Green Island Ice Arena Negotiating Committee - Regular Meeting

Hello, everyone. It is 04:01PM. I, your vice chair, Andrew Erickson, not chair Mackenzie Mendell. I'm calling this meeting to order, the 11/10/2025 climate action steering committee meeting. Roll call. I see Casey, Steph, Mackenzie, Dorothy, myself here, present.

And then Natalie Hennigan is excused.

Okay. So that leaves us with one absent. One. Vacant. Oh, vacant. Okay. Okay. The next item on our agenda is approval of minutes. I'm looking for a motion to approve. Can I get a motion to approve? Going once.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes.

We have a motion.

To make motions.

We have a motion from great council member, Mackenzie Mendell.

I'll second that.

We have a second from Casey Meehan. Any discussion on the minutes? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye or raise your hand.

Aye.

Aye. Is unanimous. We can move on to the next item of the agenda, which is notices and discussion. Something is on there. Is that maybe you, Luis?

Yeah. Sorry. Let me pull it up. I have Sammy Meyer here from Parks, and she can go ahead and while I prepare.

Hello, everyone. Hi.

Can you speak say your name and your municipality?

Yes. My name is Sammy Meyer. I live in the city of Onalaska, but am a an employee for the city of La Crosse in the parks recreation forestry department. I apologize to everyone on screen. I'm I'm addressing you kind of backwards, but Andrew's here in person and Lewis.

So can very intimate setting here in person. Last time I was here was June 2025. I think I kind of gave an overview overview of of the programs that we offer, and I will just give an update on some happenings since my last attendance here. So in July, we held our Soak It Up kickoff event, which is our summer sustainability program. We held that down at the Meyer Park Gun Club Shelter with our friends at Habitat for Humanity in La Crosse Area Waters.

I we think had a great turnout for that event. We had about 15 to 20 people. I tried to find a photo to get an exact headcount, but I could not. So that is my estimate from my best recollection. We were able to give away eight rain barrels at that event, where we worked together using tools borrowed from the La Crosse County Library Tool Library, showing people exactly how they can build rain barrels if they weren't able to take one home that night, where they can source materials from and tools to borrow to make that an accessible activity for everyone.

So we gave eight of those away, and two downspout diversion kits, which you can attach affixed to your your downspout and divert the water directly from your roof into your rain barrel to make it just that much more efficient. Working on outreach to those individuals to see how their year went after they took their rain barrel home, if they were able to implement it, and get some use from that program. Following that, we have our leaf it program, which is this little bit more passive, more of an education program to educate folks on how they can leave leaves in their yard, save them time, money, lawn equipment use, leaving those in the yard, keeping them out of the streets, roadways, educating on ways to dispose of them if you are one to collect, where you can do that within the city, lots of other resources in their municipality to take advantage of to make sure that the leaves and yard waste from the fall season end up in the appropriate locations. And then we had aimed to potentially introduce a compost bin program, but we we have not purchased compost bins. There's an education session this Wednesday still, so I will be attending that just to learn a little bit more about the group by program.

But we've been, sharing that the the county actually does this program already. So participates in the exact program that we would look to participate in, and those bins would be available for purchase at the La Crosse County Landfill for a reduced price. I think it's $55. And so folks, if they are interested in in composting, getting their hands on a quality composter, that is the direction we've been leading people thus far. Coming up, we have our winter sustainability program.

I can barely believe that it's cold enough to be snowing, and icing over in some cases. So that program, just quick, brief recap of it, is educating people on appropriate use of salt and chloride mixtures, applying them to their driveways, sidewalks, other paved surfaces, and doing so in a responsible manner because eventually it does get washed into our waterways, and that can lead to excess chloride, nutrient pollution, which has a wide range of adverse effects on our waterways and wildlife habitat systems. So educating folks on that. And that kickoff event happens on December 10. It's occurring at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center.

That time, again, this is in partnership with La Crosse Area Waters. We'll have a member from their team join us and give an stellar stellar presentation. I always love them when they're able to to join and share their expertise. And then we'll be doing a brine making workshop. So folks can come mix their own brine solution and then take home a mini brine sprayer. Not everyone will take home a mini brine sprayer, but some people will be able to take it home and utilize that in their own, paved properties if they need to. You're all invited, by the way. We'd love to see you there. It's at 4PM, again, at the Black River Beach neighborhood center. I promise it will be fun.

