October 3, 2023 Council Sustainability Committee

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Transcript

[00:00:04] Unknown Speaker: We

[00:00:04] Member Alison Hicks: had technical difficulties. So we'll be start. I'm calling the meeting to order at 608. Um, and letting you all know that this meeting is being conducted with a virtual component. Anyone wishing to address the council's sustainability committee virtually can join us on Zoom using, uh, using the link, uh, HTTPS colon slash slash mountain view dot zoom.us slash J slash 8266-3619345. Um, And entering webinar ID 826-636-19345. Um, and you can also use the number shown on the screen, there's a phone number as well. Um, When. So you'll be raising your hand in the Zoom feature, dialing star 9 on your back. Um, for uh, Personal attendees, people here. Please fill out a speaker card, which you can find on the sign in table to the left of the door. We are now going to item number two, which is roll call. Ms. Lee, can you take roll, please? Certainly a chair hicks here. Uh, member show alter. Yeah. Remember Abbe Koga here? We are now on item 3 of the agenda, which is minutes approval. Um, so, We will be looking at minutes of May 30, 2023. Does anyone have comments or questions about the meeting minutes? One. Okay. Move, move. Okay. Okay, are there any members of the public wanting to speak on it? No. Okay. So we all, uh, all those in favor? I go. Okay, pass it. We are now on item number four, which is oral communications. Uh, this portion of the meeting is reserved for people wishing to address the committee on any manner mattered not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic for up to 3 minutes. Um, and state law prohibits the committee from acting on nonagendized items. So, would any member of the public like to provide comments on an item not on the agenda? If so, either click the raise hand button and zoom. Um, or complete a speaker card and hand it into us. Mr. Carney, have you handed in a speaker card? Yes, I have. Thank you very much. Um,

[00:02:57] Mr. Kearney: this afternoon, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting in San Francisco, organized by Canary Media. which is a, National, um, media group, uh, supported by the Rocky Mountain Institute. And it was a networking event for, you know, thought leaders in the Bay Area on environmental topics. And whenever you get together with people from around the country, around the region who are doing great things when the environment sort of charges you up and makes you feel like you can do more. But as I was explaining to them about, you know, what mountains you had accomplished. I reflected on the top recommendations of the task force in 2017, 18th, which was the expansion of the staff levels and the budget levels for the sustainability department, and of course, hiring a chief sustainability officer. And as I look for, look into the future, to try to imagine what mountain view will need to accomplish. I think it's important to say that I think we need to add staff and budget to the sustainability department every year. And I know it's a bit early to work with a city manager and put together next year's budget. But here's an opportunity that, you know, came before me, and so I wanted to at least let the 3 of you know that I really think it's a priority. And Mountain Dew is so fortunate to be a financially strong city. Um, and we're going to need every bit of the resources we have to deal with the challenges of decarbonizing existing buildings. So there's my 2 or 3 minutes. Thank you for your attention. Very much. Are

[00:04:32] Member Alison Hicks: there any other speakers eventually or in person? Yes. Mary, D2? Okay, Mary Dato? Um,

[00:04:45] Mary Dato: good evening. Um, as everyone hears, um, most people here are aware, um, electrifying homes is, uh, critical to meeting our, um, carbon, um, carbon gas, reduction goals, and, um, so that means, you know, switching out appliances like he pumps and water heaters and things to, uh, electric versions of those things, um, to eliminate the use of natural gas. Which is um, We're finding more and more studies are finding that it can be nearly as bad as coal. So, um, a group of, um, Volunteers are organizing an electric home tour or have organized electric home tour. going to be October 14th. From 10 AM to 4 PM. The website to register is electrichometour.org, electrichometour.org, and I want to thank the city of Mountain View, which is, um, just really helping, um, by spreading the word about the tour, and also, I'm really excited to hear that this, to be able to tell you that the city of Mountain View is also providing Spanish interpretation and Mandarin interpretation at 2 different homes in Mountain View during the tour. As far as I know, it's the only city to do so. Again, the tour is October 14th, 10 to 4. Electrichometour.org, and thank you very much, the city of Mount View for supporting this effort. You. So

[00:06:17] Member Alison Hicks: we have, it looks like we don't have any other speakers. I will, so I will close the oral communication item and move to our discussion and action items. Um, 1st just unfinished business, but there's no unfinished business. So we're on item number 6 on your agenda now. in particular 6.one, which is 2022 local government operations greenhouse gas emissions inventory. And this item will be presented by sustainability division staff. Uh, and Ms. Lee will commence the presentation. Thank

[00:06:59] Ms. Lee: you, Chair Hicks, and good evening. It's nice to see all of you. Um, We wanted to take a moment to speak with the committee about the 2022 um, Greenhouse gas emissions inventory for city facilities, our city operations. You may recall that in May. We came to the committee and talked about the community wide emissions inventory. And today we'd like to focus on the emissions resulting from city government operations. Um, I'm going to be joined in this presentation by, uh, Ms. Anderson and also, um, director Cameron and assistant director, um, Skinner. Skinner. who, because public works, as you may know, is really taking the lead on implementing all of the decarbonization efforts across our city facilities. And so we're here to talk about their excellent work. So just to take a quick moment to talk about greenhouse gas inventories in general. The city conducts government operations inventory at least every 5 years. Um, we do this to calculate and assess the GHD emissions, um, and their sources to understand where our emissions are coming from. It helps us to identify and prioritize projects with the highest emissions reduction potential. Now, before we go into the details of the emissions inventory. We wanted to just, uh, layout at the big picture. There are many goals that the city has established with regards to sustainability. Um, You'll see a snapshot of a few of the different plans that the city has adopted over the years. Like I said, we have this long history of adopting ambitious sustainability goals, and it's an evolving process. So what we'll be doing tonight is talking about our current goals with regards to GHT emissions reductions. You'll hear that there's great news. But I would like to just throw out the caveat that as we move forward in our work and as we become more and more ambitious with regards to decarbonization. Um, we expect to be adjusting these goals over time to, to fit our new farther stretch goals. Okay, so our current goals. Um, In 2010, city council adopted GHG reduction targets for operations, with a goal of reducing our emissions 80%. Below 2005 levels by 2050. At the time, it was an extremely ambitious goal. Um, in 2015, we added Targets as part of our municipal operations climate action plan. And then in 2019, we added, uh, that we adopted the sustainability action plan for as a strategy for how to achieve these goals. In 2021 and 2023, we provided updates to CSC and to the council, um, about the implementation of SAP form. And now I'd like to turn over to Ms. Anderson to talk a little bit more about the details of the inventory. Thank you, Miss Lee. So,

[00:10:27] Ms. Anderson: Mountain View government operations inventories are prepared using a national standard called the local government operations protocol. Although the protocol provides a common framework. For calculating emissions, any inventory is an estimate and it's subject to change over time as, you know, better data and better methods are available. Our inventory measures energy, fuel, and waste generated to calculate an amount of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent that result from the city's operations. This slide shows the overall results of the 2022 government operations inventory compared to the 2005 baseline, the last inventory we connected, which was for the year 2018, and our GHG reduction targets for 2025 and 2030. So the main takeaway from these results is that we have reduced emissions substantially since 2005 and we are below our reduction target levels for 2025 and 2030. This means we generated fewer emissions than what we were aiming for. But we still have a lot of work to do to reach future targets and to support the city in realizing more aggressive future targets, as Ms. Lee mentioned earlier. Here's a visual of the results that I covered on the last slide. The city continues to make great progress in reducing its missions, even after the early gains from switching to Silicon Valley Clean Energy in 2017. These, um, continued emission reductions are largely, um, the result of, um, public works implementing a lot of really aggressive decarbonization projects. This pie chart shows the breakdown of 2022 emissions bisector. The shoreline landfill is the largest source of emissions, followed by buildings and facilities. Vehicle fleet and equipment, employee commutes, and solid waste. Um, emissions from water transport, wastewater, treatment, and public laning remain negligible at less than one% of total emissions. In the following slides, we'll focus in on year-to-year changes within a few sectors that contribute the most emissions. So the shoreline landfill, which has been closed since the early 1990s, is the largest contributor of emissions. As organic matter and the landfill decays, it produces methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Fortunately, emissions from the landfill decreased by 11% between 2018 and 2022. And emissions are expected to gradually decrease over time until about 2042. The shoreline landfill also has a highly efficient landfill gas collection system, which captures about 94% of the methane produced. Buildings and facilities generated about 19%. Okay, no, um, the sector includes the numbers from electricity and natural gas use. Fuel used in stationary generators, and refrigerant containing equipment. Between 2018 and 2022, emissions increased by about 32%, which can be partially attributed to the reopening of the community center because, um, it was closed during the 2018 inventory. And, um, some facilities that ran HVAC systems 247 as part of the city's COVID-19 response. To address these emissions, the city is prioritizing electrifying city facilities. For example, with grant funding from Silicon Valley, Clean Energy, public works is working to convert the senior centers, water heater, and kitchen to electric systems. The project is currently under permit review, and construction is expected to be completed in 2024. Um, City staff also recently submitted a grant application to the California Strategic Growth Council. And as part of this application, we requested funds to electrify the HVAC system at the senior center, which would mean the building is fully electric. Um, staff is also developing a request for proposals for a consultant to develop a decarbonization strategy and implementation plan. This plan will include electrification opportunities for city facilities. Sorry.

