Video Description:
Sustainability Advisory Board Meeting-September 15, 2021
Note: The following is the output of transcribing from a video recording. Although the transcription, which was done with software, is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or [software] transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
Read along below or follow along here: https://otter.ai/u/UPYpcLq23Qtct4JuIuooF4qQk10
Unknown Speaker 0:00
would now like to call the September 15 2021 Longmont sustainability advisory board meeting to order. Could we please start with a roll call?
Unknown Speaker 0:09
Yes, Kate collards in here, Adam Reed here.
Unknown Speaker 0:16
Charles Musgrave
Unknown Speaker 0:20
and Robert Davidson and I got emails from Mary Lynn, Jim Metcalf and cable Meyer that they’ll not be able to attend tonight. For staff members. We have Lisa Knobloch. Yeah. Andy Noble. Here. I’m Tim Ellis here. And Heather McIntyre is here and Councilmember Christiansen is here, right. Jerry afriforum. Fantastic.
Unknown Speaker 0:52
Thank you. Um, we acknowledge that Longmont sits on the traditional territory of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, ute and other indigenous peoples. We honor the history and the living and spiritual connection that the first peoples have with this land. It is our commitment to face the injustices that happened when the land was taken, and to educate our communities, ourselves and our children to ensure that these in justices do not happen again.
Unknown Speaker 1:24
Yes, Adam,
Unknown Speaker 1:25
I’ll just say something on that note, I was delighted to see that Walmart announced in their newsletter that they formed this sister city relationship with the Northern Arapaho tribe actually found that out when I was up in Wyoming, so that was delightful to hear.
Unknown Speaker 1:41
That is great. Yeah, Polly. Thanks for pointing that out.
Unknown Speaker 1:49
To as dude, they’re coming down on Saturday, and there’ll be a public ceremony at the museum. I think that’s open to the public at three o’clock. Okay. And so if you would, like, you should check with the museum, but I think that’s open to the, to the public. And they’re really, you know, wonderful people. And it’s a very long drive. So. But it really is. It’s very nice that we can that our children can go back and forth. I hope that this continues after, you know, for forever. I don’t want it to be yet another bunch of broken promises, right. As we know, the history of racial relationships.
Unknown Speaker 2:54
And you you worked on that, to make that happen. Polly. Polly, is that true? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 2:59
yeah. And I’ve been up to the Wind River Reservation. And that was, it was very, very nice. They were extremely generous to us, they put us up and they, we did a sweat lodge and only one person keeled over. So you know, he didn’t die. Good. It was it was very, very nice to have a chance to talk to various people and to meet the kids. The kids have come down one time, but that was before COVID. So hopefully, by this spring, we can do that again and keep that relationship up. Because I it’s really, really important that we learn to understand other people’s experiences. And theirs is the experience of Native Americans is something that I don’t think anybody can picture unless they are.
Unknown Speaker 4:00
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for your work on that. Adam, you’re
Unknown Speaker 4:03
just a quick clarifying question. How late will that run? Because we have that Fiesta food truck rally. And I don’t know if it’s possible to catch the Walmart museum event after that.
Unknown Speaker 4:18
Um, I don’t know I know that. You could, as I said, you can probably check the museum but I what I have done is we have a lunch with them. And then we have a ceremony that I thought was public, it’s at three o’clock. I don’t think it’ll be very long, maybe just 45 minutes or so. And then we have a dinner with them, which is really I hope I get a chance to talk to people so
Unknown Speaker 4:45
yeah, it’s three o’clock at the museum but also the information I have doesn’t say how late it goes until so. Yeah. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 4:58
Thank you. Thank you, Polly, for all of that all of your work and all that background.
Unknown Speaker 5:03
Sure, my honor.
Unknown Speaker 5:07
Okay, the next item is the approval of the minutes from the last meeting. Does anybody have any amendments? Or Would anyone like to make a motion to approve?
Unknown Speaker 5:21
I’ll move that we approve the minutes from last week’s meeting as presented. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 5:27
Any second?
Unknown Speaker 5:29
Oh, second, that motion.
Unknown Speaker 5:31
Great. All in favor? Thank you. Okay. It is now time for the public invited to be heard. Do we have any one? We
Unknown Speaker 5:44
don’t have anyone who’s joined us so we can move on?
Unknown Speaker 5:48
Okay, great. Are there any revisions to the agenda or documents that need to be submitted? from staff? No. Great. Okay. On to general business. Lisa. That’s you. The go easy resolution?
Unknown Speaker 6:06
Yeah. Excellent. So um, we have a couple of other agenda items that were supposed to be on tonight, but got bumped, because they weren’t quite ready yet. So when was the sustainability tax priorities and they actually haven’t released the application yet. So we will have time to come back to you in the October meeting for that. And then Tim also had something that we put on the October agenda. So tonight’s meeting might be pretty, pretty short and sweet. But we’ll see. You never know. I’m going to pull up this presentation and see if I can. Heather, are you going to pull it up? Sorry, I realized listening to her that probably makes more sense. Well, there we go perfectly.
Unknown Speaker 7:02
You can see it now. Lisa?
Unknown Speaker 7:03
Yes, yes, thank you. Um, alright, so I want to chat with you all about the go EV resolution. That is going to cancel on September 28. So you can go to the next slide. So the goal of these cities is actually a statewide initiative to encourage cities and counties to accelerate electrification in the transportation sector. The resolution itself represents a commitment to develop policies and strategies to meet city’s emissions reduction goals, and provide cleaner air more affordable transportation and leadership for greater Evie adoption nationwide. And the impetus of it was really to win the state came out with their ed plan with a goal of getting a million ETS on the road in Colorado by 2030. So this initiative really came out of what can local cities and other jurisdictions do to help meet that statewide goal. Today there are eight Evie cities are kind of the folks that you would think of that are involved in a lot of these areas. So Avon for cons, Boulder, county, Denver, City of Boulder, Summit County, and the city of golden they’re all designated now as go Evie cities. And now Longmont has an opportunity to do that as well, you can go to the next slide. So just a bit of background transportation is one of the 10 topic areas in the sustainability plan. This is our objective here. And these are the targets that are noted in the sustainability plan and where we’re at in meeting those targets. The first one kind of has that red X on it. Because we have, we’ve had quite a bit of challenge and internal conversations about how do we best measure equitable access to transportation infrastructure. And we’ve been working with some of our GIS folks to try to map things like a Walk Score and bike score and sidewalk, completed sidewalks and things like that. But we’ve just really, we haven’t really landed on really good ways to do that. So we do hope to have that better defined as we get into the sustainability plan and envision Longmont up updates next year, and really use the transportation roadmap, which you all are familiar with, to inform that, since that was really rooted in equity and I think will help us better define those equity metrics with regards to transportation. We’re doing pretty well in the air quality area. Other than ozone, which as I’m sure you all know, we are not doing well on in the Front Range in general is in not in compliance in terms of ozone. And then the third target came out of our greenhouse gas inventory and we’re really holding steady there but we’ve also modified that target a bit which I’ll talk about shortly. You can move to the next slide please. These are the strategies that are already listed in the sustainability plan and I’ve highlighted just the ones that are related to EBs which are looking at both our fleet and then also encouraging Eevee uptake in the community and improve charging infrastructure. And these got incorporated into the transportation roadmap.
