07-27-2016 Workshop Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Keis and Members of City Council FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator Heidi Heller, City Clerk Bill Dircks, Public Works Director DATE: July 8, 2016 RE: Discuss Participation in GreenStep Cities Program During fall 2007, Minnesota's Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) held regional listening sessions around the state to discuss community-based energy opportunities and the state's Next Generation Energy Act of 2007. The idea was raised of creating a sustainable cities program, free to cities, that would challenge, assist and recognize cities that were "green stars." This idea was taken up by the 2008 Legislature, which directed the MPCA, the Division of Energy Resources at the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and CERTs to recommend actions cities could take on a voluntary basis. Those recommendations are contained in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities report. Representatives from dozens of cities, non-profit organizations, businesses and state government agencies provided the outline for what has been developed as the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program, which began in June 2010. The City currently implements energy efficiency and “green” practices when possible and practical, and has done so for several years. Some examples of our “green” efforts include the following: • Using recycled asphalt instead of virgin class V for street projects. • Promotion of recycling through our organized collection program. • Making energy efficiency improvements in building projects dealing with lighting, HVAC, insulation, etc. • Reducing sand/salt usage for winter road maintenance without compromising safety. • Installation of rain water gardens on street reconstruction projects to treat storm water before it enters streams and lakes. • Regenerative air street sweeper to remove more solids from roadways to minimize pollution. City Staff has reviewed the criteria for participating in the GreenStep Cities Program. We feel it will take quite a bit of staff time to evaluate and track what the City has done so far from the program’s best practices list, and then adopt new policies and ensure that these are being followed, tracked and reported back to the program. The GreenStep Cities program is in place to simply provide guidelines and a challenge to cities to implement and practice sustainability. At this time, City Staff is suggesting not moving forward with participating in the GreenStep Cities Program, primarily due to the amount of staff time necessary in relation to the actual benefit to the City.