We have fun every time one of these events pops up. No matter how many people are there, it's always a joy, and I really enjoy doing it. So if you're there, I'll be there. And at the very least, we'll exchange some smiles and happy words. Our summer newsletter was the first newsletter that we sent out.

I was able to get a little bit of data on that. We had a 60% open rate, which I think is really stellar for an email newsletter. Emails can be one way that we target specific audiences to learn more about our sustainability programs and just give people easy access to clickable links and other resources that maybe the parks department doesn't necessarily provide, but places that we know there's trustworthy information that is worth reviewing related to any of the given seasonal sustainability programs that we offer. And then that's kind of our overview of the the sustainability programs. I think last time I also mentioned that we were in the process of adjusting our tree ordinance as it relates to the parks department.

And so I don't have anything to present to you tonight. We are still in that process. We've been working with a consultant who's been extremely helpful, kinda taking some parts and pieces of our existing ordinance and other inspiration from around the state to other municipalities that have successful tree protection ordinances and, some of the key components, highlights of the ordinance that we're hoping, installing some measures to protect trees during construction periods, critical root zones, making sure that there is not a lot of compression on those areas during construction if it's needed, emphasis on saving trees when possible, and then making tree planting a little bit more accessible as well. So right now, for example, one of our current stipulations is that any tree has to be 30 feet apart from one another in a boulevard, which isn't always necessarily a need when you have two small trees like crabapples. They 30 feet is a bit excessive.

So we're rewriting some of those specifics to leave room for more trees to be planted. And then, also involved in there is a component of our Beautify Lacrosse program as well, so making it easier for people to appropriately convert their boulevard spaces from turf grass to other native planting. So an easier process that doesn't necessarily require park board approval. It's it's a very, it can be lengthy. Right now, there's an application process, staff review followed by Park Board approval.

And so creating some some boundaries that are appropriate that we could have an easier process that doesn't require so much of the coming to meetings to get approval portion of doing a simple task of changing your boulevard from turf to maybe native prairie grass that is within a certain height requirement. Requirement. So that is also a component of that ordinance revision. So, essentially, we'll be taking two ordinances and meshing them into one cohesive guidance for an overall healthier green space system in La Crosse. And that's what I have for you today. The crowd goes wild.

Thank

you, Sammy of on Alaska, of the city of La Crosse. We appreciate you being here.

I am happy to share anytime, so thank you for having me.

Other notices and discussions from the committee members?

Sammy, thank you so much. I just wanted to say thanks for all the work that you've been doing. It's awesome.

Yeah. Sammy,

I wanna say thank you too. And remind me when is the winter sustainability at Black River Beach Neighborhood Center?

December 10

Thank you.

At 4PM.

Go ahead, Mackenzie.

Thank you, chair. And also, I apologize that you are chairing and you are the only one in the room, but you're doing a marvelous job. And thank you, Sammy, for coming to present. Those are epic updates. I am wondering if when the tree ordinance is something to look at, are you able to and we can connect with Lewis on this too, but I'm just wondering if our committee can also take a peek at it.

Yes. I am still working out the details on the appropriate, like, approval processes. This is Yeah. My first ordinance rewrite I've ever get gotten to do. And what a fun one it is. So working through the appropriate which which boards see it first kind of thing. Yeah. But I can certainly bring it here for a glance as well.

Excellent. Great work. Thank you.

Thank you all.

Alright. Other notices and discussions?

Or one of the things I added was just, I don't know if I don't wanna put Casey on the spot, but if you could talk about the inspiring sustainability awards and just that event and just Sure. A nice feel good thing. Yeah.

You bet. So we the Sustainability Institute hosted our I think it was our sixteenth or seventeenth sustainability inspiring sustainability award, and that was on the October 28, where we have it at the La Crosse Distilling Company. It's basically just a a way for the sustainability institute to recognize a an individual winner and or an individual sustainability champion and an organizational sustainability champion. So this year, we recognize Katrina Dunn, who is a high schooler working on some pretty incredible sustainability initiatives around here. She was the recipient of a few different youth youth climate action fund grants.

