Minutes March 12, 2009
Campus Sustainability Council
Thursday March 12, 2009, 2:00-3:00 pm
Minutes
Attending: Victor Alatorre, Steve Arndt, David Barnhill, Almut Beringer, Jim Feldman, Brian Klinger, Mike Lizotte, