All right.

We'll call the meeting to order.

This is the Sustainability and Resiliency Commission, December 10th.

It is 4:34 PM.

And we'll start with roll call.

And so I'll just call out names.

Seth Barons.

Absent.

Edward Cohen.

Present.

Amy Cockett here.

Amanda Holloway is present.

Terry Kinsey.

Present.

Casey McQuaid.

Present.

And Brian Morgan is absent.

Oh.

Yes.

I heard remote.

Yeah.

Perfect.

Next, we will approve our November minutes.

So our November meeting, we had some discussion about the sustainability work plan.

We also had the presentations of ideas to add to the work plan or things that we should consider for future and some discussion around the annual report.

Is there a motion to approve the November meeting minutes?

So moved.

Seconded.

Any all in agreement, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

All right.

Motion passes and the minutes are approved.

Do we have anybody online by chance?

Okay.

We'll skip over open comment period.

Oh, there's some.

So we'll amend amend uh that Seth Barrens is present today.

Sadly, I do need to exit at 5:30 to get that point.

But otherwise I couldn't be here.

Yes.

Good luck.

So on the agenda, we have our 2025 sustainability annual report.

And there was a draft that was provided with the agenda.

Um essentially what we did is pull together a list of all the things that we did last year, which was actually um quite a few items on the list.

Quite a few things that we had to include.

I wanted to keep it to two pages, but we just couldn't.

So it's probably good news.

We're pretty active this year.

Anyway, so this um this annual report is intended to go to the city council and essentially um just provide some information about again reminder who the sustainability and resiliency commission is, what our charge is, uh, and then we just outlined um the ways that we fulfilled that charge, whether it was through advising um and writing recommendation reports, um the training that we did, the community engagement and outreach, um, and then other city initiatives that we were involved with.

Really?

It was really wonderful to read all the work through all of them, you know.

You're part of that, yeah.

You were part of this.

Yeah, but I mean the worker bees.

So I think did we have um were we allowing for just a few minutes for questions and then we'll take some feedback?

Anybody have any questions about the annual report?

Terry.

Is it appropriate?

Is there room to uh talk about Amanda getting the mayor's medal?

That's up to you.

Yes, what a good idea.

I I do think it's important, right?

I mean, it's not to embarrass you because I think every time I do something like this, you're but I do think it's really important to you know talk about impact, and I think it's a really important impact.

Why don't we put that in right before looking ahead to 2026 after the sustainability plan reporting?

You talk about this three page or right?

Yeah, this is call for a motion.

Well, I think we can talk about any you know final edits that we want to see, and then typically what we'll do is make a motion to approve whatever it is, the recommendation report or the annual report with the amendments that we with the additions that we discussed in this meeting.

I will move the plan changes with an amendment that will include Amanda Holloway getting the mayor's um a medal of honor in sustainability or 2025.

I mean that's kind of the capstone of work.

Yeah, and I guess I'm already thinking 2026 because I was like that would be a next year's, but no, that's appropriate for this year.

That was a motion by a second.

Well, I don't think we're ready for a motion quite yet.

Unless there's uh so let's continue discussion to see if there are any additional edits.

Um maybe we'll just go questions.

I didn't think it felt long because it's written in a bullet point way.

So I didn't you know to the industry, I think full point outline.

It's beautifully done, you know, some things in bold and it yeah, it was easy to read.

So maybe even busy council members will want to set it.

I've been hearing a lot of buzz from council members recently that they are appreciative and reading through the reports that we're sending.

So we just sent the I just sent the one on your behalf about the city budget recently.

And so that one was received and well received and reviewed and things like that.

So yeah, and then this bolded part in the introduction paragraph came from it.

Was funny because Amanda drafted this and we met, and this was the same quote that I had had to say make sure that this part gets in here.

But the commission strives to ensure that its recommendations are sound, community-driven, data supported, and rooted in the collective experience oh, expertise of commissioners and partners.

And so that came from your discussion last month.

Yeah, and so we were on the same page about that being something really important to be in there.

Something we should memorize and use often.

Yeah, exactly.

Uh any other questions.

And maybe we'll just go around the room quick for any other input.

Any input.

Got mine, thank you.

Okay.

Now we can make a motion.

Renew my motion that was um accept this draft with the addition of an amendment that aid Amanda Holloway received the mayor's um award.

Mayor's medal of honor.

Medal of honor in sustainability.

All right, most I think.

All right, motion passes.

I mean with the amendment.

We can put it just right before looking ahead to 2026.

Yeah, that you can four minutes so it doesn't take another page.

Okay, I'll run up.

And then um, yeah, and you all know this, but we will also be attaching the um annual sustainability plan report.

So the first annual report, the sustainability plan that we attached.

So yeah, that's exciting too.

And I think it's referenced in there.

So the whole bat plan goes with this.

No, the the annual report that we created this year, I believe it was in your packet a few months ago.

So you all helped with reporting on the sustainability plan.

Our summer intern, Lindsay created a our first annual report for the sustainability plan.

So it's seven pages.

It was in your pull it up here.

Um you submit this to city council.

Would you mind sending uh finalized copies of the recommended, like our annual report and then that attachment as well?

That way we all just have it.

Sure.

Thank you.

So here is the first the first um annual report for the sustainability and resilient resiliency community work plan.

And so this we're highlighting um along with your annual report, because you all helped with all the data collection on this this year.

So this really digs into the progress on the plan, our greenhouse gas emissions, our it was it was obvious, and then highlights from each of the topic areas of the sustainability and results and plan, both on the city side and the community side.

So making sure that we highlight that with city council.

Just looks so formal with all those percents and the bars and our remember we're data in Ruben.

Yeah, data driven.

We are this is just really a snow shop.

We should highlight this in the weekly AC and Council of Data We haven't.

But if we're sharing it, council via email, I think we could put it in there.

We can move on to the next uh old business item is the 2026 sustainability division work plan.

We have about 30 minutes scheduled for this portion.

Yeah, and I think we just wanted to kind of frame the conversation for this month, and that it'll kind of be an introduction to the sustainable to the 2026 sustainability division work plan.

So I will attempt to kind of go through all of these big priority items for 2026, knowing that all of these will be coming back to you in 2026 meetings, and we'll I'll show you kind of the table at the end.

Um this is you know, not meant to necessarily dive into the details of all of the priorities for next year, but just to kind of give a broad overview and then a recognition of each of our roles under each of them.

So how we all work together to kind of achieve all of the progress that we achieved this year, I think, you know, and with the goal of you know having an annual report at this time next year that is kind of laying out our progress on all of these items because I think you know we did a similar um activity last year.

We all kind of worked together, I think, really collaboratively this year on our priorities.

And I think we can go back to our our work plan for 2025.

And I mean, I would say, you know, 95% of it is either in progress or completed, and the ones that are not, you know, there's a specific reason why you know the funding was you know pivoted or something like that, you know, federal funding or you know, grants or something like that.

I mean, if there's pretty I think good reasons if something didn't move forward, and so I think it's just a testament to kind of the strategic planning that we take time for in the fall and the way that we you know draft and create a work plan where we're all kind of moving together.

So this will be an kind of an introduction and an overview of the work plan.

Um, we'll take some kind of questions.

I think we have some time for questions after.

Um, hoping to keep it to kind of high level questions, um, timeline, strategy questions.

Do you have program specific questions or really detailed questions about how one of these things is going to happen?

Um, you know, feel free to email that to me.

And I'm planning to put together a list of QA to be included in the January meeting packet.

So that way, if other people have you know similar questions, specifics about the work plan, we can kind of have that all laid out and then we can move into our January meeting and kind of button it up and officially approve the work plan.