[00:14:46] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, we got it noticing that presentation isn't the same lot soon. So it's audible but not visible? Yeah, share screen?

[00:15:00] Member Alison Hicks: Maybe we have to share. And the zoom. So we'll be taking a short break for those of you, um, listening, uh, remotely. and fix our technical situation. Let's

[00:15:17] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: do, that's not from there. I think it's share screen from here, from the share from there. Just can you ask if they can see it now? They were doing this one, I think.

[00:15:45] Mr. Kearney: Thanks to the person who informed me, but she's he or she's not in my context, so I don't know who it was. Okay. I

[00:15:52] Member Alison Hicks: just said yes. So let me Lisa said she can see it again. On now. Yeah, okay. So, yes. Okay, so apparently it's on now and we'll continue. Thank you. Um,

[00:16:06] Ms. Anderson: so the city's vehicle fleet. contributed about 17% of the missions in 2022. The sector includes emissions from fuel use as well as off-road equipment. Fuel use in fleet vehicles as well as off-road equipment, such as landscaping equipment. Between 2018 and 2022, emissions decreased by 9%. Um, 9 new hybrid and 2 new battery electric vehicles were added to the fleet. This brings the fleet total to 56 hybrid and 8 fully electric out of 312 total vehicles and active use. The fleet was also converted to renewable diesel. To further address emissions from the sector, public works is leading an effort to assess potential implementation pathways for full fleet electrification through the fleet electrification strategic plan, which has been drafted by the planned consultant and is currently being reviewed by staff. The community services department, park maintenance team, has also been in the process of transitioning older gas powered landscaping equipment to electric. And there's a few um, areas that are fully maintained with electric equipment. Employee commutes were responsible for about 11% of emissions in 2022. Missions for the sector decreased by about 14%, between 2018 and 2022. Um, this is, uh, the biggest contributor to this is increased rates of telecommuting. HR initially created a pilot telecommuting program in 2017. Um, after, you know, increased tele meeting during um, COVID-19, um, this program was officially expanded in 2021 to allow qualifying employees to telecommute occasionally or up to 2 days per work week. Um, the city has also developed a number of other programs to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips for both city employees in the community at large. Um, city employees can access commuter benefits, including transit and bicycle stipends. And the city also has a robust transportation demand management program as well as other plant use policies, infrastructure, um, and other programs to reduce vehicle use. Staff can also access electric vehicle charging at multiple city facilities. That concludes my portion of the presentation. I'll pass it back to the sleep. Thank

[00:18:26] Ms. Lee: you, Mr. Anderson. And we'd like to just take some time now for any questions that the committee are. Okay, so 1st do council members have questions?

[00:18:37] Unknown Speaker: I have a couple questions. Okay. How do we know with the landfill that we captured 93%? I've seen it from. How do we figure that out? So, Lisa, Al, it's just a public director for public services, is on Zoom, Lisa? Do you mind responding to that? Good

[00:19:00] Lisa Alysis: evening, mayor and council members, um, I'm Lisa Alysis and Public Works director. So our landfill, gas, um, we have, uh, gas readings and our flare stations, um, we take readings, and we record them daily. So that's how we're able to, uh, annotate all the gas, uh, volume that is appellant. Oh,

[00:19:24] Unknown Speaker: I've read a lot about how there's leakage, you know, related to methane, you know, gas, pipelines, and I wonder, do we, do we have any, um, we do occasionally, there, you're right. Leakage does occur and at times, you know, it can bloom. And this is why, and Lisa's going to chime in, you know, Miss I was going to chime in if I misspeak any of this. But we do have, um, uh, we do do regular readings, do certain inspections over time where we're taking readings. Oh, over different places, over different places to, to, um, To, to determine if there is leakage occurring. And if so, then we pull together our last staff. And they go in and they start to do the necessary work to determine what the leakage caused by. Is it a sack and pipe, a lead to a pipe? Is that a different place? Other key repair work that needs to be done. And I think the key thing about this is this is also regulated by the airport, the area of management quality control board, and we actually have to submit every 4 about twice a year to them. that shows that we are tracking all of this stuff and any exceedences over the allowances, we have to know how we handle them. It's a very comprehensive report that's submitted twice a year to them. We're doing a lot of tracking.

[00:20:51] Member Pat Showalter: I wasn't familiar with that. Thank you. All right. I remember learning about landfills many, many years ago, but I never worked too much. Okay, um, Then I also was, um, wondering about how much money we have saved from these, um, efforts. I remember, I think it was 2 years ago, maybe, it must have been more than that. But anyway, a while back. Um, there was a report about how much, um, how much electricity costs. We could actually save the city and it was really substantial. It was it was like close to $2000000 if I remember. So it would just be very interesting if it's not too hard to, um, get that, to understand, really, you know, not, what are the benefits, not just, um, that we're doing something good for the environment at all. Also, what are the financial benefits? You know, associated with that. Um, and then, And then another one I wondered about. Oh, I also want to say, I love these charts, particularly the one with the blue background and the red, red bars. Boy, that just does such a good job of depicting, you know, how this should work. Um, I Whoever figured that out, they did a great job. Anyway, I wanted to ask about the, um, the emissions for, for electricity for the uh, police and fire administration building. Um, it's, it, it went up. Uh, 102%. Which is a lot. So, was that because the lights were on the whole time during COVID or, I mean, what happened? That was, that's really a big jump.

[00:22:39] Ms. Lee: Well, um, Mr. Skinner is trying to help respond to this, but I will note that of all of our city buildings, that's the one that's a 247 building. And it's always on. Yeah. But during COVID. We had the AC going, the all the ventilation going. I, can you think of any other unique situations with that building? Now, I think you covered it.

[00:23:06] Mr. Skinner: I think it was really, um, keeping the ventilation going because, you know, um, very concerned about, you know, exposure, things like that. So.

[00:23:18] Member Pat Showalter: Oh, okay. And people had to be working there all the time. Yeah, okay. I just, you know, it's a, that was a big jump. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other thing I was thinking about is going forward and worrying about, you know, how are we going to mend things or, or, um, produce our missions, we're planning to build a new building. And so the new building will be, you know, um, really, it will comply with the reach codes, which means it will be an all electric. Right, right. So that is, in the future, since that's one of our biggest generating facilities. The new building will definitely make a big difference. Yeah. I'll make a big difference. Okay. And I think I have another question, I mean, 2nd let me walk through this. I really enjoyed reading these, huh? Boards. Oh, bike use. Goodness. The bike cues went down. It wasn't very high and it went down even further. I was even the walkers were better. It's like, what can we do to help the bike use? Just

[00:24:23] Member Alison Hicks: because it's, they everything went down. Yeah, it went down, but everything went down because people were coming virtually. Many cases. Oh, you think that's what it is? It's just the 2 but it's not going we're spending money on bike lanes and it's not going up substantially. Yeah, say that. I said...

