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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 01/22/2018Page 1 MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD Date: Monday, January 22, 2018 Location: Colorado River Room, 222 Laporte Ave. Time: 5:30–8:00pm For Reference Mark Houdashelt, Chair Ross Cunniff, Council Liaison 970-420-7398 Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison 970-416-2648 Board Members Present Board Members Absent Matt Tribby Arsineh Hecobian Chris Wood Jim Dennison Harry Edwards Mark Houdashelt, Chair Karen Artell Vara Vissa, Vice-Chair Greg Clark Staff Present Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison Guests None Call to order: 5:31 pm Public Comments None Approval of Minutes Harry moved and Mark seconded a motion to approve the December minutes as presented with edits. Motion passed, 5-0-1*. *Note that Greg Clark was not present for this vote. AGENDA ITEM 1: Introduction of New Members The AQAB has two new members in 2018. Brief introductions were provided by standing Board members and by AQAB’s newest members, Karen Artell and Matt Tribby. ● Cassie Archuleta is the City of Fort Collins staff Liaison for the Board; her role is to connect the AQAB to City staff, presenters and any other resources that would be beneficial to the success and productivity of the Board. She graduated from CSU with a Master’s Degree in Atmospheric Science and worked for a local consulting firm for over a decade as a project manager for various air quality monitoring projects; she is in her third year working with the City. Page 2 ● Harry Edwards is retired from CSU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he taught for several years. He has lived in Fort Collins for more than 50 years and served on both the Natural Resources Advisory Board and Air Quality Advisory Board in the past. ● Vara Vissa has a background in infectious diseases has researching respiratory infectious diseases at CSU for several years. As a global citizen, her primary interests are in sustainability issues. She has lived in Fort Collins for 25 years and holds the City’s proactive involvement in maintaining air quality and sustainability standards in high regard. ● Genevieve Lariviere, the Board’s recorder, has been compiling meeting minutes for the AQAB for about six months and works for an air quality monitoring company in Fort Collins. ● Mark Houdashelt, the current chair, grew up in Fort Collins before leaving to earn his PhD in Astronomy. He worked as astronomer for a decade, then became interested in climate change and worked for a NGO in Washington DC on climate change policy. He returned to Fort Collins a few years ago; this will be his fourth year serving on the AQAB. ● Karen Artell moved from Denver to Fort Collins four years ago. She has a background in women’s health and worked at CDPHE for 6 years before retiring. She has always had an interest in environmental activities and is excited to be a part of the AQAB. ● Chris Wood is currently serving his second term on the Board. He works as the Environmental Services Manager for Platte River Power Authority, where he is responsible for permitting and policy development related to electric generation and transmission operations. ● Greg Clark has a background in engineering and spent 25 years in the semiconductor and control systems business. He’s interested in gaining a better understanding of emissions and monitoring processes and standards. ● Matt Tribby moved to Fort Collins from Florida and has been here for three years. He is an air quality engineer for a consulting company in town, where he helps to advise clients on federal and state regulations. He enjoys living in Fort Collins and is interested in the unique air quality challenges faced by Front Range communities; he is excited to help the City achieve its goals. ● Mark explained that Jim Dennison, who is not present tonight, has been an AQAB member for a number of years and performs environmental testing of indoor air quality for a broad range of pollutants. ● Mark explained that Arsineh Hecobian, who is not present tonight, is a research scientist at CSU in the Department of Atmospheric Science. Her work includes the development of instrumentation to perform air pollution measurements of emission rates from oil and gas completion processes. AGENDA ITEM 2: Board Priorities for 2018 Mark Houdashelt, chair, led a discussion of the AQAB Work Plan for 2018, City Council’s current air quality priorities, and the major focus areas of the Board for 2018. Presentation Mark outlined the City Council’s Environmental Health Priorities, as identified during a May 2017 Council retreat, related to air quality and progress toward CAP goals. These included: ● Air Quality Issues: — bonfire pits — radon — the City’s ozone plan — the SIP regarding ozone — do more using technology (this priority is still somewhat ambiguous) — incorporation of emission reduction into city contracts Page 3  Continued Progress Towards CAP Goals: — acceleration of progress — steps toward carbon neutrality — steps toward net zero footprint  Continued Collaboration with Poudre River Power Authority and Fort Collins Utilities Mark also presented the AQAB’s work plan priorities for 2018, with emphasis on the following items: ● CAP - Mark discussed forming a subcommittee to specifically address progress toward CAP goals with Ross Cunniff. The AQAB would have to vote on the formation of such a committee. He also noted that progress toward goals may be expedited by incentivizing city contracts to award more points to businesses that strive for carbon neutrality or purchase offsets. ● Ozone - The board has prioritized the reduction of ozone with a focus on transportation improvements and increased use of electric lawn and garden equipment. ● Radon - The importance of this issue was advocated by the AQAB last year when a recommendation was made for Council to fund a budget offer for a study group that will work to clarify the issues around radon mitigation. The budget offer was accepted, so it’s likely that this will continue to come up in 2018; however, if the study cannot be completed in 2018, the Board will have to make an early decision as to whether or not to recommend that staff request more funds for 2019. ● BFO Offers - 2018 is a budget year, so it’s likely