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09-17-2008 ECC MIN MEETING OF THE ELK RIVER ENERGY CITY COMMISSION HELD AT ELK RIVER CITY HALL UPPERTOWN CONFERENCE ROOM WEDNESDAY, September 17,2008 Members Present: Vance Zehringer,Mayor Stephanie Klinzing, John Setala, Ed Stoutenburg IV, Ron Touchette, Bryan Adams, Denny Chuba, and Susie Overholser Members Absent: Stephen Rohlf, Todd Berreman, and Maureen Griffiths for Deb Walters Staff Present: Rebecca Haug, Environmental Administrator Nicola(Vicki) Blake-Bradley, Environmental Technician Jeff Gongoll, Community Development Director Others Present: Bruce Sayler, Connexus Energy The regular meeting off" c1t Commission was called er ICY-ajar Zehringer at 1:33 p.m. Chair Zehring , elcorrd,a possible new member, Bruce Sayler(from Connexus Energy). Bruce has sub - °d an‘s, cation which will be discusse4 at the October 6, 2008 City Council meeting. ;44 „25, 1. Approve September,17,2 . ECC Agenda Environmental AdmitOratorbaug added one item to the agen ':regarding Home Depot. Commissioner Overh ser adde an update concerning Little Pile, Big World Chair Zehringer added an C tereg. • gfluorescent bulb recycle ; d Commissioner Touchette added a question regarding the YMCA. 2. Consider August 20,2008 ECC Minutes Several changes were requested of the minutes regarding photovoltaics. Chair Zehringer made several corrections, changing the payback period mentioned earlier to 25 —40 years (rather than 5— 7) and added information regarding State rebate programs. MOTION BY COMMISSIONER TOUCHETTE AND SECOND BY COMMISSIONER ADAMS TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED. ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED. 3. "Project Conserve” Update Environmental Administrator Haug gave an update that the subcommittee met on Tuesday, and then she attended the Utilities Commission meeting to request some funds. The Commission decided to cover half of Chair Zehringer's time for blower door tests and funds for incentives to the families involved in the Project. Environmental Administrator Haug also • requested funds from the City Council and obtained approval for the other half of Chair Zehringer's time and promotional materials for the residents. Energy City Commission Minutes Page 2 September 17,2008 Environmental Administrator Haug has been asked to present on Project Conserve to the III Rotary Club. Mayor Klinzing stated that the City Council's support of funding shows their excitement for the Project. Chair Zehringer stated that Commissioner Berreman has been attending some meetings within the southern suburbs where the Cities are discussing conducting projects similar to Project Conserve. With this in mind, Chair Zehringer would like to set a timeline and begin with the participants who are chosen by the end of October. A Mayor's meeting will be held on October 2, 2008 in the southern suburbs. Environmental Administrator Haug and Mayor Klinzing both expressed interest in attending the meeting to determine whether Project Conserve is in conflict with their efforts or not. The cities involved include Lakeville, Shakopee, Eagen, and Woodbury. Chair Zehringer stated that the full number of desired participants has not been reached, although there are 22 applicants currently. A utility bill stuffer will go out with an October 10, 2008 deadline for application for the program. Most of the City Council has expressed interest. Chair Zehringer stated that although the city water customer requirement has been removed, it would be beneficial to have 50% of the participants on City water for historical data. The applications will be discussed at the next subcommittee meeting on October 15th at 17 "4 .i � to determine the number of participa�.s (which will depend upon `�"' �a �;��< ,®ere the ,how many people are in the he hold, and what they have for i. util ). C air Zehrm handed out a summary sheet eg ' g what has been done to date ideas ti.moving fe 4'. d with the program, inclun "yin s with the participants and P e p g g p p 6',, s Sri erly media updates, etc. Coxun user Setala suggested putting the $ sletter i k ation on the website as will as sent g to the residents. y ..w 'Feting for the residents will be field on Oct eara2lsc and 23rd (in case some;`,-ogle can't make the first meeting). Regarding water conservation, Commissioner Setala suggested partnering with Prairie Restorations to create less turf areas which would reduce the need to be water. Commissioner Adams discussed a handout that he presented to the commission regarding peak energy usage (around 6:00 p.m. each day). He commented that the largest increases were related to air conditioning usage. A question of whether programmable thermostats would make a difference, Commissioner Adams felt they would help but there'd likely still be the surge in usage in the evening. Commissioner Overholser commented that she found a site on the internet called "10% Challenge" and gave some information to Chair Zehringer from the website that she'd printed off. 4. 2009 Energy Expo Discussion The City Council approved moving forward with the 2009 Energy Expo with a$5,000 reduction in the budget. Environmental Administrator Haug stated that the City will most III likely forego using Wolf Marketing for the project,hoping that most work will be able to be covered in house. Planning most likely needs to start now or very soon so the Commission was asked for volunteers to sit on the planning subcommittee. Chair Zehringer and Energy City Commission Minutes Page 3 September 17,2008 III Commissioner Setala expressed interest. Commissioner Touchette may be interested. Environmental Administrator Haug will send out an e-mail to the other commissioners to determine whether they are interested in participating on the subcommittee. Mayor Klinzing questioned whether the YMCA could be the location since the County's Legacy Grant paid $2 million dollars for recycled materials in the building. Chair Zehringer stated that the YMCA's downside is that it's not LEED Certified. Another potential roadblock is the amount of space that would be necessary and difficulty working around for YMCA customers/classes, etc. 5. Energy House IV Discussion Commissioner Chuba has not done a lot regarding Energy House IV due to the economic market. He stated that Energy House III is on the real estate market