Unknown Speaker 10:15
Slide.
Unknown Speaker 10:18
And then just a reminder, if you all recall, easy’s particularly focused on charging infrastructure in the downtown area was also identified as a priority within the Climate Action Task Force recommendations. So there’s a lot of focus on Eevee seeking, go to the next slide. And then, as I mentioned just a minute ago, we kind of modified that transportation emissions target, to be more of a straight target for greenhouse gas emissions related to the transportation sector, rather than a mobile fuel consumption target, which was just confusing to folks. So it’s essentially that the, that the target itself really hasn’t changed us more the way that we’re measuring it, and the units associated with that has changed. So it’s really reducing transportation emissions 40% by 2030, and 100% by 2050. And that’ll help meet our overall greenhouse gas reduction goals. The two main components of that, and most of you haven’t seen this slide, it was part of my climate action update a couple months ago. But just to reiterate, the two main components within that are increasing EBS, which we have a goal of 30% by 2030, and 90%. By 2015, we’re at 2.13%. So we have a long, long way to go on that front. And then also increasing mode share, which we were actually doing pretty well in 2019. But as you can imagine, COVID has really hit that sector heart, so it’s going to take a while for us to recover from
Unknown Speaker 11:53
that.
Unknown Speaker 11:56
And you can go to the next slide. So in order to create a really coordinated action plan to achieve our goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, we applied for and got funds from the Buller county sustainability tax to develop the equitable, carbon free transportation roadmap. And as we’ve talked to you about before, the roadmap really pulls together a lot of the transportation and equity related plans to really give us this roadmap on how we can get to those transportation goals and establishes three base priorities and for equity priorities, priorities that really help to support the creation of a healthy living environment that effectively engages all members of our community. Sorry, um, and in so I’ve marked just on this graphic here, all of the places that are related to EBU. So you can see it really shows up and builds upon each other as we get toward that goal in 2050. And one of the strategies that was identified was a go EV resolution, and we had initially identified that for 2023. But we actually approached from, by some folks from sweet, if you all are familiar with that organization. It’s the Southwest energy efficiency project. And they do a lot of technical support and research around all things energy and kind of electrification oriented work. So they actually approached us and they said, hey, there’s a lot going on in this area. The last week of September is Ed, Dr. Week, which you all may be familiar with. And it’s a good opportunity to bring this resolution forward. So we decided to go ahead and jump on that opportunity. So you can go to them. Thank you. So the Longmont going up resolution details last month leadership on climate action and our commitment to developing those policies and strategies to meet our transportation electrification goals in the areas of Fleet public transportation, ride sharing, and private vehicles as well. The resolution was included in your packet. But these are just I just wanted to touch on the highlights that are included in the resolution. It does lay out some specific targets, where we could identify them, as well as more of a general commitment to pursue policies and strategies in these areas. And then really essential focus on on equity using those equity priorities that were defined in the roadmap.
Unknown Speaker 14:44
We can go to the next slide.
Unknown Speaker 14:47
So as I mentioned, the resolution will go in front of council as part of the consent agenda on September 28. So we won’t have a presentation that goes along with that, but I will be available in case Council has questions on that. And then as I mentioned that is electric drive week. So hopefully, hopefully council will pass the resolution it will give us a good opportunity to talk up the work that we’re doing around ease. And then sustainable resilient Longmont is hosting an Eevee drive event on Sunday, October 3, and we’ll have a table with that event and Tim from LPC is going to be speaking at that event as well. So hopefully that’ll also be a good opportunity for us to talk about that. Longmont is hopefully at that point ago, egede City. We also have the DLP grant, which we’ve talked to you all about before. And a follow up plan from that we have not heard back yet on that grant. But hopefully, pretty soon in the next couple of weeks, hopefully we should know by the next staff meeting coming up in October. But regardless, we really have that really helped us build a pretty strong foundation and a pretty strong team internally with some external partners to pursue a lot of that work in the in the transportation roadmap, particularly regarding transportation, electrification. So we’re really excited about all the work that’s happening in that area. And then we’ll also to continue with the roadmap implementation.
Unknown Speaker 16:15
Next slide. Alright, so
Unknown Speaker 16:18
that’s pretty much it. Um, I do apologize that the timing didn’t really work out for us to get more direct feedback from you all in terms of crafting the resolution, itself, but it did seem like an opportunity that really made sense for us to take advantage of with regards to the timing. But I would like to be able to know in the communication, the council communication that will go along with the resolution that the sustainability advisory board is supportive of the resolution itself. So I do want to one, just get any feedback or questions or comments, but also hopefully have you all, give me the okay to include your your support in that communication. And there will definitely be more opportunities to craft specific targets and action as we get into the updates of the sustainability plan and envision one month, next year as well. So if folks have questions, kind of Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 17:12
Yeah, at least I just like to say that this resolution is really impressive. And it’s great that the city is considering it. And I especially like how highlight some of the steps that Walmart already took. So that’s great to see. I do have a question, are we able to provide some feedback on the resolution itself? Or is that pretty much carved in stone right now,
Unknown Speaker 17:31
it’s pretty much it’s, it’s we had to get it done and get it to our legal folks, with time to get it finalized and go out and the council packet. So it’s pretty well set in stone, as it is that said, I will say please do give me your feedback. Because if we can use that to inform what we do, kind of with follow up steps that’s still helpful for us.
Unknown Speaker 17:52
Okay, I did have one comment, apart from like, it looks really great. In terms of the section that said, I think it was about zero emission vehicles, there was something about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. And that caught my attention because I’ve worked on those before. And from my experience, I’d recommend removing that from the section. And now I think that might sound pedantic because everything’s written really well. But the main reason is that those cars are distraction from more effective solutions, like battery powered electric vehicles. And like we’ve we’ve talked about, like, how electric vehicles are really showing promise in the market. But in contrast, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, those are not so reliable. And so like, just a little small point that, yeah, attention.
