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Attachment 1 Orange County Commission for the Environment DRAFT Meeting Summary March 14, 2015 Orange County Solid Waste Administration Building, Chapel Hill PRESENT: Lydia Wegman (Chair), May Becker, Lynne Gronback, Loren Hintz, Bill Newby ABSENT: Peter Cada, Thomas Eisenhart, Jeanette O'Connor, Rebecca Ray, Sheila Thomas - Ambat, David Welch STAFF: Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma GUEST: Muriel Williman Call to Order — Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm, and noted there was not a quorum of members present Additions or Changes to Agenda — There were none. III. Minutes — Wegman asked for comments on the February 8 meeting summary. There were none, but no action was taken due to the lack of a quorum of members present. IV. Energy and Water Usage - County Buildings & Facilities — Bouma provided an update on Orange County sustainability projects, including 2015 energy and water usage figures for County -owned buildings and facilities. Bouma reported that each year Asset Management Services (AMS) and other departments update the BOCC on the County's progress toward meeting its goal of environmental responsibility, which was adopted in 2005. He said representatives from many departments formed the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee and together they developed specific objectives for environmental responsibility. The committee's name will be changed to the Environment and Sustainability Advisory Committee to reflect the role of the new Sustainability Coordinator in reconvening it. Bouma reported that in FY14 the County's energy usage reduction (measured as MMbtu /sqft) was at 17% below the baseline year of FY 2010, which was ahead of its goal for that year. He and his colleagues will be calculating FY15 progress in the next few weeks. Bouma noted that these analyses only includes County buildings and only those funded through tax revenues, not fee - supported facilities like the SportsPlex or those of the Solid Waste Management Department. Bouma said the County's water usage reduction goals are being met, but the fuel use reduction goals are actually trending upwards. He said part of that trend is due to the Sherriff's Office and Emergency Services vehicles having to drive more miles. Bouma said has been working with both of those fleet users since last year's numbers were reported, and is hopeful that these efforts will show up as an mpg improvement. With Emergency Services he has been using a grant to pilot the use of idle reduction technologies, and with the Sherriff's Office he has been using a grant to pilot the use of bi -fuel propane - powered vehicles. Bouma explained that propane vehicles could provide a carbon emissions reduction and operations cost reduction benefit, while using a domestically produced energy source.