Chambana Sun

City of Urbana Sustainability Advisory Commission met Aug. 4.

Here is the minutes provided by the commission:

Commissioners Present: Stacy Gloss, Tomas Delgado, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White, Grace Wilken, Megan McGinty

Commissioners Absent: Maddy Garbacz Staff Present: Scott Tess

Call to Order, Roll Call, and Declaration of Quorum

Stacy Gloss called the meeting to order, a roll was called and a quorum was present.

Approval of Minutes

Morgan White motioned to approve the minutes for the July 7, 2020 meeting. Tomas Delgado seconded the motion. Tomas Delgado, Stacy Gloss, Megan McGinty, Andrew Stumpf, Morgan White and Grace Wilken voted yes to approve the minutes. The motion passed.

Changes to the Agenda

There were no changes to the Agenda.

Public Input

There was no public input.

Staff Report

Scott Tess gave the following updates:

Closed Landfill

A vendor has cleaned and restored to operation a leachate force main pipe. This work will allow the resumption of leachate pumping on the City portion of the closed landfill. However, it has subsequently been determined that the pump associated with this force main needs to be replaced. Staff are working to complete that work in several weeks.

Staff had procured a replacement pump for the leachate pump on the Champaign-Urbana Solid Waste Disposal System portion of the closed landfill, but the wrong pump was delivered. The correct pump has now been secured and staff is working with the City electricians’ schedule to repair the pump and resume leachate pumping there as well.

Staff will present a replacement Champaign-Urbana Solid Waste Disposal System intergovernmental agreement to Urbana City Council on August 3, 2020. Changes to the agreement are minor.

Geothermal

Staff are working with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association and the Geothermal Association of Illinois to establish a bulk geothermal installation purchase program. This program would function very similar to Solar Urbana-Champaign. A discussion on geothermal power ensued.

Solar Urbana-Champaign

Solar UC has 3 contracts signed totaling 30kw of capacity.

Urbana Community Solar

Nexamp, Trajectory Energy Partners, and the City of Urbana are preparing communications to about the community solar subscription available from the solar array on Urbana’s closed landfill. Due to social distancing measures, the communications are expected to be exclusively digital.

Next Sustainability Advisory Commission Meeting September 1 at 7:00 pm in Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building or by Zoom depending on circumstances.

Approval of Updated Commission bylaws incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice

Morgan White moved to approve the edits bylaws pending discussion. Megan McGinty seconded the motion. The Commission discussed the edits. Megan McGinty pointed out that to ensure that inclusion and equity, it would be beneficial that public facing documents could be translated. It was noted that a future resolution would be forthcoming for such translations. Ms. Gloss asked for a Commission volunteer to gather more language data to support the resolution. Ms. McGinty and Ms. Wilken volunteered.

Discussion of Comprehensive Plan

A discussion on the Commission’s thoughts on the summarized values that would be included in the Comprehensive Plan. Andrew Stumpf and Tomas Delgado volunteered to draft some ideas on the direction that the Sustainability Advisory Commission would take from their individual perspectives. Stacy Gloss recommended that additional discussions happen on the next meeting.

Unfinished Business

There was no Unfinished Business to discuss.

Announcements

The Sustainability Advisory Commission has an immediate opening for Commission Member. Interested parties may download the application form at: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/boards/sustainability-advisory-commission.

Solar Farm 2.0 under construction on Campus on First St. and Curtis Rd. 54 acres of Solar panels are set to be installed.

The next Sustainability Advisory Commission meeting is scheduled for September 1, 2020. With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m.

This meeting was recorded.

https://urbanaillinois.us/sites/default/files/attachments/SAC_Minutes_Aug2020.pdf