Unknown Speaker 18:41
I appreciate that. And I have a similar thought. And the only reason we actually left it in there when we were talking to the Folkestone sweep is because they are included in the definition of login and hybrid electric vehicles that the state uses. So if we’re using the same terminology, they’re part of that umbrella. But I think that that’s helpful for information when we really get down to what are we actually going to prioritize that we will get to choose locally whether or not we pursue hydrogen as an option? Sure.
Unknown Speaker 19:11
My understanding is there isn’t any plan in place to have a hydrogen infrastructure for fueling cars? Not that I’ve heard of. Yeah, yeah. Other applications like aerospace and local power is a totally different story. Thanks,
Unknown Speaker 19:29
Charles. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 19:31
so I actually had an issue with the same whereas Adam had I so so just first, quickly, a significant fraction of my day job is spent on working for the Department of Energy on how to produce hydrogen. And I would second Adams comments about hydrogen. So I have to be careful about that because I’m doing research on it and want to make it happen. But at the same time, I don’t think this belongs there in this in this initiative or this resolution. The other thing actually is, I have a much stronger opinion on actually is that plug in hybrid electric vehicles are absolutely not emission free vehicles. And 90% of the time they’re running on fossil fuels. Most people who buy plug in hybrid electric vehicles do not plug them in. And they are also a distraction. as Adam commented for the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, they’re also a distraction. And they’re, unfortunately, they have typically seven kilowatt hour batteries in them, for example, somewhere in that range, seven to 10 kilowatt hour battery, so it’s incredibly small batteries. So it’s a real, they’re basically a fossil fuel vehicle with a big battery pack, a big alternator. And a good electric vehicle will have anywhere from 60 to 100 kilowatt hour battery in it, you know, somewhere in the order of 10 times the size of a plug in hybrid electric vehicle. So, so plug in hybrid, on the hybrid, when they say hybrid, really, it’s 90% of fossil fuel, gasoline powered vehicle, and maybe a 10% electric vehicle. So I I very strongly disagree with that aspect of the resolution.
Unknown Speaker 21:30
All right. Thanks, Charles. I appreciate that. Any other questions or comments?
Unknown Speaker 21:38
Yeah, I had two questions. First one that was on my mind, I think there was something about the social cost of carbon. And I don’t think this needs to change in the resolution at all. But I’m just curious, what costs are you going to use because like that can be anywhere from like on one end to like, a carbon tax to anywhere on the other side of the spectrum, which is like, including all the known and anticipated costs of carbon. So I’m curious what the plans are there to calculate the number?
Unknown Speaker 22:08
Yeah, and I wouldn’t say we have specific plans at that point in time, if we did do that, we would probably utilize the current number that the EPA is using, which I haven’t looked at for a while, but last time, I did see it was somewhere in the 40 to $50. range. So that’s what we would probably realize.
Unknown Speaker 22:33
So
Unknown Speaker 22:35
my thought is about this the the equity piece, and it’s kind of broad, and I just, I assume that as this happens there, the details will be very
Unknown Speaker 22:51
forthcoming. Yeah. Yeah. And resolutions generally, are pretty broad, their commitments, they’re pretty high level. So as we get into the actual implementation, as we dig into, what are we going to actually do, we’ll utilize, particularly resources, like the equitable climate action teams, equity lens, and equity recommendations that they put together for the climate action recommendations report. We’ve been working a lot on those internally, particularly with the work that France has been doing, and she’s not here tonight to chat about those. But we’ve been really building those up. And we’ve been supporting different folks across the organization who are implementing this type of work to really use those those criteria for the implementation or design of any strategies. So that very much would be really that when we would bring that component in, but the criteria those four, equity priorities are kind of the starting point for transportation as identified in the book. Okay, yeah, so that comment?
Unknown Speaker 23:56
Yeah, so my follow up question is how, how long are the buses going to remain free of charge?
Unknown Speaker 24:06
That’s a good question. Probably. Do you have the answer to that?
Unknown Speaker 24:11
Um, but you you are on
Unknown Speaker 24:15
mute now.
Unknown Speaker 24:21
Yeah, I’m hyperterminal. Thank buttons. I’m one of the people who promoted that idea. So I do hope that the next it’s a year to year thing. So I would rather have council make at least a five year commitment because that takes it out of the realm of politics and other things and it isn’t a year to year thing it’s, it’s what the people of this town need it when we did that. It Up the participant the ridership by 30%. People would love to have be able to ride the bus but they can’t afford If it’s like $5 each way, that’s that’s $50 a week and that’s crazy. Anyway, so it depends upon who’s on City Council. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 25:14
Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions or comments for Lisa? Okay. Um, is anyone willing to make a motion to that? on this? It will support this that our name can be added to the supporters list.
Unknown Speaker 25:45
Yeah. Whoo. So.
Unknown Speaker 25:48
Okay. Second,
Unknown Speaker 25:51
read I, I do have a question, Lisa. Like, when it’s carved in stone, does that mean like counsel can still mark it up? I guess I don’t know how this resolution process works. And full
Unknown Speaker 26:02
Sure, yeah, counsel can always make recommendations to staff to make changes to the resolution. So we I mean, we could do that. The other thing that I will say, you know, for better or worse is, our resolutions are not binding. It’s not an ordinance that actually lays something in, in code. So they’re generally used as, as guidelines for what staff does in terms of implementation. So let’s have that city council definitely, as council members can make recommendations of staff to make changes before it’s finalized. But then we would have to bring something back for them
Unknown Speaker 26:38
to vote on? Probably. Probably.
Unknown Speaker 26:47
So yes, when you do a resolution, you do have to write it, run it by the legal department so that they make sure there’s nothing untoward. So it takes a little bit of time. But once it gets to Council, it also, you know, if you have suggestions, send them to me, and I will try to add them, then it will have to go through, well, if it’s a resolution, it just can be passed. But if we make changes, then it has to come back. But it will still be passed if the majority agrees. But you do have to be sure in every stage that you’re not doing something that’s illegal. Yeah. And that was time because we have a fairly limited legal department for the city.
Unknown Speaker 27:40
The thing that I can definitely do is in the council communication, if assuming that you all vote to support it, I can I can definitely make a note, based on your comments tonight saying that sustainability advisor, advisory board members noted the need to prioritize electric vehicles over hydrogen or plug in hybrid vehicles or something along those lines. Just to say, Yes, we acknowledge that this is in the resolution. And the direction is, or advice from the board members is to not pursue those particular options. So I can craft language in the communication that also captures
Unknown Speaker 28:22
that sentiment as well. So I think that would
Unknown Speaker 28:24
be a better way to do it. Yeah, I
Unknown Speaker 28:26
would also prefer not to have to revise it and come come back. Because that’s a whole process in and of itself. So if you all feel okay, with us doing that, that’s
Unknown Speaker 28:36
probably the route that would be cleaner and faster. Yes.