[00:24:41] Member Pat Showalter: I mean, basically in 2018, it says 4.5 and it in 2022 was 3.2. So neither one were spirit big. But, you know, we would like to see, you know, we're going in the other direction. So, um, I just, uh, But you're right, that could be, which is my interpretation. I'm not staff, they can answer 5 days anyway. But so I just wonder, and that is a good interpretation that, um, not,

[00:25:07] Ms. Lee: it shouldn't be assumed that all staff that are now telecoming were formally driving alone. Some of them were using the other boats. The other piece that can affect the modes that are being chosen is as, you know, where staff are living. And if you start to see, you know, how many staff are, uh, close enough that walking and biking is an option. Versus they must rely on other forms of transportation for the longer distances. So. City manager's office is the one that more tracks the employee commutes into the end programs, but, um, that that can definitely play a role as well. in terms of how they're commuting to work is where are they living?

[00:25:53] Member Pat Showalter: Yeah. Oh, we are blessed with this fairly flat area, so it's great, and the, and the weather's good for biking, so it's, you know, I mean, As, as things go, this is a great place to bike. And, um, anyway, okay. So I was a little concerned about that. And. Then, um, Oh, I wondered about the chargers that we currently have in the, um, in city hall now. Does that seem to be working? I mean, is it sufficient for the staff that we need for charges in the parking lot or do we feel like that we're going to need to have more? How is that working? Uh,

[00:26:39] Ms. Lee: we are in the process of collaborating with public works on installing um, some replacement EV chargers. I think the last batch is nearly at completion. So, We went through and replaced quite a few. Ms. Anderson, do you remember the exact number that were, I

[00:26:56] Ms. Anderson: believe there's, um, there was originally like, eight, I believe, in the big center, and 14 there now, 8 were replaced that were defunct, and 6 additional were installed. Um, and there's also a few at the MLC and, um, the community center has 9 chargers. We did assessed as part of the employee commute survey, what the interest was at employees' websites, whether they felt they had enough charging there. And there was interest in more charging in almost every facility. So I think it's still being explored. Well, just, yeah,

[00:27:33] Member Pat Showalter: it does sound like we definitely need more. I mean, if there's only 6 or 14, you know, that's that's a pretty big parking block. That's a that would be enough. Okay. I just wondered how that was going. So we have we have some grants to increase that, don't we? Or, I mean, that's that's in the works, right? Increasing those chargers. Yeah,

[00:27:54] Ms. Anderson: we did include, um, uh, 8 chargers for the senior center and our grant application to the California strategic growth council.

[00:28:02] Member Pat Showalter: But is there also more money in the pipeline to have more at city hall and at the MOC? Um,

[00:28:09] Ms. Anderson: I'm not aware of anything. Um, any other grants currently, although, um, there are more charts also going downtown. Um, so the Bryant Street garage has 10 level 2 and then the, That's just probably the project you were talking about, obviously. There's 10 How many total are there? I think there's about like 26 chargers going in at 850 California Street. Sorry, don't quote me on the exact number, but something like 22 to 26 going in, one of which will be a level 3 charger. So I believe that project is under construction right now. So

[00:28:44] Member Pat Showalter: the numbers climbing.

[00:28:45] Ms. Anderson: Yeah, okay.

[00:28:46] Member Pat Showalter: And that's right.

[00:28:48] Ms. Anderson: public facing as well.

[00:28:49] Member Pat Showalter: Well, anyway, all in all, I just want to compliment you on this report. It's very, uh, very well written and, um, like I mentioned earlier, some of the graphics are, you know, are just, um, really crisp and easy to understand and, and, um, I really appreciate it. So thank you. That's

[00:29:07] Member Alison Hicks: a member of a coach. Do you have any questions?

[00:29:09] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Tara. Um, thank you to Sash for this, uh, helpful comprehensive report. Um, I had just a couple of questions about charging stations. Um, I keep asking this and I don't know if I'm not looking or if it's not in there. Um, do we have an, like uh, optimal number of charging stations for the city? Mr.

[00:29:35] Ms. Lee: Skinner, I know that we're looking at this for the fleet relative to all of the city facilities. That

[00:29:41] Mr. Skinner: is correct. So, uh, Baby Skinner, System Gladforce director. So as we're putting together the plea electrification plan, we are assessing not only the replacement schedule for all the vehicles, but also the charging needs at City Hall, MLC at Shoreline. And what the consultant has done is looked at the projections for, um, the number of employee, uh, electric vehicles that be purchased online. And then they came up with a ratio that they figure would be optimal for each facility. Okay. So we are we're definitely planning ahead. Make sure that we have the right ratio. And it's something along the lines of like 3 to one or something. We know when...

[00:30:26] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: Three vehicles to a charger. To a treasure. That's

[00:30:29] Mr. Skinner: the way it's got checking up, but it's still the draft form, so I don't want to. And

[00:30:34] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: then do we have one for citywide? Big what? For

[00:30:39] Ms. Lee: the community. Is that what you're speaking to? focus center of the operation. Yeah. We would be happy to engage with Silicon Valley clean energy because they have many EV charging programs that are more public facing. Um, and we've had some initial conversations with them about EV charging, um, incentives in particular. So, perhaps we could work with them to look at what a projection for the needs would be for the entire community.

[00:31:07] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: I think they do have that. I remember seeing it a while back. And then I remember San Jose saying there, they were, I don't know, they, their, their goal is 1500 throughout the city. So we're 10th 10th of the size. So Zara is 150. You know, it was how it just simple calculation, but it would be helpful to know and then just see how, you know, how we progress to get to that. But it sounds like at least with internal operations. doing that. Yes, absolutely. And then you mentioned with the fleet replacement. Is it when, um, vehicles come to the end of life that we replace them with electric AVs or looking at doing it sooner just to go all electric? Well,

[00:31:56] Mr. Skinner: the plan is, yeah, as a, as their upper replacement, then we find a suitable, um, EV, replaceable web. We are still, um, I mean, with supply chain issues that was born on a COVID. Um, so even regular combustion into vehicles that we order, you do not get. So, um, that definitely the plan. Also, the marketplace for EBs for, like, pickup trucks or utility trucks, very late. So, um, right now we're making good strides or we could potentially make good strides with like carpool type vehicles, but not the trucks and utilities.

[00:32:42] Member Pat Showalter: And just add on, and this is part of what the fleet electrification statistic plan is looking at is, is supply chain, but for some of these larger vehicles, it's also the technology isn't criteria to ensure that we have a reliability, the range, you know, particularly concerned about 1st responder vehicles. So the idea is looking ahead to when we hope that some of those other higher end, larger vehicles that the technology is caught up. Now, even, you know, we're having issues just acquiring electric battery buses. And you know what exactly. It's the same type of issue. And this is the other key piece about that strategic plan that, you know, once once you all finish reviewing it, I get to see it. Because this charging infrastructure we're going to need when we convert our entire fleet and truly all our heavy vehicles is substantial. And it's going to be a major capital improvement project. Looking forward to grants because it would be a heavy list for the city to fully fund it. But it's also going to be major, major construction, like at the MLC and so on. I mean, if you ever went out and saw the yard and saw all the vehicles out there and we got to get the charging to them. We can't expect them all to move into a certain spot to be charged. So one of the things is, is getting ahead of, um, planning out, because you know how long it takes to design and construct a capital project, it's not overnight. So hopefully, I'm hoping to see that and start giving guidance of, when we should start making this major investment, MLC, the charging infrastructures in place, by time, the vehicles are ready for us to order for them to ride.

[00:34:39] Member Alison Hicks: Thank you. You may thank pure gas stations because that's not government. property. Anyway, um, so a few questions. Um. What is, maybe I misunderstood this, but in table 3, Uh, which is, 100% change in emissions. It has, uh, water transport and wastewater treatment are positive changes. They go up. It looks like 1931%. What? What does that? And then wastewater treatment goes up. Uh 529%. So what's, what are the reasons for those high numbers and why do they not? affect the total very much is because they're very small percentage of overall emissions. What's going on there? Yeah,

[00:35:41] Ms. Lee: um, we have an appendix slide for this. Which, if you just give us a moment, we'll bring that up. Go ahead, Miss Anderson.

