City Council - Regular Meeting

Not to find a spot.

No problem. I'm in a restaurant. Hopefully there's not a lot of background noise. Can you hear a lot of background noise? Oh, good. Okay, great.

I just got my wisdom teeth out a few days ago, so I'm going to try not to talk.

This is so good.

Jan, what you got?

I'm here. I'm here.

I have a hard stop at three 30, which I just emailed about.

Oh my gosh. 20 minutes. Let's go.

Let's run a nice tight meeting.

Okay. Well, I'll, I'll kick off and just say that, um, I got, um, word from Courtney that we choose definitely in to represent Sierra Pacific and then she also said because we had discussed um as a possibility she has a contact with Burley and she um offered to reach out to to Allison and she did and so she said that she was interested so I also that was just an update from the last hour so I wanted to find out you know, if we feel like we have one additional space, I mean, obviously Burley is a very well-known Eugene-based company, and I think it would be awesome to have them participate. So, you know, the questions that I sent, I know we'll probably have to pare down considerably, but I think the other thing that Courtney was kind of voicing her initial concern was that some of the businesses that were, um, other than Rosen, they're pretty large, but she, I think she would like to have another business that's sort of at the same, a larger scale as well. So we have a large scale and smaller scale. So, um, so I wanted to feel, yeah. Hear your thoughts about adding Burley as well.

Well, are you feeling like Burley is a larger scale?

I think that was kind of the, yeah, I think, um, in the sense of like their market is more national and global, um, So, as opposed to, you know, the small town brewery. And, I mean, I'm not really sure what Blue Lotus' scale is. It's probably a medium, medium-sized, you know, manufacturing, food manufacturing. But, yeah, it would provide that, you know, larger scale comparable to Sierra Pacific, I believe. That's kind of her point in reaching out to her anyways, so. Um, but I think it just, yeah, it just is, uh, what we think is, uh, feasible in the timeframe. Can you remind me how much time the actual discussion we have? There's 45 minutes total. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I think it would be great to include them. Um, I think we'll just have to have, you know, less questions.

So we have four now. That would make five. Yeah. That would add the adding one would make it five.

Okay. Yeah. And we had, we had reached out to Brock refrigeration and he declined just because he's super busy. But yeah. Yeah. But he was like, invite me back next time. So, you know, if there's ever another discussion around refrigeration or whatever, he would be a great participant.

Well, I'm okay with adding Burley if it feels like it would make it a more balanced panel, because I do think um sierra pacific i i i know i was like out of the picture and wasn't involved in all the conversations but i feel like they're a really large company really large company and heavy duty and also with having uh her on our panel i just don't want to appear to like have that be a dominating force

I don't know if just because it's a large company means it's a dominating force. I mean, it just depends on how the person is presenting or what they're talking about. I just think it's a perspective, right? And I kind of like, I look at it more like timber than a giant company. Like it's really interesting to, I'd be, I'm very interested to hear the difference between like a Burley and like a a Sierra Pacific or whatever kind of you know what their answers how their answers would be different having different industries totally different industries big companies right I just find that it could be a different story to be told there yeah I think it would be

valuable to have a variety, but yeah, I'm curious what everyone thinks about the questions or if we can just go question by question and sort of strike some that, you know.

I had a question though too, because if, if, So, well, because Courtney's comment about there's not, like, it'd be good to have another big one. Like, technically, without Burley, there is too big, too smaller. Is Blue Lotus Chai small? Right. Because they also have a fairly large footprint, I think. I don't know much about them.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

Maybe different energy needs in terms of, like, producing tea versus, like, manufacturing. But I don't know.

Right. Right. it is sort of manufacturing heavy like it's like we have food food and beverage manufacturers and we have uh you know Rosen is a aviation manufacturing Burley's manufacturing and then uh SPI is the only one that's you know timber you know paper products and wood products we should say um so yeah I mean we can also just tell her it's like a little bit last minute and we feel comfortable at four you know um i feel like there would likely be other opportunities to invite well depending on how often we invite businesses in but

