Okay, so we can divide the city into four or six.

Welcome to Zoom.

Enter your meeting ID.

Follow me.

Yeah.

What are the name plaques that's on for our board members?

They're in a box.

Yeah, they they moved.

Enter your participant ID.

You have entered the meeting as a panelist.

Attendees can now hear you speak.

It looks like your way to our side.

Okay.

I feel bad when I call it over and ticky then it's a nice thing.

As you noticed earlier.

But I am interested in this.

I thought it was a bit of twenty minutes.

So let's get to a little piece and then we're going to have to go back to the same.

Good evening, and welcome to the May 13th meeting of the Sustainability Advisory Board.

Before we begin, I'd like to explain the various ways to participate in tonight's meeting.

First, you can join us here in person in the commission room, or you can join us on Zoom.

Unfortunately, the sustainability board meeting video stream is unavailable on the commission's video page due to tech.

The video stream is actually now working.

There are no technical issues.

The meeting will be recorded via Zoom and uploaded at a later date.

Um if you need to view it later.

If you're joining us via Zoom live, you can provide public comment on an agenda item by using the raise your hand feature.

We take public comment in the room first, then move online.

Lastly, this board has decided to refer to one another on a first name basis for ease of communication.

With that, we call the May 13th meeting of the sustainability advisory board to order.

Natalie, are there any changes to the agenda?

No changes to the agenda.

Are there any disclosures board members would like to make on tonight's agenda?

Doesn't look like it.

And would anyone like to approve the minutes from the April eighth meeting?

Please move it to a vote.

I'll move to approve the meeting minutes from April 8th, 2026.

Second then.

Kessley, can you please facilitate the vote?

Jesse.

Aaron?

Aye.

Kendra.

Aye.

Brooke.

Aye.

Are there any FYIs anyone on the board would like to share?

I'll just briefly note for folks who are watching the video feed that we have another board member online.

For Claudeman is remote and is participating in the meeting.

Thank you.

Would this be the time to share Kristen's announcement?

Or it would be a great time.

Would you like to?

Sure.

If I can find it real quick.

So Kristen, who's a board member, who is not able to attend this meeting, sent an announcement for us to share.

So Bridger Bowl is hosting a community cleanup at Bridger Bowl from 3 to 6 p.m.

on May 28th.

They're partnering with Oboes Outside Kind, BSF and Wild Montana.

Obos will have their demo van, and people are encouraged to try out Obo shoes while walking and hiking during the cleanup.

A barbecue and refreshments will be provided.

There's more info on the Bridger Bowl website, or you can contact Kristen Blackler at K Blackler at Bridger Bowl.com for questions.

All right.

Um now I'll ask if there's any public comment on any non-agenda items in person.

Doesn't look like it.

How about online?

None online.

All right.

So we'll move to the main agenda items.

So first Natalie, go ahead.

Good evening, members of the board.

Natalie Myers, Sustainability Program Manager.

Thanks for everyone who could make it tonight in the windy weather.

Um we appreciate you you being here.

So we have over the last several minute meetings.

Um developed a work plan for the sustainability board.

And we deferred it from our last meeting due to time.

And in that in that period of time, um, I think that was fortuitous because the city commission um continued their work on um developing they they adopted their priorities and they started doing more work um to further fine-tune their work plan.

And so there was a meeting held on, let's see, that was March 3rd, and um, excuse me, April 28th, the commission held their work session on the city commission priorities and work plan.

And that was a really valuable discussion from what I understand, um, the commission will come back and um talk more about the the work sessions that they uh have planned in the future.

And I I should open the floor to Commissioner Bodie to weigh in.

Um but generally speaking, I think we have enough um information to adopt our own work plan that's supports uh the commission work plan, and um my perspective is we could likely adopt that plan, and if there were any additional items for the sustainability board to take up, we could amend our work plan or address them on an ad hoc basis.

But if if you have any comments on that work session, um yeah, thank you for the opportunity.

I think we we really just kind of um elaborated a little bit into each bucket and tried to give some staff direction uh for like future work sessions, and not, you know, we weren't able to check off all of our priorities in one evening at the start of the year, so um it was it was more uh staff direction focused.

But um I I think that there's not a lot more to say specifically to that, but I think it's a good plan that we can approve this um work plan as is tonight, unless you all have any amendments or suggestions, and um that it's something that can be a living document and can evolve as our commission priorities um narrow in a little bit in some of the areas that they're a bit broad still.

So that sounds good to me.

Okay, thank you.

So you'll recognize the um table that we've shared previously.

There are a few amendments that I'll I'll highlight here and that were developed as I listened more to the commission discussion, listen to the feedback from this board, and um also just reflected more on our staff capacity and the ability to really deliver on some of these items.

So let's see.

So the first two are just related to board governance, really important pieces, and we talked about how the there's going to be an advisory board review that's currently underway.

And I hope everybody saw the the survey from our assistant city manager really asking for everyone's feedback.

Um, this is making good on our original commitment when we reformed the boards to review how things are going after two years, and um I think this will be a good opportunity for everyone to weigh in and just do a temperature check and see if there's opportunities for for improvement.