[00:35:50] Ms. Anderson: Yeah, so for, um, water transport, wastewater treatment. Um, and public lighting, actually, you will see that the numbers increased, but it's kind of misleading because the numbers were so small to begin with. So a small change makes a big difference percentage wise. Um, the change is largely due to a change in Silicon Valley, clean energy submissions factor. Um, because some of their power is um, coming from geothermal, which the way that the accounting methodologies go, there are some emissions um, correlated with that. Um, so it's still, you know, largely, you know, a very renewable source of energy, um, but it does impact our emissions. But I will say those 3 sectors together are less than one% of the, so that's why they're

[00:36:39] Member Alison Hicks: huge numbers, but very low like that.

[00:36:41] Ms. Anderson: Exactly.

[00:36:42] Member Alison Hicks: I'll stop worrying about that. Um, Then, um, Yeah, and so maybe this is what you refer to in the staff report, it refers to emissions factors associated with SPCE's green prime product. Um, that's what you were just referring to. And, uh, I think I've heard before, but what this kind of thing runs throughout the staff report. What, so can you remind me what happened to the, uh, green prime product. Um,

[00:37:14] Ms. Anderson: it's just some of the portfolio for the Green Prime product, which is the 100% renewable option. So the body clean energy has the green stark, which is, um, carbon free, and then 100% rebel screen Prime. Part of their um, portfolio includes the geothermal, which, um, does have some emissions, according to counting, um, protocols. There's some emissions associated with it. Um, but it's still considered a renewable source of power. So it's yeah, it's really just like an accounting. Um, reason if that makes sense. Silicon

[00:37:48] Ms. Lee: Valley, clean energy has spoken about this, and they point out that geothermal is a very strong complement to solar energy because of its 247 availability and it's still designated as a renewable resource. So, um, there are some emissions that result in the steam, basically, um, coming out from underground, but, um, It is furthering our progress towards decarbonization fairly significantly. So, um, until we can get to the point of, um, having 247 um, 0 GHG emissions, sources, geothermal remains a strong option. Yeah,

[00:38:31] Member Alison Hicks: I mean, it seems to me a better, uh, balancing factor than saying nuclear.

[00:38:36] Ms. Lee: Yeah, or natural gas. Exactly. That's why. So,

[00:38:39] Member Alison Hicks: um, but I, I don't, so you say you've said it's mostly due to steam and mostly due to accounting. Can you explain? seem like 2 very different things. Can

[00:38:49] Ms. Lee: you explain? They're counting the emissions that are resulting from the heat that's being released from underground. So there are some... So it's

[00:38:58] Member Alison Hicks: not just accounting. real. It is real. Okay. But it's a joy. wording by me, but yes. Okay. But it's better than some other balancing options. That, that's clearer to me. Um, and then the staff report also said, uh, micro turbines are used to collect some of the, the gas from the, the, dump, uh, for on-site power, Cindy's sewage pump, et cetera. Um, So when do we decide that we've done enough of and others just flare off gas and flare? When do we decide, like, why can't we do more of that? Why do we have to let some off gas and flare? Where do you draw the line? Um,

[00:39:38] Ms. Lee: maybe, could we ask Missau if she would like to weigh in on that? I,

[00:39:46] Lisa Alysis: yeah, this is at least analysis of a rock character. Um, that is true. That is something we need to do more analysis of right now. We are maximizing the, The use of length of gas, that's converted to electricity, but German, um, and my disturbance, that last feel. Um, so we can, I think we need to do more analysis, what we can do, to reduce less form, other than, yes.

[00:40:14] Member Alison Hicks: So, Ms. How, your your audio is not perfect. I'm sorry. I don't know if you can get close. Okay, I'll

[00:40:22] Lisa Alysis: try to be closer. you hear me now? Yes, it's much better. Oh, I was mentioning that, um, We are, we are maxed out at our ability to, uh, use the landfill gas to convert that through our micro turbines to electricity. Uh, we are actually selling some landfill gas, to Google gloom energy. They're using summer gas to make electricity on site at the Google campus. We do have extra gas that we are flaring and should do more analysis to look at, you know, more capital investment. To, um, the lawnmower turbines, perhaps. and be able to generate more electricity from our land. Okay,

[00:41:06] Member Alison Hicks: great. That's what I wanted to hear that you'll do more analysis and do less flaring and more catch. Yeah,

[00:41:12] Lisa Alysis: some of it is assessment of the condition of the landfill and how much more gas we were anticipating. To be generated from our refuse, keeping, um, composing. So that's going to be part of the analysis. Okay,

[00:41:26] Member Alison Hicks: because I did read in the staff report that the overall amount that's off gas and is winding down. But still, looking

[00:41:34] Lisa Alysis: at the cost benefit and analysis of more capital investment in the system. Okay,

[00:41:40] Member Alison Hicks: I look, I look forward to hearing more about that. Um, and then the other thing I read was that there was a lot of, um, in part because of what people talked about earlier, uh, wanting to filter the art during COVID, but I think also in part, because of what we're going to talk about next, the next item on the agenda resiliency centers, there with HVAC on all the time. It seems like that may be a growing factor in city, you know, running city buildings. Um, Is there anything we can do or anything we're planning to do to not have so much, you know, to have greener HVAX systems, as we may have to have more of them? Certainly,

[00:42:26] Ms. Lee: I would defer to Mr. Skinner, um, but at the broad level, as we electrify our HVAC systems, that will certainly achieve significant gains, but. Yeah, I agree. And

[00:42:38] Mr. Skinner: obviously with newer systems, there'd be much more energy efficient than the ones that are 20, 30 years old that were replacing. So, um, those sort of factors in conjunction would definitely be, uh, moving us in the right direction. Basically,

[00:42:56] Member Alison Hicks: how fast do we electrify and buy new systems? Yeah. Okay. I think. That's. That's one of my questions. So do members of the public either here in person or virtually have questions. We have Mr. Kearney. Thanks.

[00:43:26] Mr. Kearney: I wanted to talk about chargers and city properties. So, um, when the 1st chargers were installed downstairs, I think it was 6 or 7 years ago, and the city set the price at ¢20 a kilowatt hour. Most commercial chargers charge 44 to ¢48 a kilowatt hour. And when I charge my car at home, I'm paying in the high ¢40 per kilowatt hour as well. So that may be one reason why people find it very attractive to charge here and at the community center. So the answer to the question, how many chargers should we have? certainly relates to the question of what do we want to charge the electricity that we deliver? The conversation 6 or 7 years ago, the EVs were pretty rare, was that we would the city would use lower costs charging as a way to incentivize the purchase of EVs. that no longer seems to be necessary because it seems like every 3rd car I see is a white Tesla. But let me make a leap into future technologies. This is beyond my personal scope of real knowledge, but I have opinions. So, in the future, say 10 years from now, I expect cars will have smaller batteries, not 80 kilowatts or 60 kilowatts, but more like 30 or 40, why would they do that? Because they'll be able to be charged more rapidly and high speed level 3 chargers will be, If not ubiquitous, at least easy to find. And so if you reduce the size of a battery from 80 kilowatts, sorry, 80 kilowatt hours, um, to 30 kilowatt hours, you can reduce the cost of the car by a lot. And so people have talked for a long time about the transition when EVs become the no-brainer choice of vehicle. And by reducing their cost so much, that transition, you know, gets closer and closer. Also, this particular, you know, future path that I'm imagining makes it much more possible for apartment dwellers and multi family residents to buy an EV, even if they can't charge it home every night. Because they can perhaps charge on 110 at their parking space and then get a fast fill up somewhere else. You know, it's, it's, you know, hard to make policy based on speculation, particularly from someone who's not an expert in the field. But I would like you to consider that there may be a very different technology's environment a few years from now, just one last example. My six-year-old, uh, Chevy Bolt cannot accept a charge faster than 55 kilowatts. Many newer EVs can accept a charge 3 times faster than that. And so for me, plugging into a 110 outlet is just fine. I let it charge overnight or charge during weekends when the sun is shining. Um, Others will do it very differently. Thanks. So

[00:46:28] Member Alison Hicks: do we have ritual speakers? This is City of Mountain View questions, but this is for comments as well as questions. All right, so 1st we have Jasmine. Jasmine? You're

[00:47:01] Unknown Speaker: muted. you're able to unmute. Let's go ahead and try Anthony and come back to Jasmine. Can

[00:47:21] Bruce Nagel: you get, is Jeremy okay? Yes, we can. I'm

[00:47:24] Mr. Skinner: I'm so sorry. I had my hand raised when I was just trying to comment on the presentation not being visible, so apologize for the interruption. Okay, thank you.

