Sustainability Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, I'll go ahead and uh call the sustainability meeting to order. Octavia, would you mind calling the role? Yes. Chris Williams here. Annie Pine here. Lindsay Spencer here. Bridget Berglin is absent. Christine Ma here. Aldwoman Harter here. Awoman Ty is absent and Andy Burke camper here. You have a quorum. Thank you. Uh all right. I entertain a motion to approve the agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as stated.

Second. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Agenda is approved. Um, and then we'll start with the uh citizen comments. Do we have U Bod Toro on the line? If I'm pronouncing that correctly. Yes. Okay, there we go. And Andy, if I can give a little bit of background to this before we let Bod talk.

Um, first of all, Bod sent an email. Um, and I think the the attachment is is pretty much the the basis of his email. He lives near Oak Tree Park and he's interested in doing some restoration work. Uh we kind of staff has already met with him and we think uh you know we're incredibly uh impressed uh by what he came and did and incredibly excited to be working with him. But we also thought that some of the things that we'd be talking about as far as maybe if we do a honeysuckle hack in the park or do some different uh days throughout the summer would would lend itself to the sustainability commission. So that's why I invited Bod to come today. And uh I will also thank Bod because uh it was real late when I sent him an update that uh we were switching to Zoom. So I'm glad he got it. And and Bod, thanks for jumping on today.

Of course. So yeah, overall I live by oak tree and the forested area near there. It was redone a few years ago, probably within the last 3 years. Over that course of the time period, the path has become severely overgrown. The honeysuckle has definitely reinitiated its growth. And I think it's necessary that we kind of improve this area and make it more of a public spot for people to use just so everyone can enjoy it and it's not as dangerous as it currently is.

Very cool. And do you want to um just tell us a little bit about the So I I assume you you're aware of what was shared with us. Um it's a five-page Yeah. project description. Do you just want to maybe go through that uh briefly and hit on some of the high notes of what your uh what you think that uh you know the request would be like what kind of activities uh you foresee.

Sure. So at the beginning I kind of want to do an overall assessment just like see the comparison of when we originally did this project to add the path and make it public accessible to how it is now. And then past that, the main goal is just to improve the overall state of the environment, like majorly clean up the path by and then advertise to the public, whether that's being created in a large volunteering event to actually do this honeysuckle hack, which is the main process. After we get all the basics sorted out, we the goal is to do this large honeysuckle hack in the summer, generally in June or July, that we can maybe get a large volunteer group to do this as well. But after we move the invasive species, we can then replant native species that are then more acclimated to the environment. So we can protect the native species and then aid in the habitat restoration. Otherwise, after that, it would be more of small routine checkups throughout the year, every six months or so, to make sure that the environment is healthy. Whether that includes more honeysuckle hacks, depending on how much is grown, but yes, the long-term monitoring part of the project is less significant at this stage, but yes. And just to fill in some of the things that Bod talked about, um staff had gone through and done a bunch of invasive removals in that park. Uh and then at the time our urban forester, who's Adam Graham, who is now our park supervisor, planted probably about 250 trees and bushes in that area too to try to help that regrowth. But as you know about honeysuckle, honeysuckle is uh will come back year after year. uh it is a ongoing

process to try to get that removed completely. And so uh what Bod's kind of talking about is kind of the next step of what we would be doing anyway. So um one of the things when we talked to Bod about was uh you know someone with a passion that is wonderful. Uh using him as a volunteer is also wonderful. Uh but if we start doing some bigger things like a hack, like some uh other removals or plantings throughout the summer, uh we'd probably need a larger group than just a person. So I know one of the things that Bod was going to do is talk to the um NHS um director um Mr. Swearing and see if maybe there's a a good partnership there as well. Um, so we will, one of the things that we will be doing is getting uh involved getting Adam and Bod involved to kind of flesh this out a little bit more. And as we do and as we come up with u more concrete dates for the honeysuckle hack and for some of those different events uh we'll be sharing that with not only sustainability commission but also hopefully with the school district to get some in uh and and through social media so we can kind of help kind of uh continue this project. So um that is kind of where we're at right now. Bod uh did I miss anything?

I was actually able to get in contact with Mr. Engine today. I gave him the rundown and the overview of the project. He believes that NHS would definitely want to be involved in this project. Whether or not it's this summer or not entirely depends on the student schedules and how early we can get everyone involved, but otherwise in the future, whether it's plantings in the fall or future honeysuckle hacks, they would definitely be interested. So, we do have that publicity aspect there.

Great. and and that the when when Bod and I talked with the one of the concerns with NHS is they're obviously not as active during the summer, so maybe the summer might be more difficult for them. Um, but getting them involved in the fall sounded like an easy uh an an easy ask because we've been working with uh NHS on some park cleanups and some stream cleans already over the past couple years. So, this seems to be a good path forward. And uh I know I've talked to my park superintendent uh Marty and also Adam and they're real excited to work with Bod. Um when you get someone who comes to you with an interest in in a project and in a and a pretty good fleshed out proposal, uh you want to encourage that and you want to make sure that you do everything to kind of uh in keep that move and that motivation and that that momentum going. So that's what we're going to be working with Bod on here in the near future. One quick question. So for NHS, we basically talking about service hours essentially is an organized service hour event. Okay.