Well, this is the first time in my time that we're doing stuff like this. So, which I find it kind of, I mean, it seems pretty helpful as far as education and outreach. I mean, we're hearing directly from them, even though we're not staff, you know, doing an official survey. outreach, you know, what I'm trying to, what's it called? Danielle, you know what I'm trying to say? Like when you guys actually do the official outreach for very specific things in your plan, but I think it behooves the commission to hear these kinds of the feedback. So, I mean, if five is too many, five is too many. I mean, that's all there really is to it. But I think going over all the questions, even if I have to jump off in the middle of that, it's probably smart since is this not our last meeting? I think right I mean obviously there could be some emailing but maybe I think Jan maybe wasn't here for some of that or I don't remember exactly or maybe Lily I don't know it was all kind of it was just you me and Danielle last meeting right yeah I think Mitra joined late maybe or maybe not I don't know so I feel like we kind of hammered that out and so maybe going over it

would maybe just deciding like okay are we doing four or five it sounds like really what it's down to and then going yeah I mean just and it's not it's not actually a definite confirmation that Burley would even participate so there's still one more confirmation that has to happen so um she said and she spoke to her and she was interested and If we as a committee feel like it's not too late, she will call her today and confirm.

Why don't you pull up the questions and maybe like we can, the group can come back to this at the end of the meeting.

Can you all see that? I hope it went into the Google format. Put the link in the chat. I don't have access. Oh, okay. Oh, I have to change that.

Lily, if you're feeling like crap, you should just go lie down for real. Yeah.

You know, it's, it's like, it's the speaking mostly, you know, I feel fine now. It's been like a few days, but.

Oh, okay. You were like, I just had my wisdom teeth.

Oh no, no, no.

This morning. Okay.

Okay.

I hate doing this without a mouse.

Okay.

Okay. Can everyone see that? Okay. All right. Well, I did get some help. I know we talked about asking each business two questions, but then I really liked how Lily did it for the youth panel where there was like a question that went to two of the participants and you kind of did it that way that flow really well. So tried to mimic that a little bit. Start by introductions, telling us a little bit about your business and your role and describe how sustainability intersects with your day-to-day operations. Maybe we don't need to do that piece. Maybe it's just tell us a little bit about your business and your role.

I would, I would suggest with this one, I think it's great place to start that we maybe just say, give everybody two minutes or something because we don't want them to go on and on. And then see if, if somebody needs a little prompting, you could use the sustainability as a, as a prompt to get a little bit more out if they don't say much. But that would actually, that's a good question though. It is really helpful to hear.

When the, when you, the, the follow-up question. Yeah.

Well, I guess, but we also, you also do cover it in the first part of the question. I mean, we want to make sure that they get into the question of sustainability. So that's all. Yeah.

Or maybe I, and briefly, what does sustainability mean in the context of your business instead of how it intersects? Okay.

I like that because it like brings up, I mean, we're the Sustainability Commission and it's implied that it, I mean, that it's, you know, an environmental project bent but I could imagine an answer being maybe not that right like how how has there been a business sustainable like in the community I just wonder um I think that'd be interesting not that that's bad just like that might be an interesting take on it and it kind of goes back to what does sustainability actually mean for you so I don't know if that matters or not but

Okay, and then potentially a question for Blue Lotus and DropBear. Can you share an example of sustainability initiative that has worked well for your business? What made it successful? Rosen and Sierra, what sustainability efforts or investments have created value for your organization, whether through efficiency, innovation, employee engagement, or customer expectations? Have you found, potentially for everyone, have you found that sustainability efforts create business opportunities? And if so, where are you seeing those opportunities? I think those are good. Yeah, it kind of opens up on a positive note. And then Getting into some challenges. What are some of the biggest challenges your businesses face when pursuing sustainability goals? Are there local, state, or federal policies that are significantly affecting your sustainability-related decisions, either positively or negatively?

Mm-hmm.

Sierra Pacific. I don't know if we want to single them out. What do you wish policymakers better understood about the forest products industry when discussing sustainability? Rosen, what sustainability related trends or expectations are emerging within manufacturing and aviation that local policies may not be aware of? But because there are multiple manufacturers, maybe that's

to multiple of them and just take out the aviation part or just leave in the aviation part i mean that's kind of interesting right yeah i don't know like take out the manufacturing piece because we're already kind of asking that and like ask them about aviation yeah like how does that affect you Does that make sense? Danielle's looking at a scally face, I think maybe.