[00:47:34] Member Alison Hicks: And So back to Jasmine, Jasmine, can you unmute yourself? Maybe we try Mary Dating. All right. Um,

[00:47:55] Mary Dato: good evening. Um, I'm excited about the good news with our um, reductions and and all the work that's happening to electrify our buildings. Um, on the vehicle fleet. I did actually have a question as well, some comments. My question. Well, I'll, I'll have a mix. Um, I'm a little disappointed to see that, that, the mix has so many hybrid vehicles and so few fully electric vehicles. Um, I, I've been driving electric vehicle for years, full electric, and it, it meets, you know, nearly all my needs. I think in the city, it's, I would expect that the vehicle fleet doesn't, a lot of it doesn't have to drive. Um, halfway around the bay every day and so, um, I wouldn't think range anxiety is a problem. Um, one of the reasons I think this is important is because, um, and I'm speculating here, but I love my electric vehicle, and I sort of think any of the employees that get to drive an electric vehicle will probably be enthusiastic. And so this leads to my question. Um, has the city, Is the city gathering feedback from the employees to see? Um, how they feel about driving electric car? And then, um, if there's as enthusiastic as I am, can the city use that to, um, help drive, you know, spread the word, um, through with the other employees, maybe they'll consider buying electric car themselves just a little bit sooner, can they spread it to other departments within the city, so they're a little bit faster to adopt electric vehicle, you know, EVs instead of hybrids? And finally, can we share that information? If we're enthusiastic, can we share that information with other cities and, you know, help them get moving along quickly too? Thank you. Thank you. We'll

[00:49:52] Member Alison Hicks: note those questions. And go on to Bruce Nagel. Can you hear me now? Yes. Yeah,

[00:50:04] Bruce Nagel: 1st off, one, I want to thank the, um, all the work that you guys have been doing. There's a lot of things moving in the positive direction. You know, we have somebody to be proud of. We still have ways to go, but it's really good to see that we're making an effort in this and the efforts are creating results. And the degree to which we can make sure that other towns understand what we have learned and how we can go to that is important. I also want to go back to something that Bruce Carr brought up in regards to the smaller batteries in regards to the systems. It also feeds into Mary Dadios comment about, uh, uh, the, um, hybrids, um, because that's in essence, you're getting a smaller battery. Um, I think one of the things we have to think about is what are we going to do with multifamily housing. It's going to take some work to get that done. Um, the smaller basket, the lower charger on this, but something we need to keep our eye on because, in essence, when I look at this, you know, I think what we're saying is we need to have new uh, electric charging and almost all all the buildings we've got, and then we have to make sure that you have electric heat pumps in, um, hot water heater. So we have to think about a world 10 years from now where most everybody's running electricity and we need to start thinking about how we get there. And again, I want to thank the people that put the effort together. You've done a good job. Thank you. Okay,

[00:51:31] Member Alison Hicks: so is that all the public comment? Um, yes,

[00:51:38] Unknown Speaker: short of Jasmine, who we were not able to hear from, due to technical issues on their end. Okay. Okay,

[00:51:45] Member Alison Hicks: so I'll now bring it back to council for uh, comments. Do any council members have comments? I can sum up the comments I heard that were coming out with questions. So... So... So, I, I, from my mind. I just used it comments. Okay, so. I'm funny. Um, So what I heard was, uh, Well, one of the comments that I came up with after listening to the public was that it might also be interesting to know what percent of the single occupancy commuters use EVs, because that's different than, that's different than using a gas powered car. Um, And you could wonder, nobody no member of the public actually said that, but something they said triggered that question for me. So I would like to see that split out the next time we see that. Um, Uh, there was a comment that we might look at changing, uh, the city private, EV charging, what we charge the public for, uh, EV for EV charging. Um, I thought that was a good comment. There's, uh, uh, Vice Mayor Showalter also said that our next report might spell out not only the greenhouse guest savings, but the monetary savings to the city. I thought that was good. Um, A member of the public said that commented that the city might, uh, focus on not only hybrid and electric, uh, vehicles, uh, vehicle fleet, but also uh, up the number of fully electric, uh, vehicles, maybe take a deeper dive on that. And I actually agree with that in part, in part because what the, the, uh, residents said that, uh, that we're not driving, you know, very far. There's no reason for range anxiety, but also I think that fully electric vehicles are much cheaper to repair. hybrid vehicles. That's what I've been told. Um, And we talked about doing more analysis on the, um, less flaring and more use of the dump gas if that's actually beneficial. So those, that's the summary of things I heard coming out of the questions and comments. Maybe there were others that I overlooked.

[00:54:23] Ms. Lee: Just a quick clarification chair, Hicks. The fleet electrification plan is contemplating full electrification. Then you can take that one off the... We're very excited about it. Great. Any

[00:54:36] Member Alison Hicks: final comments now? Okay, so we moved to, um, Let's see, 6.2 the agenda, which is Braziliency initiatives. Um, This item will also be presented by sustainability division staff. Uh, because Lee will commence the presentation. Good

[00:55:04] Ms. Lee: evening, thank you. Um, As I mentioned before, I will be joined in this presentation by sustainability staff as well as director Cameron and assistant director Skinner and now. My name is Danielle Lee. I'm the chief sustainable and resiliency officer. And for the 2nd item, what we'd like to spend some time discussing with the committee is, uh, the city's, uh, climate resiliency initiatives. And I'll go ahead and turn it over to Miss Lynn, who will be presenting the section. Thank

[00:55:46] Denise Lynn: you, Miss Lee. I am Denise Lynn, sustainability analyst. And I'll share a bit about the background on the work on climate resiliency. According to various state and local climate models, the city of Mountain View, we'll face increased impacts from climate change in the coming years and decades, resulting in hazards for public health and the built environment. And some of these impacts are, you know, quite severe with some highlights being um, over 3 feet of sea level rise expected by 2070 and then, um, on the right, um, 11 to 13 more extreme heat days per year by 2050. So city staffer conduct is conducting communicate engagement to learn more about residents needs and to prepare for those climate impacts. On September 5th, the sustainability and resiliency division partnered with recreation staff and with community services agency to conduct a survey of seniors at the Mountain View Senior Center. 120 seniors were surveyed on various topics in climate resiliency. For example, they were asked how often they had experienced power outages in the past few years, whether they had felt impacted by climate change in various ways, and what resources they would need to feel were prepared and safe in preparing for extreme weather. And these are some of the main, uh, main results that we found. vast majority of senior surveyed had lost power at least a few times in the past few years. Um, about half who responded did not have air conditioning, and over half are not aware of Mountain View's cooling centers. Then you stop and utilizing the feedback to develop resiliency initiatives, and we have additional community engagement planned, as we'll share later. We did want to share a quick update on the C level rise capital improvement program, which is being led by the public works department. Um, as you can see on the, um, in the chart that, um, this project is really well underway, um, with the selling lake access road construction project, complete, and then many other aspects in design and other planning currently. I'll now pass it back to Miss Lead to talk more about the resiliency planning effort, overall. What