Unknown Speaker 28:41
Say that, again? Lisa, you’re going to craft language that says, What? What does what exactly? In terms of how does this work, it just advises council that the Advisory Board has issues with it, or what’s I didn’t know I can
Unknown Speaker 28:58
just note in with every item that goes to city council, we draft what’s called a council communication, and it provides all the background information and staff feedback and all of that sort of stuff. And so I can include I have a kind of placeholder sentence in there right now that says that this was brought to the sustainability advisory board at your September meeting. And you all were supportive of the resolution, I can modify that statement to say something along the lines of just noting the concerns around hydrogen and plug in electric vehicles and that your feedback as to prioritize electric vehicles, rather than those two options, just so than with City Council sees that they they know that that’s your specific feedback with regards to the resolution. Does that make sense?
Unknown Speaker 29:51
Yeah, I understand that. That’s that sounds good. Lisa, thank you it. The one you know I don’t want to be too strong on this, but The one issue with that one, whereas is that it’s factually incorrect. So it’s more than just an opinion about you know what we want to prioritize it’s plug in hybrid electric vehicles have a tailpipe. They have emissions, they are not zero emission vehicle. So it’s factually incorrect. So, so I’m not sure how you want to word that. But it’s I think it’s more than just I mean, I do agree, we don’t want to prioritize we that we do want to prioritize battery electric vehicles over hybrid or plug in hybrid electric vehicles. But that one statement is just, it’s sorry, boy.
Unknown Speaker 30:43
Yeah. Um, yeah, I’ll figure something out. And I’ll chat with the sweet folks too, because like I said, we’re using the language that the state is using. And so because we were also initially, we had initially expanded it to be to include renewable natural gas. And we had a whole conversation with them about that, that that explicitly doesn’t fall into the category of zero emission vehicles for other reasons. And so we decided that it made more sense for us to use the length of standard language that the state is using. So that’s what I can note in the council communication. And this is why we chose this language. This is the feedback from the sustainability advisory board. If you are comfortable with that analogy, I can share with you the final communication for your for the next meeting as well. And I’ll give that feedback to those sweet folks. I’m not sure that I’m not sure what power influence they have in that process, but they’re the ones that are really helping advise communities on this work. So I think that’s helpful information and feedback for them to have. I can imagine there’s interests, interests that have resulted in that language in the first place. But I don’t can’t say I know the history of all of them.
Unknown Speaker 32:05
Now,
Unknown Speaker 32:07
yeah. Yeah, well, just like a material said, and Lisa, thanks for doing this. Really appreciate it.
Unknown Speaker 32:14
Yeah. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 32:16
I agree. I, I appreciate you doing all this and accommodating the concerns, but they’re legitimate. And so I don’t think we actually voted. So
Unknown Speaker 32:31
we have a motion on the table, but we need a second. So we had a motion from Robert, to support the resolution.
Unknown Speaker 32:42
And
Unknown Speaker 32:45
maybe we could add with the the notes that were that Lisa took sure that it’s not the language we have to use. So with that, does that. Is there a second?
Unknown Speaker 33:08
I’ll second the motion with the amendment that Lisa will add the. The comments, then forward to Council.
Unknown Speaker 33:22
Thank you, Charles.
Unknown Speaker 33:24
favor.
Unknown Speaker 33:27
Okay. Great.
Unknown Speaker 33:30
Awesome. Thank you all. And I think that’s it for me.
Unknown Speaker 33:37
Yes, appreciate it, Lisa. Okay, so the next item is other business, and there’s nothing on the agenda. So I’m assuming there is none. Okay. Then we have two items from staff. First is the cop carbon fee and dividend act resolution?
Unknown Speaker 33:56
Yep. And so that’s just an announcement to let you know that council member Joan Peck did bring that to council a couple of weeks ago and recommended that staff bring back a resolution. So that’s similar to the resolution that you all saw several months ago from the citizens climate lobby, folks. So I went ahead and put that all together. So that is also on the consent agenda for the same evening, September 28. So I just wanted to let you all know that and similarly, I did put a council communication together, I think for was the end of July when when I brought that forward, but a month or so ago, and similarly noted how you all had voted on that resolution and that some of you also had concerns. So that’s also noted in that as well. So but that’s fine, the same the same way.
Unknown Speaker 34:50
Great, thank you. Yes, Adam.
Unknown Speaker 34:56
I’ll just add that regardless of where you stand on that particular The resolution, there is a lot of activity in the US Congress right now. And in specifically in terms of climate policy, and it’s enough to make your head spin. But I think there’s just so much going on that, regardless of how much time you spend looking at any one of those topics, it would be helpful just to give you some sense of summer sort of going on the national level, and how it might impact Longmont and some ideas that that can be used here. But it’s definitely a fire hose to drink from at the moment.
Unknown Speaker 35:33
It’s exciting, though.
Unknown Speaker 35:38
So Adam, are you talking about the three and a half trillion dollar social infrastructure bill that is being debated now and the climate aspects and the electric electric vehicles aspects of that, is that what you’re referring to? I wasn’t quite sure
Unknown Speaker 35:55
that as well as a bunch of bills. They got a bill that got passed recently through the Senate, and then legislation back in, back in last year, where there was a lot of climate and legislation rolled out into a big package. So not just what’s going on now. But what has been going on recently. I think there’s just a lot of activity just beyond Evie, just in terms like very broad policy related to climate in general.
Unknown Speaker 36:23
Yeah, there’s a lot going on.
Unknown Speaker 36:26
Yes. Exciting. Okay, um,
Unknown Speaker 36:32
so the next item is the PTA meeting topics, agendas and agendas. Yes, Lisa, is that you? Yep.