Well, I don't know what, like anything related to aviation, like policy around, like, I don't, I would think local policymakers wouldn't have much of a jurisdiction over that. Like, I think that's more regulated at a higher level than us. but I think there is more local, there is potential local policy that could influence like manufacturing footprint in Eugene. So I, to me, that's, that's a bigger intersection, but I hear you like, I was actually going to say the opposite. I like this being a question for everyone kind of, but, but also I think like, And this is where it's kind of on you, Emily, to see who's where the conversation is going. Like if someone kind of like if if Sierra Pacific may have already answered that at a different point or if you haven't heard from someone in a while, like you can sort of be strategic about which questions you ask.

Yeah, I think I'm agreeing with what you're saying, Danielle, is like, how could we actually word this question so that it applies to all of them? It's a similar question. It's just slightly worded differently. But I think if you just take out the aviation part. Yeah.

And maybe within like manufacturing in your industry.

Exactly. That's what I and then that would actually make it apply maybe to Sierra Pacific as well. Yeah.

Or they could talk about aviation if they want to. Right.

Right.

Okay, I'm still not like a ton of noise in the background. I'm just super sensitive to it myself. So I don't want it to bother everybody. I can't hear a thing. Okay, great. What challenges do small and midsize manufacturers face that are often overlooked in sustainability conversations?

I'm going to have to jump off, but one thing I was just, I'm a little behind because I was looking something up, but it does say there are some City of Eugene policies. I don't know exactly what they are that can affect aviation and aviation manufacturing based on land use and different stuff like that. I mean, cursory glance. It was kind of interesting. It was more than I thought it was going to be because I don't know if they need... if they're testing, like if they're testing, like where are they doing that? And are there restrictions for that? You know what I mean? That there was just some stuff that came up that it could be interesting if you put aviation manufacturing rather than aviation and manufacturing. Anyway, that was just my two cents that there could be something there. Maybe not.

Okay. Good to know.

And I got to go. I'm sorry, guys.

No worries. Thank you. Bye. well I guess it's like do we want to get into deep into the nuances of like the individual like how deep do we want to go you know into the individual sectors or industries well what would we do with that and I mean we're not really in a position to change policy on specific sectors you know

right so yeah but it's like educational i guess i i think it's okay for the questions to be a little bit higher level they're gonna speak from their industries so yeah i think yeah okay i think we should keep it how we just edited it um

then um and then um so government's role so what role should local government play in helping businesses advance sustainability goals um in previous conversations and this is something from our last conversation but um businesses have in conversations with city staff uh Businesses have expressed support for the city setting goals while allowing flexibility in how they achieve them. Does that resonate with your experience? What does that balance look like? I don't know if that rings true to you, Danielle, but I think that was kind of the gist of what we were talking about, that instead of setting policies and regulations, they would allow for flexibility and how a business would get to that outcome. Was this based on what I said?

I mean, that's just where I don't want to make it seem like I'm putting my finger on the scale. You know what I mean? Like I, cause it's, I want this to be commission led. So like, I wonder if there's a different way to phrase it because someone might ask what previous conversations is that what would be the answer to that? Like.

Well, and I think that I've heard that in all my conversations with the chamber, the chamber, like it's not just from it. Yeah. When we were having a discussion that felt in alignment with trends of conversations, I've also had, especially in chamber meetings around- That's good, yeah.

I wonder if you could add something at the end that's like, does that resonate with your experience and sort of like- I think we'll change it, yeah. It's almost like, what does that balance look like in practice? does doing that still move you towards reducing emissions? I don't know how to say that in a way that like, cause I've often wondered when I hear that from businesses, is that, does that mean that they're still motivated? Like how does that still motivate you to make changes and trade-offs that might be challenging or something? So maybe how you have it is fine. Like, but like how, How have you made progress to meet those goals, maybe? The city's goals or something? Because like the city, like the commission's very familiar with the climate recovery ordinance and like maybe speaking from that, like how... Like, you know, it'd be great to hear stories from businesses. It's like, well, you know, yeah, we didn't like electrify our fleet or we didn't like, I don't know, electrify our boilers or whatever, but we did install this other really cool thing. And we, we achieved like X metric tons in reduced GHGs. Like I'd be like, Oh, cool. Okay, great. Like, like setting goals, like us just giving you goals and targets to me is, and letting you figure out how to do that, like is enough. But some, I think sometimes there's, a concern that I've recognized and heard from the commission that like, it doesn't seem like that's enough to motivate businesses. And that's why there's an urgency to be more prescriptive. So like, it's almost like asking them, like, if it's enough, then like, what have you done? Maybe.