So we aren't actually so as far as the discussion and action goes, there's no action required on this today.

Um we are kind of continuing this discussion into January.

And that's because we needed to also add the third item, um, our third item on our agenda today.

So we needed to kind of share the time meeting.

Okay.

So I will dive in.

Um, for those of you that were here last year, this may look similar to kind of the structure of the the document last year.

Although, as you can see, we don't have um a focus area and role for the sustainability fellow in next year's work plan because unfortunately Sarah is leaving us soon, and so it is under roles and focus areas.

It's myself as the coordinator, our sustainability associate or intern, um, which is again our limited term city and DMC shared position.

Um, you may have seen in staff updates, but this position is open right now.

So we're kind of starting to shift the timeline of this position.

Um we'll see how it goes.

I'm hoping we can get someone onboarded in by February so that they can really kind of help to fill the gap.

Um that will be left when Sarah leaves.

Um, and so kind of to support us in in moving moving these things forward instead of going from two to one back to two again in June.

Is the entrance um time limited, the new one?

One that's open.

It's up to 32 hours a week.

So it's the same as this year.

I know, but is it the harm with your year and we have to find it?

It's basically until the funding runs out.

Oh, so DMC has us a limited amount of funding, and and we do as well.

I am pursuing um a funding opportunity through the state that could secure additional um funds that could extend this position, but there are kind of a lot of ifs at this point with that.

So I'm not gonna share more about that until um I know a little bit more.

But if we are able to move um the item forward and we're able to reserve additional funds, I mean, in my mind, 100% of that would go towards extending this position.

Good.

Did you have a question?

Okay.

And then the last rule here is you all, sustainability and resiliency commission.

Nothing has changed on top here.

The guiding documents and policy are the same.

It's our greenhouse gas goals, our sustainability plan, our foundational principles.

Well, I guess things have changed here in that responsible environmental stewardship has moved from a city foundational principal to one of the city council's strategic priorities.

So both of those are listed here.

And then I also list the city's comprehensive plan under guiding documents because it includes our mode shift goals, which we don't directly work on, but they kind of inform our work when it comes to transportation.

All right.

So jumping into 2026 priorities.

Well, there's two, but the first one is the Healthy Air and Homes Initiative.

We have been using this term to describe it Healthy Air and Homes Initiative within the abbreviation Haki H A H I.

I also feel like there may be a rebranding effort at some point early next year when we move.

Because we haven't, we have actually our annual communications meeting with the communications team tomorrow.

And so this will certainly be that's one of your laughing.

The topics.

Yeah, it's been easy for abbreviations, but I think we're gonna need something that's more branded for the community so that they understand what this is.

Um, but really it's kind of three main components.

One is the healthy homes, kids themselves.

Um, so we have funding for 150 kids that include healthy homes, more on the healthy home side, radon test kits, um, lead paint test strips, um, things like that.

And then we have more of the energy efficiency items.

So LED light bulbs, we have um window and uh door weather stripping, we have all kinds of energy efficiency items.

So we can talk more about that when we kind of do a deep dive on this.

The second piece of this program is um the training of the navigators.

And so this is really the workforce development component of the program.

And as I work on this program more and develop it more, this is really taking center stage.

So um new partners in this program development include RCTC, UMR is a new partner as of just earlier today.

Um, and then SEMCAC, which is our community action agency in this area.

They are a program partner, um, and they are you know really willing to assist with training with job shadowing and really kind of creating this pipeline for workforce development in um you know, clean energy and green jobs um for the navigators.

Um, yeah, second is the training of the navigators, and then third is the actual at-home consultations that will happen through this program.

So navigators will go up to homes, um, kind of conduct, I would say a relatively high-level assessment.

So things like what is your fuel type on your HVAC and your hot water heater, what is the efficiency of it, things like that.

Um, and then really the role of the navigators is to connect residents with the next step.

So depending on what they're interested in, um, we have paid for the cost of the radon test kits through Umstead County Public Health.

We are subsidizing the cost of the RPU energy audit.

Um, will likely be something where they would pay for it and then they would be reimbursed on their bill afterwards.

But we're working with RPU on that.

Um, and RPU is willing to allow this to take the place of the in-person required um neighborhood energy challenge class right now that residents have to take to receive their energy audit at a reduced price.

So I would say a lot of my time right now is being spent on um developing uh relationships with partners.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce is interested in this program and interested in in funding specifically the certification for navigators.

Um they'll be earning the building science principals certification.

Um so really excited about that.

Center for Energy and Environment, they have um their energy auditor trainings, and so they will be coming down here and helping us with training of the navigators.

Um yeah, really working on developing partnerships right now.

I am going to the RCTC career fair tomorrow and RCTC and UMR as of today are allowing this to be these positions to be counted as one of their internship credentials for some of their students.

So we're kind of talking talking to our fifth board alderman, Sean about this.

The reason is that it's his fifth board council member who is often so anti-empown.

I mean, when I catch glimpses of him talking on TV.

And that this is his background, his building management.

And maybe that would get him more interested in the sort of things we do.

Yeah, I'm trying to think through it now how the Healthy Homes program and the franchise fee discussion could be talked about at the same time because we don't want to duplicate efforts next year, but I also don't want to portray them as if they are linked.

So like you have to support a franchise fee if you want this program because we are moving forward with this program regardless.

Um and I would say I'm not at the point right now where I'm bringing council members in to this, but we have applied for well, we've applied for one grant and we're applying for another grant to fund the program.

So this has come before city council.

But to get him on our side, if you simply call and ask him for advice.

Or instead of putting his background is in building management.

But I'm a constituent.

So it's an alternative strategy for me to reach out.

And you can ask him if he has any advice.

Yes, and say, oh, this just came to our committee.

I would say we're bringing this back to you all as we create this program in early 2026.

So again, all these items at the end of this, I'll show you the table similar to what we had for this year where you can see exactly when all these items are coming back to you.

So I believe we have this on for it's early in the year, it's February or something.

I just think that he might have advice too that would be helpful since he's done this.

He worked for the city.

I would say when we come when this comes back to you all, when the packet is published, you as a resident, if you'd like to reach out and say, hey, this is coming to SRC, and you know, any thoughts on this?

Here's the packet.

I think it might be a it is a natural, not afraid to do, that's for sure.

I mean, that's I feel like that's our job, right?

We're here to represent I consider myself representing my area.

I think this program has the ability to create a lot of partnerships and and you know, it provides a direct service to the community, and I really think it has the opportunity to just create a lot of opportunities for sustainability moving forward and show impact and and um yeah, just really build some good relationships.

So the role of SRC in this one, and I'm not gonna read through all the roles of all of us, um, but I am leading on development, the interns roles to support, and then the SRC role on this one is assisting with community outreach and engagement and providing feedback and recommendations on program design and implementation during our monthly meetings.

Okay, next one is um EV charging policy implementation.

And so, as you all know, City Council adopted our the EV charging policy.

So we're working on um with other city departments.

We've drafted and discussed an internal implementation guide that kind of outlines roles and responsibilities of all the departments.

Um, you know, so now it's really about maintaining the reliable network, um, tracking the revenue, um, troubleshooting issues and evaluating expansion opportunities.

And so SRC's role with this one um is to review implementation outcomes and then provide feedback during regular meetings.

And I think this will come back to you when we we have that annual meeting where we typically dig into data.

So not the greenhouse gas emission meeting that we usually have at the beginning of the year, but the one that's about halfway through the year, and I think this is when we bring this back.