[00:58:11] Ms. Lee: we wanted to do is speak with the committee this evening about kind of our big picture process for approaching how to plan for resiliency for the city. Um, what we anticipate doing is starting with gap analysis, understanding where, um, are there opportunities for us to enhance the reliancy of the community? Looking at climate hazards in particular, what are the impacts that we think that we will experience? Um, and then conducting some community engagement along the lines of what has already started with, um, the engagement at the senior center. Um, Also, this fall, um, we will be working on a request for proposals for consultant support to actually develop a resiliency plan for the city. Um, After that, the consultants will work with the sustainability division, but also with all of the departments across the city to develop a more detailed vulnerability assessment, as well as the resiliency plan for the city. Um, and then we plan at the end of next calendar year to bring back to the committee, um, an update on our resiliency efforts. Um Yeah, I think that that's going to next slide. Now that we shared a bit about the overall process that we anticipate, we wanted to talk to some of the specific efforts that are underway. We're not, we're not delaying implementation just for the sake of planning. We're trying to do both things at once. Um, One important aspect of climate resiliency is, um, really utilizing our city infrastructure, um, to be the backbone of resilience for the community. So we've referred to this term resilience hub, um, and there's already been work underway both at the community center and the senior center to, um, to basically, um, ensure continuity of operations of those facilities to convert those buildings to be all electric, and to make services available to the community. Um, And that's really what the definition of a resilience hub is. It's to support residents and to be kind of a hub for distribution of services and resources. Um, Commonly, resilience hubs can include a wide range of attributes. Um, These include, um, infrastructure such as solar and backup battery power, um, which we have installed at the community center, and we are um, applying for grants to install at the senior center. Um, There's also air conditioning that can be in place for cooling services. Um, And then there's also basic support that can be provided during climate events, extreme climate events, which provision of 1st aid, um, distribution of food, and other resiliency needs. Famously.

[01:01:36] Denise Lynn: Now I'll dive into a more specific example for resilience hub. Um, city stop submitted an application to the Strategic Growth Council, as Lauren mentioned, um, in September to develop the Mountain View Senior Center as a resilience hub. This was a really collaborative effort of many departments, including public works, community services department and the Office of Emergency Services. And I also want to note the application was developed in partnership with Ren Public Policy Group, the cities legislative consultant. The grant application requested about $5000000 in grant funds for 2 categories of activities at the senior center, capital improvements and services for the community. The capital improvement aspects are designed to support energy resilience and for the senior center to be able to operate off grid for a few days in case of an emergency. With these infrastructure improvements, the senior center would have infrastructure necessary to operate as a cooling center and overnight shelter if needed. And the application also included, as mentioned, an electric HVAC system and EV electric vehicle charging stations as well. This would, uh, these improvements would make the senior center an all electric facility. The grant application also included services for the community. This would include community engagement and emergency preparedness activities. It would include, for example, partnering with community services agency and grassroots organizations such as community and action team to provide door-to-door outreach to residents in preparation for extreme heat days. Residents would receive information regarding city cooling centers, strategies to stay safe, and supplies would be given out to some residents as well. And the 2nd part of these services that we applied for grant funds for is a workforce training component. This would be led by the day worker center, um, who would provide workforce training to local day workers regarding sustainable building practices. And we expect to hear the results about this grant in December. And of course, we're also pursuing other opportunities at other facilities. Public works is installing a backup battery at the community center, and this was funded through a Silicon Valley Clean Energy grant, and the battery will complement the existing solar really well. The sustainability and resiliency division will continue to explore other opportunities for resilience hubs, as a part of the resiliency planning process. And I'll pass it back to mislead to the partnerships and our development. Thank

[01:04:20] Ms. Lee: you, Ms. Lynn already spoke a little bit about some of the services that would be offered at a resilience hub. And I think this really points to the need to develop deep partnerships with our partners in the community. Um, in applying for these grants. We partnered with the community services agency, as well as the day worker center. Um, the community and the community action team. We've also engaged the Santa Clara County climate collaborative, as well as Silicon Valley, um, 2nd harvest of Silicon Valley. They would all be giving input on how we can come together as a community to best support those most vulnerable to climate change. We're very excited about the initial engagement and we look forward to building out future partnerships with additional partners within the community. Resiliency is really a team sport. It's not something that the city can do on its own. Um, we're pleased to be helping to lead the efforts, but we really do want to have this be a community wide effort. In terms of next steps, uh, we spoke just a little bit already, but we are planning to have a request for proposals for this resiliency planning this fall. Um, at the end of the year, we should hear about some of the grants that we've already applied to for developing um, our resilience hubs. By the next, by the summer of next year, we plan to have a draft resiliency plan. Um, and then by the end of next year, we will come back to CSC to give an update on where we are in the resiliency initiatives, uh, broadly speaking. And then, of course, ongoing, uh, we will continue to seek funding to, oh, build out the network of resilience hubs within the city, um, to make our facilities fully electric, to continue to pursue EV charging infrastructure and to build partnerships with all of the community organizations that we're so fortunate to have amount of people. And that would be happy to take any questions.

[01:06:37] Member Alison Hicks: Yes, so are there a personal number of questions? Vice mayor?

[01:06:44] Member Pat Showalter: Yeah, well, thank you very much for this report. It was very well written. I love the fact that it was chock full of all these details. You know, the statistics, I guess. So thanks, thanks for that. Um, there were 2 things that, um, I kind of wondered about generally. Um, one was, what's the relationship of these, if you're doing this effort to our search program? You know, our community, emergency response teams? Um, uh, What is that?

[01:07:17] Ms. Lee: Do we have one yet? That's a great question, um, member Schwalter, thank you. I think, um, what we'd like to do is to really partner with our office of emergency services to define that. In some ways, there is quite a bit of overlap. Uh, because the extreme climate events that we experience now are basically emergencies and so the city's response would be reliant on the cert teams. Um, where resiliency starts to kind of extend beyond cert is, as we think ahead into the future about how the climate impacts might change over time. and rethink what the needs for the community will be as a result. So we expect twice the number of extreme heat days. What kind of infrastructure might we need? to be building now, to be able to meet that future in need. And also, hopefully it's

[01:08:10] Member Pat Showalter: a way to get some training about it out to the community. And, um, And then

[01:08:17] Member Pat Showalter: I wondered if you wanted to talk some more about the relationship between our resiliency efforts and the counties.

[01:08:26] Ms. Lee: Certainly, um, the city is, I think we, we recognize that resilience, um, in the same way that I said that it wasn't a, it's a team sport and that the city can't leave it alone for the city of Mountain View. Climate impacts will be felt across the region. And so, We're also, putting quite a bit of effort to partnering with our colleagues at the county level. So the city is participating in the Santa Clara County climate collaborative. We have a role on the leadership advisory team. And then staff is also co-chairing the sea level rise working group. So we're talking with all of our neighbors about all of these climate impacts that we expect, and what can we do as a region to be prepared? So, not only looking at the mountain view lands, but Santa Clara County, and then, uh, we also participate in Bay Area wide conversations.

[01:09:19] Member Pat Showalter: Well, that's good because there's lots of cross-pollination when you work with other groups that can be really valued. Okay, um,

[01:09:27] Member Pat Showalter: There was another one I had in mind, but it's, I can't think of it right now, so.

[01:09:30] Member Alison Hicks: Can have a 2nd round.

[01:09:32] Member Pat Showalter: I can have a 2nd one if it comes to me.

[01:09:33] Member Alison Hicks: Okay. Thank you. Remember, avid coca?

[01:09:36] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Um, one question about the resiliency center. So, um, are those the, I guess the evolution of the, um, clean air centers, so that they're just to be it. Secured, so spending for clear, clean air centers, and I remember asking if, you know, we could apply, but, but I think it was for like care communities or focused on care communities. Reading the staff report, though, sound like maybe the location qualifies? Is that how this all came about or this is another source of funding?

[01:10:17] Ms. Lee: This application is a different source of funding, but I think the concept is certainly overlapping. Um, air quality is one of the climate impacts that we expect to, you know, of course, worsen over time with climate change. The idea of the resilience hub is also to look at extreme heat days and cooling services. Um, but even on the other side, um, you know, if we have flooding in the community, there could be, um, services that are deployed through those same resilience hubs. So I think the big difference is that a resilience sub would contemplate multiple climate effects.

[01:10:54] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay. Yeah. But certainly there's overlap. you.