So thank you for all of you who have participated so far.

Other items on here under planning efforts, the neighborhood overlay conservation, the neighborhood conservation overlay district.

That's a planning process that's underway right now, and um I I think that the the board's involvement could could arise in a number of areas.

Um certainly we'll have some sort of uh special presentation or an update on the project, but one intersection with the board really relates to the first phase of the project, which identified the sustainability division as the point for developing resources for deconstruction and reuse of building materials.

And we know there's limitations in our market, but there's also opportunities for us to just help the community really see where items can be reused for beneficially, and we we did some good work, for example, in our public safety center, and just pointing to those resources could be um useful and lead us down the path of of maybe more policy discussions in that regard.

So I don't think if there's any questions along the way, please just stop and interrupt me.

We have a small group tonight.

So the next item on the list, uh the integrated water resources plan.

Um Chair Loneman is our designated representative for that planning effort.

We've heard several updates related to it, and that planning process will continue into to next year, and I would expect that the sustainability board will continue to be engaged in that process.

The urban forest management plan.

We heard a good discussion at our last meeting, and um again that planning process is underway, and I anticipate the board will have an opportunity to review the recommendations and provide um some sort of input as we get closer to adopting that plan.

The Bozeman Creek Vision Plan.

Again, this is a really neat collaborative community planning effort to to help us better recognize the natural heritage provided by the creek that runs through town.

And I would expect that our program manager or assistant city manager John Henderson will come to the board this summer to introduce the vision plan, update you on progress, and look for your input.

The next item on the list, the electric mobility planning effort.

This one's going to be a little bit less defined right now, and I have it pushed out to 2027.

In full disclosure, I think the scope of this effort could modulate quite a bit based on resources that may or may not be available.

And nonetheless, I know we have some important work to do around planning for the future consideration of rates for public charging.

There's definitely a good amount of work to be done here, and I'm looking forward to working with this board to define that scope and help us through that planning process.

This is one that's explicitly identified on the commission work plan.

And I would just as a foreshadowing, I would expect over the next two months, our next two meetings will have detailed conversations about that program, and ultimately we will be looking to this board and the city commission to adopt an agreement with Northwestern Energy on how we move forward with that specific tariff and filing.

Thank you to Commissioner Bodhi for identifying the sustainability board as a body that should be engaged on this topic, the transportation master plan and the multimodal transportation improvements.

And I would anticipate a couple more meetings over the this planning period with the sustainability board.

The urban transportation district, again, I'm really gonna lean on Commissioner Bodie to help this board engage on that topic.

It was really neat to see the urban transportation district sharing at the Gallatin Valley Earth Day celebration and talking to the public about the value of transit.

And so I would anticipate more work in the coming year.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I'll just say that the Urban Transportation District is still very much in this like planning phase, and there's some decisions to be made about what kind of investment we want to make in the transportation district and where certain routes go, and if we have the financial investment, which things to implement first.

And certainly it's you know the ultimate decision of that body, but I think they are all very interested in working in consultation with each of the respective local governments inside the district.

So, City of Belgrade, the City of Bozeman, and the county.

And I would see the sustainability board as an important board to consult, at least you know, once but ideally as the progress, as the project progresses.

So I'll be working with Natalie to identify sometimes where we can bring somebody from the urban transportation district here to this meeting, or maybe I myself could do some of the presenting.

I sit on that board as well, and yeah, loop you all in and get your perspective.

Great, thank you.

The next item here is energy efficiency, resilience, and housing affordability strategies.

So here I will emphasize that the focus is how do we do energy efficiency in a cost-effective manner to promote long-term affordability.

This is an item that was brought forth by the board.

It aligns with the commission's priorities.

And I think what this could look like is something of a panel discussion, having a few experts come and talk to the board that have worked in this space that can provide real world examples of what this could look like at the community level.

I think everyone here appreciates the sensitivity of housing first, and making sure everyone has a roof over their head, and really looking at strategies that are cost effective, and that may mean how do we make sure that the code is fully implemented?

How do we yeah make sure that long-term affordability is maintained?

So thank you for bringing that forward, and I think we can have some really interesting conversations on that topic.

And it's it's a tough nut to crack.

I think everyone appreciates that.

On engagement, strengthening the town gown relationship with MSU.

This was explicitly identified in the commission's work plan, and I see a lot of opportunities for the sustainability division, the sustainability board to engage on that topic.

And we have a variety of ideas from off-campus living to maybe specific student projects, some of which could exist on this list.

How can we better engage with MSU?

And yeah, I'll leave it at that, pretty self-explanatory, but looking forward to everyone's ideas.

The next item on the list is something that I modified slightly.

We had spoken about uh sustainable development awards.

And I after having conversations with those who have worked in the historic preservation awards and award programs at the county level.

Um I think this is a bigger staff lift than maybe I had anticipated.

And I'm I'm definitely focused on how we can approach this in partnership with existing programs, in partnership with other entities in our community, maybe MSU.

I would prefer to start with a feasibility review and program recommendations rather than committing to launching this over the next two-year period.

So we can discuss that, but um right now what we're anticipating from a staff capacity standpoint, it doesn't seem like something we can commit to launching right now.