I I feel like communication needs to be a bigger part of that because even though we think that you were on TV and everybody knows when it actually happens, there's not needs to be a whole other wave of communication.

Because people aren't going to be able to do that.

We have them.

We have it, but it's not on there anywhere.

We just put out a press release.

We just I just mean like in there it just to like mark it as a E ongoing communication because it is such a big change.

That's my recommendation.

Yeah.

Just to be really I think it's gonna be more than you think.

Okay.

I'm just we tell people and then they just they either forget or they think it didn't get approved or whatever.

I just have a feeling we did put um flyers on stations this week that advertises the upcoming change.

So people who use the stations will be seeing that in the startup 2026.

Okay, the next one on here is uh natural gas franchise fee engagement and policy discussion.

So really this is the big focus of 2026 when it comes to policy.

Um we've been tasked with developing um an engagement plan for a potential natural gas franchise fee.

Um we're kind of in the midst of developing all the engagement materials right now.

We'll be starting community engagement in January through March, um, and then bringing our final staff recommendation to city council in April, which will likely go into May and potentially early June.

Um for a council decision.

I would say if a decision is made to move forward with the franchise fee policy or to move forward with the franchise fee, we would it's it will definitely impact this work plan for the rest of the year, but it's not included in here right now.

So it would be um, you know, a lot of work to mobilize what potential programs would look like from fee revenue and things like that.

But right now, as it is on the work plan, it is just franchise fee engagement and discussion around the policy.

And this is I have a presentation on our next item.

So we'll dig a little bit deeper into franchise fee and we have a discussion today for you all, and then early next year.

This is coming back to you all at a full meeting where where we'll dive into um the discussion around franchise fee, similar to what we did for UV charging, the AV charging.

We think you'll have a consultant sale for this.

We do.

Yep.

And so SRC's role in this one is participate in engagement sessions and provide a recommendation report to city council on this.

So it will be several meetings.

Um, next item here is um the DOE energy efficiency and conservation block grant projects, which Sarah was brought on to help support um in 2025.

A lot of those projects are continuing into 2026, specifically our electrification project at Center Street Center.

Isn't it billet?

I might have written this wrong.

I think it's isn't it village street apartments on Center Street?

I put in here Center Street apartment, so I need to change that.

Um collaboration with First Homes to electrify some of the income qualified units at the apartment complex on Center Street.

Um also working on some fleet electrification with this federal funding.

So hoping to potentially electrify additional fleet.

We've electrified three fleet vehicles um using this funding already, and then continuing to submit quarterly grant reporting and coordinating with the DOE.

Is the center street apartments to set that town hall estates?

Is that what you're talking about that high-rise?

By the boys and girls club on center street.

Okay.

It's pretty old.

We've tried to have electrical in there right now and wall um AC units.

We're also using this as kind of a research study, and so we'll be um working with RPU and the residents to um gain access to utility bills so we can show how it changes and kind of you know, post about it and post it on the website as a case study for multifamily um air source heat ups.

It's not decarbonization in the sense that we're not converting natural gas systems, it's electric baseboard, um, but it is it will be much more energy efficient and we'll save money because they're using electric baseboard.

So SRC's role on this one is reviewing program updates um and outcomes in your monthly meetings and then providing recommendations to kind of help us enhance community visibility and program effectiveness as needed.

What role will the occupants of those units play in this effort?

The units, I believe, are um they're trying to work in empty units.

So there are two units that are um that people are moving out of, and so we're hoping to get the work done while the units are vacant.

Um the role that the resident will play is allowing access to their utility bill data.

So is there any incentive for the resident to do anything?

Well, we are paying for the electrification, so we're we're working with first homes to cover all the costs of the retrofit project.

So we're we're working with first homes to cover all the costs of the retrofit project.

So the resident doesn't need to really do much of anything.

Are you talking about as far as using the heat pump that's installed?

Well, no, we to be trained on this new piece of technology or to the extent as any resident mind.

Yeah, so I think first homes is taking on that piece.

They're really managing the project, which is what's really nice, I think about this opportunity is they have done this in some of their other properties.

And so they're really taking on kind of the lion share of the work, and we're just kind of um partnering with them on the using some of the federal funds.

They're also supporting on the energy efficiency side of it.

The residents pay the electorate build.

Yes.

Yeah, that's a great point.

Definitely some education, probably useful at the end of the project.

I just wonder if they were recognized for reducing their electronic bill designs.

Yeah.

That's a good point.

Um, I think you know, we probably will want to showcase this in some way once it's complete.

Um definitely something to keep in mind, I think, as we kind of move through the project.

Okay, next is um this was a city council kind of task of sustainability, um, is creating a municipal sustainability dashboard.

So this is basically similar to what we did this year with the sustainability plan um dashboard on our website, but they're looking to develop a framework for tracking this responsible environmental stewardship strategic priority across municipal departments.

So this is something that my team will be taking on next year.

Um, and SRC's role would be to you know review um and provide feedback on the dashboard content similar to what you all did this year with the sustainability plan.

Next is sorry, there's a lot of these, and I realize that I'm taking a long time here.

I don't know how long we've been going already.

I think I had 20 minutes for this.

Agree, yeah, about 20 minutes.

And I think we've asked some questions as we've done through so we can keep going.

Okay then okay.

Um next is air quality alliance coordination.

Uh we went through some strategic planning with Air Quality Alliance this year.

The city sustainability team is really kind of leading and coordinating the efforts of the alliance moving forward.

So that's maintaining a reliable sensor network, um, doing the co-location and data calibration studies on the sensors once a year, um, coordinating all the partners, working with the county to manage the dashboard and the website.

Um we're also creating and implementing a communications and outreach plan for the AQA next year.

So that includes some comms um, you know, graphics, um, social media engagement, things like that.

Um, so you all received a presentation about air quality alliance, I think in one of your meetings this year.

So you kind of have an understanding of the partners, um, city, county, DMC, uh, within Mayo and Rochester Public Schools as potential new partners in future years, not technical member, I think not technical members is the way that we're phrasing it, but program partners.

Um, so the role of SRC would be to support um public engagement and education on air quality through community events, and then provide feedback on AQA as as needed.

I don't know that it will be a full item on your meeting calendar next year unless something comes up and and we need feedback on this.

The next one here is sustainable building guidelines.

Um, I will say this one will have I will have to assess um the political um landscape after the franchise fee discussion um in May to kind of get a feel for if this makes sense to bring forward and if so, when it's also an election year next year locally, and so that influences the types of policy items that we are able and uh you know um that makes sense to bring to in front of city council moving into the election season.

And so we are partnering with DMC to kind of um not recreate the wheel and kind of align in those efforts to support on any modeling that might be needed to assess cost impacts or things like that of any of the changes that they make to their sustainable building guidelines.

Um DMC can adopt theirs next year, and then it's kind of up to the city if we want to update ours or align with DMC and sustainable building guidelines are triggered when TIF funding is used at the city.

Um, and so that's kind of a larger topic.

It will definitely come back to you all on a meeting, regardless of if we are moving forward with the poll, you know, bringing a policy to council or not next year.

Um, it will certainly come back before you all, likely around June or maybe in the summer before DMC brings it for approval from their board.

Is TIP and trigger only in the DMC area?

Because there's so many.

Um for DMC, it's for all of their funding.

For the city, I'm not quite sure.

Nolan, who's our sustainability associate who is still working remotely, is doing um, he's putting together a really comprehensive report.

He's been working on it for a few months on sustainable building guidelines.

It's kind of his last final deliverable.

So we'll have that as a really great starting place um next year.

Because if it applies in all the TIFS, all kinds of housing stuff is now using TIFF.