Um yeah. So I guess I will say um backing up a little bit um Bod, I really appreciate you um first of all taking an interest um in your parks and also um you know proposing going so far as to kind of you know offering your help. Um, I have a personal vendetta against honeysuckle myself, so I will 100% be there uh to to help me hack away. Um, I was just at a uh one a couple weekends ago at the Shaun Nature Reserve and it was um, you know, they've been trying to remove invasives like throughout that whole place for a long time. And um, I thought it was interesting. Uh you know this is this is a botanical garden um facility and they um you know cutting and prune you know cutting back uh to the ground is their method and then they they have these little um they're bingo dobbers you know like the little ink dobbers but they put uh a certain kind of pesticide in it and so they you know basically cut them off of the ground and then just dab the um the little stumps with this pesticide and it seems to work really good. Um,

I thought it was interesting because, you know, grow growth back is is the hardest part and if you it's it's also not easy to just pull them up by the roots. Um, so anyway, that might be something that I'm not sure exactly what uh the parks department's approach is um for for that, but it's something maybe worth looking into is to see what uh what chemicals they use. Um, you might be something that that we could do as well because it seems like they've

found it to be a pretty effective um, and it's it's very kind of targeted, you know, so you don't really have to worry about I think they they said they mix it with um, they mix this chemical with some kind of oil or something so it kind of sticks and doesn't really run off, you know, like once you put it on the dump, it kind of stays there so don't have to worry about uh, you know, unwanted sort of runoff. But um yeah, so uh again, thank you very much. And I, uh I said, I will I'll definitely uh be there. I'm very familiar with this trail. I run it all the time because that's kind of one of my usual loops. I'll go to Oak Tree Park and then I'll come back through that uh kind of cut through that trail um to that little sort of future pocket park lot. Um, and it's it's a nice all those all those trails in the woods are a pretty nice asset I think that the city has. Um, you know, that wooded area that's available to the public and it's definitely overgrown and it's already starting to be I think between that and the there's a lot of blackberries that seem to be popping up there, but the honeysuckle are the ones that they just really take over. So,

yeah, I was say I think this is awesome. I use a trail too and it was so fun when it's first opened but it is getting overgrown and I think having a long-term plan that the city can help support but also bringing the school district in. Um we've talked about like trying to partner more with the green team on campus and so this could be a nice project. The other thing that comes to mind for volunteers is I know um the one thing that we want to start doing is having our sports team do volunteer work. And so if it is in the summer, it could be that we have um I mean Bod's on our soccer team. We could have the soccer and football team and volleyball team maybe invited to do some sort of volunteer activity maybe once the summer sports get started. So that's I think another volunteer group that we should as a sustainability commission be thinking about tapping into because the sports teams are going to be doing service hours every season going forward. So I think that's great and yeah, this is this is awesome, Bodie. love it so much when people, particularly students, come to us with ideas.

Thank you. Uh, regarding Andy's pesticide use first, I will actually be partnering with the Sean Nature Reserve this upcoming summer for like a the sift program at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. So, I could probably gain some more information that way. And then also regarding Lindsay's voice, I think that finding these service projects was actually quite a difficult thing for those sports teams. So that just by presenting this, I think it'll fit right in. Great.

Well, I think Yeah. I mean, to that end, I think the the stream claims as well are are always a um you know, we can do more of those every year than than we currently do. Um, every time you get a flood event, you get new trash that's kind of getting hung up in uh in our nice creeks. Um, so that would that would be another one that I would throw out there. And I will also say that uh when I was out at Chalas weekend or two weekends ago, whatever that was, uh there was a group from Whitfield High School. Uh there was five or six of them and they were having a really good time. I was it was like I was pretty tickled to see you know they were just kind of enjoying themselves and messing around and uh you know the the whole dobber thing you know it was it was they were making a a game out of it. It was pretty fun to uh to witness. Um so work doesn't have to be u you know a chore. It can be it can be fun.

So just to kind of touch base on a couple things that was said. one is in in talking to in talking to um Adam and and I completely I'm blanking on the name so I apologize. We actually had some volunteers um they're they're national foresters. They basically go and they do a year sort of um year work volunteering and and you can hire them for to come out and do work. And so we that's when they came out and they they helped us do that uh the clearing. Uh they lost their funding. So we you know we were hoping to bring it back in every couple years but they lost their funding and it's been more difficult to get them back. Um as far as what they did they did a pretty good job the first time. So Adam thinks there is a number of the honeysuckle plants that we might be able to uh uproot which would be good. And those that we can't, we will be using the um as as Andy likes to say, the dobbers the the to kind of do that. And and you might have to do that for a couple years unfortunately until the root system is finally finally uh completely dead. And so we'll be we'll continue to work on that. Um like everything else it is um when you do you know the my my passion project is to get those natural areas redone with some nice trails. Uh Bod talks about the one spine trail. There's actually uh I saw the initial master plan for the park and there was a whole trail system to that natural area. It's basically the main spine north south. There's a main spine east west and there's a loop trail around the whole area. So trying to rediscover that would be really interesting. Um much like anything else it is finding the priorities of everything that has to be done in the park. Uh and obviously you

know it is that fine balance but hopefully with Bod's help we can we can get this one moving a little bit quicker. So and Bod for the sports teams I have plenty of work for anyone any volunteer group to do. You just send them my way and and I'll keep them busy for months and years. Good to know. All right, Eric, I'm going to hook you up with the new athletic director. Great. I like the idea though, Lindsay, of requiring service hours for that's very cool. It is. So, it's a good team building exercise, you know, in addition to all the other

Yeah, I agree. Okay. So, we don't need a um do we need a uh action here? I don't think so. Correct, Eric. This is justformational. Yeah, Bod, you've got full support and whatever we can do to help you, we're we're we're here to do that. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Yeah. So feel free to come back and ask for help or you know give us an update or I'm sure Eric can you can you can relay your all that through him and uh like I said whenever whenever we get an event scheduled um I will be there for sure and thank you again for for taking the initiative. It's pretty awesome to see. Okay. Uh moving on to uh chairman and committee reports. So, um I've got a couple things this week. So, Chris and I, um last week we went to the uh the Cool Cities Solar Forum in Webster that they hosted last Wednesday. Um I'll let him talk about uh his takeaways. He probably took better notes than I did, but the couple things that I um came away with was um I was maybe reminded, maybe informed that uh commercial solar projects are still eligible for the 30% tax credit. Um that is uh through July 4th this year. That's like the deadline for um just beginning construction or meeting some safe harbor position provisions. They have like um you know you kind of you can basically kind of start on paper I think uh but but you have to have the project sort of you know entered by then or or started in some fashion and then it doesn't have to actually be completed until December of 2027. Um but just wanted to mention that again. I uh I don't think it's very likely that the um you that we could get a project going um that soon. Uh but that that 30% uh credit is still um available for when uh

you if we were to somehow get the uh the community center solar array going. Um excuse me Andy. Excuse me Andy. I'm sorry. I mean, I hate to cut you off, but I believe we have another guest that was trying to get in this. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. During uh public comment, so Anna.