Uh cleanup week, pretty self-explanatory.

We'll talk a little bit about that on our next work session item, interested in in the board's perspective on on how we can improve and do better over time.

These next two items I added since our last discussion, recognizing that the municipal solar projects that we have in our capital improvement plan are significant and rather time consuming from a staff perspective.

And it to me it makes sense to discuss how we do this planning with with the board.

Um we're about to move forward with our an installation at the library.

We're planning for future projects here and other locations.

Uh, we also have a uh invitation for bid for our water reclamation facility that's out in the public right now, about half half a megawatt.

And these are these are big projects, and um I think we should discuss it with the board.

And same goes for municipal electric vehicle charging stations.

There is a bit of a strategy and a lot of work has gone into it all already, and it seems like something we should share and get some feedback from the board on.

The last one high performance building standard for city facilities.

And I'll I'll put an emphasis there on city facilities.

I think everyone here understands that we can't require anything more than the state adopted energy code for buildings at large in the community.

But we can hold ourselves when we construct facilities to a higher standard.

We have a lot of learnings from the buildings that we've constructed recently.

We have a great example at MSU and how they push beyond code.

And again, I think here the emphasis will continue to be cost effective energy efficiency improvements, but how do we really lead by example and show what's possible in our climate?

And how do we standardize that for new facilities and major renovations?

So I hope that clarifies that one just a little bit.

The emphasis is city facilities.

And again, I think that will be a significant project for this board to work on.

So those are the items that I have.

So I would invite the board to ask questions, or we could open it up to public comment first since this is an action item.

Thanks so much, Natalie.

Should we start with public comment?

Is there any public comment in the room?

How about online?

No.

Okay.

Do board members have comments?

Kendra, do you want to start?

Yeah, no real comments.

I guess please to see the focus on affordability, affordable housing and sustainability added.

Very interested to hear more about the municipal solar projects and electric vehicle charging.

No comments besides that.

Yeah, thanks for the presentation.

I don't have any specific comments aside from yeah, thanks for sharing it with us and appreciate the additions of those two city projects and also the cleanup day to have a bigger discussion about that and help see how we can improve that event as well.

So thanks.

I have a couple thoughts, I guess.

One, and thank you.

This looks great, by the way.

Um, and I did read through the commissioner's um work plan document.

And one thing I just wanted to flag, and I know this is challenging, but I see that there's um provisions to waive some of the regulations for affordable housing, um, like sacrificing some of the code in order to do so.

And I just want to make sure that if we're reducing setbacks and changing code for affordable housing, that we're not doing that at the risk of um, you know, detriment to the environment in order to do so.

So I know those things they can go hand in hand and they don't have to be opposed.

Um the Bozeman Creek Vision Plan is really interesting to me.

I'm also um curious about other creeks that run through the community and if there's any consideration around those creeks.

I saw that there's a meeting June 2nd.

Um so I'm gonna I'll go and learn more about why Bozeman Creek only was chosen, but some of the other, you know, waters of the US that are running through the city of Bozeman.

Um, maybe I just think about it a lot because I live at the junction of Rocky Creek and the East Skeleton, and it's in city limits.

Um, but just curious if I know we don't have as a city, like as much of the um creek frontage in those scenarios, but it would be great to incorporate that in the thinking.

Um as far as the awards go, I have the same thought of the it's a lot of work, it's a great thing to do, and it can be very impactful.

And I wonder like how if this is something that is pursued, how can it be as impactful as possible?

And I guess from that I mean, like from a um marketing and pride perspective, like how do how would we get the word if if we're going through this, like how can we also make sure that the word gets out there in the most meaningful ways?

So maybe that can be part of that.

Um let's see, the transportation master plan.

Um, I'm really glad that we are uh on the list to be a part of that.

I think that it's very much a sustainability issue, so excited to see that.

Um this is a random one, but there's not a lot of us, so I'm just gonna talk a lot.

Uh I'm curious.

So we have um electric vehicle charging stations on the list, and I'm curious if there's any way we can survey obviously we want the need to grow, and so we want to have like the facilities in place to allow the need to grow.

But is there do we have any idea of the percentage of vehicles in Bozeman that are in need of um EV charging right now, just out of curiosity?

Um it's a great question, and we do have access to data on the percentage of vehicles, registered vehicles in Gallatin County.

Um, it's a nuanced question, and that's part of the mobility planning effort, the electric mobility planning effort.

The need for fast charging has probably been met in this community by the private sector.

The need for level two overnight charging and multifamily housing, I would argue has not been met and is probably a significant barrier to adoption.

And um I think those are the types of questions that need to be explored in a mobility planning effort.

That's great.

That makes a ton of sense because I do I would agree the high charging, like the private sector side does feel a bit saturated at the moment, but you're absolutely right that the need does exist in those other areas, so that's really helpful.

Um I think the only other thing I'll say as part of just my comments on like our work plan overall is when I think about the urban forest management plan, and this is another like how do we hold these things hand in hand?

Like, how do we have um more tree canopy and be water-wise as a city because we know trees use a lot of water, so um obviously we have incentives in place for that that um are really wonderful, and I hope a lot of people are taking advantage of that.