So she worked on those. She's also the, I believe, a plaintiff in the lawsuit for the state of Wisconsin against I'm not I I don't know if it's against the state, but, basically, suing for climate change action youth suing for climate change action. So she's one of the the main people on that. And then we as a for an organization, we recognized the nature place and all the great work that they've been doing to promote sustainability and sustainability education in our area. So it was a fantastic event.

I think we had around 90 people there, and, you know, we're just looking forward to next year already. Questions about that?

Alright.

Yes. Mackenzie.

Thank you, chair. Just a couple of things I wanted to note and maybe, Andrew, this is on something that you'd like to share about, but asking, our climate action plan steering committee to send in support for the 3rd And 4th Street protected bike lanes, please, and ask your your networks to support. This is a pretty huge opportunity that I only could have dreamed of during my lifetime. It felt like it would never come. And so please do be as informed as you can on the subject.

And then secondly, my boss was in Rio in South America last week for the COP thirty events where the CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a second round of youth climate action funds. So we were part of the first after our former mayor Reynolds was in the room with Mike Bloomberg and, announced that first round of funding. So I don't know what that means for us, if it does at all, but, nevertheless, something to celebrate.

Thank you. I'll I will reiterate the the once in a lifetime opportunity that the reconstruction of 3rd And 4th Street is and ensuring that all modes of transportation are accommodated is is at the utmost of importance. You have until, I think, November 13 to to put a public comment on the record. Also, at 5PM, there is a county board meeting where they'll will be discussing the fate of the smart bus. And so if if you can make it, please do show up.

That is why we're gonna run a very efficient meeting so that I can run over there. Any other notices in discussion? Okay. Not hearing any. We can move on our agenda. The first item, 25 Dash one two four two, consideration of virtual power purchase agreement with US Solar. It looks like it's an update on progress, so I'll turn it over to Luis.

Yeah. So last update I gave was that, US Solar wanted to, or or needed to reconsider their their project because of some potential changes to the program that, Xcel Energy wanted to, introduce. So US Solar has been in contact with Xcel on the topic, and they have more scheduled this week. They said that they're moving in a positive direction, and they're working through the implications of adding adding energy storage to the interconnection schedule and how what that would how that would impact the budget. He said it'll likely be a few more weeks before we have something more concrete to share, but we are pursuing this diligently and are hopeful there will be a good opportunity for the city of La Crosse.

So I'll keep you updated on that. As I mentioned last month, if there is a rush to get something approved next month, then it'll likely just be on the, I'll include the that on the agenda, but it'll probably go to the finance and personnel committee first before it comes here. So from a procedural standpoint, it'd go through counsel rather than this. But so that would just be informational. That's it.

Any questions from the committee on this? Not hearing any. Thank you, Lewis. This is an exciting opportunity for the city to procure renewable energy, so thank you for your diligent work on that. We can move on to the next item on the agenda, which is twenty five dash one three two zero, fleet electrification workshop follow-up.

Lewis. Thanks. Yeah. A few weeks ago, Paul Nicholas was in town to do a little workshop for small businesses to discuss, share mutual yeah. Just share resources about converting their fleet to electric. So, I was there to both learn and share what I've learned, and so was Andrew and Dylan Constant from the county and Aaron Duffer and Travis Key from the La Crosse Area Planning Committee. And Casey. And Casey was there. Yeah. Too.

He was yep. And some solar installers and also electricians were in there. So it was a good, it was a small group, which was, you know, somewhat intentional so we could have a good discussion. Let's see. We had about upper teens in members, so I think, like, maybe 18 people attending.

And, you know, we expressed or discussed some of their their concerns and, what they learned. And I think one of the big takeaways was, there are speakers from Dairyland Power, Quick Trip, and Excel. And the guy from Dairyland Power had a electric Silverado and was talking about or it was like an extended range one. So it had an extended range, but also just could power tools that you could plug into it, like plug into a outlet because it had outlets in its bed. So that was pretty cool to hear about and and also about the warranties and stuff.

So there's still, I think, more work to do. Paul's planning on, synthesizing and sending back this information this week, and I can share that with the committee and attach it to the minutes. But, yeah, just looking at what information we can provide to, to help people make that decision. One of the ones I was kinda surprised about was anticipation of rising electricity costs. And while sure.

