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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 01/09/2020ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING January 9, 2020 – 5:30 pm 222 Laporte Ave.; Colorado Room ENERGY BOARD MEETING |01/09/2020 ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Chairperson Amanda Shores, Vice Chairperson Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Dan Gould, Alan Braslau, Councilperson Ross Cunniff Board Members Absent: John Fassler OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: Christie Fredrickson, John Phelan, Cyril Vidergar, Tim McCollough, Elizabeth Blythe, Platte River Power Authority: Paul Davis Members of the Public: Rick Coen, Roen MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Shores called the meeting to order at 5:40 pm PUBLIC COMMENT Roen with International Scout Troop 195 asked the Board what issues they are most challenged with and what can citizens do to improve or help? Chairperson Shores said the Energy Board is heavily focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the transportation arena. Board member Braslau added energy transmission in general, as well community engagement. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the December 12, 2019 minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES Elizabeth Blythe is the new Public Engagement Coordinator for Boards and Commissions in the City Clerk’s Office; she filled position vacated by Christine Macrina. APPROVE 2019 ANNUAL REPORT Ahead of tonight’s meeting, Energy Board members submitted comments and changes to the last proposed draft of their 2019 Annual Report. Chairperson Shores added the updates and presented the final copy to the Board. Board member Becker moved to approve the 2019 Energy Board Annual Report. Board member Gould seconded the motion. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously, 5-0, with one absent. 2020 PLANNING CALENDAR ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 01/09/2020 Mr. Phelan said 2020 is a budget planning year, the process is known as BFO, or Budgeting for Outcomes. Staff will need to have their proposed offers turned in by mid-April, and then the offers will move to individual outcome area review teams. Utilities proposals fall into Safe Community and Environmental Health outcome teams. The Budget Lead Team (the Executive Lead Team convened as the BLT) will review the final proposals in June and put together a recommended budget for City Council. Council typically approves the budget in September. Mr. Phelan suggested the Board spend a fair amount of time on budget topics in March. Metro Districts were discussed at Council in the last two meetings, and Mr. Phelan said it remains unclear what the next steps will be. Because of that he is unsure when the best time to have additional discussions regarding metro districts. Chairperson Shores said it may be helpful to utilize a work session to conduct additional research around metro districts in general, what works and what doesn’t work in other communities. Chairperson Shores said she expects her last meeting to be May 14. Mr. Vidergar said the Board can hold officer elections whenever there is a change to the existing Chair and Vice Chair positions (such as a vacancy, etc.). Mr. Phelan reviewed the remaining topics on the planning calendar for the rest of the year, understanding that the calendar is a guideline and things will shift based on need and timeliness. He asked if there were any other large topics the Board would like to see in 2020. Board members expressed interest in a progress update from Connexion. Board member Becker asked what overarching issues other utilities (nationwide) are dealing with, such as wildfires, prosumers, distributed energy, cyber security, etc. He said it would be good to touch on these large-scale topics once a year. Next month the Our Climate Future team will be back with an update, as well as a Time of Day one-year results. REIMAGINING THE ENERGY BOARD Councilperson Cunniff said Council is not looking to scrap the Boards & Commissions as they exist today and starting a completely different structure, but they want to increase the ability of people to participate and more closely align with the diversity of the City’s population. Council passed an ordinance to appoint interim one-year terms to fill the board seats back up; they want the boards to operate effectively while Council puts together their vision for the future. Mr. Phelan said the Board receives a lot of informational presentations, and though there is a lot of interest, he wondered where Mr. Cunniff sees the most value in the Board’s day to day operations. Councilperson Cunniff said he would like the Energy Board to be focused on policy because the purpose of the Board is to give policy recommendations to City Council. If any of the informational content helps the Board form policy recommendations, then he is also supportive of those topics. Chairperson Shores said as a female, she found coming to the board a bit intimidating at first. When she tried to recruit additional women to apply, she received feedback that it seemed the Energy Board is too challenging to be a part of due to the content discussed, and it and would require a lot of background research to feel comfortable enough to take on a position like that. She said it would be helpful to frame the Board application with the note that training will be provided, and that it might be beneficial to appoint someone who doesn’t have a nuanced background in the specific Board’s arena. Councilperson Cunniff said that is very insightful and he agrees because he is (specifically) looking for a resident’s perspective ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 01/09/2020 on policy questions, not necessarily an expert’s opinion. Chairperson Shores also said the application itself looks dull and wondered if there was a way to spruce up the advertising for Boards and Commission vacancies to make it look more appealing to someone who may not be as engaged in their local government. Mr. Phelan said the City’s code section on the Energy Board says, “the duties and function of the Energy Board shall to be to advise City Council and Staff regarding the development and implementation of the City’s Energy Policy.” He is wondering about the “and Staff” piece of the code language, as the Board’s practice has not been to advise or direct staff. Ms. Blythe said it is already planned to be reviewed by legal staff soon. Councilperson Cunniff added there is some outdated language in City Code that is still reflective of the old Electric Board. Board member Braslau said many Boards discuss the same issues that overlap, such as the Transportation, Natural Resources, and Energy Boards. Can there be a stronger cross-functional relationship between Boards? Councilperson Cunniff agreed that there is some overlap and said Council has been brainstorming ideas to try to accommodate that, such as more frequent Super Issues meetings. Chairperson Shores said it’s important to make Boards and Commissions accessible for everyone, including low-income volunteers. From a low-income perspective, Board volunteer hours are potentially missed working hours, so she wondered if it is possible to offer (pre-qualified) vouchers for transportation, childcare, or groceries? Board members also suggested a flexible meeting schedule or the option for video conferencing. Board member Becker asked Chairperson Shores why she chose to apply to the Energy Board. She said her background is in oil and gas and she thought her research work would intersect well with energy topics, but she said she’s found they don’t align very often. Ms. Blythe said the upcoming Super Issues meeting is very important because all existing Boards & Commissions members will have a chance to give feedback on the future of Boards and Commissions. She added that going forward Super Issues meetings will be held quarterly so there will be plenty of advance notification. Chairperson Shores said it would be helpful to create a process for onboarding new Board members. She wants to make sure all new members feel welcome and comfortable right away. Board member Gould echoed Ms. Shores sentiment, he said it would be so helpful to reiterate how the Board functions before and after a meeting. Board members all agreed it would also be helpful to create a glossary of City abbreviations and acronyms for things such as CAP, OCF, BFO, etc. It would also be helpful to move the Monthly Metrics Dashboard to the end of the meeting packet (as opposed to the beginning). Board members wondered if it would be possible to assign volunteers .fcogv email addresses, because it would help volunteers keep their inboxes cleaner and easier to see Board-specific items. Mr. Phelan added that could also provide an opportunity to use OneDrive as opposed to SharePoint. Chairperson Shores noted that would be helpful because not everyone has access to Microsoft Office programs like Word, and that would allow users to edit or contribute through the online app as opposed to the licensed program. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Board Member Gould attended the Council Work Session to hear the metro districts discussion. He said it ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING ENERGY BOARD MEETING | 01/09/2020 was disappointing that energy efficiency and the built environment did not come up. He suggested if the direction doesn’t seem to shift, that the Board develop some ideas for Council. Mr. Phelan clarified at the work session, staff was specifically seeking feedback regarding the types of metro district structures, a process as opposed to content or goals of the districts (at this time). ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 7:49 pm.