But I couldn't help, I just can't help sometimes but see how some of it can be hard to balance all the needs in a sustainable way, which is the whole point of the board, but just mentioning that because I continue to see it, and I um I think it's interesting to for us to have to ponder and kind of look at the ultimate needs and goals and outcomes we're looking for.

Okay, thanks.

No, I appreciate all those comments, and I I suspect that Commissioner Bodie had a response to maybe your earlier comments.

Yeah, I'll just take a quick moment to um respond about the Bozeman Creek plan question, and um certainly I have not been involved from the the very beginning here, but um the the main push for Bozeman Creek has come from the citizen group, see Bozeman Creek, and um it's an initiative that they have been steadfastly working towards that I'm I'm sure that they would love to address uh access and um watershed health issues with other creeks as well, but I think it's more the nature of they they've picked this namesake creek that goes kind of through a large swath of Bozeman as a starting point, and also because Bozeman Creek is um has been built over in so many places.

That's you know the whole point of see Bozeman Creek.

How can we how can we um unearth it from a number of places where it goes underground?

Um, and I I am sure that you know, once we can check the box on Bozeman Creek, we would want to expand efforts if possible.

But um one other thing I'll I'll say to that is that while there is an ecosystem health and um human connection to nature component with the Seaboseman Creek, there's also a very financial driven um aspect to the project around if we have a 100-year flood, the way in which it's currently channelized and constrained could be a huge financial detriment to our downtown and the number of homes that live along the creek.

Um, and certainly, I mean, if we had a huge 100-year flood, that might be true of some of our other waterways, but I think not to the severity as we expect to see in Bozeman Creek.

So that's just some of the background.

I'm sure we can go way more into detail when that action item is actually before us as a board.

But um, thank you.

That's helpful.

Was there anything else that you had another comment?

I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the not sacrificing of the code to the affordability.

So um there has been no mention of um sacrificing wetland or water course setbacks for affordable housing.

I don't that's not like a trade-off that is even on the table.

Um, and I I certainly would oppose it if anybody brought it forward.

Um, most of the setbacks, most of the the trade-offs are related to setbacks from a sidewalk or a roadway um within you know, bounds that are still public safety compliant, and um some conversations that um we're having around like or have done trade-offs in the past around height, so an extra level of of a building, um depending on which zone it's in, and I would be interested in talking about density specifically for um residential zone B, which is our second least dense zone.

If if we could allow a few more units per building in exchange for some affordability, but um I don't see a direct link to environment there, but if if there is one and if there's ways that we can make sure there's protections for environment within kind of which trade-offs we're willing to make, um I think that it would be appropriate for this board to speak to it.

Great, that's helpful.

It brought up one other thing really quickly that I'll just mention, and I don't know if this is still the practice, but um I know there have been instances in the past where um the amount of like open space and park space has been able to be moved to like other parts of the community in order to get some of the density or um and I I guess I'll I would just encourage that it is important to have those parks in those neighborhoods, even if we are looking for high density in some of those areas too, um just from a quality of life perspective.

So I don't know if that is still the practice, but um I appreciate your clarification.

And I did know that a lot of those trade-offs were like more sidewalk or roadway specific, but I didn't see that specifically outlined in that plan.

So I just want to make sure I mentioned it just in case.

Totally.

Yeah, and that um cash in lieu of parklands is still very much a policy.

Um that's allowed regardless of whether it's an affordable project or um a broader project, but our planning department has, you know, kind of like a methodology in when they will accept cash in lieu of physical parkland, and it's dependent on the size of the development.

Um, and you know, sometimes that cash is actually more beneficial than the physical land, and that we can use it to improve and invest in existing parklands and make them better for people or better for wildlife, like you know, native landscaping or features that have more drought tolerance or I don't know, different user groups can use them more efficiently.

So, for example, if somebody were to be redeveloping a house right next to Beale Park, it's so small that they wouldn't put a small park on like their small property, but they may do cash in lieu of parklands to invest in Beale Park in the future.

Um I think it's most relevant when we're talking about big new developments where they're doing a whole site plan for a bunch of different buildings, and certainly in that case, the city does require there to be a park nearby in general.

I can't speak in absolutes.

Sometimes there's a development going in directly next to an existing park, and then it might make more sense for them to invest in improving the park.

But anyway, yeah, we can we can connect you with the planning department if you want to learn more about that process.

And as we're considering trade-offs for the affordable housing ordinance, um if there's a way to connect that to our incentive-based affordable housing ordinance, then I think that's totally appropriate for this body to dig into as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I wanted to give Brooke an opportunity to provide a comment, and then this discussion brought up another question I had real quick too.

Um, no real questions.

Thank you for the overview and um work compiling it, and I've enjoyed uh and benefited from listening to the question and answer so far.

So, yeah, thank you very much.

Can I just add one question that came up?

So, just in thinking about our work plan, I don't know where this fits, but I was wondering if this board has the opportunity to comment on kind of immediate like seasonally related events or um initiatives, or for example, what I'm thinking about is the fact that we had a historically dry winter and most of the West is in a drought right now.