Yeah. So to me, then we could be a little more direct about that. we could like does that resonate with your experience what does that look like in practice or kind of like trying to get at that but in a very sort of soft sort of way yeah um so maybe just jumping to the last question yeah has this has this motivated it is has this motivated you to um take action to meet the goals and how have you made progress

Maybe have you been motivated by the city's goals?

Right.

Established goals and how have you made progress?

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know. Is this too direct? But maybe not. What do you think, Emily or Lily?

I think it's fine. I mean, yeah.

They're getting the questions beforehand, right? Yeah. Okay.

How have you made progress to meet them?

Right. To help, to help meet them.

To help meet them. Cause it's not all on them at all. Yeah. But I mean, you look at some of our greenhouse gas inventories and like some of these, like a significant part of our emissions is from industry and commercial and stuff. So especially when you look at buildings and stuff.

So, yeah. And I think like it, I would wager to bet that Courtney will give me feedback on questions. So we'll see. You know, I'll just submit it.

Well, and I think that's fine if she wants to. At the same time, like, I think it's really important if Courtney's going to be on the panelist side, she needs to be on the panelist side. And she can't also play commissioner and adjust what the questions are. I think at a certain point she needs to sort of wear one hat.

Right. And I did express that to her. She said she got it. So, yeah. Okay. Makes sense. Yeah. It'll be awesome to hear about her work. Yeah. Yeah.

I think they have a really cool co-generation facility out there. I hope she talks about that.

Awesome. Yeah. Cool. What kinds of support are most helpful? Technical assistance, incentives, education, recognition programs, infrastructure, investments, something else. I like that question. I think that's good.

Mandates? I would add in mandates. I'm probably going to say don't do mandates.

I'll put it over here. Yeah.

Mix it in. Infrastructure investments.

I don't know. Yeah.

As it advises the city council on how to meet sustainability goals.

Now, let me count the questions. There's quite a few. Not including introductions. One, two, three, four, five.

six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve it's too much yeah i think we need to cut that in half okay i think though at the beginning like the one to um like the first two seem pretty similar okay right it's like like the introduction question in this one or these two I don't know I guess two and three seem pretty similar I feel like it's like what are you doing right like it's getting at like what's something you've done is there a reason why the second question under number two is like specifically for those two

um oh because they're more like they're larger um yeah but drop bear is doing innovative stuff yeah they really have i mean that's what i mean like i think and maybe we just do that same with the first one the first one that's geared towards blue lotus and drop bear like that's something that could also apply to the others so like mm-hmm

but they're not going to all be able to answer all of them. I don't think.

So maybe have two, two of the businesses answer number two and two of them answer number three. Well, that's what it is right now. No. Cause up above we have number two, we have two questions and they each answering one. See, we had dropped. I should, I should reorder. I should number them. Yeah. Number them. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'm kind of leaning to get rid of number four, maybe, because that's sort of what they're going to, like the sustainability thing that they're going to talk about, it's sort of like a success. So I don't, yeah.

Yeah. Towards getting rid of that one. Okay. I don't have my auto numbering. So maybe these two can kind of be combined or if we want to like have them be slightly different. It can either be like they're kind of combined and we ask it to everyone. or it's like a different way of getting at the same. Yeah. So maybe that's fine.

Everyone's going to answer the first, then two, two will answer number two, two will answer number three.

Um, okay. And then biggest challenges seems like a question we want to ask. Um,

So it seems like we could actually, I think that number five kind of covers six and seven, doesn't it? I mean, it's a little bit different, but.

Yeah, that's true. It's like, what do you want policymakers to know? They're all sort of getting at that. I do like number six.

I mean, it's an often misunderstood term.

industry it is and um yeah so i guess i i feel a little sensitive to asking a question specifically for that business if we're not doing it for others and i also wonder what answer could we get to that question that we would be able to do something about

well the first part of that you could just say what do you wish policymakers better understood about your industry right that's what that's what i mean um and then but if you specifically want to hear i mean i think but the way it's written it's like i think if we are writing these for like court sbi isn't going to answer all of the other ones right so like

Yeah.