So I mean, is that going to expand it much more than downtown?

I'm just wondering if you said it was a trigger.

And I would say there's an emphasis on the word guidelines right now on the city side.

So there's a lot to dig into this topic, yep.

So SRC's role on this one is you know, reviewing any of the guidelines or um any potential policy when it comes back to you to ensure alignment with our sustainability goals, provide feedback during your meetings, and then provide a recommendation report to city council if and when it goes before council.

Next is ongoing electrify everything Minnesota um programming.

We started the programming here last year this year with our federal dollars, and I have um submitted a budget request to kind of continue this partnership into future years.

It will look a little bit different than this year.

Um this year we did kind of a covert approach where we did you know multiple in-person workshops, um, that kind of walked residents through the process of electrifying at home.

Next year, we're really focusing on meeting people where they're at and not recreating the wheel.

Um, and so I would say TBD on what this one looks like.

Um, I think it will look like a few virtual um virtual events in the fall of 2026.

So I will update you all with more info when we have it for next year.

When you provide next month or February, whenever you do um the more detail about the plan that you went through at a high level.

Could you also point out which and in what way greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced through all those various efforts?

So yeah, highlighting in the work plan.

Right, all those lists you went through the remote.

Or we're only about halfway done.

There's quite a few items on here.

I would say some of them are directly related to greenhouse gas emissions, um, or some have the potential to others are more education-based.

Sure.

But that way in a single place rather than trying to find out in each one on our part, you will have had the time to collect that.

So are you asking for an actual analysis of the greenhouse gas emission reduction from each other?

Oh, no numbers.

Just this program will like high impact medium kind of thing like that.

Maybe in some way, you know, for example, we're electrifying the uh partners.

Um getting rid of gas appliances.

Um because of this program we're we're eliminating the uh guest troops.

Um that's a good reminder to always kind of tie it back to impact.

Um, yeah.

I would say when I create this work plan, I try to take a lot of ideas and kind of trim them down to the most important or most impactful.

Um I think what's hard about the Healthy Homes program is that it is a really large focus for 2026.

There aren't probably measurable reductions the moment that someone has this consultation appointment, but I think it's really going to lay the foundation for, you know, I think it's going to open a lot of doors for all of us collectively through partnerships and opportunities and things like that.

So I would say some things on this work plan are with more of a long-term focus and more focused on building partnerships, building trust, um things like that.

But I think about their program.

No, I appreciate your feedback though.

And I mean, I think the electrify everything is a good example of that, where it's really is education focused.

And so that's why it's kind of made its way a little bit further, I would say down the list for next year because we really do need to think about keeping an eye on the impact and how do we measure.

I think we keep hearing that from city council too.

So that's a good note.

Okay.

The rest of these, I would say um, after this next one, the rest of these are all the same as this year, and so I will make it quick.

But I put I put a placeholder on here for waste and recycling initiatives because um I know that was an area of interest for you all this year.

Next year, OMSA County is kind of rebranding all of their recycling guides and all those things.

They want our involvement in that.

I don't know what that looks like, but it could look like them bringing it to one of these meetings, you all providing feedback.

Um sustainability plan tracking, reporting, and engagement.

As you all know, that's something that you are tasked with.

We've discussed what we want that to look like in 2026 and how to kind of make it an easier process next year since we all spent a lot of our time this year trying to get answers to these questions.

So what that looks like in this work plan is a mid-year SRC community engagement session to share progress and gather feedback on the community-led tactics.

So we will continue to discuss what this looks like in next um year's meetings, and then updating the the online tracker, the dashboard, and the annual report.

Um the next one is sustainability reporting and metrics.

This is the same each year.

I just list out all the metrics that my team reports, and then um yours is your role in this one is to um you know use these to kind of inform your priorities.

We usually have a meeting in late summer, early fall where we go over all this data, and then after that is kind of the meeting where you all pitch your ideas for the following year.

And so this kind of helps to inform, I think sustainability priorities and also the SRC annual report.

Um, there's a placeholder on here for policy research and considerations.

One of the main items here was the franchise fee, which has now been elevated, and so um there may be other policy-related items that um we would want to assess next year.

One of them that's kind of on my radar is the solar app.

And so I'm not gonna share more about that right now, but that's something that we're potentially looking at, and so if we do um continue to move that forward, we will certainly bring that back to you all for more information.

Next is sustainability communications and outreach.

This is our quarterly e-newsletter with the sustainability spotlight that you all write.

Um, our social media posts, our press releases, our website pages that we update, um, and then tabling materials and activities.

So your role in this one is to write the sustainability spotlight topic and to work with me to kind of provide that content for our e-newsletter.

Next is events, so list of all of the kind of sustainability events, and then your role for this one is providing recommendations, um, volunteer recruitment, and then event volunteering.

Next is exploring additional funding sources.

This is something we always have our eyes on.

And so applying for grant seeking out grants, applying for grants, and then managing grants.

And so I think the SRC role for this one would be conducting the research and analysis um as needed for additional grants.

But typically we have our eyes on them.

So we'll let you know if we need anything.

Um, next one is um regional collaborations.

Again, this is more of a sustainability division um uh item on the work plan, but I think for you all, it's evaluating and recommending new potential collaborations and making those recommendations as needed, or if you come across something that you really think would be valuable, I'm always happy to kind of evaluate a recommendation for a new collaborative group.

Um, I did add an item here that our that is sustainability and resiliency commission items.

So these are the three items from last month's meeting.

So exploring the opportunities to support pollinator pathways, reviewing alternative transportation and by pet alignment, and then learning about opportunities for thermal drones and building energy efficiency assessments.

So as you all will see in the month by month breakdown, which is the next part on here, I have taken each of your ideas and kind of worked them into the month by month breakdown of when all of the items on this work plan will come back to you all in 2026 meetings.

And so as you can see, and similar to this year, you know, the first part of the year I feel like is always really packed.

Um, and especially with the Healthy Homes program needing to get up and running by April and the franchise fee discussion happening in April and Sarah leaving and me onboarding a new sustainability associate.

The first half of next year is going to be pretty packed.

Don't be sick.

But I did, yeah, I'm not gonna leave my house at all.

Um I did uh reserve space on here for all of your items.

So in April, and please be patient and flexible with me because this may need to pivot depending on things.

But I've I really was I listened to the discussion, and I feel like it makes a lot of sense for each of the three ideas for it to come back to a meeting and for me to bring in staff that makes sense to share information with you all about what is the city currently doing in these spaces, how can SRC support the efforts and where might there be gaps?

Um, so I have an SRC item for pollinators and turf grass in April, since you know it's really timely with the the change of seasons and things like that.

Um I have the bike ped in um May, so bringing in our community development team and our mode shift coordinator.

He's also new, and so that gives him time to kind of get his feet under him.

And then I have energy efficiency in June with RPU staff coming in to kind of talk about what do their current efforts look like and is there you know, interest and potential to um you know explore an additional initiative like the thermal drones.

So that's kind of my best um effort at kind of integrating your ideas into the work plan for next year while also kind of recognizing that we have several other um kind of big ticket items, especially in the first half of the year.

Nice.

So that's the overview.

Um and kind of the breakdown of when each of these items will come back to you throughout 2026.

Nice.

And uh just for sake of time.

So if you have additional questions about any of these items, email Kayla so that she can be prepared to either speak to those or provide some information for the January meeting because we'll continue this discussion in January and look for approval of the work plan in January.

And I would say some of the answers right now are TBD.

You know, I did I think I shared quite a lot of what I know about these items for next year.