Unknown Speaker 36:41
So I also just wanted to bring that information back to you all at our last meeting when we are talking through the questions from that you will have some PRP in the responses and there was a suggestion to potentially get meeting agendas ahead of the PRP board meetings so that you all could potentially review the topics that are being discussed and if if warranted, make recommendations to city council based on some of those. And we did chat with Dave Hornbacher who’s the Director of LPC who let us know that the the timing of those meetings, their meeting agenda packets go out a couple days before the meeting and their meetings don’t I was it’s like the meeting agendas come out the day after the sab meetings and then the PRP meetings are like the following Tuesday or Wednesday or something like that. So the the timing one allow for us to do that what you all had suggested but we did chat with LPC folks and decided what we would propose to you all essentially is for Tim or somebody else from LPC to do like a standing quarterly update to you all on progress and priorities and focus areas that PRP is focusing on so that you all can stay more in the loop on on some of the things about where are we at with regards to renewable energy, the ders work other things like that, they’ve all said a lot of their meetings are pretty just general business oriented but that’ll allow Tim to really consolidate that information and keep you all in the loop and if something is coming up that provides opportunities for you to provide feedback to city council or direction of city council that we can bring those opportunities to you. Tim, do you want to add anything
Unknown Speaker 38:31
to that sorry
Unknown Speaker 38:36
No, I think you’d covered it you know, we’ll we’ll do our best to go through what they talked what they talked about their directors mean I don’t even attend those or see those meetings either. I kind of just rely on Dave to give us the direction going forward but I can for the the the needs of the stainability board I’ll I’ll get together with Dave and see if I’ll go through the agenda afterwards. I can ask him for some notes on some of the items that may be of interest to the sustainability board and like Lisa said, a lot of them are just general business things that are of no interest to anyone. But certainly there are things that come around that you would be interested in and we’d like to take a deeper dive on if there’s any like if they’re voting on any kind of moving forward on you know, purchasing generation or or future transmission you know, like the like the there’s the whole goal with Xcel Energy to partner with pesco to build a lot of wind out in the east side of Colorado and they have to build transmission there so there’s a lot of like long term plans I think they’re considering now and but they’re in a very general planning process. The one I one of the items I think was definitely playing into it and which is I’m directly involved is we had the DDR study which recently wrapped up and there’s two committees Coming out of that one is involved in planning and one is involved in programs, I’m on the programs team, my director and lutes is on the planning team. So we’re going to be directly talking with not only Platte River, but all the other owners, member cities, on how, you know, we’re strategizing around barriers, which is I think it’s going to be really interesting for this group to, to, to hear about. And because there’s going to be, you know, the biggest role the city’s going to play, potentially, in our, in our, in our future for meeting our goals is how we have distributed energy resources locally in all four of our cities, how we know where they are, how we interact with them, manage them, operate them, or just understand how they’re operating in order to manage the grid to become 100% renewable. So so there’s a really big role than I think long line the other cities are going to play in the future. And we’re in, you know, myself and my director are directly involved in that process. So I’ll be reporting up on that pretty easily. Whenever, you know, we have some kind of resolutions or plans or meetings, even we’re starting our meetings, I think in mid October sometime. And they’re going to be probably monthly. So I can give a little blurb about what what the meetings were about at every new sustainability, sustainability board meeting so you guys can keep up with it.
Unknown Speaker 41:26
Okay, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 41:28
Charles, I see your hand up.
Unknown Speaker 41:31
Yes, yeah. Again. So, uh, sorry. So, so I, I made the suggestion the, at our last board meeting, and it was primarily motivated by the idea, I think that we have, you know, each member city has two voting members are representatives with the Platte River Power Authority, and the idea that, you know, I don’t know, the mayor and, and who the next mayor is going to be after they’re elected in November. But it seemed like, they might not have the expertise to be able to evaluate some of these items that come before them to vote on and that the advisory board could help provide some input on on things that you’ll combination of not having the expertise necessarily, because who knows they could, for all we know, the real estate agent or something. But the and then it’s a little concerning that the packet goes out only a short time before. They’re voting on some of these sometimes very complex and technical issues. And so that was the motivation. And so knowing what happens after the fact is fine, I’m I’m not sure if that’s even maybe it’s already available through, you know, the publication of minutes or, you know, the recording of the meetings. But basically, it was, you know, one of the, it seemed like an opportunity for us to help we, we could provide advice to counsel but providing advice to the voting members of the Platte River Power Authority for Longmont seems like, it just seems like that’s something we should push or try to, for them to just save the packets don’t go out early enough for this to happen. Seems like okay, well, let’s maybe, maybe they need to change your bylaws at the packets go out sooner, give them more time to evaluate them these important things that they’re evaluating that they’re voting on,
Unknown Speaker 43:43
um, you know, chose that’s a that’s a fair point, you know, because you want to be involved in the decisions that need to be made for sustainability for the city. But I think what the general idea about the the packets in the board meetings is the general business of Platte River is is really around how the business operates. The major decisions as sustainability would be should be involved in is when they develop a new iorp. You know, when they’re coming up with those different planning documents. Those are our times and I think your input will be really valuable. But unlike a month to month board basics around how Platte River is economics are looking for next year. That’s that’s the type of thing I think Dave is saying, you guys, really, it’s not really part of what the sustainability board is interested in NASA evaluate for the mayor, but what you’re saying makes is valuable, you know, if there is a decision about how what generation resources are being purchased, and how the resource planning is going, that for sure would be something that you’d be looked in, and that’s not just a normal, one director meet one board meeting and they’re like, yep, it’s fine. There’s a long process behind that and the, you know, the drafts come out, they’re reviewed by you know, multiple people, not only the board members, and then you know, that’s where the input would come in at the board meeting would just be like after all that study and evaluation is input. They just say, Yeah, it looks good. Let’s go. You know what I mean? So the board meeting itself isn’t that important. It’s the process leading up to those board meetings where you guys would be involved in getting giving some input on the direction that Platte River is taking with its resource mix and other, you know, items, if that.
Unknown Speaker 45:18
Got it. But yeah, thanks, Tim, that that helps a lot. Yeah. Cuz I was, you know, in my original suggestion or question, it wasn’t really about, you know, getting the agenda for the individual meetings, but it was more like helping the, you know, giving the mayor input information advice for exactly what you’re talking about the times when it’s actually useful, not just general business?
Unknown Speaker 45:41
Yeah, no, I you know, when the draft IR piece come out, I think it would be great if you guys could take a hard look at them and give your input because they they put them out, it takes months, if not a year to do the final approval on those. And there’s plenty of time for review and comment on that up to that final board meeting.
Unknown Speaker 46:00
rate. Thank thanks, Tim. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 46:04
Paulie, I see your hand up. Sorry.
