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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SCJC-2024-06-10 Sustainability & Climate Justice Commission Agenda Date Monday, June 10th Time 5 pm Location City Hall Council Chambers Watch Online https://www.youtube.com/@CityofIthacaPublicMeetings Commission Member Attendees ☒ Scott Doyle ☒ Christine O'Malley ☒ David Kay – Commission Chair ☒ Iris Packman ☐ Tanya Saunders ☒ Alexander Travis ☐ Aaron Fernando ☒ Siobhan Hull ☐ Nick Goldsmith ☒ Fernando de Aragon ☐ Kris Haines-Sharp - Common Council Liaison ☒ Pierre Saint-Perez- Common Council Liaison ☒ Rebecca Evans – City of Ithaca Staff ☒ Savannah Vega – City of Ithaca Staff Agenda Item Timestamp 1. Call to Order: David Kay 00:00:00 No recorded sound for the first 3 minutes of the YouTube video. The May meeting minutes were unanimously approved. Happy birthday to the Commission! One year of meeting. Summary of the Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND) IGND Program Spotlight: Energy Assessment Earmark Includes list of partners, funding source, amount of $, and ties to the IGND. 2. Public Comment 00:07:44 Public comment from Robert Bland, Associate Vice President for Energy and Sustainability for Cornell University. Announcement that Cornell will be at the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative meeting at the end of June, which will include speakers that talk about the New York State grid, as well as an overview of Cornell’s Climate Action Plan. Started talking about Cornell’s district energy system but hit time limit. City staff will send out the TCCPI meeting information to Commission members, including the meeting recording after. 3. Announcements, Reports & Presentations 00:14:28 Presentation: Commission Planning: A Retrospective by City Staff and David Kay 00:14:28 The City of Ithaca is looking for feedback on how the Commission is going. o Right now this is the only Commission that is active after Covid. o Pierre Saint-Perez gave an overview of the City’s working group looking into restructuring the Commission system. o Rebecca Evans is hoping to take learnings from this Commission to help inform this work group. Commission’s Stated Role from the City Website o The Sustainability and Climate Justice Commission’s summary from the Ithaca Green New Deal Page. Commission’s Activities To-Date o Lists of activities the Commission has done since starting. Guiding Questions 00:21:45 Questions from Presentation: o What is working? What is not working? o Expectations - what is expected of commission members? Staff? Common Council liaisons? Would it be helpful to write them down or provide more structure? o What are you getting from staff that is helpful vs what are you not getting that would be helpful? o What does “success” look like? How can it be measured? o When and how should the Commission bring in advisors? Commission Feedback: o Relationship to Common Council: o How can the Commission be more helpful to Council?  Pierre thinks that it is helpful for Council to know that the Commission has looked through proposals so that when they go to a vote Council members know that they have been vetted (Justice50 is an example). Council members like getting advice but leaves the decision on how to interpret which advice they need up to the Commission. o Council timeline/agenda is important, but not everything o Things the Commission wants to do more of: o Public outreach – need to be more proactive. o Policy advice to Council based on Council’s priorities. o Meet in alternative meeting places. o Potentially co-develop/create IGND policies vs. providing feedback on already written policies. o Evaluate and share what gaps exist in IGND and sustainability policy. o Things the Commission likes: o Information sharing from City Staff to the Commission. o The balance between learning and contributing perspectives o Knowing specific goals of the IGND – yearly, etc. o Successes from this year:  Justice50 discussions, policy design, and recommendation.  Emergency ice jam fall out public hearing o Support the Commission wants from Staff: o Have staff provide annual Sustainability and Council workplans (maybe co- develop?) for the Commission to use as guideposts to guide their yearly agenda. o Staff support is critical - Lisa's involvement in the beginning was noticed and appreciated (showed high and quality commitment) o General Commissioner questions: o Is the Commission only supposed to focus on the IGND?  No, focus is sustainability, climate justice, and overall City goals. o What are staff getting from the Commission that is helpful? o What are the structural relationships that the Commission has with staff, community, other commissions, Common Council, etc.? How can the Commission be connected with other bodies that have more authority than the commission does? o Do advisory boards have the same purpose/representation/experience as commission members? 4. New Business: Discussion: Green Workforce Training Program by Rebecca Evans 01:03:20 o Presentation: o Funding: 1.5M  This current workforce program is the third pitch for this grant. o Scope: Three focus areas that work together  ICSD Energy Assessments  Resident Engagement  Workforce Development o Partners  Cornell Cooperative Extension  BlocPower  Ithaca City School District  Tetra Tech Architects and Engineers  Paleontological Research Institution  NYSWADA: New York State Weatherization Directors Association  City of Ithaca o Deliverables o Timeline o Questions for Commissioners  Are there other trainings/education we should consider?  What type/cadence of reporting would be helpful?  How can we continue to support trainees after the program? o Commission Feedback o Work with contractors to do job placement o Work with unions to identify what skills are needed/desired by employers and possibly coordinate a way for trainees to directly enter a union apprenticeship program. o Needs assessment for wraparound services is critical – are the resources we are providing comprehensive enough to recruit? o Job readiness training is crucial. o An emergency workforce is a growing need for resilience and adaptation and there is FEMA money for this. o Map of workforce players would be helpful. o Future Commission discussion might center around whether or not the City of Ithaca should have a role in workforce development. 5. Meeting Wrap-up: David Kay 01:29:45 Climate Justice Communities Workgroup will set up a meeting soon. Next Meeting is scheduled for July 8th; Quorum call for the meeting will be via email soon. Adjourned meeting at 01:32:40.