And I think you know, we've we're kind of in the planning phase and in the kind of prep work phase for all of the things coming down the pipeline for 2026.

I hope some of them fall off.

It's too many.

I'm just gonna say this is one person.

Yeah.

I mean trouble is we always add to students to the helping you.

That's why I think it's good to start with education on the SRC topics.

But um, yeah, I mean, certainly we that's why we have this little piece at the end that says additional focus items, because we do recognize that council priority items, city administration uh priority items or other items as they arrive, certainly have the ability to affect the work plan.

So this is kind of a fluid document and you know, typically there are changes to it throughout the year.

Yeah.

Thanks, Kayla.

The next item for discussion is new business hot topics.

So the natural gas franchise fee engagement strategies.

Um Kayla's gonna share some additional information about uh the program and kind of what's in the work from uh works from the community engagement proposal, and then uh we'll have the opportunity to ask a couple of questions if we have them, and then a little bit of time for discussion.

Uh, so we don't necessarily there's no action required on this.

It's essentially opportunity for us to hopefully support you, Kayla, and provide some suggestions on uh community engagement strategies.

And so just to frame it up, the discussion questions that you all will kind of be tasked with are what additional outreach channels.

Right.

What additional outreach channels, such as newsletters, e-newsletters, community meetings, events, things like that.

Should we consider so that we can ensure that the natural gas franchise engagement is broad and accessible?

And then yeah, just sharing any thoughts that you have on how we can get this info out into the community is really the goal of this discussion.

And again, we'll be bringing the actual engagement and like the real meaty questions of like fee type, fee level revenue use programs back to you early next year.

This is really to help us prep for engagement.

I think just to just one, the week of rewards in the library has started this lunch of local readers.

Okay.

And we had one in the fall with Camp McKell.

And now we're having one in January with Randy Shibrin.

I think we we'd be up for in March, and we can use it free.

That's nice.

I think it's that people bring their own lunch and we ask the speaker, who would be you, or whoever you choose to talk for about 15 minutes and then field questions.

We try to keep it to an hour so people get free parking.

Oh, yeah.

And I I whether or not you get a big turnout, like for Camp Aquil, I was surprised there were only 17 or 18 people.

I thought there'd be boards of angry parents who want to, but every media, if there were three TV cameras there and the postposition.

So I think that it's one way to get on the media about this, because whether or not you get a huge turnover of people reading their stack lunches.

So it's something to think of.

And if if you want to just send the program tractionally, let me know if there's sometime in March, you or whoever you would suggest.

Do you know the date?

It would be maybe.

No, it's whenever you want because they're they are totally open.

They've told me it just any day of the week that um that they are not closed.

So it can't be like a national holiday.

Okay.

If it's March, I would prefer early March because we're trying to find March.

We get to pick.

Okay.

We ask Randy Shibrin when you can come.

Maybe it's January 14th.

So that's when it is.

First week in March, maybe.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm just gonna give a quick presentation on the natural uh franchise fee engagement strategy, just so we can frame it up and then I'll open it up to you all.

And you want to do it if it's just here's what it could be, or if you want to ask the people who are there to give you input, or if you are getting however you can.

I'll get into what we're oh, okay.

Okay, however, you want.

So we just presented this to council at a study session, but this is essentially what we are proposing for the gas franchise fee engagement strategy.

So, what do we want?

What are we looking to do in Q1 of next year?

I think I guess we haven't dedicated a meeting to this yet.

So I guess I will go over this.

Um, so high level, what our franchise fees um utility uses our public right-of-way.

Um we manage the public right-of-way.

And so for that reason, we have a right to establish what's called a franchise fee, um, which is part of a franchise agreement.

So right now we have a franchise agreement with our natural gas utility, Minnesota Energy Resources.

In that agreement, it says that we can um create and and um and collect a franchise fee.

We don't currently do that, um, but we're able to.

We do already have franchise fees for uh our cable utility, and we have um what's called uh payments, payment in lieu of taxes or pilots on our other utilities, so electric, water, wastewater, and stormwater.

We do not have one for natural gas.

We never have in Rochester.

So a fun uh natural gas franchise fee could um provide funding to reflect kind of the utilization that that Merck has in our public right-of-way.

It aligns with the city's foundational principles and our city council's priorities, the sustainability plan, um, and for sustainability, it reduces the reliance that we have currently on uncertain grant funding or levy funding.

So when we put in budget requests for staff or for operating dollars, we're competing against fire, police, all of these other, you know, um levy funded departments, whereas a franchise fee could be a dedicated funding source to be used for environmental stewardship.

And there's a lot of examples in peer cities.

And so we've seen uh Minnesota Energy Resources told us that about 20% of their communities in Minnesota have franchise fees on the bus.

So it is something that they are used used to.

So how it would be collected, it would be on the natural gas bill.

We are proposing the proposal that we're kind of bringing out to the community in the community engagement to give kind of people something to react to is 50% of the revenue being focused on community-based environmental programs, and then 50% of the revenue being used to fund municipal environmental sustainability initiatives.

So we're in December 2025.

So we're in the kind of the preparation time period.

January through March again is our community engagement, and then April is our recommendation to council.

So it is it is happening quickly.

If so, what are the fee impacts and what could a fee design look like?

So that's the type of franchise fee, flat fee, usage-based fee, things like that, and then the level of fee, both on the residential and the commercial side.

We're trying to understand what is most important to community members and stakeholders.

Um, and we're trying to build trust by connecting the fee back to revenue use programs that would support the community.

And we are um drafting a recommendation report that would include our final recommendation that we're going to present to city council.

So our key audiences for engagement are really homeowners, renters, property owners in the residential sector.

Um also nonprofits, faith-based organizations, small uh to mid-sized commercial businesses, large users and industry, business focused, and our utility.

So Merck and RPU, and they are more, you know, keeping in the loop kind of as we move through this.

Our strategies for engagement are um in-person meetings.

Um we are limiting the in-person just because it is in the middle of winter.

We are trying to really meet people where they're at.

So we're going to be doing one residential and one commercial in person.

But we do also, we are planning to also do virtual sessions, and we're um I developed a form that will be on the website where any community group can request a presentation from me.

So this doesn't mean this is the only option for people to engage.

This just means when it comes to the support of our consultants for this, they have limited availability, you know, to be here in person or to support the project.

Um, but I am able to come either in person or virtually and do presentations at a neighborhood group or something, you know, green drinks or whatever it would be.

We'll also have a website on this with lots of information, and we're planning social media posts in Q1 of next year.

Um soon we do be considered doing these talks.

I already did one this week.

Um tomorrow.

I would say I would say we're not quite ready.

That it was a situation where a council member was asked to speak about the topic, and then they asked us to kind of be there or five line.

Yeah, well, well, um, I would prefer to wait until our engagement materials are ready, which would be early to mid-January.

But then it's any time from basically mid-January to mid-March.

Can you tell us any feedback that you got?

Or if there are people that were very angry about it.

No, not I would say it stayed really um, I would say the feedback was, you know, mixed and but some really great feedback about you know using the funds efficiently, making sure that we're, you know, focusing on high impact, you know, uses if we are, you know, are to create programs from this.

So yeah, lots of good feedback.

That's good to hear.

Um, this is kind of repetitive.

I don't think there's anything new on this slide, but just basically that we also will have either a mini calculator, some sort of um scenario on the website so that folks can see how these different options would actually affect their monthly bills.

And then the last slide here just shows kind of where we're at.

We already went over this.

Um we're developing materials, moving into engagement, and then city council decision is in April.

So that's it for me.

I will make sure that I allow you all time to kind of discuss and provide any feedback or ideas that you have.