for$375,000 (approximately $125,000 below what it would cost to replicate). He expressed a concern that more research needs to be done first. Chair Zehringer questioned whether it would be possible to retrofit a foreclosed home. Commissioner Touchette suggested contacting a local banking institution and ask for permission to retrofit with the condition that the house be used for a time (as a demonstration site). Concerns fraiii,445 ,ssion included location and use c tr i i oner Touchette stated that currently li owS a.house on a large lot which right fit the parameters. Community Developn t Dire a:r Gongoll suggested calling it",Energy House Makeover" 4110 instead of just Energyr ouse g mss ; 6. New Photovoltaic Demon I ation Site The Raymond resider on fi �Mississippi River is a new dem± tration site for photovoltaic (PV) systems. Mr Ramond std that he's willing to do tours end be a demonstration site as long as he's given 94i ed wa , His non-tracking system;woduces 4.68 kW (4,680 watts)at an installation cost of approximately$10/watt. He has qualified for approximately $16,530.00 in rebates. A comment was made that most work being done with PV systems is being done commercially. Innovative Power Systems installed the system for Mr. Raymond. Mayor Klinzing suggested having someone from the company come to speak to the ECC at a future meeting. 7. MN Green Star Cities Discussion Chair Zehringer requested the item be removed from the agenda since he was not prepared to speak about it at this time. 8. Landform Engineering Update Chair Zehringer, Community Development Director Gongoll, and Environmental Administrator Haug met with this firm. The firm consults on sustainable development, ordinances, LEED certification, etc. Chair Zehringer stated that the company would like to be involved with Energy City in some way (perhaps regarding land use). 0 9. GRE Loan Program Energy City Commission Minutes Page 4 September 17,2008 Energy City does not qualify for the program because Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) 11111 is not a cooperative so there is no way for the ECC to be able to leverage the funds. A comment was made that Connexus Energy is a coop. 10. Other Mayor Klinzing commented that a company approached the City regarding being able to retrofit current vehicles in the fleet to be able to be dual fuel (E85). This would only work for newer vehicles that have fuel injection. The company is already located in Elk River, but they'd like to be a partner. A representative will be asked to speak at a future meeting. Chair Zehringer reminded the commission that GRE has brokered a deal with Menard's to collect compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)throughout the State. Menard's supposedly only accepts three sizes of CFLs. He added that ERMU has extended a similar offer to other stores in Elk River and Walmart has agreed to partner with the utility for the same service. ERMU will accept(through Walmart) all bulbs up to 4' in length from residents only. Ad slicks will be going up next week. A maximum of 6 bulbs per visit will be allowed. With this in mind,the City may no longer have to collect fluorescent light bulbs during clean up events. Environmental AdmiOrd ;Haug was approached by a Hori ' loyee concerning an energy event the s� will b holding on the weekend of O i er 25 6. The employee was wondering if En �y City Id like to have a display at the.Store. This would be a very passive display, simil `to w js done during the Business Ex%but the display would not be 410 manned. The general V t f f the commission was that if the st a iTp fering an opportunity, the commission shout i of s it up. If any commissioners haMtems they would like to have displayed at the oth, ey should give the materials to ° onmental Administrator Haug or Environmen Technan Blake-Bradley. MOTION BY MAYOR KLINZINU-%AND SECOND BY COMMISSIONER ADAMS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HOME DEPOT ENERGY EVENT WITH A DISPLAY.ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED. Commissioner Overholser gave an update of the new manufacturing facility ECONAR is building as well as the "Little People, Big World" episodes that will be aired in which a geothermal system was installed. ECONAR will be featured in the second episode on October 20th on The Learning Channel (TLC). Four total expisodes will feature ECONAR. ECONAR is also participating in an Extreme Makeover program in Minnesota by donating a heat pump system. Commissioner Touchette commented that the YMCA would like to light the flag pole at their facility and would like to use photovoltaics. He questioned whether the commission had any thoughts regarding the situation. Commissioner Overholser suggested contacting a company to see if they would do a demonstration. Chair Zehringer commented that there are substantial rebates available for photovoltaic installations. Over half of the money allocated is still available. The program has been active since the beginning of the year. Energy City Commission Minutes Page 5 September 17,2008 410 Commissioner Stoutenburg has resigned his position at Resource Recovery Technologies (RRT) and therefore has resigned his position with the Energy City Commission(ECC). Commissioner Stoutenburg has been a part of the ECC since its inception(as well as when it was known as ACE). He stated that he has enjoyed being part of the ECC and hopes that RRT will continue to be a partner, although he was uncertain of their thoughts on the subject. Commissioner Stoutenburg added that he hopes to be able to continue being part of Energy City through the Project Conserve program. The commission thanked him for his service and expressed regrets at seeing him leave because his presence will certainly be missed. 11. Schedule Next ECC Meeting and Identify Agenda Items The next ECC meeting will be held at Elk River City Hall on Wednesday October 15,2008 at 1:30 p.m. in the Uppertown Conference Room. Agenda items will include standard agenda and minutes, Project Conserve, 2009 Energy Expo, Energy House Makeover Discussion, and the Zenn Vehicles. The Project Conserve Subcommittee meeting will be held on October 15, 2008:t71::::::::p . in the Uppertown Conference Room. 12 ourrnent A ;the meeti` » , as adjourned at 2:53pm E fill PV: ,,,,,04 Re « ° tfuly subnt ed by i r Nioti Blake-Br , il r ill