01 MINUTES REGULAR 07-15-08 - Laserfiche WebLink

Mayor Hosterman said she did not support a task force, other committees have been good at advancing policies, and she would prefer a five member commission with an alternate and staff liaison. She supports a work plan, but wants it to be expanded to be a committee on energy and the environment because she wants to highlight that energy is foremost in the world. The City has just completed its identification of greenhouse gas emissions, and she asked this group to help in listening to the community and formulating policy to send to the Council. She believes there will be a day where an Environmental/Energy Manager will be a position for the City. Councilmember Sullivan agreed, but suggested calling it a Committee or Commission on Sustainability because energy, water, the environment and climate change are all things that will be encompassed. He said it needs to be a manageable number of people and he was okay with 5-9 people. To him, the reason for the committee is to drive all of the new programs and policies in the General Plan surrounding Sustainability. He would like a community group that will help drive policies forward to the Planning Commission and Council and get them implemented. He thinks this is a great start, it is a long time coming, and he supported getting something going. Vice Mayor Thorne said he thinks environmental protection is something that should be more institutionalized throughout all of our organizations, including commissions, staff and this Council. He was afraid if a full blown commission is created whose sole purpose is environmental, we will lose a lot of that institutionalization. His second concern is the streamlining process. He thinks the Council should get some update on where we are with the overall streamlining process. Over the next year, we have added two formal groups to the review process; the EVC and the new downtown group. He said any citizen can be part of the review, can request materials or comment on any project, but these are formal groups of the review process. He said he knows within the next five years, something will be held up waiting for one of the groups to do its job, and this is more likely if we have a full blown environmental commission. He said his third concern is economics and the need for more staff. He said we could leverage our own staff people and not necessarily have additional staffing. He therefore, would support a citizen's advisory committee with a two year sunset and allow the Council to review the progress and decide whether or not to extend it or do something different. Its make-up should include professionals in the environmental management arena and this group should be chartered to provide the Council with an environmental management plan that is based on a thorough environmental management system analysis. This analysis looks at all facilities and activities we engage in and it decides what kind of an impact they have on the environment and then determines priorities. He said the process also helps prevent "environmental smorgasborg-ing". Councilmember Sullivan thinks more information is needed on details and have some additional discussion, but he could make a motion. Councilmember McGovern voiced concern on making a good decision this late at night after what the Council went through, and there are many issues surrounding the subject. City Manager Fialho said staff will come back with a resolution that identified the committee's or commission's focus, charter and timeline, the idea of developing a work plan that can be reflected in the resolution, the need for no overlap with other city commissions, and he confirmed with the majority of the Council that the committee or commission structure brought back is similar to those already in place in the City, one that does not get in the way or cause a significant amount of work for additional staff, and one that has in it to create a work plan based on the City's existing policies. City Council Minutes 18 July 15, 2008