Sustainability and Resiliency Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everybody. It is Thursday, November 20th at noon, and we are going to call our Sustainability Resiliency Committee meeting to order. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Excellent. Any changes to the agenda or an order of business?

So I will share. I have a hard stop at 1245. So as we get to items, there's some must review items. So If it's okay with the clerk, we will adjust any order as we need to as we go through.

Let's move item 6G to the top of the list. Is there a motion? Yes, aye. All in favor, aye. All right, catching on. Okay, I was advised that our town commission liaison is unavailable, so don't hold your breath for a report. Anything around the room? There are no members of the public, so we will consider public comment over. Next is approval of the minutes.

This is just minor edits. So the Vice Mayor suggested having composting in town as opposed to in town and limiting partnership to one company. So I take that as it is. And the other relates to the final walk and talk that could be done with the city's director.

But if we have a motion to accept as shared.

You look much better in three dimensions.

Okay, awesome. So we did move the agenda deadline dates up, and of course, if you want to introduce this item.

All in favor, aye. Aye. All right, after many, many months, the next item is we forwarded resources to every bottle back initiative. We received the agenda package over the last couple of months. The cover memo has not changed. The guidance that we were given is this really should be carried forward to the town commission with a recommendation from this committee. And that's exactly what I'm looking for. I don't want to tell the commission whether it should be a resolution or something else. motion to complete the endorsement form and prepare a resolution and place it on the agenda for the nex

Second. So for discussion, there's also an opportunity to tie this together with an improvement program for the town, which Waste Management has offered to support in spirit, if not in deeds, and also work collaboratively with the town and the Florida Beverage Association to secure a grant for labeling for our recycling carts. Yeah, I think that sums up pretty well.

Yeah, if you could send it to the clerk and then transmit that. Okay. So if you could send it to Vice Mayor Paul, he can copy the commission and the town manager and the town attorney so that they're aware. and let them know if they have any questions, they can reach out to Flood and Beverage Association, Waste Management, or a member of this committee.

We absolutely want to take advantage of the innovation that you've implemented. And as a separate activity, we'll bring it back before this committee, is to really push forward with the improvement opportunities within town, town operations, engagement with those who live in multifamily properties and in single-family homes. It would be nice if we could bring a group to your new facility. Sure, sure. And just... Let it be a full court press. It's just been sitting too long and. I think there was a motion in a second.

I don't want to presume. It seems reasonable, but it would really be up to the town manager to decide how best to implement it. Again, we'll bring back an agenda item that focuses on the opportunity to improve both the town operations and the behaviors of the folks in town that are placing their own recycling carts.

No, because it needs, this resolution needs to go to the commission, it needs to get approved, and then that starts the work in earnest.

So it might be beneficial if any or all of us could go to that meeting. December 9th. It's a Tuesday.

Madam Parker, if you could, just send a reminder. If the item makes it onto the agenda, just send a reminder out to the committee. Okay, so there's a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Excellent. All right, the next item is the town vendor agreements. So, Madam Clerk, thank you for sending them out several times. I'm not sure that's I know that I think you sent the hyperlinks from the agenda item out separately with some good guidance documents. But when I went through them, Thank you very much for coming and for your continued support.

Bye-bye. The agreements do not specify a prohibition against single-use plastics. There's many instances where there's wills and shoulds rather than shalls, and if we want it to be a requirement, it has to be shalled. um for some of the food some of the events that have food it does not require composting of the food whether they do it themselves or they contract there's a lot of opportunity for improvement so in the city of orlando was one of the go-bys in terms of guidance they have checklists for event organizers for vendors Rather than going through each of those elements now, I would ask

Yeah, I would go through the three. I would go through the contracts and identify what you see. And again, to me, it was pretty simple. It relates to single-use plastics. It could be requirements for service wear items. It's also a best practice if somebody is going to host an event that they prepare a solid waste plan as part of their submittal. We don't want to add burden to the town administration. but for to be the steward to make sure that the right actions are in place. So for the next meeting, if you could go through the checklist, identify what you think is reasonable, and if this info

Oh, okay. I was just going to ask. We have two more, right? Item two. We're short two members. We're short two members.

We don't get to decide. That's a privilege of a commissioner.

So what we can all do individually, speak to Commissioner Cotto and is it Commissioner Velazquez who has an appointment? You can write to, you can speak to, let them know that the seats have been vacant for a long time, or that we're waiting for someone to be available, and it's adversely impacting our ability to... Like his photo said that he's fine with her being out, but... Well, we could maybe verbalize...

No problem. So moving on to the Sustainability and Resiliency Initiative, this is a table that you've all seen before. We don't have much time left, but there are some items that are listed as immediate priorities. We're already into the next fiscal year. The likelihood, especially with the current... The budget passed. The budget passed. But while there may have been resistance to hire the chief resilience officer in the past, I'm not sure that an acting interim town manager is going to want to carry this. We had invited him to this meeting. But we will be in this position nearly up for that.

As you know, we have changes in the Public Works Department, so I'll look into it so I can have something for you guys.

We've been talking about it for nine months. The other thing, here's an answer. Gigi has written many of the Sustainability Corner articles in the Gazette. She's not always available, but that is our platform. So looking for volunteers, it can be on any topic. We missed the opportunity to talk about America Recycles Day, which is on the 15th. This was last week. So it is an opportunity. It doesn't have to be long. As a matter of fact, you've probably seen them in the Gazette. It's a short blurb. When Gigi gets really enthusiastic and then much longer, it's available online and you can get the

Educational? Yeah, I think for last December we talked about be intentional about what you buy and what you dispose of and how you dispose of it. Who approves?