that the AQAB will have to rank/score numerous issues in order to make recommendations for this process. It may or may not be helpful to get recommendations in as early as possible; however, they can be updated if the Board’s opinion changes prior to finalization of the City budget. It is unclear what the precise impact that AQAB recommendations have on BFOs, but the Board should have a discussion on the most productive way to make recommendations, how much time to spend on them, and the best time to provide input to Council. ● Review of AQAB - Boards and Commissions are reviewed periodically, and the AQAB is scheduled for review in May of this year. Members will complete the review, which focuses on the effectiveness of the Board, Members’ perceived relationship with City Council, and suggestions for improvements; Ross will then discuss the results with Members. Mark will try to get opinions of past Board members to compile a well-rounded review. ● Outdoor Burning - The Board has concluded that it does not currently have enough information to make strong recommendations on this issue. Staff will arrange for an educational presentation (primarily concerned with wood-burning fire pits), as this is a priority for Council. In addition to these priorities, it is likely that the following issues will also require consideration by the AQAB in 2018: ● other outdoor air quality issues centered around transportation and fugitive dust ● haze ● other indoor air quality issues relating to asbestos mitigation and the Healthy Homes initiative ● Transportation Air Quality Impact Guidance Manual ● the City’s Air Quality Plan ● communication with other boards ● other county, regional, state, national air quality issues Page 4 Discussion ● Board members expressed that they would like to spend more time on action items than administrative matters in 2018. ● Members also held a brief discussion about the budget offer process as it relates to the Board. Each budget is framed by a Strategic Plan item and presented in a few pages; approximately 60 budget offers out of the master list were presented to the Board in 2016, based on offers related to AQ/GHG/Climate. For the 2017-2018 BFO process, Mark read each offer and summarized for the Board, who then ranked them and sent their top ten priorities to Council. These recommendations changed throughout the year, as more information on topics such as greenhouse gases and Council’s priorities became available. In general, it was agreed upon that the format of the guidance materials provided was confusing and that ranking was difficult due to the fact that most items were either interconnected or incomparable with regards to their scopes/budgets. AGENDA ITEM 3: TBL Multi-Board Meeting Proposal Ted Settle and Sam Solt from the Economic Advisory Commission discussed a proposal to bring together members of a selected number of Boards and Commissions twice in 2018 to test the utility of engaging multiple boards for issues of mutual interest, such as the Triple Bottom Line (i.e., social, economic and environmental) process. The Board discussed this proposal and may appoint a representative for these meetings. Presentation ● Ted explained that this proposal came from a desire to be more effective in making recommendations to Council. The primary motivation behind joining forces was the sentiment that boards and commissions do not have enough time for meaningful discussion and analysis of key issues before being prompted to provide a recommendation. He believes that meeting twice a year for an extended period of time to focus on a particular issue will allow for more thorough analysis of issues and, as a result, more effective recommendations will be made. If the AQAB were to choose to participate, they would appoint a coordinator to manage the details leading up to the meeting; however, the entire Board would be invited to the twice annual meetings (with an option for this meeting to take the place of their usual monthly meeting). He performed a poll of AQAB Members to gauge their interest in such collaboration. There was some agreement that this could be an effective means of collaborating, but more discussion is required. ● Ted also noted that the Council has asked the Futures Committee to address the potential reorganization of the current Boards and Commissions structures. He would like to know if any AQAB members would like to participate in the discussion about the proposed collaborative meetings at the Futures Committee talk. Discussion ● Matt inquired if the ultimate goal of the two meetings would be to make a formalized recommendation at each one. — Ted responded affirmatively, stating that this format would hopefully allow for more time to hear from an expert, discuss an issue, and make an informed recommendation. ● Vara asked whether or not the Board would have the opportunity to prepare for the meetings ahead of time by addressing the issues that would be discussed and forming preliminary opinions. Matt seconded this by noting that since these Boards aren’t necessarily comfortable making quick decisions, it would be efficient for individual Boards to develop a general stance prior to a collaborative meeting. Mark also noted that since the TBL is such a complicated issue, it would be prudent to prepare questions about the topic ahead of time. — Ted and Sam both agreed that preparation would be beneficial and that they would hand out materials ahead of time to facilitate this. Ideally, the steering committee would meet ahead of time to help coordinate all of this with the AQAB’s designated liaison. ● Mark asked if Council would find a collaborative recommendation more helpful than one from a single Board. Page 5 — Ted responded that they hope that it will have a weighted effect, but he is not certain at this point. ● Harry noted that such collaborations have been successful in the past. For example, the Climate Action Committee was formed when the City brought together a group of citizens, staff members and consultants to clarify the goals of the Climate Action Plan. Several Boards came together to discuss goals and were able to make valuable recommendations. Harry participated as a member of the NRAB and was able to relay info back to his Board, obtain feedback from them and bring it back to the collaborative board. He noted that, if