Have you talked to anyone of the post bulletin or KTTC as a way of getting some outreach going?

Local media outlets.

I would say when we went to city council, they um did stories on this.

So there were stories then, but certainly when we publish our press release, I think we'll be picked up again.

I would expect that it would be picked up again at that time.

But yeah, that's good to keep in mind.

I think that this is a great idea about how you're using it 50% for kind of in-house and 50% out there for all the citizens.

Um I would use a different word than community environmental.

That sounds like socialized medicine or something.

Okay.

Because when you say community environmental, that you know, it sounds like just the legal revolvers can apply for something.

Like community groups kind of thing.

Okay.

And that's not what this is.

It sounds like it's for individual homeowners and stuff.

I think so.

And I'm really trying to keep a focus on how do we create options for those that don't own their home.

Because the conversation around this being a regressive tax has already come up.

And the narrative is that you are putting a fee on renters to take the money to create programs for homeowners.

And for people who rent or don't own their home.

I mean, they are having, I mean, you know, it would be up to the person that owns that that house to want to take advantage of these programs.

And so I'm really trying to keep my my thoughts on that and think through what is an option for a revenue use program that um that could be accessed by anyone, and they have some good ideas.

Programs that create incentives for uh regulal properties, whether they're one and two or multi uh occupant multi-story places.

So there are things out there for our borrow or yeah.

You mean different from normal, like regular single family incentives?

Yes, we are because they're they are right in their concern.

Let me look at and get back to the I can't wait to measure.

I'd like to look at the verbiage that's used in the state law where there's uh rental reimbursement, so that right now, if if you are a low-income homeowner, you can apply for what um to get money back if your tax goes up too high, and there's something in there that also applies to renters, so that if the property tax goes up too high and then your rent goes up, there is like a circuit breaker.

It's also for renters, not just for property property owners.

And maybe there's some language in there that we could borrow so that you could use it showing that it's for anybody, anybody who's any residents instead of house, you could say for residents rather than homeowners.

Because they there are funds right now that the state provides to uh to use circuit breakers when people's property taxes go up, even if they live in in an apartment where obviously we're not paying the property debts, but it goes to the renter rather than to the reimbursement of the apartment.

The reimbursement.

So it's based on income payment.

I think the barrier though is still that as the renter, you would have to get the landlord's permission to do the upgrade.

You know what I mean?

Oh, yeah.

That's the hard part.

I think with that program too, you'd have the same challenge.

What is the upgrade exactly?

I mean, I think it's it's uh it's up in the air of what the you know, it's it's we're it's hard to manage, I think, all the different pieces of feedback that we've gotten already because we have something we want, you know, you to keep a really specific eye on how you're using these funds and have it be the highest impact and the greatest reduction and the biggest return on investment.

Well, that's gonna be like commercial, you know, energy efficiency.

And you know, and so that's not really something that would be the most equitable use of the funds.

And so when you're trying, you know, I think that there are competing priorities in that sense, and so what commercial maybe should be doing it, most of them are doing it themselves to save money.

Whereas I think that this one would be income-based, wouldn't it?

And you're not going to say every homeowner we're gonna pay 50% of the cost to do to be the windows.

I mean, but it's gonna be based on it can't afford it now.

I think that's something that would need to be decided, you know.

And I don't even think that would be decided.

Like I think that would almost be in like the rulemaking phase, right?

Like if it were to go through of how that would actually look, uh, what that would actually look like, because there's just a lot of logistics involved with income verification.

Right.

You know, I think so.

We've had initial conversations with RPU about what this could look like.

They are willing to partner if there were to be a franchise fee and it were to fund programs, they are willing to streamline the process so that our resident wouldn't need to apply to the city to get, you know, a $300 rebate and then apply to RPU to get the same rebate for that item.

They're willing to kind of work with us on what a program like that could look like.

Um, so kind of incentive stacking on top of existing RP rebates um is an option for that reason.

Um, I think it's just a matter of going back to kind of the equity considerations around there are mostly homeowner programs and you know, it's renters that are paying these bills.

Sign because I tried to do one of their rebates and it was impossible.

So the one about like get your furnace serviced and then get money back.

I gave up and I don't give up easy.

Really?

Who's just in RPM?

Yeah, it was you know, get or whoever it was, it was the stuff that they wanted or get your air conditioner serviced and the data they wanted that if you didn't know that ahead of time that had to be filled in and that it it it is I'm sitting there going, I don't even know what this is.

Oh, like they need the like the unit number and things like that.

No, worse than that.

No, I can figure out a unit number.

I mean, they were like measurements, and if you didn't get it was like four pages long.

So I think I I I feel that like if you're gonna do this, gotta be simpler than what's out.

I'll I'm gonna bring some examples because it you see that and it just makes you angry, right?

You're just like, well, this isn't even it's not worth my time to do this for 20 dollars.

Yeah, because and I can't like I literally would have had to go back to daily and they're not offering to do it either, because it's a I it, you know, if it's not simple, keep it simple.

It's it's you know, we're we're talking about people that are living on the margins, right?

The the people that we're talking about that really can't afford this, they're working two or three jobs, and they maybe are trying to take care of their kids, and they're you know, if they're gonna do something for a few extra dollars, you know, they're gonna drive Uber or something.

They should just be able to show their SNAP card or something.

I don't I don't have an answer, but I mean I I gotta believe that that seems to be a relatively kind-hearted city, right?

But that's gonna be one of the biggest challenges is right now, people are so worried about affordability.

Right.

Yeah.

Um, can you see why naturally my mind is linking this with the healthy homes navigation?

Because that's the goal of that program, right?

Is to, you know, hand hold a resident through the entire process because the program is linked to us, you know, these goals that we have for the program saying, whatever we say, 30% of people are gonna take the next step.

And so the navigators are gonna be trained to say it is your job to really, you know, get this person to the next step.

And if it's filling out that form, their job is to support you in getting that done.

And that's why it's hard for me to think about this without feeling like the healthy homes program really will support this, but I'm struggling because it's like I don't want to make it seem contingent or like, well, you can have this really nice thing, but you also have to support this, you know, because it's not, it's not, but if there were to be a natural gas branch SV and we were to have a dedicated revenue source for sustainability, we definitely would continue to have uh a healthy homes program and it would you know be funded very well in future years, and so that's where I'm at with how to kind of tell that story right now.

This could end up being the fund too to help people that aren't able to pay their RPU bills.

Yeah, that's certainly an option.

You can think about, I mean, isn't it just sick to you about people being cut off?

And what are they doing in the winter?

Because even if you can get natural gas, if you don't have the electricity first, they're dying of carbon monoxide poisoning from using heroin care sink heaters and their home.

I mean, terrible things happen with this, right?

And pipes first, and it's it's a it's a serious problem, but I do think that that I mean, our our sustainability and resiliency work plan has a social justice aspect to it.

And I think that that is I'm glad people are bringing that up.

I mean, I think that that's it that that should actually be a sales plan.

I mean, some of the things though that you can go out and do for renters don't require putting in new windows that can still make a big difference if they're paying their utility bills, right?

We you know, we rented for a while.

I mean, there are yeah, there are things that we can and those are in like the healthy homes kids and all of that, like spray foam and things like that is in there.

So it's kind of like that first level energy efficiency, but it's really not meant to.

I mean, it's not going to dramatically reduce bills.

But anyways, I do want to make sure we have 15 minutes left of this meeting.

So I want to make sure you all have time to if you have anything that comes to mind as far as outreach channels, community meetings or events from January until March.

Please share those now.