It's not?

I could, like, tailor this.

It's not going to answer which ones.

Well, I think that's where there's, like, who are the other ones for that are specific to them.

Yeah.

But, yeah, five, six, and seven, they are very similar. Yeah. So maybe you just get rid of them all and you just ask like, what do you wish policymakers better understood about your industry related to sustainability?

Yeah. Maybe I combine five and six.

And then it's like an all answer, but that's only where like, it's, you'll just have to have finesse. Like if someone's dominating, then like, you really need to be like, okay, like Rosen Aviation, I'm going to have you start or like Blue Letter Slip, we haven't heard from you in a while. Like, why don't you take this next one?

right um i can sort of finesse this and combine it a little bit um i think that that's another one that fit oh no oh yeah we can maybe get rid of these too you know like I mean, I think it's like, it says question for all panelists, but like, I could just ask it to two and then I could ask the next one to the other two, you know? Yeah. So I'll just get rid of, well, what sustainability trends are emerging within your industry? Maybe I think this one could be addressed by some of these other questions, like the one above. Challenges do you face that are often overlooked? Kind of like.

Could you just put, it's the same, could you put like trends, expectations, and challenges in number six?

Yeah, yeah. So later I told, Or challenges. Maybe. Yeah, and then just take off that last one there. And so, yeah. So four, five, and six are now all

Any of them could be for any of them and you can kind of play with those and decide where you want to direct them to. Yeah.

So, but I guess the point also is like when giving them to the businesses ahead of time, the representatives, like we kind of don't, I mean, I guess I'll, I'll piece out who I'm going to ask each one. So, cause I don't want them to have to prepare answers for every single question. I see. So that they kind of know like that one's going to be lobbed my direction. I guess it's more of like the timing of like, do I skip down? Like you did it so beautifully, Lily, like you kind of like you skipped around, I think probably because you were like, feeling like you want to someone was maximizing and you wanted to like come back to them you know it was just it was really good yeah so i'll do my best but like i think it would be good to just like go ahead and assign them okay does that make sense or do you feel like if i sent them can you sort of assign them based on your knowledge of the businesses yeah you know because you know them you might kind of have a sense at least a little bit of what they're like they're gonna talk about me yeah I mean I do feel like the loftier questions are gonna be good for Sierra Pacific I like they're the ones I'm the least familiar with um and so And I know like, I know DropBear is like really good at talking about like specific technical things, you know, you know, things that they did through the rethink business certification, their new equipment that they purchased and things like that. And less on like the policy side, like, you know, so I think, and then I think, you know, Rosen and Sierra Pacific might be like, it does make sense. Like the larger with like, the loftier questions and the policy stuff would make sense for them. That sounds good.

I think Emily, I think go with it from here. Like trust your instincts. You're going to be great. I need a final list of questions. If you could send it to me by email, end of day Tuesday so that I can include it in the packet for conditioners. And then I also need like a final list of who's participating by end of day Tuesday. So maybe now we circle back to, do you guys want to include Allison from Burley or no?

Maybe we just... Yeah. So maybe we just, because like I said, like, it seemed like she needed to get one more, like she said, she had presented the idea. She was interested. And if we're good with it, she'll call her today to get like that final confirmation. Maybe we just offer it and she may say no, I don't know. And then we'll be in a good spot either way. I think, I don't know.

So if we do have one more, you would just kind of, Divvy the questions up, the same number of questions up among more people. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. We were, I mean, in thinking about just logistically in the room, I think we were saying we would make five work. It's going to be tight. Anyways, it's going to be tight.

It's going to be tight in terms of time too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I I'm fine either way. Like if you feel like, yeah.

Well, and like, while I know that the commission hasn't heard directly from some of these businesses and, the city does hear a lot from these businesses like Allison and Courtney, you know, they are on like many boards across the community, not, you know, and so like, um, they're not necessarily voices that we aren't hearing elsewhere that the city as a whole is not hearing from other venues. So, um, I think if the commission wants to like pursue hearing from her, you know, like look her up, look up her, like she's a part of the chamber board. She's a part of like all these other boards and stuff. So like. Yeah.