And does this board have the opportunity to comment on whether Bozeman puts in place watering restrictions for lawns or you know, can we be informed of those sorts of things that are a little bit more immediate and dependent on what's happening?

Um, because I think that would be an interesting discussion to have and just already seeing like different um institutions watering and you know, just thinking about the water issue.

I don't know if that's part of the integrated water resource plan or if that could be kind of a sidebar of like yeah, kind of more immediate sustainability related concerns.

That's a great question.

We do have an adopted drought management plan that delineates the process and decision making around those um restrictions or just communication, and um there potentially could be an opportunity to invite Director Coates or our utilities director or um Jessica Alstrom, our water conservation manager, to share a little bit more about that drought management plan, and that could also serve as an opportunity for public communication and where we stand with with drought right now.

Um I think that would be a relevant interesting topic.

Yeah, I think that sounds like a great presentation to catch people up on you know what what the existing policy is and and how the ramp works and if there are recommendations for for changing the policy, I think that's an appropriate thing for this board to weigh in on, although updating our drought management plan is not a commission priority for this two year cycle, and so um I don't see it getting like bumped up to the top of our our list.

Um, just really briefly, I'll I'll um give you a little bit of context on what the current policy is.

Um all the time.

I I think year round, maybe it starts.

I'm gonna say year round hesitantly.

Um we have even and odd watering days, depending on whether you have an odd or even house address, and so technically you're not supposed to water every day anyway.

Um, and then there's like recommended amounts of time that you're supposed to water different types of vegetation and using different types of nozzles, etc.

Um, and then my my memory is that as we identify the stage of drought, um, the increasingly severe straight stages of drought increase the cost of your water.

Um, and so there's a financial incentive to save water.

Um, the more severe the drought becomes.

But I think our our staff could speak way more educatedly to that, and um it sounds like a cool special presentation.

I I agree we should at least become informed on the policy.

I I guarantee that they are carefully monitoring the the water um situation and drought conditions um on a daily basis and just getting some insights into what that process looks like.

I think would be valuable.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other comments?

Um, can I just make one comment on that?

The drought.

Yeah.

Um, and sorry, my internet is telling me it's unstable, so I have my camera off.

But um, the I can speak to the IWERP update, that's uh a very long-term planning timeline, it's like 30 to 50 years, but a key part of that planning is increasing our drought reserves and drought resilience.

Um, and so we're undergoing the process right now of kind of bucketing alternatives into tiers one, two, and three.

And so we're gonna have a meeting uh next week, and so at the in a future meeting to you all, I can update you on um not drought policy, but I can update you on alternatives that address drought reserves or drought resilience that are kind of making it to the top of the list if that would be helpful.

Sure, that would be great.

Thanks, Brooke.

Great.

So I guess the next step is to um vote on the adoption of the sustainability advisory board work plan for 2026 to 27.

I do have one question.

Oh, I can hop in if that's all right.

Oh, yeah.

Um, Natalie, I'm I'm just curious about the delineation between um a policy decision and a like planning um decision.

I'm sure I'm using the terms right.

Um, so you have the planning efforts headline, and then down at the bottom you have policy, and um I I just feel like maybe there's a number of things in the planning efforts that feel overlapping with policy decisions, and so um I'm just wondering what the value of that distinction is, and um maybe we can talk about some of the specifics of which ones and which I mean all this to say, I think it's fine as is, and this is maybe not worth digging into more deeply, but um just out of curiosity.

Um I I think that's a great question, and in my mind, the policy piece was this is a standalone policy initiative for the sustainability board, whereas the other planning efforts will identify strategies and potential policy planning and policies to be implemented, and um yes, it's always a little bit of a gray area that distinction, but um I think that for the most part this is the sort of standalone right here is the standalone policy work for the stand sustainability board.

I'd be happy to reorganize it, um, but that was my logic.

Gotcha, and I mean ultimately the the commission would still approve this um high performance building standards for facilities, right?

Right, right.

Yeah, I I think the the green power program maybe would also kind of fall in this bucket.

I don't know of any other board that's taken that on as their individual project in the way the sustainability board has, um and ultimately it's all in the plan and it's all gonna get done.

So I think that's that's fair.

Um it is um the green power program is an agreement that the city would enter into, and um this board would advise on that agreement.

There's so many downstream um decision points as to whether that becomes a statewide policy.

Um that's why I didn't put it there, but I think we absolutely could.

And if if the board is interested in moving that to the policy item, we could still we could certainly do that.

Cool.

Well, um, I think that's up to the board, and I I think it's okay where it is, and I can see the argument for moving it too.

I didn't feel like I was arguing, but we want to have a discussion on moving the green power program into the policy section, or can we approve it without and that can come later?

Do we need to decide on that before approving it?

Um yeah, you would you would want to um make a motion to move the green power program under policy, or I'm gonna let um Commissioner Bodie describe how that would happen.

Yeah, I think um if you wanted to move it, I would recommend first somebody making the main motion that's been recommended in your packet um to approve the um the work plan confessed submitted, and then you can make an amendment to um but before you vote on that main motion, somebody makes an amendment to move the green power program down to the policy section, you would vote first on that amendment, and then depending on um either way pass or fail, then you move to the main motion.