Hey, can you hear me? Yes. Yes, we can hear you.

Thank you so much for um taking my comments. I am the vice chair of sustainability commission for the city of Webster Groves and have been meaning to come to one of your meetings for a while now um and talk to you about one of our initiatives that we were hoping to open up to invite other neighboring municipalities to participate in. And I've spoken to Eric before. Um, we've met a couple times, Eric, at different Deer Creek Wershed Alliance um, gettogethers at the um, Brentwood Wetland Arboritum. And I just wanted to say a quick uh, few words about the pumpkin smash that we do in November following Halloween. And it's um, pumpkin collection. We have a 20ard dumpster that we set up at our public works and have a pumpkin smash kickoff event on usually the second Saturday after Halloween. And it's uh I think we've been doing it about 5 years. Last year we had 80 cars come through on the pumpkin Smash Saturday event for a 4-hour event. And overall over the week, we collected 3.08 tons of pumpkins in a in the 20 yard dumpster and that was about half full. And we would really really like to fill it all the way. So, we want as many pumpkins as we can from far and wide. Um, and last year we did do just brief polls of the cars that came through and there were several other municipalities that participated.

um from Chesterfield to Olivet to um Crestwood, Maplewood. Um anyway, we just wanted to see if the city of Brent would be would be interested in participating um more formally. Um, I believe last year we um asked if there would be any interest in an announcement going out in City of Brentwood publications just to let people know that they're welcome. Um, so I wanted to just put that on your radar again for next year and um see if any further discussions could take place given that there will be some changes going forward with um the pricing from St. Louis composting's total organics recycling arm and if there would be any interest or support in um going in on that together.

So, thank you and I'm sorry for for not uh not realizing you were you were waiting. Um do you have the um first of all, I will say I it was on my radar. I think we may have actually discussed it um in the fall like I had seen it last minute you know and like oh hey by the way you know spread the word you can yeah I think we advertised it in some way I definitely remember maybe sharing a Facebook post or something.

Yeah. So Anna Anna and I met or you know talked at one of one of the events and we were able to bring it to sustainability commission. You guys said yes. It seemed like a wonderful partnership. So, we got it out probably not as early as we wanted to and we have discussed the possibility the commission did talk about becoming more formalized partners with this this year and everyone agreed we should do that and I think I I reached out to Sean Anna and said hey when it's time let us know and we'll uh we'll be able to to assist. Okay, perfect. That just means I need to talk to Shawn.

That was last year. So it this is a good reminder. So it's good to kind of get everything moving again. Yeah, definitely. Um well, thank you so much for the um for taking that step and we look forward to having further conversations about it. I think also Eric, wasn't it Maplewood or someone reached out to us about a pumpkin smash and we directed them to Webster because we had just been advertising for Webster. Do you remember that? I I believe it was Maplewood. So there there might be another possibility of a couple. Exactly. So Anna, I would definitely encourage you to also reach out to Maplewood.

Okay. I I will definitely do that. Thank you so much. And thank you for for joining and and coming to talk and giving us this reminder and um and definitely uh feel free to ask about anything else like this u that you guys are doing that um you know you you want to kind of do a joint thing on. I think the more we do this kind of thing the better especially when it's you know we're not quite big enough to maybe source as many people as we need to to fill a dumpster or something like that. Um, I think the more we can sort of team up the better and get the word out. Um, yeah, thank you for joining and nice to meet you. Likewise. Thank you so much for having me,

Dr. Do we have anyone else uh waiting? No, there's no one else.

Okay. All right. Okay. Um, so back to uh the takeaways from the cool cities uh solar thing. Um, I also want also learned that um all utility providers in Missouri are required to provide net metering uh which was cool and uh I didn't realize that. So, we're probably all Amarind customers here, but um you if you have friends or family that are uh have other utility providers, um my mom, for example, as a co-op, you know, Quip River co-op, um they were uh there's apparently like over a hundred utility or electric providers in Missouri. Um a lot of which are co-ops and stuff. And so but all of them um are required to do uh provide net metering uh for customers for customer owned solar. So I thought that was cool. Um someone have a comment.

Okay. Um and then also the so Renew Missouri was also in attendance was one of the kind of the speakers panelists. they are sort of the ones they uh kind of like think of them as the renewable energy lobby um in Missouri. So they um you know lobby especially like when they're uh when the utilities are doing rate cases for um you know rate increases and stuff like that. They lobby to get renewable related things uh put in there um as as you know negotiate I guess on on behalf of renewables. And so they are um one of the things they're doing now is looking into a battery storage pilot program. Um sounds like it's with the city of St. Louis. Um but that's something that they're looking to looking into adding into the next Amron rate case. Um potentially apparently uh Evergy in Kansas City recently did like a three or fiveyear um battery storage pilot uh you know where they kind of subsidized or provided uh people with home batteries and you know they're able to call on those batteries um when they need to meet peak demands. You know, it's kind of like uh when they uh if you agree to let them make changes to your thermostat, you know, during peak summer months or whatever, you know, when you have uh it's the same kind of thing as sort of helping them manage their own demand. Uh but then the rest of the time that, you know, the homeowner has access to that battery and can basically have all their usage uh when the rates are cheaper at night and stuff like that. Uh anyway, I thought that was interesting um worth kind of tracking. Um and then I was speaking with Sean

Finnean afterwards uh who's the she's the Webster um sustainability um staffer and she was mentioning that that they were looking into souls smart. I was kind of thinking they were already uh doing that but I guess we were ahead of them on that one. U so they were looking into starting that or enrolling in Souls Smart and realizing that it's now defunded. Um, but I had mentioned to her that um, you know, if that's something they're interested in doing, it's really mostly like we've got the guidelines um, you know, that we've already followed and it's sort of uh, you don't really need the certificate, you know, to to still make things to make it easier for people to to go solar because a lot of it is um, you know, related to city code and u communications and things like that. So, um, she's interested in, uh, sharing those us sharing those guidelines, um, if we can, if if we can kind of package them up, I guess, in a certain way. So, uh, I don't know, Eric, is that something that I haven't really seen, you know, it wasn't part of those, you know, the back and forth with them, but is that something that we could sort of, uh, pass along? Uh, was there some kind of, you know,

packet or something that we had gotten from them? Yeah, they they have a whole um guide book honestly. So it I'll reach out I made a note. I'll reach out to Sean and get her hooked up with everything that we have from Souls Smart um so that they can start.

