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SC 05-18-2017CITY OF CUPERTINO SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION Environmental Education Center 22221 McClellan Road Thursday May 18, 2017 4:00 PM MINUTES PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL The meeting convened at 4:09 pm Commissioners Present: Meera Ramanathan, Anna Weber, Gary Latshaw and Vignesh Swaminathan (arrived @4:20) Commissioner Absent: Angela Chen Staff: Misty Mersich, Sustainability Manager; Cheri Donnelly, Environmental Programs Manager Guest: Ben Butterworth, DNVGL, Two DeAnza students APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft minutes of March 16, 2017 meeting approved. Motion by Commissioner Weber, 2nd by Commissioner Latshaw. Motion passes 3-0-2 with Chen and Swaminathan absent. POSTPONEMENTS None. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None . OLD BUSINESS 1. Subject: Zero Waste Update Cheri Donnelly distributed a handout in response to recent commissioner feedback. The final Zero Waste Policy is set to go Council in August. 2. Subject: Earth Day Debrief Commissioners Chen, Ramanathan, and Weber staffed a booth at the event. Suggestions were made to improve the Environmental Jeopardy game to make the questions more relevant and specific to Cupertino policy. There was some surprise that many of the people that they talked to were not Cupertino residents. Overall, the consensus was that the Commission should continue to staff a booth at the event every year. 3. Subject: Sustainability Commission Workplan This item will be moved to the next meeting on June 15th. NEW BUSINESS 4. Subject: Sustainability Commission Budget This item will be moved to the next meeting on June 15th. 5. Subject: Climate Action Plan Progress Report 2017 Staff led a discussion on the recent greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory update. The group discussed issues related to the high direct access electricity that is used in the city and the methodology that is used to calculate the emissions. Staff believes that much of the direct access electricity is coming from Apple, and noted that Apple has made public its usage of 100% renewable electricity. Staff is looking into alternatives to using the state emissions rate for direct access electricity, since the state emissions factor is much less clean than PG&E's and not as clean Apple's electricity is reported to be. Staff also presented the highlights from the draft 2017 Climate Action Plan (CAP) progress report via a PowerPoint presentation. It was recommended that staff look into a solar staff report (completed a few years ago) identifying which municipal buildings are suitable for solar. STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS Commissioner Latshaw reported that he attended a meeting with Commissioner Chen and Misty with the Library Commission to discuss their Teen Hackathon that takes place in June. They gave the library some information on the CAP to be used by the teens if they want to choose sustainability as a topic. Commissioner Latshaw is also interested in involving high school or middle school students work on a sustainability project. He would also like the Commission to review the AB 262, Buy Clean proposal by the Sierra Club. It was suggested that this item be agendized at the next meeting, so the Commission can review the letter and determine if this is something the Commission wants to recommend to Council to support. Commissioner Swaminathan reported that he has quit his job and has started his own consulting firm, "Crossroad Lab". Staff updates: The last greywater workshop is next week on Thursday, May 25 1h, 2017 6:30-8:30pm in Community Hall. Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE): In July, the rest of the city will be enrolled in SVCE. Over the next week, all residents that weren't previously enrolled in April will receive notices in the mail. SVCE has scheduled another community meeting in Cupertino: Silicon Valley Clean Energy Community Meeting June 27, 2017, 6:30pm -7:30pm Quinlan Social Room Misty reported that she made the request to make the Sustainability Program Coordinator position permanent in the next budget cycle. However, due to unforeseen expenses related to the increase in CalPERS costs, the City Manager has made all requests for staffing limited term. Therefore, the proposal includes the Coordinator position to be extended one year to January 2019 . Misty will make a request again next year. Staff is hiring a Sustainability Intern to help with the GreenBiz program this summer. ADJOURNMENT-6:04pm.