Unknown Speaker 46:14
Yeah, Charles, I do think that’s a good idea, actually. Because, you know, Tim is right, that these are business meetings and all that. But you know, if we had left them just be business meetings, nothing would have moved it was console them and pack and I and Councilman Martin, who brought forth the idea that we should be Fossil Free by 2030. So the mayor is that the the head of LBC is, of course, the expert. And thank God, he’s them, but the mayor has a voice and needs to be informed. And I think it’d be very useful for this board to be an advisor for the mayor for PRP, just because nobody can learn everything. But do think when you’re voting, you know, who actually has had for all all of city council, who has actually stood up for things and regarding sustainability, and but I think this board can really serve a good purpose for helping the mayor. Be more informed. So thanks for suggesting it.
Unknown Speaker 47:41
Yeah, thanks, Paul.
Unknown Speaker 47:44
And Risa I see. Yeah, I also
Unknown Speaker 47:49
just want to say something similar to Polly in terms of just reminding folks that Dave Hornbacher is the other voting member. And as the director of LBC, he’s very well informed on all of these issues. So But yeah, I do think that that that’s also an important point. The other thing, I just wanted to note that if you all didn’t know, and we can send this link out that all of your keys, meetings are also public, so people are able to attend those if those if that’s something that you’re also interested in, doing it at any point and, and participating in that.
Unknown Speaker 48:27
Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 48:29
And thanks, I, I just want to say thanks to Tim for being willing to to keep us informed and ended. Charles, I think that you’re exactly right. We want to be involved in this and I appreciate you stating the case very clearly.
Unknown Speaker 48:52
Okay,
Unknown Speaker 48:54
so the next item is a discussion and thank you for putting this in here on on making the bylaws provision for future remote meetings and meeting times. is I’m not sure we can we can do this. I’m not opposed to having this discussion and making this provision right now. And right now are the city buildings that there are are we meeting in person right now? Is anybody?
Unknown Speaker 49:30
Yes? Yes.
Unknown Speaker 49:34
Yes, we are meeting that. Some people for their own little various reasons don’t want to meet anymore because they don’t like masks. So we are city council is meeting. It’s difficult now because we are supposed to wear masks all the time so we really can’t hear what’s going on. Okay. I’d still rather meet in person because I think there’s value especially for city council. I think we’ve all gotten kind of used to zoom meetings and it has some advantages in terms of time and convenience but I don’t think it’s really a substitute for meeting in person you know, I think there’s a lot I think it depends upon the group that’s meeting and so I don’t really have a dog in this fight. You know, I just think whatever works and gets the most of us here is the best thing for us for this board. I agree.
Unknown Speaker 50:40
Yes, Charles.
Unknown Speaker 50:42
So is there so I think the planning and zoning commission meets on the third Wednesdays at 7pm is is there is that a problem at all to have overlapping meetings
Unknown Speaker 50:55
are
Unknown Speaker 51:00
in terms of like conflict my my guess is there’s more than one meeting room and cities there’s enough city staff to support both those meetings and things like that or is or is it or is it a conflict when you have two different city boards or commissions meeting at the same time?
Unknown Speaker 51:22
Yeah, probably
Unknown Speaker 51:25
the Longmont the planning and zoning commission meets in theory twice a month but if they don’t have enough really to make up a long meeting then they just confine it to one meeting which is usually more than long enough so it’s not a matter of rooms there are there are rooms in the city hall where they could meet otherwise but they’re a fairly large board and yeah, so they usually made in the council chambers I don’t know that that was because of lack of meeting space I think it was because they just didn’t have enough stuff that’s going on to warrant meeting twice a month which is twice as much as most of us meet you know, so that’s not but you know, we meet we were meeting out of Public Works we weren’t meeting in the city and people made all kinds of places so it’s that’s not usually such a big deal it depends on the size of the board and what their what they deal with we don’t have usually on this board many people from the public but boy planning and zoning drives you know, it’s very contentious
Unknown Speaker 52:48
often Okay, so
Unknown Speaker 52:58
what we’re discussing is whether or not we’re going to make a provision for all of our meetings to be remote and remind me what we’re
Unknown Speaker 53:09
really it’s to make a provision for if you needed to meet remotely and you wanted to do that because of things like a pandemic or something that you could do that make that provision in your bylaws and then also the meeting times you guys had kind of talked about switching the time to an evening evening meeting so I don’t know if you want to change that at the same time. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 53:36
I’m I’m
Unknown Speaker 53:38
feeling hesitant with the low attendance from board members at this meeting to make this kind of official change. I’ve we have talked about it and not every I can think of at least one member remember who hasn’t been here for any of these discussions and have Have y’all had feedback from everyone that the or anyone about this change?
Unknown Speaker 54:11
Any see your hand up? I was actually raising my hand just to get clarification about what this provision allows so it doesn’t as I understand and Heather correct me if I’m wrong, but this just allows you to meet remotely if you so choose, it doesn’t mandate that you in the future meet remotely it just gives you that option. Correct.
Unknown Speaker 54:35
Great. Thank you for clarifying that. But But on the other one on the the meeting time. It it is it’s not an option I get.
Unknown Speaker 54:46
My understanding in our discussion a couple of weeks ago was that the board wanted to try out this time and see worked to see if you know more members of the public are showing up and if it weren’t for everything any action that you guys can weigh in on that?
Unknown Speaker 55:05
Yeah. So our previous meeting when you all decided to do it at 6pm, instead of was like, we made a provision for a special meeting time for this month. And then we are going to evaluate if we wanted to move the meetings to the six to 8pm. I did get an email from Kay Valmeyer, who is not going to be able to do evening meetings, so
Unknown Speaker 55:33
Okay, thank you. That’s helpful. Um, and and she is the the sole dissenter thus far.
Unknown Speaker 55:41
Okay. As far as I know, I know that Mary is not feeling well today. So she wasn’t able to come. And Jim is out of town. So he wasn’t able to join either.
Unknown Speaker 55:49
Okay. So that their absence has nothing to do with with the evening time. Okay. Okay. Um, I mean, we, we do have one member of the public who’s able who’s here, but it hasn’t significantly increased. The number of public members of the public are joining. What do you do? What does the board think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this for the next few minutes.
Unknown Speaker 56:24
Yes, Paulie?
Unknown Speaker 56:26
Well, when we, when people signed up for this, they did sign up at a particular time that that they could make so I don’t, even if it’s just one person who can’t make it, I don’t think we should make a decision that shuts them out because they in good faith. applied to go Come here at 330 in the afternoon. So, you know, I, and I also don’t think that people should, that we have too few people here today to make that decision, you know. So that’s my opinion.
Unknown Speaker 57:04
I appreciate your opinion. Thank you,
Unknown Speaker 57:07
Robert. So, for me, the evening works better. It’s more reliable for me. But I totally agree with Polly’s point that Yeah, we can’t just box out someone who expected a consistent meeting time. But how do we consider that? It looks like Kay’s term expires in June of 2022. Is there a way to consider options for whoever may fall on the board starting at that time?