Okay, cool. Thank you. Um and then last thing I had uh so this is not part of this is a separate from the the solar thing last week, but I should mention that uh you all know I'm a Rivian fan and they've been doing test drives. uh they've been doing these test drive events at Brentwood Park uh for the last few months. Um they started doing these kind of you know on location sort of test drive events instead of just out of their service center. Um, and they've only they've been doing like every Friday, almost every Friday for the past couple months. And they've got four different locations that they kind of rotate between. And Brentwood Park was one of the ones that they chose uh mostly because of uh, you know, the sort of central location and the are trying to find locations where um, it kind of fits with their brand of you know, people getting out and being active and biking and things like that. So, a lot of them are sort of biking related. Uh, but I thought it was cool and a testament to uh, you know, the park itself that uh, it was it it made it onto their radar and uh, you know, something that they chose. And so I had gone to one of those a couple weeks ago. Um, and it was it was that one day. It was the Friday before Easter. It was Good Friday. So, a lot of people were off school and it was a really nice day. So, the parking lot was packed. It wasn't wasn't a great day to be trying to be a trying to do a test drive event, but uh it was also pretty good for visibility, but anyway, just wanted to mention that. So,

that's all I had. I would say it'd be nice if they let us know they were doing this. Well, and I thought they did. Um, I mean that I had asked that question because I I learned about it sort of secondhand uh you know kind of backwards in a backwards way and I had asked like who who they had been coordinating with and I I there was a response but I I didn't catch I didn't recognize the name. Um, so well I guess FYI, Eric, it's it's it's not a um

I mean they they come with like one or two vehicles and then you know someone would meet every uh whatever it be 45 minutes uh someone to come and they'll do a test drive and then they come back and then wait for the next one kind of thing. So, it's not a huge uh footprint, I guess. But that's interesting that and yeah, a little concerning, I guess, that they that you didn't know about that. I can find out if you want. Uh I could probably find out who if anyone that they had spoken with, but if you don't know, then it probably didn't happen. All right. So, that's all I had. Um, any other Chris, did you want to chime in with any takeaways?

Well, I think you hit I think you hit all the positive stuff. I I focused on the negative stuff when I was there, which was, you know, the the woman Tori Cheetum from Renew Missouri, she pointed out that there are likeund more than 150 or 160 cooperatives, electric cooperatives in the state, you know, I'm like, "Wow, that's a lot. That's a big number." But then when she started talking about all these, you know, all the solar programs, they're they're they're geared to the ground level to the to the individual. And I was thinking to myself that there's such a tremendous waste of of energy, you know, going into the bottom up instead of from the top down. and that the focus on, you know, the focus one of the things for Renew Missouri and I wanted to know from her what their what their approach was or what their 20-year plan was or what a plan was, any kind of plan was for, you know, lobbying, keeping the pressure on our legislators to to get a program that provides incentives to these 170 or so electric cooperatives instead of the 20 million people in Missouri that are struggling with all the permits and everything in order to go. solar. It It just seems like it's it's just backward approach to, you know, how we should be be dealing with renewables in in Missouri. And she I don't think she even answered that question um Andy at all. And I think she just went off some other tangent.

I think yeah, she didn't answer very directly, but the the takeaway that I got was, you know, she didn't she she kind of danced around. At least that's what I what I came away with was um yeah, that would be nice, but there's just not that, you know, the political situation being what it is, you know, there. But yeah, but I mean that that's that's such a that's a copout, you know, when you really think about, you know,

when you look at those situations where people are trying to overturn things, you know, the people that wanted to turn overturn Roie Way, they had a program that was like probably 30 years in the M. And whenever Roie Wade passed, they started, you know, organizing to get it overturned. And that's where we are now. You don't sit here and just say, "Well, we can't do anything." You've got to have a plan to attack this thing from the top down. We So, keep doing the work at the bottom, which is great, but but I want to know I wanted to know from a new Missouri, what are we doing from the top down? I just don't I don't think they answered it very well. But, you know, that was my only takeaway. I have I was more I was more negative. I was a devil's advocate when I was there that day. Sorry about that.

So, that's all I have. Andy. Okay. Um, anyone else have anything to report this?

I just had one question. Um, I was out walking recently and I know that we've talked about the anti- idling kind of campaign moving forward and we're kind of in the works. I was just curious where we are with that. I I happen to walk by um McGrath Elementary on Monday night when there's ballet and dance happening and there's just it is a beautiful evening but lots of people have their windows up up and their cars are on waiting for their kids to come out of the school and um so I just it triggered the anti- idling campaign and maybe starting with our schools would be a good spot to post some things. Um, just

did we ever get an anti- idling ordinance? No, we're we are working on that. What I can tell you right now is that is um at the planning and development department because they're the ones who have to look at the code for that. Um, unfortunately or fortunately, we're in the process of hiring a new city planner and so that's kind of taken precedence once that city planner comes on on they'll have higher capacity to get these things done. Exactly. There'll be a lot greater capacity. In fact, that might be uh something that they will they will actually be doing. Sorry, Code Red is calling me. So, I'll be right back. I have to go on my work phone.

All right. Thanks. I know it just got dark all I keep looking out the window. It's now getting dark. But yeah, I I get similarly triggered uh when I'm when there's like uh you know, delivery trucks or uh you know, contractor trucks or whatever, you know, just like sitting there idling on the street, you know, a lot of diesels, especially with diesel. I know. I was talking to my husband about it. He's like, "We should just have like the anti- idling picture should just be a child coughing like outside of the school." I don't know. It'd be really effective. Um so I is one thing. Yeah, that would be that would definitely be one thing, you know,

targeted signage. But yeah, I'm anxious to for that one to move as well. Okay. Yeah, that's I just wanted to check in with that. That's all I have. Thanks. Thanks for the mention. Anyone else? Okay. Um well we got our staff report but we are Eric you ready for that or

yes I will say uh as um as things are happening if if I do get a call from PD or fire I might have to take off and Michelle will take over and as I heard from you know the the last month's meeting obviously it'll go quicker too because I hear I'm the reason why meetings so long. So, um, two quick things. The tool kits, uh, we were, we did get the energy audit toolkit out on the 22nd and the family sustainable toolkit out, I think the following day. I want to thank everyone who helped out with the video. Um, and so those are are ready to go. I think we've had one audit.

