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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD - MINUTES - 06/16/20251 6/16/2025 - Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Monday, June 16, 2025 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:37 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Dan Welsh (Chair) • Mark Houdashelt (Vice Chair) • Michael Johnson • Adam Schmidt • Howard Gebhart • Matt Ayres b. Board Members Absent – • Michael Cheeseman • Christina Swope • Maria Moore c. Staff Members Present – • Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer d. Guest(s) – • Nancy Wendla nd 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – SPECIAL MEETING AND MAY 2025 Members discussed changes to the minutes. Schmidt made a motion, seconded by Gebhart, to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting meeting as amended. Yeas: Welsh, Johnson, Schmidt, Ayres, Gebhart. Nays: none. Abstain: Houdashelt. THE MOTION CARRIED. Gebhart made a motion, seconded by Schmidt, to approve the minutes of the May 2025 meeting as amended. Yeas: Welsh, Johnson, Schmidt. Nays: none. Abstain: Gebhart and Houdashelt. THE MOTION CARRIED. 2 6/16/2025 - Minutes 6. PREVIOUS BUSINESS Chair Welsh stated the AQ-MAC has split into two factions, one being the outreach and education committee and the other being the technical committee, which has not met in almost a month, but was going to meet in April to discuss an analysis method of positive matrix factorization. He noted the education and outreach committee has not had many formal meetings but did have a table at EcoFest on Saturday, June 14th, and will also have a table at the Juneteenth event. Chair Welsh noted there was a new CDPHE ozone monitor installed at Mehaffey Park in Loveland, bringing the total number to five in Larimer County. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Elections Chair Welsh stated he is happy to remain Chair. Gebhart made a motion, seconded by Houdashelt, to appoint Welsh as Chair. Yeas: Welsh, Houdashelt, Ayres, Johnson, Gebhart, and Schmidt. Nays: none. THE MOTION CARRIED. Chair Welsh noted Houdashelt does not want to continue as Vice Chair and stated he gleaned minor interest from Cheeseman after the last meeting. Vice Chair Houdashelt stated he could remain as Interim Vice Chair until more members are present. b. Air Quality Measures for OMAPs Reporting Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer, summarized the discussion that occurred last month, including an orientation related to the evolution of how the City sets and monitors goals. He stated it has been a challenge to have an appropriate set of metrics and measures around how the City is performing in improving and understanding air quality. He noted the Board discussed the Strategic Plan and the ENV 1 strategic objective to implement the Our Climate Future Plan to advance the City’s greenhouse ga s, energy, and waste goals, reduce air pollution, and improve community resilience. Castillo noted there are few tactical activities behind the objective and stated staff would like the Board’s help in thinking through what measures could be used to signal to the community that the City is taking air quality seriously, is trying to measure its performance around air quality, is tracking the City’s performance as an organization, and is working to improve air quality. Chair Welsh asked about the color status indicators on the document outlining air quality related ENV objectives. Lujan de Albers replied red indicates ‘not on track,’ yellow indicates 'not expected to be all the way there,’ grey indicates 'not applicable.’ Members commented on the importance of the context of numbers and the results of testing. 3 6/16/2025 - Minutes Lujan de Albers noted many of the statistics are for the City’s purposes in terms of knowing it is on the right track; they are not all intended to be community-facing. She further detailed some of the radon issues in Fort Collins. Members commented on a valuable metric being how many homes are at a critical level for radon year by year to help show progress from the testing and mitigation efforts. Castillo suggested a metric goal could be increased percent usage of radon tests that are distributed in addition to what percentage of people were given the resources for mitigation when testing showed that was necessary. He also commented on the rental registration program being a way to glean information in terms of whether property owners follow recommendations, and if so, to what degree. Chair Welsh stated the rental registration process included a checklist for self - certification of safety items being present; however, there was no information about radon. Lujan de Albers noted there is no radon testing requirement for landlords, though there is a State law requiring landlords to disclos e radon test results if they have been performed. Vice Chair Houdashelt stated that law almost discourages testing as mitigation c ould be requested by potential tenants with a positive result. Chair Welsh asked if there are resources or support for mitigation. Lujan de Albers replied in the affirmative, and noted those include the low -income radon mitigation assistance program through CDPHE and rebates through the EPIC Homes program. She stated staff has considered the possibility of using some of the 2050 tax dollars that Healthy Homes has received to assist with mitigation efforts. Members discussed carbon monoxide and particulate matter as being other important indoor air quality concerns. Johnson stated there is a proposed framework that he saw presented at a conference related to ways to be quantitative about measuring indoor air quality in public spaces. Vice Chair Houdashelt asked if the Healthy Homes program does anything around general cleanliness or pet dander. Lujan de Albers replied they educate around those kinds of things. She added that there are no standards in terms of indoor air quality which makes it difficult to regulate. Vice Chair Houdashelt asked about the surveying done with the Healthy Homes program. Lujan de Albers replied there are pre - and post-surveys about health and indoor air environment. She stated those surveys have shown overall improvement in home health. Castillo commented on the importance of showing output measures as well as outcome measures. Gebhart stated it might be discovered that things that promote an outcome are not occurring, in which case, resources should be placed elsewhere. 