Um, and if the the amendment succeeds, you would say, okay, voting on the main motion as amended, which um sounds like a fun robber's rules exercise to me.

I don't have strong feelings on moving it or not.

Does anyone else?

Yeah, um, I don't have strong feelings.

I'm happy with it where it is.

I don't know if it really impacts our work, whether it's under the planning or policy heading.

I it to me it makes more sense in in planning, but that's just a personal opinion.

I agree.

I think it is okay where it lives.

Um but I don't have strong feelings either way.

Brooke, do you want to add anything?

I'm totally fine with it living under planning and and think it, yeah, that sounds good to me.

Okay, it sounds like the general consensus is to leave it where it is, but understand that it's kind of a joint planning and policy effort.

Um, so in that case, does someone want to move to approve the work plan as is?

Uh I move to approve the 2026-2027 a sustainability board work plan.

Oh, second.

Kesley, can you facilitate the vote?

Can we ask for can she control that?

Oh, Brooke, um, I'm so sorry.

Uh, we would request that you turn on your camera while you vote.

Sure, hopefully it works.

Okay, hi.

Thanks.

We'll take yours first.

Brooke.

Hi.

Hi.

Jesse.

Aye, Erin.

Hi.

Kendra.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much, Natalie, and for everyone's comments.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience through that process.

I think we're we're off and running now.

So wonderful.

So next we move to the FYI and discussions, starting with an engagement framework update.

By Takamine Clark.

Yes.

And so this was submitted by our engagement manager to Kami Clark.

And she asked for staff liaisons to read the um the language in her memo, but essentially they are working, they have a survey out in the public.

Sorry about this, guys.

Going to the links does not work here.

Okay, so the city is revisiting its engagement framework known as Engage Bozeman.

I think we've all viewed that website.

Public engagement is a starting is starting on the project, asking residents to give any feedback they have regarding how they have participated in engagement projects over the past five years.

And in 2023, the Montana State Legislature passed SB 382, also known as the Montana Land Use Planning Act.

And it calls for the creation of a public engagement plan.

And one of the goals of the engagement framework update is to ensure the city is in compliance with the Montana Land Use Planning Act requirements.

So the survey is available on the Engage Bozeman.net website under the framework.

And that survey is open until June 15th.

And you can learn a little bit more about the project on that website.

So just invite everyone to share how they engage with the city and how you prefer to engage and what you view as effective engagement.

Wonderful.

Are there any board questions or mission questions about the public engagement framework?

All right, we can move to the next item about the Earth Day Festival summary.

Okay.

So a couple weeks ago, the city was involved with the 2026 Gallatin Valley Earth Day Festival, which is led by a group of volunteers, namely Anne Ready.

And I will just offer that in the week of Earth Day, we were we had a group of cities from Idaho touring the community and where they try to learn about other communities.

And a couple people actually asked me, how do you guys put on so many events for Earth Day?

And how do you develop that partnership?

And I was like, Well, we don't really do much of anything, it's all and ready.

So it is an impressive uh event and led by an all-volunteer group.

So just want to really acknowledge um their role in putting together a really neat um suite of activities for for everyone.

So um there was a 5K fun run.

Uh the it was co-located with the Bozeman Winter Farmers Market, and the Earth Day Festival included a lot of exhibits, some talks, including one hosted by the City of Bozeman Water Conservation.

Uh, the magic show, of course, stole the show.

And there was uh music, a local food court, children's activities, an EV car show, and of course, cleanup week.

Uh, there were over 2,000 festival attendees.

I saw many of you there, a lot of city employees, five city divisions participated, and um, in regards to cleanup, um, just want to thank our solid waste division for making this event um easy on the sustainability division, but also just so much more convenient for for the community.

Um, it used to be really restricted to one day bring all your trash, and then if it was snowy, like it happened to be the morning of um Earth Day, then nobody shows up.

So, what they did with this system of the yellow plastic bags that you could fill up at your convenience and leave on the boulevard was actually pretty innovative, and it has been much more effective than what we did in the past, where when we put out dumpsters, it would encourage illegal dumping, and um this system has has really improved the operation and our ability to clean up the community.

I don't want to belabor that, but it is kind of um important to realize why we do it that way.

Um, and we we had, like I said, 360 registered people uh to pick up trash because it was snowy.

There was maybe not that many people came and got their bags, but the good thing is the program's available all year round, and um yeah, so it was successful, and um pictured here we had our animal control for lightning there, and the truck is all outfitted to to accommodate dogs and EVs are perfect for dogs and trucks because you can keep the cooling going, and um it was a lot of a lot of fun and um really a positive community event.

And of course, there was the poster contest that everyone here was um involved with uh supporting the the efforts of Beyond Plastics to get the word out about um avoiding plastic pollution, and um a lot of the the kids who participated in the contest and were finalists um went to the the magic show and um were acknowledged by Terry Quatrero and Commissioner Bodie and Um Chair Lanaham came to to uh further recognize uh these young artists and um it was a nice positive event.

Um we're working with Beyond Plastics to print the uh winning poster to make it available to stores throughout the the community.