You all did a great job. You're all stars. We we have had one audit tool or one home audit toolkit checked out already. So that's good. Uh nothing on the family yet, but what we'll do is we'll continue to work with Sophie to continue to talk about these and remind people and they will be on our um on our sustainability page as well. And then the electronics recycling event. Uh I know I don't know if you want to take this Michelle.

Yes. Okay. So, it's actually next week uh or this weekend, May 2nd, is the shredding event. I had slated Lindsay and Chris, you both were available to assist with this one. Um so, I really appreciate that. The shredding events are from 9 to noon in the community center parking lot. Most of the time, the shredding truck actually sets up kind of caddy corner. They set up behind the um bank, so to the right of like the entrance to the ice rink. Um and there will be a representative from St. Louis County. Her name is Ashley Matula and she will be present. We got the um approval for our grant. Everything is good to go. Um and so that will they are funding this event and then hopefully all of the following events for the rest of the year. Um we were able to get all of that through which is really exciting. We love saving money for the city. Um, and so she will be there to kind of help you guys as we This is like our first time having to do this. We're doing things a little bit differently. Um, she'll have, you know, the materials. Really, all that's needed is you will ask the people showing up what their zip code is and then she has she provides the iPads or whatever where you'll just click one of the county zip codes. Um, so then it registers with their system so they can track how many people from each zip code um, attend the events. Um, the only limitation for the shredding event itself is that you're limited to five bags per car. Um, then the following event, which is May 9th, um, Sharon, you said that you could help out with that one. And I think there was one other person that said that they could help out with that. I have it in my notebook which of course I left at the office but I will send a reminder email to those people that agreed to help on both of those days. Um but the same will go Ashley Matula will be there

again on the 9th to help you through the process. The only thing that will be different at the electronics recycling event is that in the past we charged for what are called negative value items, which are like those bigger items that they charge for. Like I think printers a lot of times were charged maybe like $5 or something like that. That is actually part of the grant funding. So we will no longer be collecting payment for negative value items. They just track how many negative value items we have. Um, and so again, Ashley will be there to kind of help guide through this. And then I will be at the June 6th event with Ashley, which is our first paint event. Um, so I don't need any help with that. If anyone wants to come, you're more than welcome to come hang out with me during that event. Um, but, uh, I've got that one handled. And then we don't have any other events again until August. So, we've got a little bit of time. And um but I really do appreciate you guys and your willingness to help. Um you know, the first few weeks of May are pretty crazy for me. I will be accessible via phone this coming Sunday or Saturday, so if you need me, you can call me. Um the following Saturday is my wedding day and I will not be accessible via phone. Um call Eric. But uh but yeah, so I really appreciate you guys' willingness to help and um I'm really excited that we were able to get this grant figured out and get the funding just to save the city a little bit of money and I think it's also going to be really beneficial. Um code red is going off again. Uh but yeah, so that's the update on that and tomorrow I will just send a reminder email to the people who agreed to help with the this weekend and next weekend's events just with that info. And then I'll also put Ashley's contact info just in case anything is needed with that. But she's been really

great to work with and she um she knows that I've got representatives from the sustainability commission who are going to be there to help. Um so I think I think everything should be in good shape. And if you have your t-shirt from um the Brentwood Days and want to wear it, I think that's a great opportunity. And I do have extras if anyone doesn't have a t-shirt or lost it. So that's great. Chris and I, we totally got this handled. No problem. I appreciate it. And Sharon and there was one other person. I'll have to look at my list to see who it was. It might have been um I think it's Bridget.

I think it was Bridget, too. So I will, but I'll send a send a reminder email just to make sure everyone remembers. So that's all I've got on that. Yeah, I didn't I don't know if I realized that we wouldn't be that the grant would be covering those negative value items.

I actually didn't either because when they like when I had to fill out the application and I filled out like how we usually do it, I was like, "Oh, no. You don't need to worry about that because we we just charge for that." And I figured we'll continue doing that because it's a generally relatively small amount and it's always no one's ever had a problem with it. And she's like, "Oh, no. at all of the events we covered the negative value items and Dan Gummershimer and I were the ones who were kind of working with her and we were all we were kind of like oh okay that's great so you know I can see that being you know maybe a little more people showing up with stuff exactly because of that this time

they're they're so experienced in they've had so many cities that have like participated in the grants for these types of events that I trust them when I trust that they know what they're doing and Yeah. Um, you know, so I think it'll be great. Yeah. I think like old TVs and monitors, you know, like the the tube style ones. Yeah. I think those were some of the more expensive items or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So, and I'm very interested to see how our first paint vent goes.

Me, too. I'll I'll be there participating for sure. Um, real quick on the uh back to this the toolkits, Eric. Um, do we have it? It would be cool to like whenever that person or as these people return them to get it to get just like some general feedback from, you know, just to ask like what' you think, you know, and what was what could have been more helpful or, you know, what was the most helpful that just that kind of thing because I could see us potentially, you know, tweaking these kits um in the future if there's something that uh, you know, would make them more useful. We um we have we've done an informal ask through the um the user guide to basically at the end of the user guide said hey please let us know what you thought things you know tag us on social media things like that but maybe I can work with staff on more of a formal sort of quick QR scan when they drop it off. Hey can you take this quick

survey or something survey? Yeah. So, I can work with staff on that. I think that's a reasonable thing to ask of them, you know, at the end after they've, you know, gotten to use this thing. Cool. Um, all right. That's it for any no other uh committee member reports. Move on to the uh minutes from the last meeting. Can I get a motion to approve those minutes? I move we approve the meeting minutes for March 23rd. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. All in favor? I I

I I. Any opposed? Minutes are approved. All right. Old business. Uh, switch together. Eric, back to you.