I I feel like electricity is a bit more constant than I I feel like gas fluctuates more, but I don't know. I mean, I I guess knowing that in advance and, like, where like, how we can chart that out for the next decade or two is maybe some information we can find, but I I am unsure. And then, yeah, just helping people get over the range anxiety.

I see a question. Council member Mendell.

Thank you, chair. Yeah. I think, you know, maybe talking to Excel too on the perception of rising electricity costs. I mean, I know there have been statements put out about energy costs rising. Certainly, it's not the only form of energy that's rising, but maybe we could do more on sort of, like, talking through the facts on the stability of gas as our main power source or coal or or and kind of comparing that to clean energy would be something curious.

So I'm I'm sure that that's a concern sort of broadly. Thanks, Lewis.

I think to to jump on that point, I think the even even if electricity were no we know is going to increase at a pretty substantial rate, it's probably still gonna be cheaper to fuel a vehicle with electricity. So that that's something. I also wanted to mention, if you hadn't seen, that the city of Onalaska had has purchased two electric cruisers, and so that's a really exciting progression in the community. Wish it was us first, but what are you gonna do? Can't always be first, but we can be second.

Or, actually, maybe third because La Crescent got one too. Never mind. We're in third place. But that's really exciting. And so I think that, you know, the more that we have people who are doing the thing, who their competitors can go and talk to and learn about the experience in their particular setting, the the better that it's gonna be for this transition. So

Yeah. And I could let me speak a little bit about that too. Like, the city the our our direct pay incentives are still on the way. We got a little bit delayed because of we had to include filing with the wastewater treatment plant as well. So while we were ready to file our IRS paperwork for the solar panels we installed, we we did not have all the paperwork ready for the wastewater treatment plan.

And so that all has to be filed together rather than, like, separate documents because it's from the same year. But that's all being wrapped up, so we we should get that funding soon and can talk more about fleet electrification here. On another front, in terms of community electrification, I learned last week or couple weeks ago that the funding for the charging smart program got cut off. So while that technical assistance may not be available, I think some of those resources are still up and about. So even if there's not a person that can help out with it, there's still work that can be done using those resources.

So I'll work more on that too.

Great. Thank you. Any other questions or thoughts from the committee members? Nope. Not hearing anything. Alright. We can move to our next item on the agenda, which is 25 1322, grant opportunities and updates.

I'll I'll start with an update. We did our reporting for the energy innovation grant on on October 15 was the deadline. So that was for our core third quarter, reporting. At that time, we were up to about a 140 houses or households, and, that's about 40% of the total we're at. And, you know, that's the third quarter, so we should be at 75%.

But, we got off to a little late start, and we are going to be working with the Public Service Commission about getting an extension, which shouldn't really be shouldn't be too big of an issue. It's just a matter of submitting a letter and justification. So I will be working on that this month. But, otherwise, that's going well. They had been working with Hope Restores to help out our our black community members and also expanded the program to moderate income homeowners and have started doing some of the install installation installation for for some of the homeowners who had had the assessment and are moving forward with the program.

So that's all exciting work. And tangentially related, I think, is also it this is also gonna be part of the program, but Green Homeowners United is also kind of spearheading a energy efficiency program for manufactured homes. There are three in the city, and there are a few outside of the city. But, they're using using our program to kind of, you know, gather information and and and start kick start that program. Focus on energy is really excited about it.

So we I'm I'm hoping that really helps out those folks in the in the in our manufactured home parks. So, yeah, that's for our energy innovation grant. I've been working with Ted and Cecily from Pale Blue Dot and our their partners on a community foundation grant. We were looking at one for this fall, but, did not have anything put together. But, fortunately, they have grants every quarter.

So we were looking at, bulking up our outreach and engagement for helping small businesses with energy assessments. That was part of our partners in energy program and didn't really get a lot of uptake. So we're trying to figure out, like, what partners we can work with to, get more participation in that. So that's sort of what we're thinking about doing with those that application. Also, we've talked to the McKnight Foundation about their Midwest Climate and Energy program.