So that was a positive um event, and really wanted to come back to the board, especially acknowledging that many of you um participated in events to um kind of let us know what you think went well, what could be improved upon, and um are there kind of broader sustainability questions that maybe we should be thinking about as we plan these events, um whether it's on the operational side or the type of education and outreach that we we engage in.

So, great, thank you.

Um, would you like to start with any?

Or if you have any questions or comments, not to put you on the spot.

No, um, I let's see if my video works.

Um I attended and thought it was um really great.

I thought I think um timing it with the farmers market is always wise, people can go get you know food and coffee and come in and um I I noticed it's at the farmers market, and it's the same, like you're uh at the the internet on your phone just doesn't work when you're in the fairgrounds, which is um the buildings, which is a bummer um for only certain activities.

Um, and I don't think there's really any way around that.

But um, I mean, I thought that all of the I thought it was a good diversity of exhibitions.

I do wonder, I thought about participating in the 5K fun run, but um I I wonder how much work goes into that versus how much I assume you do register to run it, and it's earlier in the morning, is that right?

So especially if it does snow, it people might not be as motivated with whereas if it was in the middle of the day or the afternoon or something, I don't know, those are hard to plan.

But I do wonder about the success of the fun run versus the other activities.

Um I'll also say I really like how the Earth Day festival kind of starts earlier because they do kind of events online and in person, uh really throughout the year, but kind of leading up to it on different topics.

Um I guess I'm just curious about the fun run, how effective that is that you know how many people attend and how much value that is for the effort it is to put on and um yeah, I'll stop there and I maybe I'll come up with other questions.

Um good questions.

What I know about the fun run is that it's uh hosted by big sky wind drinkers, and um they've done it for several years.

They package it up with two other 5Ks that happen the two weekends prior to it, and um it's kind of a continuous competition, which I think is a clever way to keep people engaged.

Um I will say I think the participation was a little bit low for the um Earth Day portion, um, but there were participants, and I know it was a lot of fun for for some people, and um, yeah, weather is always a factor, but we also have like the school does their fun run in the middle of winter, and the turkey trot always happens and bad weather and people still show up.

Um so there might be like a promotion piece there, um, but they I think they did a pretty good job in setting it up to to keep certain people engaged and in the 5K.

Was was this the first year that they package the 5k together with Earth Day?

I just don't remember there being a 5k previously.

There has been, but so maybe this was one of the more successful years of I I heard about it this year success.

And there were really great prizes.

Um yeah.

I'm sorry I missed it.

Um I was in the town for the celebration, and I actually have not been to one in the past, so um I don't have a lot of feedback to provide.

I did not like one thing I'll say is I did not know that the trash pickup um was available year-round.

Is that what I heard you say?

Okay, so you could go pick up um bags and the city would come to pick them up.

Okay, so they're like monitoring that along roadsides.

Yes, yeah, that's the the value of those bright yellow bags, and yeah, um okay, that's great to know.

What's that?

Uh so solid waste division will um deliver all of these supplies to you if you reach out to them.

So okay, that's yeah, that would be good to know like for just trying to think like how could that be advertised a little bit more so people know that because Earth Day depending on the snow year, it could there can be a lot of trash to pick up, or there can be a lot of snow that's buried in the trash.

So it'd be nice to um not just like from a perspective of people wanting to be out if it's cold or warm, but actually you just can't get at some of the trash depending on the year.

And the only other thought that I had was um around the trash again, which is uh would there be any way to make a competition out of that somehow and have it have whoever picks up the most weight and trash, or I don't know, that might get dicey, but just an idea of like could we make it fun somehow and have it announced at the event or I don't I don't know, just trying to think of ways to incentivize more people to um participate and cleaning up their community.

That's all.

But sounds like a lot of fun.

I'm not gonna miss it next year.

No, I I appreciate that that comment, and we were thinking a little bit about how we could do more targeted outreach to businesses because some of our most um maybe effective participants are businesses that have a group of volunteers that are perhaps even paid, um, are allowed to do some volunteer um hours through their business, and um they do a really nice job cleaning up big areas and they'll hit the same neighborhoods year after year.

Um we have tried to like encourage people to submit pictures so that we could post their pictures online as a little bit of incentive for recognition to those businesses, um, but haven't had a a lot of response, and we could probably do a better job.

Do we advertise to the businesses?

Or yeah, um I think we could be do it more targeted by maybe like putting as with Prospera or the Chamber or something like that.

Um yeah, that would that would be great.

You're right.

I uh where I grew up, that was a big thing where the businesses in the community would come out for Earth Day and make a big impact.

Yeah, and we want everyone involved, but um businesses can be especially um affected.

Yes, please.

Um, this is uh obviously not on the agenda, but um just wanted to note that actually in terms of cleanups.

Um the Gallatin Watershed Council is hosting a cleanup this Saturday, and they have a couple of different um spaces like zones that they you can sign up to go and join a group and cleanup.

Um and another community supported event Saturday, May 16th from 10 to 2 30 p.m.

And um you can get more information at Gallash Gallatin Watershed Council.org/slash 2026 spring cleanup.