So, yeah. So I I know we briefly spoke about switch together and I think you guys might even spoke about this last month but basically Missouri Botanical Garden used to do a program called Grow Solar which the city of Brentwood was a municipal partner of. Um Switch Together is basically the new initiative of Grow Solar. Sorry I'm enthralled by your puppy just so behind you Andy. Um so basically uh Missouri Botanical Garden is partnering with Midwest Renewable Energy Association and I chooser uh to start this new program. And the idea of this is basically kind of like grow solar. It is trying to do um bulk purchasing of solar equipment to try to get the best pricing. So what they are asking for municipal partners is to advertise the program um you know get the word out so that way residents can then sign up for the program. So residents would sign up online. It's free. There's no obligation to even move forward with the program. Once the registration period closes, switch together gets the the quotes from different um solar installers and then basically uh the Switch Together will then send a personalized recommendation to each person to say, "Hey, here's the best price for your solar array." At that point, the participant can choose, "Hey, yeah, let's move forward with it." Or, "No, it's not the right time." So really there's we we feel like there's not a whole lot of um downside to it. What they are asking what they're asking for from us is to basically uh either host a page on our sustainability page or provide a redirect link of the program. um allow them to use a city logo which again we did for grow solar promote it through our existing city's communication

channels and then make sure that all the staff are kind of up to date and can help out with things like that. So um they are hoping to have all the municipal partners uh confirmed by June 1st for this first year. uh then they'll they'll have all the information out in the middle of July and kind of go forward and then obviously they'll be able to build on that for 2027. So staff is you know again this is something that we were a partner of for Grow Solar. We think it'd be good to be a municipal partner switch together. So we are making the recommendation uh to uh approve participation in the switch together program. Great. I can make a motion for that and then we can discuss. Um I make a motion that the sustainability commission approved participation with the switch together program.

I'll second. All in favor? I I

posted. All right. That motion is open for discussion. Yeah, I think it's a we did uh this was one of the topics of the um the forum last week and um so I learned a little bit more about it then it it's very very similar to the grow solar I I think there's differences but I didn't catch what they are you know something like the way they roll it out but um I think the main takeaway for us is yeah there's no cost to municipalities it's just a um just kind of an agreement to sort of co-brand and and spread the word and things like that. I believe I heard that the uh if you're interested that the payment or the the funding for the program essentially comes from the uh the bidder, you know, like the the contractor that um ends up getting chosen or something like that. It's not much. I mean, it's a pretty low overhead program, but that's where they sort of operate through. I looked at it and thought it was a great thing that we could put on our website and let our community members know about. So, especially if it doesn't cost us anything.

Yeah. I mean, I think I know uh I'm pretty sure um Nancy Ty, she at least got a bid. I don't know if she went with the um I think it was straight up solar was the provider the last time for grow solar and I'm pretty sure that's where she that was the avenue that she at least you know initially got uh bid for the solar on her house. It's definitely good to get people thinking about it and it and it uh sort of kicks off that you know makes it easy to sort of kick off that process and makes it a little more trustworthy. You know, that's one of the things they were talking about last week was uh there are some bad actors in the solar space, you know, in the home solar space. Uh most of them are like people that that try to do leasing agreements and things like that. And so there's, you know, there's enough like uh bad stories out there that make people a little hesitant um you know to to sort of uh trust, you know, solar contractor when they get a call or something like that. So I think this program helps to alleviate that. you know, there's there's just some vetting, you know, that's just kind of built into the program that allows people to sort of trust the providers. Yeah. Any other discussion?

No, I I think it was a good idea even if no one follows through. I think kind of like the exposure therapy of it all. I know we partnered with the or you had you had partnered with the um like electrical vehic electric vehicle exposure day as well. So it seems like this is a a good parallel avenue. Anyone else? That's why I think I did the I think I did things out of order. I shouldn't have I shouldn't have said the all in favor thing, but uh I think now we

you can say it again. Yeah. Now we vote on uh all in favor of uh recommending Prim's participation in the switch together say I. I. I. Any opposed? Right. Great. Uh then moving on to the dashboard.

Yeah. So I was able to reach out to KLA and you know between uh some of their issu not issues some of their they they were at some conferences things like that and then I was out of town for um a week and so we basically were were playing phone tag and basically were at least able to connect for via email. So didn't have a chance to talk to them specifically um about this but again this is kind of the stuff they kind of gave me. So I I kind of gave them after the last meeting after last folk work meeting came gave them the update of that the public works committee did not second the motion to move forward with the dashboard and in fact they even they didn't do the first so it it died from a lack of receiving any motion and and I kind of told them the discussion a lot was about the cost and if there if there's anything they could talk about as far as additional benefits that maybe I didn't mention before or return on investment um those type of things. And so this is kind of what they responded back to me. So again, not a not anything beyond just an email saying, "Hey, here are the they actually gave me more than what I put in here." Some of them I didn't think really pertain to Brentwood. So basically, the the benefit comes down to a couple things. is that it is a great way to communicate with residents what you're doing, how you're doing it, how successful you are with it. Um, and and more than anything else, um, it helps, uh, tell the story of of what we're trying to do in the sustainability commission. Is that something that staff can do? Yes. Is that something Michelle Boyer can do? Um, in a perfect world, yes. I mean, that is something that physically can be done. Do we have the time to do it? Do we have the capacity to do it? Is really

the the bigger question. And and that's where Michelle and I honestly saw the real value of this is we all it almost having almost like another additional staff person help us do some of this work for us. So when they talk about transparency and trust building, when they talk about visibility, uh when they talk about opportunities to activate residents, all that is stuff that they could assist the city with more than anything else. So when you talk about Sorry, I have a little visitor. Oh, Coco, she's nervous.

Oh, because of storms. When you talk about return on investment, um they again some of the things I talked about is the fact that when you look at um the Google Analytics that typically their dashboards outperform regular websites um the the saving of staff time. It does can simplify public access to grant interrupt you. I'm sorry Eric. Just want to let you know my lights are flickering. So if I go away it's because I lost power you guys. maybe.

