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<br />Slade offered that another strength of the Council might be in the ability to leverage the <br />physical infrastructure controlled by all members. He recalled previous Council discussions <br />about limitations to influencing the community at large, and thought the Council might <br />have a greater impact if it could facilitate the common purchasing of vehicles and clean <br />energy technologies. <br /> <br />Hansley-Mace offered that the Council has a strength in being one of the first groups of its <br />kind in at least the state. This allows the Council to define its role. <br /> <br />Rubinoff thought that the Council would make a strong advocate to other regional entities <br />and coordinate actions with them based on an analysis of greenhouse gas impacts. She <br />recommended that the Council stay at a high level and address issues and problems held in <br />common where individual action is not sufficient such as the planning for the 15-501 <br />corridor. She also asked if anyone knows of a hub for climate information. Kaufman said <br />that lots of hubs already exist and they have different focus areas. Perhaps the Council <br />could help to point to those information hubs such as ACEEE and DSRIE. McCullough said <br />that the new climate action coalition is beginning to gather easy-to-understand <br />informational pieces. Gu offered that Chapel Hill has a new climate action website with <br />information that is right in line with what the Council seems to be looking for. <br /> <br />Richards offered that another weakness of the Council was conflicting priorities. Given the <br />mix of public and non-profit groups on the Council, it may be challenging to unify around <br />common goals and strategies. <br /> <br />Cole observed that the Council has a recurring tension between the desire for quick action <br />and need for a clear and inclusive vision and mission. <br /> <br />Kaufman highlighted that the Council needs a process of how to organize and evaluate <br />projects. <br /> <br />Bouma thanked the group for their thoughts on this topic and illustrated that this discussion <br />of strengths and weaknesses will be used in part to build project assessment criteria that <br />were informed by the capacities of the Council. <br /> <br />VI. Identifying and Categorizing Joint Project Ideas – Based on the length of time needed for <br />previous agenda items and the identified need to clarify the Council’s mission in advance of <br />assessing joint projects, Marcoplos recommended we move this discussion to a later <br />meeting and instead offer an opportunity to hear other ideas and reflections from Council <br />members who had not actively participated in previous discussions. The Council agreed. <br /> <br />Fisher said that he will be keeping this group in mind when working with his colleagues at <br />NC State University. <br /> <br />Janway said that it is good that the Council is helping to broaden the climate change <br />conversation and accommodate all perspectives. <br /> <br />Pitts liked the idea of aligning policies and leveraging ideas from others. With Orange <br />County Schools being a small district Climate Council is helping to bring useful resources and <br />research back that there would not otherwise be time to collect. <br />