I think the idea too is to move beyond the usual, you know, groups that we pulled.

They're still important, you know, like the um environmental groups and the advocacy groups are still really important to play a role.

But you know, how do we get this to people who don't typically aren't typically involved?

So I think the bake-based groups that you have listed are a place where people do go for help.

Right.

It's a it's there's already a you're right.

There's already trust there, right?

That I'm gonna go to this church because they've got an inexpensive thrift shop or they've got a in 125 live, right?

I took food to the airplane pantry, right?

There, there's there's a lot of senior citizens already have a huge, they're a huge unseen proportion of um people that are financially and socially at risk.

That's a good place to have the information to hand out.

I think even our little church that's kind of you know on 19th Street Northwest.

It a day doesn't go past if somebody isn't knocking in the dirt.

I need gas money to get I I have nowhere to stay.

I think if we just have a revolving fund where we put people in that um that hotel that's around the corner for our church because you get so many people that come that are homeless and need something, and they they must just drive around looking for where the churches are thinking that's where they would find help.

Yeah, they'd probably start at the county, but maybe then you don't know you don't fit in any for any of that categories.

Any specific um recommendations on how to reach faith-based communities.

I know Isaiah, that connection is being made.

So I think they're one that kind of coordinates other groups.

Um I would reach out to one of the Catholic churches because I don't think very many of them are involved in Isaiah.

Okay, but they must work together, would think.

Go straight to the diocese, right?

Did they just build that big new building over by cost it?

Yeah, it's not far.

I think you'd have better let going to the that guy's kind of into his uh no.

I mean, those sort of there, I thought there was a local, there's not a local parish here.

Well, there is, I mean, he's the bishop, but he may Oh that guy, yeah.

He mainly just stuck on the radio and no, no, no, no.

I thought I just I meant a local person, not the diocese of Wynnova.

It's we know in Rochester.

Yes, the uh sisters of St.

Francis.

I mean, would be a good group to engage.

And I know they've been willing to share information with other parishes.

Okay.

So that might be a way to get to get other works that are moving we uh we're exposed to more of the how would you call it uh grouping together.

English is a second language community.

Oh, the various um immigrant communities and so on that maybe a linkage there.

Yeah, did meet with our city's DEI director this week about this, and her recommendation was to connect with a few specific people, like kind of leaders of different groups and really kind of give up control of this and like give them the information, and then they will take it to folks and bring you back um uh feedback.

And like I may or may not actually be there when this information is being shared.

And she kind of was talking through, like, you know, there are just so many other priorities and like a lot of distrust and things like that that like people don't want to hear from the city and they don't want to talk to you.

And so I think that's real, and mixed with the fact that it's gonna be the middle of winter when this all happens, will it be a challenge?

And so that's where my my mind goes to encourage people to engage with the virtual options for this and engage with the website.

And I created um a form that anyone can fill out that's like kind of broad open ended questions, like um, you know, what barriers do you see?

What ideas do you have for this?

And so people that aren't able to, you know, do any of those other things can still go and share their thoughts on this.

I wonder if the village agricultural cooperative, if they have like a newsletter that they send out and would be, you know, maybe willing to provide information about a coming meetings or something.

That might be a way to cast a better net too.

Okay.

I think RPU is a newsletter too.

We're coming in there.

They not for this one.

But we are in this one for the Healthy Homes program because that's kind of a more official partnership with RPU.

Yeah.

Starting in April.

And there are a lot of other things on people's minds.

When it's winter, offering them a chance of what kind of things would help you with your with your heating electric bills.

You know, maybe that would be some because that's that would be the approach to take.

People are much more aware of it.

They're aware of it that they don't want to have a franchise fee because they're paying so much now.

But wouldn't it be nice if you weren't paying so much?

And so the franchise fee would go down is a percent because you're not because uh you've we're helping you weatherize your house or something.

There's a lot of cities that have a lot more rentals and maybe a higher percentage of rentals that do reach out.

Um experience with Chicago.

They have some very active groups that have come up with great whatever ways of reaching the rental community um in your spare time uh identify what cities have programs that work or what's transferable.

Yeah, that's a good one.

I did meet with our neighborhood engagement manager, and there were some groups that I didn't know about, um, which isn't direct to residents, but there is like a landlord listserv so you can get information up to landlords.

There's a Rochester area multifamily association or something like that, and so multifamily, you know, property management companies, things like that.

But the request of the landlord listserv would be can you share this with your residents?

You know, can you email this out to and share it with folks?

So that's what comes to mind.

You know, I think it's hard because it's like the tight timeline on the like the turnaround on this is the the tough part.

But I think even if we were to research things like that, it could help for you know future initiatives.

But if if you have any other thoughts on this or anything that comes to mind after, feel free to share it with me.

I would rather do too many presentations on this than here in April.

Why did you not do this?

And why did you not connect with these folks?

And by the way, I have the direct mailing camp.

Yeah, I know, but we have zero budget.

Yeah.

Yep, there it is.

And I'm like, I would rather reserve the funds to send out the mailers for the healthy homes program.

Because I feel like that's gonna be such a great benefit to folks.

So if we did some sort of like, you know, we could work with GIS to like pull info on homes that would like most benefit from this program.

I think we could do a really good targeted mailing for me, already have one as we found out if you could use this.

Yeah, yeah.

I know my mind just keeps going back to like we could just tell that story, but I feel like it's a little bit disingenuous to link them to too much.

But I just think this is so clever to have the the 50% for fixing stuff here, which could lower your taxes, and 50% is working on the specific individual situations.

I think that was I'm sure you thought it out to be clever, it was wonderful.

That actually came up at 125 lab this week.

Someone said if you can focus on this being used for efficiency.

So, like if we are charged one dollar, but the city then is saving two dollars because they're investing it in geothermal, which is saving all you know, the money on electricity, um, and energy bills, like maybe tell that story.

He said, I'm interested in this and supportive if you can show that it's like the financial me, which you know, when you get it at city members are so worried about the retired person living on a fixed income and the property taxes going up saying, Yes, retired person, but we do we have a deal for you we're gonna help you with um keeping your your costs down.

So I think that that was very wise.

Okay.

Should we move to staff updates?

And then moving to the last we have seven minutes.

Um okay, real quick, I'm just gonna read through these.

Um, Minnesota's first operational thermal energy network is now online.

So we had a big kind of push for um sharing information about this.

We had a press release, and I believe NPR picked it up and um the local stations as well.

I haven't checked on that, but seen it.

Um, yes, so we have all of our major public buildings downtown connected to a shared geothermal system.

Um will save us a $900,000 annually on energy costs.

Um Sarah worked very diligently to uh publish a new um ArcGIS story map page to highlight the project, which is really great.

Um I'll just splash it up here real quick.

Just really goes through like the whole uh history of the project, the timeline, what is the thermal energy network?

Yeah, all where do we find this?

This is linked in your pocket.

And then kind of I mean, we're in line.

It's on our sustainability website.

Okay.

Um yes, so that's a great new highlight.

Um, another huge um piece of info from the city.

We just received 14 more in addition to the two that we had received solar on public buildings grants.

So we have 16 solar projects now underway across city facilities.

Um they total approximately 2.3 million dollars in installations and they're supported by the state uh state program and federal incentives that will essentially cover the entire cost of um of the projects and offset 2.8 million dollars in electricity costs over uh 25 years.

So I won't list all the facilities, it's basically all of them.

Um, but they're all listed here if you are interested.

Uh nominations for 2026 chair and vice chair of SRC are now open.

If you're interested in serving in either role, um, please email me by Friday, January 2nd to let me know that you're interested, and then we will um talk officer elections at the January meeting.