Thank you.

Well, maybe I'll stay on the uh the trash lane here for a second.

Um yeah, I love the idea of advertising it more and thinking about the businesses.

I wonder if you could even have some sort of um not a plaque, but like a poster that a business could hang up and say, we're a you know, a Earth Day trash pickup participant.

You can make it more catchy.

Um but something, yeah, just to kind of spread the word and Pedium.

Like everyone who walks into REI, for example, could see that and then kind of know about it.

So I think that's a good idea.

Um, and just in general, I wasn't aware of the year-round trash pickup supplies either.

So I think marketing that would be great.

And now I won't have to feel bad for not having made it during that week so I can participate.

Um yeah, and I thought the event was great.

I attended.

Um I think, oh yeah, I guess my main comment was also about the the trash pickup.

Another idea I had was wondering if the city could partner with HOAs or somehow put the word out to HOAs to participate and then have HOA groups do a pickup in their neighborhood just to kind of yeah, increase the participation in the event.

So yeah, that was my main thought.

Um, but yeah, yeah, for sharing.

Good suggestion and getting a little bit more out in front of the neighborhood associations too.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, I also attended the event.

It was really great.

I hadn't been before.

I was really impressed with the number of attendees.

Um I was there sort of mid-morning, and I also noticed that the um the demographic tended to be a lot of young children, sort of my son's age, which is really sweet and great.

Um I would have loved to see more older kids there, sort of more older elementary school middle-aged kids.

I don't know if this event is sort of included in, you know, events calendars at the schools, but I know as kids get older, they're also very, very busy on Saturday mornings with sports and activities.

So um yeah, the it was great to see a lot of the local nonprofits had tables, you know, so folks could get on mailing lists and learn, and there was some really great like hands-on activities.

Um, and I appreciated that the EV car show was like normal people's EVs.

It wasn't like, you know, high-end EVs necessarily.

There was a good range of like, you know, the sort of electric vehicles that are much more affordable for and I I drive an older plug-in hybrid, um, so I appreciated seeing some more from that world of the electric vehicles, yeah.

I asked one more or have another comment.

Go ahead.

Um, one thought on the trash cleanup, and I guess I wasn't fully aware of the year-round nature of that either, but I wonder if that's one item that would be under the town and gown strengthening that because we have a whole host of university students and um, you know, who live in our community, and I wonder if there's some liaison with the office of sustainability on campus, there will be a new director starting June 1st on like an annual or fall cleanup, you know, like people moving into dorms and can be a social event uh for people to get to know each other on campus, and you know, um, I don't know if that's just something that's been talked about or tried before, but um that could kind of serve two purposes there to strengthen the cleanup and the town and gown relationship.

Um, and then the second thought I've had as I'm listening is with local businesses, and then we talked about the um the name is flying out of my head, but the awards that we're talking about a feasibility um study of maybe there's some way of integrating a cleanup effort as part of that, you know, um whether it's like doing it to qualify for the award period, or like it helps you get points toward potentially doing it.

Um yeah, just ideas as I was as I was listening.

Thank you.

Commissioner Bode, do you have anything to add?

Yeah, thanks.

Um I think I've remember in the past that uh solid waste measures the weight of the bags that they collect.

Is that still a thing?

Are they um collecting some data on how much waste is put up on the corner of the street?

So one of the challenges there is that we have a really helpful um streets division, and so basically anybody who sees the yellow bags will go out and grab them from the city.

So that has um been good to get the waste off the street, but it has kind of impeded our ability to um track.

And I I think we can ask some more questions about how we we might be able to manage those volume questions, but yes, some of that data has fallen by the the wayside.

Gotcha.

Yeah, it seems like there's a couple of places where we can sort of measure the growth and the success of cleanup day over time, and certainly the number of um volunteers that register is a good indicator, although whether or not they actually then go up and pick trash is you know, uncertain, and um yeah, I just wonder if there's some way to kind of count the number of bags or or the volume or the weight or some something like that.

Um and I think that if if we did have some kind of metric like that, we we could both track if Earth Day cleanup week is um is growing in prescience each year, um, and also maybe put together some fun like competition challenges between maybe the um Bozeman High School and the new Gallatin High, or um I don't know, cat grizz something, or maybe between businesses.

I I think once you have that data, whatever that metric is, then you can start to um promote like fun challenges.

Yeah, I could see the middle schools potentially engaging um to Brooks comment about MSU.

There have been periods where we were pretty engaged with Greek life and they would um send out volunteers for for cleanup, and you could see that being a potential competition.

I think it actually was a competition.

And then MSU used to have their own standalone cleanup where they were inviting volunteers to participate and in that event.

Um, so do you know why they stopped doing that?

Is that like a pandemic thing?

I don't really, yeah, I don't know specifically.

And maybe they still do, I just don't hear about it.

I heard they had 5k also, so is there anything else to add or on the agenda?

Or I mean there's nothing else on the agenda.

Does anyone have anything else to add?

Should we invite public comment if?

Oh, is there any public comment in the room or online?

No public comment.

No public.

Thanks.

In that case, the meeting is adjourned.

Thanks everyone.

Thank you.