Unknown Speaker 57:41
So you’re suggesting that when, when k is like her term expires that the next person, we make it clear that we are think considering moving to an evening? Time is that? I just want to clarify, that’s the suggestion.
Unknown Speaker 57:58
Yeah, if it seems like the remaining members, the board would be happy to move to that time, it would be better in general, for people, then it’d be great to advertise that as the meeting time for the board for future applicants.
Unknown Speaker 58:13
I like that idea.
Unknown Speaker 58:17
I don’t know how to do it in practice.
Unknown Speaker 58:23
Regarding the number of folks at the public waiting to be heard, right now, we only have one meeting where we’re having it at six. So that’s a pretty small sample size, just a sample of one point. So I’d suspect we have to do a few trials just to get some sense of how many people start to trickle in. Is that one metric we want to watch? Or are there other things that we want to pay attention to as well? Like, how does this work out with the staff? And, you know, are there other times that might work for everyone? Like, I can imagine filling out some poll poll thing like doodle poll or something and just see if there’s like, some magical time that just happens to work for this group? I suspect Probably not, but just a shot in the dark.
Unknown Speaker 59:08
Like your optimism. Lisa.
Unknown Speaker 59:12
I also just want to throw out there that, that I would say given the time that we’re in and still dealing with COVID, I’m also not sure that we’re going to what might work or not work at this moment in time might not be the same for the future, you know, when we can all hope for post pandemic days as well. So, you know, just to be thinking about that, if it makes sense for you all to try to shift times now and see how it goes giving COVID but also, you know, my sense right now is that people or people are also sort of retreating back into kind of day to day focus on managing life stuff and family circumstances and things like that. So it might also I agree with Adam one night is isn’t going to give you the best information, but also just given everything people are dealing with right now. You know, I don’t know if it’s the best period of time engaging that, either. But just to just to be considering that as well.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:21
Thanks for that. Yeah, Charles.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:26
So in terms of the ability to meet remotely, I like the fact that that gives us flexibility. Who knows what comes down the pike, um, in terms of what’s happening with the pandemic, and things like that in the future. So I like that aspect. In terms of times, if we meet remotely, I can make the normal time or an evening time, if we meet in person, I can only make the evening time. So for me, personally, it Yeah, it’s just next, after December, starting in January, my schedule will change and I can probably make the three I’ll make my schedule work so I can make the 330 time but until until January, I can no, I can’t make 330 unless it’s remote.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:22
Okay, thank you for that.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:26
Um,
Unknown Speaker 1:01:27
so what I’m thinking is that we should go ahead and have the well amend the bylaws to allow for remote meetings. And then, as far as the time goes, I’m a little more stumped on on that one. It, it seems that we could, in theory, have, say we’re gonna have remote meetings through the end of the year. And go back to the 330 time and hope that you know, that the change will allow Qaeda to join.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:14
I don’t I don’t feel I fit in and then maybe reevaluate it the meeting times. Next year. I yes, Heather.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:24
So at the beginning of the year, usually in January, we review the vibe bylaws, and meeting times, and all of that anyway, so if you wanted to finish out the year, really, we just have October and November left, if you wanted to finish out the year remotely. And then I don’t know if you want to keep the three o’clock time that we’ve been having or move it back to 330. But we had changed it at the beginning of the year to three o’clock to allow more time for the meeting since we are running over so frequently.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:59
I do remember that change and we do tend to I’m feeling hopeful about today. Oh, dude, use up the tool. The whole two hours? No, we’re pretty regularly. Um, so I so let’s start with the the What do we need to do to as far as the remote meetings, just say, do we need to have a vote on that? Okay, so is there Well, can somebody make a motion to amend the bylaws to allow for remote meetings?
Unknown Speaker 1:03:45
I I’ll make a motion. I like to motion that we amend the bylaws so that we have the option to hold our sustainability advisory board meetings remotely.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:57
Thank you and a second.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:00
Thank you. All in favor. Perfect.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:05
Okay. Um, okay, the who wants a three o’clock meeting for the next for the rest of the year? I’m fine either way. as well with this will allow K to join in theory. Okay. That Adam Charles.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:32
I can’t do three. I can do 330 but not three. Okay. Okay. I have a 230 to 330 meeting every Wednesday that I can’t I have to attend. It’s not one of those optional ones. And I yeah,
Unknown Speaker 1:04:48
okay. would you would you be okay hanging on till 530 if needed.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:55
Yes.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:00
Do you and Adam tell you how to hand up? I think,
Unknown Speaker 1:05:04
sure, I can do either of those times I have a slight preference for the evening one, if possible. But I would prioritize what the staff and members of the public prefer, and what also maximize the chances that we can get the largest group of folks in the board here.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:23
Right? I do think that Paulie makes a really good point about, you know, the agreement when, when Kay signed up was, you know, afternoons, not evenings. And I do think that there’s something to be said about sticking to that for her her term, at least. If that takes her out of the running. That’s just not quite fair. So let’s say Can, can we move it back to 330? Is that gonna be an issue? Do we have to do another motion for that?
Unknown Speaker 1:06:05
It would need a motion to move it to that time, but you could definitely do that if you want to. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:13
Charles, Robert, anyone? Oh, I’ll
Unknown Speaker 1:06:20
move that we we change our meeting start times to be the same day of the month, but at 3:30pm for two hours.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:30
Great. Second.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:33
Thank you. All in favor.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:36
Great. Thank you. Thanks for walking through that with me, everybody. Okay, um, the next item on the agenda is items from Council. Do you have anything for us? Probably.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:53
Um, have any of you been checked solar farm.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:58
Last night, it’s,
Unknown Speaker 1:07:02
oh, it’s great. And they have I think, every Saturday morning, they have tour. But I think it’s such an amazing place. And I think that, because what has always bothered me about solar array is that it’s, originally it was just stuck, you know, it didn’t move around. Then it started to move a little bit, but it was still on the ground. So it takes all the ground out of us. This raises it up. So that you can actually get a tractor under it, you can get ruminants underneath it, like cows and sheep and goats, and what little kids. But you know, as climate change gets worst, in the West, particularly, it is way too hot, we have way too much sun for the plants, I was really amazed to see the kinds of plants that are going bananas underneath these rays. So you solve several problems of solar in that you don’t eliminate the use of the land under it. In fact, you shield it to make it more productive, you’re able to have to work underneath it. And he has, of course, a very elaborate system of irrigation, but so does every farmer now. I mean, farming has always been among the most technologically advanced, and yet we think of it is local farmers. So drum, actually, it’s always been at the forefront of everything because we have to eat. So go to Jack’s if you have a chance because he’s doing many, many experiments, in addition to providing solar energy, and providing thriving plants for that are used for the our center that are used for sale that are used for all kinds of things. And he’s also doing research for the Audubon Society for CSU. In terms of carbon sequestration and water absorption, and all kinds of things. It’s a really interesting thing and it’s just down on just south of Olin farms. A little bit down on on the other side of the street. Yeah, the other side of the road. So um, it’s a great place to visit.