All right. Thanks, Octavia. Um, and more and and so the again I think those are typical things they talked about on return investment. There was questions about benchmarking and and I thought what they said was pretty interesting which is um they find sometimes that um benchmarking can be difficult from city to city because everyone uses different data collection methods and different metrics and that obviously varies you know our metrics are going to be very different than say San Antonio's metrics and so those type of things. Um, and then basically they said, "Look, they they really feel like looking at our current sustainability website, they did some some time on that. They gave Michelle some kudos for what she's been able to do, but they they did say that they think that they could help improve communication with the community. Uh, create, you know, a story that is uh readable and easy to understand. Uh, it really kind of helps with real-time visibility, um, overall accessibility and and transparency. And more than anything else, um, it allows Michelle and I more time to focus on completing the items in the sustainability plan and doing items with, um, that we feel are important instead of making sure we update our website and update those things uh, to make sure that we are doing everything else. So again, I don't I wasn't here last month. You guys talked about thinking about it for a month. I could, you know, if you guys want me to try to get a hold of KLA and speak directly to them and and ask any more additional questions, I can do that. Um or we you guys can have some more discussion now. Um but that was what I have at this time.

Eric, I have a question. So say that the committee does decide that this is something that we collectively want to kind of fight for. What does that look like? I I think two things. One is unfortunately our uh representative at the public works committee which is Alderwoman Ty was not at the meeting that this was discussed at public work. She was out of town and obviously that didn't help. Um, but then I think it also again the focus a lot was on the cost of it. Now

$14,000 for the first year, 145 for the first year, 95 for additional years in the city's budget. I understand that this everyone's concerned about what funding is going to look like in the future. Um, do I feel like this is a worthwhile investment? I personally do or I wouldn't have recommended it. Um, but I think it would probably be beneficial if we want to move forward that maybe a member or two of the committee come and really kind of advocate for it as well, not just have it be staff because I think they

I agree with that. I think the idea of this committee, this is a resident driven commission and that we are we work hard to make sure that not only are we fulfilling the needs of the sustainability plan which again itself was driven by this commission um but that we continue to move forward and instead of just kind of I don't want to say standing still but you know if we feel like this is one of the best things one of the things that we can do to really help tell the story of what the city is doing. Um, you know, that that could be something that again might be better coming from someone other than myself or Michelle.

I mean, we already said we as a commission, we already voted to to support this. I mean, that's we we wanted this. We already said that. I mean, that's what we had said two months ago. So, I don't that has not changed. So, um I think what Eric is saying is now the board needs to hear from you guys. I think I I think I heard uh Nancy say last meeting that another option is just going straight to the board of alderman instead of and and skipping public works. Um, which again I think that would I understand the mechanics of that you know like

citizen driven so that would need to be driven by you guys that to we don't want to do that though that's that's just like you know going over your boss's head to their supervisor. I think I just we need to work within the system that we have and and you know ultimately the the the pathway if that happens would be if it went back to public works and and Nancy championed it as part of the sustainability commission and it still got no vote. She might she might push to say escalate it. Yeah.

I still think we should forward it to the board of alderman. it'd be with a negative recommendation from public works committee, but then she'd be able to have that full that full conversation. That did not happen last meeting. Again, I think mainly because Alderman Parker Ty was not there. So, I mean, it could be as simple as bringing it back, saying that the commission heard the the conversation from the public works committee, but still feels like this is a worthwhile expenditures of the funds that have been budgeted by the city. and also understand that that limits the amount of expenditures that the commission can have for the rest of the year and still feel like it's important to move forward. It can be as simple as that and and Nancy could be kind of the spokesperson from the commission. Um and then if it doesn't pass there, she can then ask that it gets moved forward to the board for discussion at the board level. one piece of information or like when we're addressing the financials, Michelle, if there's an idea of how much time you spend updating our website and what that looks like for the amount of money we're spending doing that. Um, I don't know if you're comfortable putting that together for a talking piece. Yeah, I mean that's it. It's so tricky because like I'll you know there will be like a list of things and so I'll spend an hour or so just like really focused on it but it's so it's not like super often but but it's finding that hour to dedicate to this in in the grand scheme of like all of the other stuff that I have to go. And so that's why I think the benefit of this is having the person who is solely dedicated to this. So, it's not about them finding the time. It's this is what

they're spending their time on. So, you know, it I don't want to lie and say like, oh, working on the website is taking up tons of my time. It doesn't. But it's finding the time in the midst of all the other stuff that I have to do to dedicate to this that is very difficult because, you know, I'm already my to-do list is already pretty full. So it's like I I feel bad that I can't dedicate the amount of time that I would like to to building this particular website. And so the benefit would be having that dedicated team whose only thing is doing this.

What I will say, and I don't want to speak for Michelle, but she'll just hit me tomorrow. Um I've never physically hit him. That's true. is that um while we're look I I don't think either Michelle myself or probably anyone in the commission uh thinks that our our website our sustainability page on the website is perfect 100%. There's a lot I wish I could do. And I will also sorry to interrupt you Eric. I will also say KLA has a skill set in terms of web design I don't have.

That is true. It's also making sure it stays dynamic month after month instead of being stagnant and and those are the type of things that I think are are beneficial and it is the reason why a lot of companies and school districts and other cities are going to a dashboard utilize it. Yeah.

Right. I mean, if we feel like $14,000 gets our message out to our community on a regular basis in a way that engages people, then it seems like it should be to us it's kind of a no-brainer. This is money well spent and it capitalizes on all the work that the city is already doing. So, I think it's a great way for the city to be kind of celebrating celebrating what you guys are doing. We don't have a great way of getting that information out yet. Um, I'm sure we can figure out a couple people that can go to the next meeting. Um, do we know when that is?

It would be June 11th. Nope, that is way too far away. May Yeah, it's May 14th. I just skipped a month. And I will say I will be unable to be at that meeting. Um, but will be there.