Who's prominent. Yeah. That makes sense. I mean, yeah, it seems like. We could almost, I mean, discuss in next year's work plan. having multiple business sessions with different sort of goals because it, because it is like you said, such, I don't know if that makes sense, but it is such a, I mean, they are such huge contributors to the emissions.

Well, it'd be interesting to see what comes out of it for sure. Then that'll help us gauge that. Mm-hmm.

yeah and I would try to get I would try to get this question list down to like seven or eight if you can yeah out of these last four here yeah it seems like seven and nine together yeah yeah yeah mm-hmm

Definitely.

And like, I would think of like, when you sort of have the fullest of questions, like, because like you said, like Courtney or Rosen, like some of the bigger ones, they're going to be able to probably speak to a lot of these like high level, big picture policy questions. But like, what, like, is there a balance of questions that the smaller companies can also answer? Yeah. Like in some ways, some of these assume, and maybe they are tracking it, but like assume a baseline level of knowledge about like local policy or state policy that like maybe a restaurant brewery isn't tracking. Maybe they are. I don't know. But I know that bigger companies need to have like, you know, a government relations person or something. So are there enough questions that someone who doesn't have that baseline and level of knowledge have could still answer?

Right.

Okay. I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm jumping around here. I don't know if we're going to keep all these questions, but if we keep both seven and eight, I would put eight before seven. Okay.

Yeah.

Nine seems like overly, I don't know. Nine seems kind of broad. Yeah. Do we need, like, any... Yeah, I mean, it'd be nice to end on a good note somehow. Maybe, like, maybe something more of, like, how... How do you want to interact with the commission going forward? Or, like...

I don't know. What is a good role for the Sustainability Commission in interacting with business community? Or...

yeah i don't know about that i don't know either i mean it's kind of weird yeah never mind i could figure out uh how to get some type of closing question yeah yeah okay i'll i'll think on it a little bit more but

And you could kind of keep that one as optional depending on how the time is going. Yeah.

Also, okay, quick, in these last few minutes, engagement slash tabling this summer.

Yeah.

The two events I'm aware of that have been put forward are your neighborhood, Emily's northeast neighbors, northeast neighbors, which still hasn't found someone in West side, Jefferson West side neighbors, which I think is next Friday, which Alexi had volunteered for, but it sounds like he actually can't now. So that's sort of another opportunity. I'm, I also don't know if that, that neighborhood has been hit twice, like in the last two years with the commission. So not a huge priority, but, um, That's the options that have been put forth. So do you guys want to just, should we just, should I just bring that up again at the next meeting? Do you want me to put an email out?

When is Northeast Neighbors?

It is, I believe it's Friday. Okay. Let's see. Either a Friday or Saturday, July, I think it's July 25th. Because that is the day I'm leaving town or otherwise I would do it. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

I'll send that out when I send out the packet next week. It seems like email has been a better way for people to like be able to look at their calendars and stuff to respond to email other than in real time at the meeting. And otherwise, like, I don't know, that might be the only event, which is also fine. I think the commission is sort of in this, is sort of exploring other ways to do engagement and stuff. So if there's not other events, that's just what it is.

Yeah. Well, I know that we had said, you know, summer is like, you know try to hit some and like not worry about like other times of the year necessarily like just slim down the amount of events that we're doing generally but I mean if something comes up in the fall like I'd be interested in doing it again so yeah okay cool yeah sounds good

Great.

Well, okay.

So yeah, Emily, just get that stuff to me by end of day Tuesday.

Okay. Will do. And I had told the businesses I wanted to get it to them. Um, okay. So we, so we decided no Burley. Right. uh I don't know because like they're prominent they're around you can talk to them like yeah they're involved okay yeah and Rosen is a big big company too like yeah yeah okay got it um all right sounds good thank you for your help I hope I can uh fill Lily's big shoes in the moderation department. You'll do great.

Thank you for all your work on this, Emily.

Oh yeah. You're welcome. Yeah. Great job. I'm hopefully doing something with the chamber similar. So this has been good sort of lead up to that. So yeah.

All right. Okay. All right, everybody. Thank you. Have a good afternoon.

Bye. Bye.

Bye.