Unknown Speaker 1:09:35
Amen. I am so glad you brought that up. I meant to, I wanted to say something along those lines. Really glad you did.
Unknown Speaker 1:09:44
Oh, and he’s an he’s a very clever man because I used to be a diplomat. So before he even started installing this. He started delivering jars and pany and cookies and various plants to his neighbors. And getting to know them so that they could not start some loyal of some anti solar garden thing. And he’s a very smart guy and it’s his grandpa’s farm. That’s who jack was. So
Unknown Speaker 1:10:15
yeah, absolutely. And just just an amazing story. Amazing researched enrolls there. Arizona, University of Arizona. It they, they’re just so many cool things going on there. And he it’s it’s a great story, Tim.
Unknown Speaker 1:10:33
Yeah, thanks. I just wanted to say, right, absolutely. That’s an awesome place. I got my free summer squash when I saw Byron last year there. So I was really psyched about that. Yeah. Anyway, with that with me, too, we had a great time. Great idea. I hope the economics work out around it. Right now they get a lot of grants to have a lot of grants from the Department of Agriculture and rail and you know, so they’re getting some money to make it work. I’m really interested to see the economics afterward. And I hope that it can be a viable way to to put up solar in this area in the future I would love to do a community solar project with agricole takes in the future there are areas around our city not so many in them anymore, but locally at least it’ll be local in northern Colorado local solar combined with agriculture I’m very interested in the idea and lpcs interested in the idea so so we’re gonna be keeping their eye on that one and I’m looking forward to see how economically it shakes out. I know Byron has offered his consulting services to us already to try to put up more of them in the eye so that’s encouraging for a fee of course not for free
Unknown Speaker 1:11:48
Yeah, I think he said he’s interested in the fee Oh, I also wanted to say one more thing last next month will be my last meeting here and then you’ll get whoever God knows whoever but I will miss you all but I will be here next next month so well we’ll
Unknown Speaker 1:12:06
look forward to seeing you next month. Yeah, and it turns out that I think he said there were 50 Farms in Boulder County that had the potential to do this kind of thing because they’re on right on the three phase line and good you know space for it. So I I’d love to see more it really it’s a first of its kind kind of thing and it’s it’s really exciting work what’s happening there. Um, Charles I saw your hand
Unknown Speaker 1:12:34
Yeah, sorry this is probably the wrong part of the agenda to make this but tin can commented about the financial viability of Jack’s solar garden and reminded me something that could change that maybe it’s just a question in general is it I thought I saw something about the city is looking into adjusting the rates for power
Unknown Speaker 1:12:58
we’re always adjusting rates for power because you know, we have a lot of well technology’s changing and we also have a huge amount of maintenance we have to revise the water place and the sewer place and the pipes and you know everything it’s hugely expensive and so yes, we’re going to be raising the water rates but it’s a small percentage roughly, but it’s hard it’s very hard on people even though it may be only a couple of dollars that it’s very hard for people who are old and or poor and it’s but we can’t we can’t not fix things. So otherwise we’ll have worse problems and more expensive problems. So yes, we’re planning to do that.
Unknown Speaker 1:13:53
lease is here
Unknown Speaker 1:13:56
Yeah, Tim, please jump in. But my understanding is that Jack’s solar farm is outside of LPC territory though so any thing that we would do rate wise wouldn’t be applicable to them
Unknown Speaker 1:14:12
so we just did he can’t buy power from Jack’s solar garden.
Unknown Speaker 1:14:18
Now we have an all electric car you know contract with Platte River but you know, there’s that’s a done deal and they have they sold their subscriptions out you know, so they’re doing fine you know, the boulder bought a whole bunch of it. They also have the advantage of you know, Excel actually pays for Rex through this through their rate structure, which we don’t do. But But um, you know, there there are lots of, as Kate mentioned, there are lots of other areas. If we’re going to do a new project, we’re going to do a new project is that going to be jacks and even if a new project is located outside the city border, you know, we’re looking into our contract with Platte River. What is it all? What does it say, Well, you know, what does it exactly mean when you know we have these interconnections? Are there? Is there some flexibility for the future if we want to get more local solar. So right now we have an all requirements contract with Platte River. But, you know, to meet the 100% goal, and also to spread things locally and to have a very efficient grid and support local economies. I think the opportunity is there for the future for this type of setup. And we’re definitely very serious about trying to, to look at these I get I’ve gotten calls from folks that from Hoa, and from people who have additional acreage that want to put up, you know, a megawatt or two. And, you know, right now the way things are, we can’t do it, according to our contract. But we are in discussions with our legal team, and we’re talking to the other cities. We’re going to be talking with Platte River very soon about things like virtual net metering, you know, right now maybe we can do it, maybe we can, it’s not specifically defined, the contract is is loose enough, I think. So we can go in and negotiate it, you know that the partner is not opposed to say you can’t do anything unless we sell it to you. It says, you know, we got to talk about it before you do, because we got to manage the whole grid, and we got to also pay our expenses, you have to pay your expenses, you have to make sure it all works for everybody, but they’re not adverse to it. So that’s the process. We’re kind of starting right now. And I think it’s encouraging because there’s a lot of interest in, in this type of solar farms and a lot of other renewable energy opportunities. So it’s, it’s gonna be exciting.
Unknown Speaker 1:16:32
Great. Thanks for that input. This was a great little discussion here at the end. Thanks for bringing it up folly.
Unknown Speaker 1:16:42
Um,
Unknown Speaker 1:16:43
okay. We’re at the end of the agenda. Amazingly. One last thing, I’ll draw your attention to the informational items that were included in your board packet. Be sure to read those. And that’s that. Is there a motion to adjourn?
Unknown Speaker 1:17:04
I’ll move that. we adjourn. The September 15 2021. Sustainability advisory board meeting. Second. All right. All in favor.
Unknown Speaker 1:17:18
Thanks, everybody. Thank you,
Unknown Speaker 1:17:21
everyone. Have a good night. Bye.