I have to follow-up on that. But, initially, the idea was to, follow the energy efficiency and conservation block grant blueprint for electrification and energy efficiency, that we were initially gonna pursue with the EECGB funds, eECBG funds. And but, you know, those didn't get, distributed. So, yeah. So I think that could be a really good opportunity.

That's, yeah. That that that's something we're looking at kind of on the back burner while we were looking at some other things. And then also, recently announced is the Climate Smart Communities initiative, and that's pretty wide open in terms of what those funds can be used for. But I'll have to take a little more or another look at that. That's not due until, I think, March.

And Lacrosse Community Foundation, I think, is mid January to mid February, and I think the McKnight Foundation thing is just ongoing. So those are some thoughts for the for grant opportunities. But, yeah, if you guys have any suggestions or questions, I'm open.

Any suggestions suggestions or comments or questions from the committee member the committee members? That was so embarrassing. I'm so sorry. I have a question. I mean, you know, what was this?

Was this two years ago where we, you know, we flushed out some of these these actions into what it could look like. And I think that, you know, the work that Natalie and I did was the maybe the the beginnings of what ended up being this great program that 140 houses, that's great. And so is that something that we could help again with is, you know, looking at what our actions are, what our priorities are, and seeing where we could like, what's what's how can we help? Yeah. That was

I the intention with the Green Homeowners United thing is that that would kinda be self sustaining. But, you know, that was intention when the inflation reduction act was available. So I'm I I guess that'll take another conversation with Kevin about, you know, our after after the grant funds run out, are your local employees gonna have enough work to continue working in the in the area? And I think I'm hoping so. The other area where there's an opportunity in terms of home energy assessments is for multifamily homes.

And Dane County and Madison and yeah. Mostly, those two communities have a, efficiency navigator program with Elevate. And, let's see. Eau Claire was gonna do that with their EECG EEC BG money, but theirs, they didn't get their money either. But I I think that's an opportunity that we could use, the direct pay funds for as potentially.

So when I get when that money comes in, I will put together a proposal for that. Yeah. In terms of the rest of the implementation plan, I can't think of anything off the top of my head that is in need of funding. I mean, I I think kind of the two big areas I'm looking at are, fleet electrification and other energy efficiency assessments.

That sounds great. Be great to to get some energy efficiency upgrades in some of our off campus housing. If only there was a public policy student in the audience right now who could help us with that. You know, I don't we a guest. Sorry. So, yeah, I mean, let us know how else we can help if Sure. You know, we are your guinea pigs, Lewis. We work for you. Please include that in the next meeting or in the minutes. Thank you. Alright. Other thoughts, questions, concerns, quarrels, qualms, considerations?

Lewis, yes. On the agenda or I assume we're moving on to meeting next meeting and agenda items. I mentioned to Natalie, who's not here, just that to next next meeting to share successes with Renew the Block. I know they've made a lot of progress this last year, and it would be really nice to hear about that and to kinda catch everybody up and even just sort of celebrating wins from Habitat for Humanity in general. So along those lines, I I'd like to invite the committee members to share their wins from this last year at at the December meeting.

So if there's anything from your organizations that you're involved in that you'd like to share, I I think that would be a good way to end the year.

I like that a lot. I like that a lot. That kind of took us to next meeting and agenda items. So thank you. That I wrote that down. Share wins in December meeting. Committee members, what are you feeling for next meeting? You're looking for your tried and true leadership of council member, Mindell, sick and tired of this vice chair. You know?

One thing I'll add too is that I will be out of town for that meeting, so I'm I'm hoping either Jenna or Tim can step in for me and at least get to enjoy those those wins that you guys all share next month and hopefully have some news about The US Solar virtual power purchase agreement. So, yeah, I won't be here, but I'm gonna get get it on Tim or Jenna's calendar as soon as possible.

Good to know.

Andrew, I just wanna thank you for vice chairing. And, yes, thank you to all who could make it. I have a reason right here why I could not make it, because I didn't have childcare. So appreciate you, Andrew, for for stepping in as vice chair. Well done. And, thank you for making a speedy meeting so that you can go advocate for that smart bus.

You're making it sound very self interested, but I did it for Not

at all.

Of us. I did it for all of us.

I appreciate it very much.

Alright. Well, I think we've reached the end of our agenda. So without objection, I adjourn this meeting at 04:38PM.