[01:11:01] Member Alison Hicks: First, thank you. I did, we did get, at least I got a lot of calls and emails when the power went out earlier, um, earlier this year, um, during the storms. Uh, not, not only from the, most of the calls and emails came from, um, non-seniors, I'll call them. Um, uh, who were reporting on their own troubles with, like, all the everything in the refrigerator going bad, along with, they thought more vulnerable people, older people who were not calling. So, um, So I'm glad to see this in, and people had a lot of ideas on what we should do. So I'm glad to see this. Um, and I guess next I'm gonna ask. Let me ask my small questions first. The staff report said something about that I don't generally think of Mountain View as one of the cities in Santa Clara that's going to experience a lot of fire problems, but the staff report did mention fires, and it said, and not even where I thought you might say fires would occur. It said in North Mountain View, which seems like, By the water? I mean, can you explain where that is and why it's the most likely...

[01:12:23] Ms. Lee: Certainly. We took data from the county's tool. It's called Silicon Valley 2.0. And, uh, the county essentially worked with, um, analysts to build out climate models for different climate risks, including fire. And so there was a map that we downloaded for the city of Mountain View, and there was a section in the northern part of the city. It's it's um, adjacent to the shoreline community. So, um, open space area. So when there is open space like grass or... Grass fires. Right. vegetation. Um, there can be heightened risk for fire. We did talk to our fire chief and kind of share the results of the tool, um, and he concurred, but there was some height and risk in that area.

[01:13:18] Member Alison Hicks: I'd love to see that map.

[01:13:19] Ms. Lee: be happy to share the link. Yeah, it's online. It's available. Okay, yeah. Okay,

[01:13:24] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: thank you. I would just add that that's going to be an important part of the resiliency plan going forward, is that vulnerability assessment when we'll be able to not just be relying on the county tool, but looking really locally at what our vulnerability areas are. Um,

[01:13:46] Member Alison Hicks: Then I was also glad to see in the staff report that you would be working with the Day Workers Center on Cobb Building because I've talked to them about it for a while and I really like that idea, but I have no idea what it has to do with resilience, so maybe you can explain. The

[01:14:03] Ms. Lee: workforce training component. I, you know, I may defer to Ms. Anderson and Ms. Lynn because they were the ones that had the direct conversations to develop it. But the day workers, as you can imagine, their clients, um, are extremely vulnerable to climate change, and so they can't do traditional maybe landscaping or outdoor jobs, um, during extreme heat events. And so the idea of, um, doing workforce development to equip them to move into, um, less vulnerable, fields of employment, they have green buildings, being one of them. Um, was sort of one of the driving factors for why they requested this particular type of support. I don't know, Ms. Leonard, Ms. Anderson, do you have anything to add?

[01:14:53] Denise Lynn: Yeah, I think the Day Worker Center expressed interest in a cob building for a greenhouse and they're on site because it would, to my understanding, it would provide a cooler environment and also a suitable area to grow food for the facility. So that's kind of the background. And, um, I understand that they talked with some, um, a tenant association and some of their clients too, who kind of supported that idea.

[01:15:18] Member Alison Hicks: Okay. Well, I look, I like the idea and I look forward to hearing more. Um, then the next thing is, I'm, I'm not getting a full picture on under what? Well, I'll ask the small question first. Under what circumstances, would the senior center or other so-called resiliency hubs be used as overnight shelters? Like what particular flooding or how are you envisioning that? Just because my electricity goes out, I would still be able to sleep at home. So what under what circumstances would that need be triggered? Right.

[01:15:57] Ms. Lee: I think, um, this is an area we would, we would be developing an operational plan in partnership with the office of emergency services, but also with, um, feedback from the Counties, Department of Public Health. So they, um, they help, for example, to designate if there's an extreme heat day that's coming. and they would issue alerts and warnings. And so, they have the criteria for what would qualify as an emergency event. For public, for extreme heat, for example. And so, you know, um, we would be selecting the criteria, deciding as a city. Um, which circumstances would trigger opening of the Brazilian hubs. But I think we would be taking in feedback from our office of emergency services from the public health department at the county level. I don't know, Mr. Skinner.

[01:16:51] Member Alison Hicks: Maybe I can refine my question. Okay. I understand why someone might come to a resiliency center during a very hot day if they don't have air conditioning, for example, or during a very stormy day, if they, you know, nothing in their house is working. I mean, I know people came to the library and plugged in their laptops and kept working and so forth. The thing I don't understand is what when one would sleep over because if it's very hot, I open the windows and sleep with the electricity off. Um, so maybe it's during flooding or maybe there's something else I'm not thinking about. I would say, I

[01:17:31] Unknown Speaker: would guess that the criteria would be that if there's a more of a housing shelter emergency due to a climate event or even another type of emergency such as an earthquake or something like that, where, um, they need temporary shelter, quickly and right away, uh, would be, uh, at least what I've, uh, learned in the past when, agency would open up an overnight accommodations in an emergency. Okay, other kinds of emergencies.

[01:18:03] Ms. Lee: And can I can just, I can add that, um, our models predict, um, Evening temperatures not declining as much over time with these extreme heat events and that's um, a vulnerability for people because you usually recuperate, right, in the evenings, but if the, if the evening temperatures don't go down. You can't recover. And so then a multiple day event becomes more straining to somebody. So, we could reach a point where an extreme event, heat event could even dictate having a center open because the cooling is needed 24 hours a day. Especially if there was

[01:18:40] Member Alison Hicks: wildfire smoke. Right. Okay, that gives me some more clarity. Um, I think. Uh, I think I'll save the rest of mine for comments. So, we now go to, unless you've thought of yours for your 2nd round. Okay. Do you have a 2nd round? Oh,

[01:19:04] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: thanks. Blue card was coming.

[01:19:08] Member Alison Hicks: Why, it's Chris Kearney. Three of a kind. So,

[01:19:16] Mr. Kearney: um, Small comment on North Bay Shore. the windiest part of town. And it was the wind that destroyed Lahaina. If it hadn't been for all that wind, the fire would have been suppressed before it got to town. So since all of us are now downwind of North Bay Shore, it's important to all of us that did not catch fire and jump the Bay Shore freeway. Um, But I wanted to mention, uh, the fact that there's going to be, well, there already are so many batteries in Mountain View in the vehicles that we're now all buying. And in the vehicles that the city will be buying in the future. And so, During an emergency, particularly one that's not intended to be a perpetual emergency, using the energy from those vehicle batteries as a way to get the resiliency centers to be as resilient as they need, would be wonderful. Now, there have been experiments about vehicle to grid, grid to vehicle, transfer of energy with various payment schemes running for years, but they've all been small scale. I believe there's a bill, and I think it passed, that said in California, all new electric vehicles after such and such a date will be capable of vehicle to grid electricity transfers. And so I think that would be a splendid thing to work into the plans for the resiliency centers, possibly even calling on community volunteers, to take their vehicle to the resiliency center, plug it in, some fraction of the energy from their batteries, go into the, either the needs of the center or into the center's storage battery. And so relying on expenditures that have already been made. and are mostly not used for the purpose of resiliency as your perhaps not only source of energy, but a source of energy during an emergency. Thank you.

[01:21:08] Member Alison Hicks: Speakers, yeah. 1st is Mary

[01:21:14] Mary Dato: DayTio. Um, good evening. Um, I just want to mention that, um, trees are amazing cooling machines, and so I hope, um, some of the budget might, uh, be used toward, uh, as we think about resiliency might be, uh, go in that direction. Um, On the resilience hub, I guess I was thinking about that a little bit. I, uh, unfortunately, I didn't see the slide, so I couldn't read all the bubbles. Um, that were on that slide and maybe this has already been addressed, but one of the things I think is key for a resilience hub these days is that it, it also is going to serve as if, if there are a large number of people there is. It's going to serve as a communication hub. People are going to want to reach their families to let them know what's going on. They're going to want to charge their devices. And so I hope that the design of the resiliency hub, um, includes a very robust, um, I don't know, internet service. I'm not sure how you design internet backup, but I'm hoping that's, um, included, um, very high capacity for all the people that might be there and lots of, um, uh, outlets for individual charging that type of thing. And oh, I did want to comment, um, I've been to a lot of landscaping for, um, for fire escape, classes and pretty much the 1st thing they always point out in those classes is that, um, with high wind, um, embers, um, can, um, travel a mile and a half to 2 miles. And so if there were to be a fire in the North Bay Shore, the winds are blowing the right direction. It wouldn't take much for them to start getting into, um, away from the North Bay Shore, getting, get trapped under people's eaves or get trapped in vents, under houses or vents in the eaves and get into the houses. That's the way, um, we're hearing that a lot of fire spread these days. So, If the county model is not factoring that in, then maybe that needs to be, um, considered. Thank you. You. Now,

[01:23:28] Member Alison Hicks: Bruce Nagel. Can you hear me? We can.