Yep. And and I quickly wrote down something that I I thought Lindsay spoke said it really well is it's uh $14,000 is is a small price to pay. I'm paraphrasing there to get the word out to the community and engage the public and also capitalize the work the city's already done. Um so I wrote that quickly down to try to hopefully encapsulate that into I mean this probably won't be this probably be a department report. Um, and unless you if you guys are there, I mean, you guys can obviously comment. Yep. Citizen comment. Um, and say, you know, this is something that we really are worth really think. Um,

and I I do think having Alderman Tyer is going to be helpful as well. I agree with that.

I mean, this puts us at the cutting edge of of of everything that's going on. I mean having somebody to do this means that you know as things develop within the field of social media and internet and everything that we were going to stay on top of it and be on top of it and not be running behind not be coming you know coming up at the end. I mean I think that's the the the 14,000 now the 9,500 every year after that. Um, that's a that's a a cheap cost if you ask me for for staying on that cutting edge and being up out front of everybody else or out there with the San Antonios and the, you know, Riverside Californiaiforns or whoever it is. Um,

great. I, um, I work Thursday night, so I'm not I said all these things, but I'm not able to be at the meeting. So, if there anyone

Okay, honey, that's fantastic. Yeah, I feel the same way as you and I. Um, I know, you know, being in communications and marketing, it's like you can do all the great things in the world behind the scenes, but if people don't know about it, then they're never going to be able to number one, perceive the value, and number two, benefit from it in the way that they possibly could. So, it's super important that you have a really consistent, reliable means to do that. and relying on Michelle being able to just carve out an hour here and there. I know exactly how that is where it's like I am just, you know, not the best person to be doing this in a really effective way, you know. Um I'm sure Michelle has many many many many other things that she's doing. And so, um I'm happy to go, uh be a part of that conversation. And I think part of it too is not only in my mind part of the value of KLA is not so much just the dashboard because the dashboard's pretty nice but there are other people who need the dashboard but is their partnership with you. They never go away. There's the month.

That's exactly what I was going to say. It's the support, the continued support. Yes. Yeah. Because there's always things that you want to change. Yeah. And the second you have someone to do it, you can actually make like you can keep a running list and it'll actually get done and you start looking like proactively for improvements instead of just being like, "Okay, we going to do the minimum that we have time for and then you never really get to the place that you know something could be at." Yeah. Especially considering how the field of sustainability is just like ever evolving. So there is going to be that evergreen need for updates. Yeah.

Awesome. You'll be a great representative for us. Annie, thank you for doing that. Yeah, I'm happy. Do we know what time it is? Sorry. Public works is at 6. Okay. Okay. There's comments right up front like everything else. Okay, great. Yeah, I'll also try and be there. Thanks, guys. Fantastic. I think that will go a long way and you know I agree with um hopefully between having Alderwoman Ty there and committee representatives they will understand how important this is for the city. Make them an offer they can't refuse.

Let's try. So, one question I have that maybe maybe something to be prepared uh for at the meeting, you know, this could be a question like a devil's advocate question. What if say five years down the road we I don't know aren't happy and you know want to cut ties with KLA? Like what are we what are we left with? you know, are we does the whole does the whole thing just go away or do we have anything that we kind of walk away with that we can continue, you know, like what ownership do they have? I guess

that is a that is a good question. I'll have an answer by um by the mayors. Yep. you know, I could see them posing that question, you know, whether for budgetary reasons or, you know, if it's not going well or whatever, you know, we had all this progress and then now what? Like, you know, do they just is there any way to transfer, you know, that into a into a site that we own or

I I would assume so, but I will double check. Do you have a link to KLA that you could put in the chat like to their I do website or product or something? Thank you.

I don't know about you guys where you are exactly, but it's getting crazy over here. Yeah, I'm a little bit further south than you, so I think I haven't gotten the brunt of it yet, but we've we've had some light like flickering here. Yeah, we can we can wrap this up, I bet, pretty quickly. And then everyone can crawl into a closet if they need to. Yeah, the wind's picking up pretty bad. Yeah, there you go. I just put it in the chat. Thank you. And Annie, if I can always email it to you, too. Lay down, Coco. I've got a very anxious dog right now. Okay.

Okay. Um, anything else on on the dashboard item? Nope. That will do it. Thank you. And any other new business or citizen comments? I make a motion we adjourn.

Stay safe, everybody. I have a quick comment and I don't know if this is the right time for it. Um, and we don't need to like dig dig into it, but uh I was talking to my neighbor today and behind her house, she has like this whole stack of like um I'm going to look at this picture, but she literally has like an old container of Roundup and like all these weed killer grass things and she's like, "I don't know how to dispose of this. I don't want to use it. I don't want it anymore, but I just have it sitting around. And I was like, how many people are in that position at this time of year where they're like making choices about how they're going to be treating their lawn and um homes and things. And so

I'll do some research and educated and like what we have. Yeah. And how we educate people on those things. But I do think I'll do some research and even just like initially I'll do like an educational social media post. And then we can look at I can also add some stuff to the website. Yeah, I think that'd be wonderful. No, I think that's a great great opportunity. Yeah, good timing. I think there is a there's a place I think where you can take that kind of stuff. I just don't know off hand where it is. I'm wondering if Home Depot or something like that

cuz I was like I haven't bought that stuff but when I got her house and I saw it I was like yeah we need to get RID OF THIS LIKE BEFORE the spills or like you know like I don't want this anywhere near my house either. Um and she I don't even know where it came from but I just imagined garages all throughout Brentwood with just like it's the paint thing too. Like I have so many paint. I'm so excited for June 6th. Um, and to tell everyone about it and I was like, this is something that we need to like share with our neighbors. You know, there are two household hazardous waste facilities both in North and South that I just Googled. So, um, we can give them

That's exactly what it's saying. There's apparently you can call 1800 cleanup to find disposable disposal sites. So, I will I will create a social media post around this. Yeah, that's one. And then Michelle, if you could just send that to us. Absolutely. Great, too. Okay. I'm sending myself a reminder right now. Okay. Um, good motion to Yeah. Did I guess we just have to vote on adjourning? Yes. All in favor? I Okay. Stay safe. All right. Bye, everyone. Bye. Good night. Thank you. Thank you.