properly managed, a big group can provide useful insight into what people are thinking and feed it into the board level experience. ● Vara noted the lack of clarity that surrounds the process of assessing TBL at the City and Board level and expressed interest in a more in-depth discussion where each Board could address the components of the TBL that relate specifically to them and then come together for a well-rounded discussion. AGENDA ITEM 4: Annual Report Mark Houdashelt, chair, lead a discussion regarding finalization of the Board’s 2017 annual report, due 1/31/18. ● Mark made a few changes to annual report since last month, which includes clarifications and the addition of missing information (attendance dates, job descriptions, etc.). A few methane-related items were removed from the CAP section because they didn’t pertain to the CAP. The Board discussed formatting, and the possibility of cutting down the report, adding a table of contents and executive summary to make it more readable. It was decided to present it as is, since this is the format that was presented to Council last year. ● Mark stated that he would request feedback from Ross as to which sections are the most helpful, and why, and what changes in format would be most beneficial. Staff Follow Up: Cassie will submit the final version of Board’s Annual Report. Harry moved and Greg seconded a motion to pass the Board’s Annual Report as amended by Mark. Motion passed, 7-0-0. Board Updates ● The Fort Collins Climate Action Program, in partnership with the CSU Center for Public Deliberation, is conducting a survey related to CAP. Its purpose is to gather information on public opinion on climate change and determine people’s willingness to take steps toward efficiency and sustainability (for example, not driving for one day per week, installing LEDs, composting, etc.). Two participants will receive a $50 Amazon gift card, and a random sample of survey participants will be invited to attend the Elevate Climate Action Event on 2/8/18. Mark offered to send a link to those who are interested. ● The EV Enthusiasts Group leader is leaving, and Mark is considering taking on that role, although he is unsure how it will affect his AQAB work. He plans to meet with City staff to discuss Fort Collins’ EV Readiness Roadmap before deciding on his interest in the position. ● Greg attended the COGCC Flowline rulemaking session on 1/8/18 which focused on the particular interests of the attending cities. The COGCC has taken steps to enable communities to plan and initiate their own monitoring activities to suit their own individual needs. ● Common Good Compost, LLC, in Greeley, is a residential food and waste recycling service providing service to the Greeley, Fort Collins and Windsor area. Waste is collected once a week at a rate of $15 per month, which includes compostable bags. Customers have the option to receive compost in return once a year. ● Vara has attended several large events over the past few months, one at Fossil Ridge High School at which Page 6 disposable water bottles were present; however, there were no apparent receptacles to recycle the bottles and most were thrown in a common garbage bin. She believes outreach to children and educators is imperative and inquired whether or not it would be possible for the City to implement an ordinance for large events and event centers to require them to recycle. ● Vara recently attended a workshop hosted by Solar Energy International for rooftop installation of solar equipment where she met the Chair of the Energy Board, Nick Mitchell. He expressed interest in connecting with the AQAB, especially with regards to its work on radon mitigation as he is concerned about the amount of energy basement fans use. ● Vara would like to initiate efforts to promote anti-idling in Fort Collins schools. She would like to work with Selina Lujan to help organize citizen volunteers to aid in this effort. ● The Neighborhood Connections Program provides educational opportunities for community members in theart of open communication and mindful neighboring. Vara signed up for the Winter series, scheduled for 1/27/18 and 2/03/18 .The next meeting will focus on development review and the City Plan; it will be held on 2/22/18 at Aztlan Community Center from 6-8pm. ● Harry noted that citizens received an insert regarding CAP in their most recent utility bill; it outlines key accomplishments and educational opportunities for the community. Staff Updates AQAB Issue Index ● Cassie discussed the origins of the issue index that has helped to guide the focus of the AQAB. The index tool has proven useful for connecting the Board with relevant resources and presenters. The issues presented on the index are from 2017; she has asked members to review this index and prioritize the issues for the upcoming year. Board members should keep in mind that they are free to modify this index as they see fit (including the addition of new issues). She would like it to act as a long term planner, rather than strict guidance. — Board members requested that a second prioritization column be added so that people can rate issues on a personal level and a Board priority level. Members that wish to be designated as an AQAB coordinator for a topic should let Mark and Cassie know so that the index can be updated. Mark also noted that if people do not feel that they personally know enough about an issue listed to let him know and he’ll be happy to discuss it with them individually. Staff Follow Up: Cassie will add a second ranking column to the issue index and email it to members. COGCC ● Cassie noted that a City representative attended the most recent COGCC rulemaking session to request more transparency and better access to information, including the mapping of flowlines. In addition, staff has met with City staff from Longmont to gain a better understanding of their plugged and abandoned wells program and to determine if a similar program might be possible in Fort Collins; she and other staff may try to include this in the next round of BFO offers. ● Outdoor burning and radon are prominent topics in upcoming Council work sessions. The AQAB will need to inform Council of how it plans to address these issues. Meeting Adjourned: 8:13 pm Next Meeting: February 26, 2017 ______________________________ Signed by Chair