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1 Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary December 12, 2016 Orange County Solid Waste Administration Building, Chapel Hill ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRESENT: Lynne Gronback (Vice Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Loren Hintz, Bill Kaiser, Bill Newby, Jeanette O’Connor, Rebecca Ray, Sheila Thomas-Ambat ABSENT: Lydia Wegman STAFF: Brendan Bouma, Tom Davis, Rich Shaw GUESTS: Paul Cough _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Call to Order – Gronback called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm. II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – None III. Minutes – Gronback asked for comments on the November 14 meeting summary. Hintz motioned approval as written; seconded by Kaiser. Approved unanimously. IV. CFE Annual Report and Work Plan 2016-17 – Shaw referred CFE members to the CFE’s annual report and work plan, which was discussed at the November meeting. He pointed out the changes that were made in November and reminded CFE members they had already approved this document. Shaw said he would submit the approved document to the Clerk to the board of county commissioners. V. Planning for Climate Change – O’Connor provided an overview of the Town of Carrboro’s community climate action plan, which she noted is being considered for implementation by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen. O’Connor pointed out the Board had been scheduled to take action on the plan in November, but this item was delayed. O’Connor said she is a member of the Carrboro Energy and Climate Action Task Force, which developed this plan with assistance from Randy Dodd, environmental planner with the Town of Carrboro. The purpose of the plan is to educate the town residents on ways they can help reduce Carrboro’s greenhouse gas emissions in ten categories, including transportation, energy consumption, ecosystem management, and food consumption. CFE members commented and asked questions about various aspects of the plan. O’Connor pointed out that many of the objectives will be difficult to achieve, but the task force decided not to shy away from ambitious targets. She noted two overarching recommendations from the task force is for Carrboro to create a sustainability coordinator position and to establish a stormwater utility. O’Connor reported CFE members can access the climate action plan via the Town of Carrboro’s website, noting it is #2 of the download options found at the following page: https://carrboro.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2882400&GUID=9581AE32 -5EE5-437A-82AD- F8CF21FB4022&Options=&Search CFE members thanked O’Connor for sharing that information and asked they she apprise them of any further actions by the board of aldermen.