4 6/16/2025 - Minutes Members also commented on the importance of context, scale, and trends. Vice Chair Houdashelt asked if the radon tests are distributed in a targeted fashion. Lujan de Albers replied the for- sale test kits are part of general education efforts and the kits distributed as part of a Healthy Homes assessment are more specifically targeted. She stated there is a focus on who the kits get delivered to based on grant commitments as well. Castillo requested input on outdoor air quality issues. Chair Welsh stated he appreciates that air quality index (AQI) has a place on the Organizational Measures, Analysis, and Performance (OMAPs) chart; however, he noted AQI is a difficult measurement. Castillo stated AQI is important to know, though it may not be something that can be materially influenced in a measurable timeframe and at the City organizational scale. Chair Welsh concurred that AQI numbers are due to many factors beyond the control of the City of Fort Collins. He commented on the importance of education around the numeric scale, how it differs with each pollutant represented by the AQI, the most common pollutants, and how to check the AQI. A member noted there should be data on how many times the AQI index on the City’s website has been checked by community members, which could be a valuable data point. Castillo commented on the importance of ensuring City colleagues monitor the AQI for recreation activities. Chair Welsh suggested adding some form of education and outreach to the OMAP measures in terms of informing the public about the AQI and counting the number of engagements at events as a metric. Gebhart commented on the importance of training people how to use and interpret the AQI tool if they are going to be pointed to it. Chair Welsh reiterated the importance of the availability of context when providing metrics. Ayres commented on the fact that most people would prefer to see a color severity chart rather than numbers. He suggested the website should include a dial that could be clicked on for additional information. Gebhart suggested there could also be a list of actions to take if ozone is high, for example. Chair Welsh noted there is an average time component to data that is reported which can be misleading. Members commented on transit use being a number that is tracked related to air quality. Members discussed the emission inventory and its calculation. Gebhart suggested an inventory could be conducted with more than just greenhouse gasses that would provide broader information. 5 6/16/2025 - Minutes Castillo asked if it would be beneficial to track the number of EV chargers and usage in terms of air quality. It was noted that there is a benefit in the vehicles not producing pollution; however, if the electricity provider is producing pollution, that becomes a problem. Chair Welsh noted the City’s conversion of gas to electric lawn equipment is a quantitative assessment of moving toward a cleaner operation standard. Gebhart commented on looking at trends for the City -controlled emissions sources such as vehicle miles travelled by the City’s Streets equipment and other vehicles. Castillo suggested he return in a month or two with information as to what metrics were changed and what is being tracked. He noted that could potentially inform strategy and policy. Vice Chair Houdashelt commented on having never seen information regarding the impact of any specific City program, such as Shift Your Ride for example, on greenhouse gas emissions. Castillo commented on the importance of the City organization doing a better job of measuring efficacy of various program investments, particularly as tax revenues have not increased as predicted, meaning there must be full accountability to Council and the public for all expenditures. He thanked Board members for their discussions and for sharing their expertise. Chair Welsh thanked Castillo for seeking input from the Board and members commended the conversation. Chair Welsh suggested he would like the Board to do some of its own work on structuring its Work Plan in an OMAP fashion. Lujan de Albers suggested that it could be used as a tool to check progress throughout the year. 8. OTHER BUSINESS a. Board Member Reports Gebhart noted he will be staffing a table at Saturday’s Juneteenth event. Vice Chair Houdashelt noted there is a Super Issues meeting on the Hughes Stadium site on Monday. He also noted Tricia Canonico is running for Mayor and will be having an environmental listening session Tuesday at Twin Silos Park. b. Six Month Calendar Review c. Revisit Action Items from Previous Meetings and Preview of Next Meeting Lujan de Albers noted there are plans for Our Climate Future staff to attend the next meeting to discuss the refresh of the Plan and its strategic funding plan. She stated the plan was to have a conversation about Building Energy Code in August; however, there is going to be an all-day air quality forum on the scheduled date of that meeting. She asked members if they would like to 6 6/16/2025 - Minutes change the August meeting date to allow members to attend the forum. Castillo outlined other items staff would like the Board to discuss in the next few months. 9. ADJOURNMENT ● 8:11 pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on 7/21/2025