Agenda - 05-05-20; 8-a - Minutes

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12 Travis Myren said he wanted to confirm the two points to include in creating the grant 1 report: the signage showing wattage, energy savings, education signage, etc.; and the County’s 2 on-going participation and on-going reporting by Brennan Bouma (per Chair Rich) 3 Travis Myren asked if an annual review of the projects, how they have performed over 4 time, would be sufficient. 5 Chair Rich said everything the County spends this ¼ cent tax on should be measured. 6 Commissioner Marcoplos referred to page 8, and read the following: “The rooftop solar 7 projects proposed for each school district is proposed to work through a grant to provide the 8 schools with flexibility while preserving the ability of the County to track progress and impact.” 9 He said this says the grantee must provide a reference of sharing information in a report. 10 Commissioner Marcoplos said it is the Climate Council’s practice that everyone at the 11 table is sharing information about their projects, and it is important to learn collectively. 12 Commissioner Dorosin said suggested that a quarterly report come back on all of these 13 projects, such as weatherizations. 14 Commissioner Dorosin reflected on the process of this particular issue. He said two 15 weeks ago the schools did not want these projects, and now the schools have reviewed and 16 accepted the projects. He said the process worked very well. 17 Chair Rich said the timeframe was good. 18 Commissioner McKee said he has no doubt the solar projects will be beneficial in the 19 long run, but he did have an issue with the process. He said he believed the Board could have 20 addressed, and reduced, school capital projects already in the queue that have equal climate 21 value, thus killing two birds with one stone. He said the Board set an expectation and backed 22 the schools in a corner, and he does not blame the schools for taking the project at this point, if 23 the alternative was to refuse it and complete no projects. He said he will vote against this item. 24 Commissioner Dorosin said Commissioner McKee’s characterization of the process was 25 not accurate. He said if the schools had other projects, the Board invited the schools to submit 26 them to the Board for evaluation. 27 Commissioner Bedford said she is glad there is going to be a subcommittee to work on 28 the process of how projects are bought forward in the future. 29 Chair Rich said there is a difference between efficiency projects and climate mitigation 30 projects. She said the solar panels project is a climate mitigation project, which is what the tax 31 is for. 32 Commissioner Marcoplos said it is his understanding that every school board member 33 voted in favor of these projects. 34 Commissioner McKee said he has had off line conversations with the school board 35 members, and he stands by his comments and vote. 36 Commissioner Dorosin said this process started in January, and not two weeks ago. He 37 said if Commissioner McKee has other information he should share it in the BOCC meetings, as 38 it would be good to know. 39 Commissioner Price said she had conversations with school board members and chairs, 40 who initially felt out of the loop on this project, but now all seem to be on the same page. She 41 said she is glad the process will be reviewed. 42 Chair Rich said this project was discussed at school collaboration months ago, and the 43 schools had more than two weeks. 44 Commissioner McKee said he had conversations with school board members, and he 45 feels the two-week notice did back the schools into a corner. He said individual school board 46 members did not know details about these projects, nor did their staff. He said County staff 47 should have done a better job of raising it up the seniority ladder. 48 49