I just wanted to add, I've already talked to Kayla, but um, I'd like to pass the baton scored somebody else.

She got our medal.

She over here.

I saw that before.

I'm not here.

No, you're not out of here.

No, I'm still a leadership.

As you'll see, I still have uh there's still time on my term, but um, so yeah, just wanted to make that clear.

Must you pass it on?

Well, I've had two years, so I think yeah.

This group has that two year.

Well, no, there's there's not a limit.

I don't think there's a limit for how long somebody can serve and chair, but um, yeah, I'd like to pass the baton on to show up and not give you not a extra meeting.

Okay.

If I and I think this is just fabulous information, it's the first I've heard about it that we have something called this thermal energy network.

We had a presentation on this at an SRC meeting.

I was not here in November.

So it was last year, November.

No, I knew you were doing, but I didn't know what he had a title.

And I didn't know it is I just wish we would do.

I remember when Homestead County started doing this, we put sign boards up every time there's a uh a project to road project, your taxpayers at work.

Here's what it costs, here's what it's gonna be done, here's the name of the person who did it.

And then because then they were fielding all kinds of questions.

Then you knew all that kind of stuff.

And even people that give you a new roof, put a little sign in your front saying this is who did the new roof.

Is there a way that we could put some kind of signs on downtown buildings, say especially the part about saving 900,000 a year?

This is one of how many buildings are on it.

Um six buildings that is that is heated by Boba, saving the city.

I mean, get credit for saving money because everybody always thinks that not everybody, many people think sustainable is kind of fruit for a big extra.

You're saving money.

And people who are driving around, we're all stuck from traffic all the time.

If you could see a big signboard that says, guess what?

This is what's happened.

Yeah, or where whenever they're putting up a new solar one, one of 14 projects.

Uh public projects that people can then keep in mind.

I know they had banners for this geothermal, and they used to put them up.

So come on, you have to be interested in sustainability to go to a sustainability website.

We want people that aren't interested to be have it flash at them when you're waiting at a red light.

If if there's a way that we can put those signboards up.

Well, I got all sorts of buildings.

This this building eated by the ground.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's okay.

That's a good idea.

14 okay, real quick, just to finish.

Um, and you know, for the solar, you could do the same thing because people wouldn't automatically know they're solar on the roof.

Um sustainability associate position currently posted through the end of the year.

So if you know anyone that might be interested in a term limited up to 32 hour a week position working from me, um, tell them to fill out the application.

That'll be city and DMC, so similar to um the position this year.

Nolan is still working, he's just remote.

He's back in the office next week.

Um, okay, we are recruiting for one adult and one youth seat on SRC.

Um, please help us share the opportunity.

I believe the mayor has found someone maybe for the youth seat.

I think she's in the process, but I would say continue to share this with people that you know because more of a pool that we can create than when we have vacancies.

She can just kind of pull from that pool.

Um, some I heard through the grapevine that someone had asked at the November meeting about term limits.

Um, and so um I put the term limits in here.

And if you are failing a partial term, you are still eligible for two terms afterwards.

And then um I listed like I have been our Jane, our next meeting um agenda item.

So January will be 2026 officer elections, 2026 work plan, final discussion and approval of the work plan.

And then, and I have confirmed this since we talked, it will be the presentation from our greenhouse gas emission consultants, similar to what we did in January of this year.

They will give us um the annual update on our greenhouse gas mission inventory.

Right.

So some of the questions on that.

And that's it for me.

There's no events or meetings that I could find.

We uh have a few minutes for commissioner comment period.

If anybody has anything they'd like to share before we adjourn.

I'd just like to bring up one thing that I learned at the housing advisory um meeting today.

Um person from the MPCA called Noelle yes H I T Z.

Okay, uh came down and she was telling about the the community impact uh rulemaking, which is now when you you get um an air, you have to get these air refinery putting any pollution to the air.

You have to get an okay from the MPCA or they have to check everything out.

Well, uh they now have to include environmental justice impact, and they're in the middle of making the rulemaking, and I'm sure we all are supportive of doing things about making sure we have environmental justice, but she had a map of um uh the city of Rochester showing where were the places that already have permits that will have to be repermitted, or if they expand, they have to be permitted.

And one was the waste energy facility, which is how we handle garbage here.

She was she seemed totally unaware that how necessary that was because of preventing groundwater pollution.

And I I thought of all the years that I had to fight the viewpoint up at the Capitol, that this was just like Canabun County's, you know, herc that drove everybody crazy, and everybody in the Twin Cities thinks that's horrible.

So I could just see that with this new community impact rulemaking, that they could reach back and say, whenever you instead of being grandfathered in, whenever you have to get reapproval, you're gonna have to go through all kinds of steps, and we might say, Oh, you can't have it.

And the whole garbage system in Ostia County that has been invested multiple, I mean hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in them, would be thrown under the bus.

She said she would be at the library, she's taking input, she's already taken input from 40 interviews she did among people who apparently are upset about the waste energy facility and they feel that it's maybe impacting your health.

She said, And she would kiss Ken and I were pushing back, and she said, Well, that's two of you, as opposed to 40 who had this other opinion.

And I thought, do you know how much money is involved in this public money?

Anyway, she's she said she'd be at the library today from 11:30, 130.

And I went there, and nobody at the library had heard anything about it.

I was I looked everywhere because I knew what she looked like.

I thought maybe she's sitting over in a corner waiting for people to pass by.

She wasn't there, she's also supposedly there December 30th from 11:30 to 130.

And so I I had to just email and text people like Tony Hill and our county commissioners.

You know, everybody was at lunch.

So if I just think that um she's a fairly young person in her job, and um, she was saying things.

So I will you you know what kind of facilities these are because they're smelly.

I thought, you know what?

Ours isn't so I was very worried that she was part of making the rules and we didn't have any background.

So any of us that do, perhaps she will be there December 30th at the library from 1130 to 130.

Well and Noelle will be joining uh the Rochester Green Drinks as a featured speaker in February.

She'll be at the January meeting as well, just as an attendee.

Okay, yeah.

Um January Green Drinks is my roadshow for franchise fees.

Is that too late though for her to hear contrary opinions?

Well, she said it's going to be finalized in March, but she said much of it is finalized, but the final thing so we're on it.

I thought, oh gosh.

You can get in your bottle up and return cities in library.

I was actually, and I don't think I shared this with this group, but I was actually a part of the community benefits agreement, um, community input panel for this law through the summer and the fall.

Okay.

And you know, it was like one meeting a month or something like that, but it was industry representatives.

I was the one of the local government seats, and then it was environmental justice community members.

And I would say it was very tense.

There were a lot of conflicting opinions, and it but it was really only focused on what would a community benefits agreement potentially look like if it were triggered by this law.

So it wasn't anything else about the law.

So I feel like I have somewhat still of like a narrow understanding of the broader law because we focus so much just on the community benefits agreement, um, which is what could be triggered if someone goes to pull a permit and they um are deemed to be, I think the term is like substantial adverse impacts, and if they're above that limit, then they have to do this community of benefit agreement with the local community with a certain radius.

I also haven't shared a lot about it because I don't know what of our discussion and feedback the MPCA will take.

It wasn't like every month we they were like, here's how we incorporated your feedback.

It was like, here's the recommendation report at the end, and so I don't want to talk too much about what we talked about in the meetings because I haven't seen what the MPCA has drafted yet, but certainly an ongoing any other quick comments before we make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

Thank you.

Doing such a great job that two years talking about.

I told you she got her medical.

She's out here.

Sorry, I had to leave, but it's still about my mother.