Send it to the clerk. Typically, I edit. But you can't send it directly to me. Right, right. Just in case something will come before us. So just send it to the clerk, and the clerk can distribute it.

I don't know if that has, if my question, I mean, I know we talked about hire the resiliency officer and obviously things on here.

There may not be a full-time town manager until after the election. So there was discussion at the last commission meeting about whether they're going to go on a national search or not. They now have a contract person. I don't know what the title is, acting or interim town manager. But it's month to month. And there was discussion. Are we really going to go out on a search when there may be a new commission in March? I didn't stick around long enough to know what the outcome of that discussion was. But it does create some challenges for any expenditures. At some point, I'd like to meet with the acting town manager. Yeah, he did receive this agenda package.

Okay. But think about, you know, look out over the horizon. As a committee member, what do you want to accomplish between now and next month? Yeah. So please come to the next meeting with the December meeting. Oh, this meeting. With your, yeah, our meeting. Proposed.

So, all right, so let's move to the walk and talk item. That's the next one. And just make, yeah, make a motion to. Okay. Yeah, to, I mean, through the town clerk, through the town manager, to confirm whether Parks and Recreation is going to coordinate a climate walk and talk.

So if you're okay with it, as part of the motion, that you will be this committee's liaison to whatever department ends up taking a lead with it.

You could have a new leadership, I think. Yes. Make a motion to, through the town clerk, through the town manager, To coordinate a climate walk and talk.

And you will serve as this committee liaison. And we're also looking for the support of Parks and Recreation and or the Tourism Department and the Youth Council.

No, no, that's, well, that's the motion. So it'll be. Okay, the motion is. It'll be conveyed to him. Okay. And then I would encourage you to follow up with him.

Through the motion, it'll be, if it's approved.

So this motion is second. All in favor? Aye. So, topic near and dear to your heart, legislative priorities. I don't know what the commission's schedule for this is. Do you still have lobbyists? I think so. But what I would suggest is that, well, let's go through the list and shout out any that we are specifically endorsing from sustainability and resilience. These are the legislative priorities from last year. So that's what was conveyed to our lobbyists. We did that. No, the commission. So we're at arm's length from the lobbyists. It's the commission. With Town Hall, it's the contract. They t

What number is it? Number 8. Well, we're dealing with that now. Tallahassee is preempted. We live in a world of home rule, or we used to. Tallahassee likes to create local governments for making decisions. They passed legislation last session that essentially would repeal any land use regulations after a date certain, I think it was August of last year, which is devastating because all the changes to our zoning code since that date will be rendered null and void.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know what votes were taken when, but anything after that date is certain. The only one that doesn't make sense to me is repealing SB 1526. I just don't know if it's still on the books.

As a matter of fact, typically they provide an end-of-session report to the town for the last legislative session. If you could share a copy of that with this committee, that would be helpful. Okay. I mean, everything else I think is still... pending. So basically it will be a motion to endorse carrying forward the same legislation related to sustainability and resiliency that were advanced last year. And if you have any new ones that you would like to add, now would be the time to share.

No, I mean, as you know, they're strategic. They're looking for the sponsors and the managers.

Why don't you make a motion to see if we can have a representative from our lobbying team and the town administration in our next meeting and let's discuss this. So bring any items that are not on the list and highlight those that are related to resiliency and sustainability and let's just move it forward to next month.

If you could get us the end of session report. You may have already provided it.

We are, we are, we're going to place this item on the agenda for our next meeting. And we are asking for a representative, the town manager, acting town manager, and a representative from the lobbying team, so that we can ask the questions. It's quite a list that we have. Is that too much?

That was their marching order for last year. So I presume that it was passed by the commission, and that became their priorities on behalf of Tech. Last item, which is an awesome one. If anybody is not aware...

Sorry. This is less awesome than if you brought up someone else. If anybody is not aware, the Reef Line is a... Very cool. Both an environmental and an artistic endeavor. There are cars, molded concrete cars, that are often... Not real cars. No, concrete cars with... passageways so fish are already there so they dropped them in the ocean maybe a month ago And the next installation will be not. So the cars were made by forming concrete. The next installation, it will be 3D printed, which has some distinct advantages because the material allows coral to adhere a little easier. And there's anothe

December. As soon as possible. Right, as soon as possible.

It would make our jobs easier, your job easier.

Just for your knowledge, we had one back in 2019 and 2020. And that person, and COVID sent in, that person was repurposed for COVID-related activities. wasn't a good fit for that person, and she left.

To discuss these? Yes. We have a motion to add the reverse vending machine. Yes, a motion to add the reverse vending machine.

So, I don't know if the wristbands are related to the chair service or just for guests. Because I know that they issued a wristband in both instances. Right.

I like a blue tattoo. I can't support that. You do you. Just like, chair. Chair.

Well, what I would suggest for that item is add it to our priorities.

Well, we do. It's not on the heart. So at the street end.

I mean, the advantage for the open-style containers is the county has a dedicated vehicle that collects those, the likelihood of them adding recycling to that, and it's really just another source for potential contamination. Yeah.

I'm going to go. Okay. What do you feel it's for? Yeah, but I mean, to me, that falls into the category of the town's recycling operations generally. It's just another feature, if you will.

The next meeting is December 18th at noon.