purpose only. Ms. Gibson asked about a group donating to the Commission. Mr. Frieders said that is still expending funds. Mr. Koch recommended asking the Council for approval for each project. Mr. Frieders said the Commission can draft an ordinance and take it to the City Council with a budget amendment. Mr. Oleckno asked about liability issues. The City's finance department would handle all financial transactions, so this should not be a concern. Other related matters were discussed. Mr. Frieders will work with Mr. Holdeman on any recommendations to the City Council. 2. Chair Kenney handed out proposed 2018 CEC Goals and Objectives. Ms. Burlingame suggested adding 350Kishwaukee to item #3. Mr. Koch expressed concerned about placing an organization name in the the document. Ms. Shult suggested not naming any organizations to stay consistent with the rest of the document. Ms. Kron said on item #4 we need to work more on expanding our presence on the City’s website. Mr. Holdeman thought IT was making progress on this. Ms. Gibson asked about social media presence since currently we've only gone through the City’s website. Mr. Holdeman said Chair Kenney could schedule a meeting with Michael Lundgren, the former CEC member who worked on the website materials, and the IT Director to see what the current status is. Chair Kenney will make the revisions to the Goals and Objectives based on the discussion. Mr. Koch motioned to approve the document as amended and Ms. Kron seconded. The vote was unanimous in favor of the amended document. F. COMMISSION REPORTS 1. DeKalb County Health Department: Michelle Gibson Ms. Gibson reported that the department is working on year end reporting, contacting businesses on recycling, and working on the holiday lights program. 2 Citizen Environmental Commission January 4, 2018 Page 3 of 4 2. DeKalb Park District: Amy Doll Ms. Doll said the district is still working on developing funding and plans for the nature trail. This should be finalized by the end of February or sometime in March. The Park District has a 3-5 year strategic plan and an updated master plan for Kiwanis Park. At the last meeting the park board discussed the maintenance standard for ponds. As of now, ponds will not be cleaned chemically. She also mentioned that Live Healthy DeKalb County is not part of the Park District. There will be a Live Healthy DeKalb Meeting on Tuesday, January 9th at 4:30 at Hopkins Park. 3. Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District: Michael Holland Mr. Holland stated that construction projects are keeping the District very busy. He also mentioned that by Spring they are hoping to see the pollinators working. This project was discussed at a previous meeting. 4. NIU: Melissa Burlingame Ms. Burlingame noted that the NIU Green Team meets on Feb. 7th at 2:00 p.m. in the Glidden Room in the Holmes Student Center. They will be setting goals and delegating responsibilities related to the University's sustainability plan. A solar developer talked to them at the December meeting. Rebates are good in Illinois so developers want to work with the NIU group. Ms. Shult asked if there could be a collaboration to recruit some students from the Kishwaukee Education Consortium. Ms. Shult will e-mail Ms. Burlingame information she can take to the solar group. Ms. Gibson said there is a solar forum in Aurora on January 18th. She will send the information to be distributed to the Commission members. 5. City Staff Liaison: Tim Holdeman Mr. Holdeman gave a presentation on the solid waste contract plans. The City is in the process of preparing an RFP. The current vendor is Waste Management. The City can grant a 2 year extension to them with the current contract. Mr. Holdeman said they would like to conduct a community survey and get residents' opinions before they decide how to proceed. There are different concepts such as “pay as you throw,” based on the size of waste containers. Wheaton is doing a pilot program right now for “pay as you throw.” Mr. Koch said they are also starting a "pay by weight" in some cities. A family of 4 or more are contracted individually. They would like to launch the survey in mid-February and by mid-March have an RFP ready to go out. They hope to select a contractor by June. Mr. Holdeman asked the Commission if they felt the survey was a reasonable approach. The CEC agreed it was. G. OLD BUSINESS 1. City Sustainability Plan Updates Ms. Kron will be giving a presentation on this. It needs to be tabled until next month due to IT planning. 2. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement Dave Davis, a guest, asked to postpone his presentation related to the Agreement until next month due to the lateness of the hour. He did mention in regard to Mr. Holdeman's comments that Elgin has a curbside plan, and they pay for recycling. 3 Citizen Environmental Commission January 4, 2018 Page 4 of 4 3. Weed Ordinance Update Mr. Holdeman said they had their first meeting and have to meet again. He said they are moving in a positive direction. He will submit recommendations to the Commission for review once the City staff has completed a recommendation. H. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Kenney shared that the Economic Development Commission voted to have the smoking ordinance amended as it applies to outdoor patios. The CEC has recommended not changing the current ordinance so as to not allow smoking on outdoor patios. Kenney said you can attend the City Council meeting to speak about this on January 8th or later. Even if it is not on the agenda, you can still ask to comment on it. Dan Davis with 350Kishwaukee has a call into the Molly Center in the City of Elgin for the Climate Protection Agreement (see the United States Conference of Mayors' website). You can read the climate protection agreement there. You should be prepared to vote regarding your support for it at the next meeting. Chair Kenney wants to encourage the Commission to have the mayor sign it. He said global climate change is an important issue, and we need to take this seriously. The City needs to take into account the sustainability plan when making decisions. The Commission would like to know what responsibilities this would put on CEC if the mayor signs on. Mr. Holdeman will get the Pride Awards on the City Council agenda for January 24th if possible. Chair Kenney will contact the award winners so they can be there. Ms. Kron has not done the press release for the locations of the bag share program yet. Sycamore is pleased to have a location in their city now. Next Meeting: February 1, 2018, 4:00pm I. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Koch moved to adjourn the meeting, and Ms. Shult seconded. Motion carried unanimously by voice vote. Chair Kenney declared the meeting adjourned at 5:54 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Linda Odom, Recording Secretary (Minutes edited on 2/5/18 by Bill Oleckno, CEC member) 4