[01:23:35] Bruce Nagel: Okay, um, what I want to, I saw on the plan, which I think is important is some of the things that you're putting in place to make sure that when floods happen, they're minimized. There's a dramatic example of this that's already been put into Mountain Dew, and that's in the Kelvey field, those of you who haven't seen it, it's basically took a baseball field and sunk it 20 feet into the ground, so it's below the level of the land around it, and it's a diversion pool. And I see in the plan that there were other things like that, and I guess we need to make sure that we have enough of those kinds of plans available so that we have a way to divert the water and put it into places where it's going to be less problem. Thank you. Thank you. So

[01:24:22] Member Alison Hicks: it looks like we have no more public speakers. Last call. No public speakers. Okay, so now this item comes back to committee members for comments. Are there any comments? That's mayor. Yep. Basically,

[01:24:40] Unknown Speaker: I'm really pleased with that we're going forward this site, this was a good report. I did also hope we could add, um, uh, building from a, you know, the list of building from existing. We can add, um, add, add, add, add. So that's my thing. Right, right. But anyway, no, good job and we'll be real interested to see how this, you know, how this progresses. In December. can, before we can celebrate. At

[01:25:22] Member Margaret Abe-Koga: cocoa, additional comments. Um, just, you know, thank you to staff, and this is, uh, exciting and looking forward to this. The progress.

[01:25:33] Member Alison Hicks: My only comment is that um, May pair well with what Bruce Kearney said. I'm hoping that we can do more than just public resiliency hubs. I'm hoping that we can also do, um, private ones, what people, a lot of what I talk to people about when their power went out was, you know, all their food was going bad and that it happened multiple times or that they didn't make much money and it was like, you know, their monthly salary just rotted in the fridge. Um, So, uh, and at the same time, people would say we're doing home electrification. And how are they going to do home electrification if their electricity is going to go out? Should they use gas more? Which doesn't really power your refrigerator, but, um, But, you know, you can cook your food up. That's what they were saying. You know, at least I would be able to cook my food up and eat it. So, I, I think at the same time, some of, well, what Bruce was talking about, as people are electrifying their private homes, giving them the idea that they can also build their own resiliency hug in their kitchen, whether it be using car batteries, or, um, I know there, you can buy an induction cooktop that has a battery built in, and I think there are other options as well. So I think making that a part resiliency, a part of our electrification, for multiple reasons. One is that, um, there is some truth to say, why put everything on electricity if I'm going to have power outages? Um, but another reason is that we're not going to be able to put all 80,000 people in the senior center. Um, So I think private resiliency hubs, you know, and it would be nice if they're in different neighborhoods and people can bring food over to people's fridges and maybe, you know, make their own kitchen resiliency because next year. I think that would be very +and I think that working with either cool block or the neighborhood groups to do that, I think would be a good idea. Um, and then I'm going to, my 2nd comment, I'm going to bounce off what the vice mayor said about surf. I'm, I'm honestly just saying things that residents have said to me, but Somebody said that they thought that CERT really needs to be rethought, that CERT is mostly about earthquakes, which are a good thing to think about. But that they're not for the kind of, um, you know, these power outages were not as as big an emergency as a giant earthquake, but still, if we have several per year, every year, it's it's those kinds of emergencies. Um, so they thought that CERT could be rethought to incorporate training for these kinds of situations. as well as working with our neighborhood groups. And I guess that's my last comment. I think this is my last comment. Um, Yeah, my last comment is, when you put up the, um, All the organizations you're working with on resiliency centers. I, the ones I saw missing, so it was a good list. And it was lit. It seemed to be geared, much of it, not all of it, seemed to be geared towards addressing the needs of the most vulnerable among us, whether they be seniors or, uh, people living in vehicles or, knowing people, other people. But it seems to me like some of these emergencies, just like earthquakes really hit everyone. So you don't have to be particularly vulnerable, and I would like to do more outreach on this with our neighborhood groups, with cert, with some of those organizations with, with, um, Coventry Mountain View, with some of those organizations that really touch everyone's lives. Yes,

[01:29:35] Unknown Speaker: ma'am. I'm just gonna follow up on that. You know, the flood protection work that's done every October. That would be a great thing to add some of this stuff too. The water district puts it out and you know, the city has put out information about making yourself floods safe and getting an emergency plan and that kind of thing. And, um, It's, um, uh, at least it's a conduit for communication that we have that we could he could grow. But, um, it is really true. These are problems for everyone. Not just the, I don't know, 500 people that might make it to the senior center and the library. That's right. I think a lot. Love

[01:30:20] Member Alison Hicks: in their laptops. Yeah. Anyway, um, So, those are my last comments. I mean, so all great work. Glad to see it. Great comments from the public. And we're now moving to, um, item 7, which is committee staff comments. questions and committee reports, and no action will be taken on any of the questions raised by the CSC at this time. To CSC members or staff have comments or questions.

[01:31:04] Unknown Speaker: I just wanted to announce that tomorrow, October 4th is day without driving. Also, it's Clean Air Day and International Walk and Bike to School Day. So we encourage everyone to take the pledges, share with your friends and family. It's a great day to ride a bike to school. And electrify your house for clean our day. Um, second, the electric home tour, Mary, already mentioned. Saturday, October 14th, 10 AM to 4 p.m. There's 5 properties in Mountain View participating, which is a pretty good showing. And we will have interpreters in Spanish and Mandarin provided by the city. Uh, Leslie, we are sponsoring at Tara's plentiful fall challenge. It is a challenge to help people choose a more climate friendly diet and also how many days a week they want to try to reach that. So it's very flexible and has good climate impacts. That starts on October 23rd and Aktera.org slash plentiful fall is where people can sign up to participate and learn more. you. Um,

[01:32:12] Ms. Lee: Chair Hicks. I also wanted to take a moment to introduce, um, new staff that have joined the sustainability and resiliency division. We have 2 climate core fellows who have joined our team. It looks like one has stepped away momentarily, but, um, with Connor, Wolfe, and Karen Manner. There will be with the city of Mountain View for the next 10 months as our Climate Corfellows. We're delighted to have them. And then I'm also very excited. Yes, of course. Um, and I'm very excited to also share the news that we will be welcoming a 7th member of the team that will make our team fully staffed. Um, Rebecca Lucky. We'll be joining the city as the new sustainability program manager. She comes to the city of Mountain View, um, starting October 30th and we'll bring her to a future CSC meeting to introduce her as well.

[01:33:10] Unknown Speaker: Oh, if you don't mind, there is something I've been thinking about all meeting a comedian, I've been wanting to say, and the introduction of new staff is a good safeway to this. I want to say, I really appreciate how much sustainability staff gave credit to public works on both items for all the work that we're doing. But in doing so, I don't think they've had themselves enough on the back. And I really, you know, they would refer to staff upon it for grants and so on. And, I wanted you to know how much of a team effort this really is. And I honestly feel that one of the reasons we're being more effective and starting to deliver a lot of these improvements is because we have a great sustainability team that is helping us with planning, strategy, and the grant assistance. If I don't have to have engineers and project manager spending all their time writing grants, they can be more involved in getting the projects delivered. So, well, I want to thank you. for giving so much credit to public works. I really did want you to be aware that. We are developing an incredible partnership and it's really making a difference for us. Thank you,

[01:34:22] Member Alison Hicks: Mrs. Cameron. That's something I didn't know. So, it's always good to hear how things operate behind scenes. More comments, questions? Okay, then, uh, the next item on our agenda is item 8, which is adjournment. This meeting. Is adjourned at 7.43 p.m.

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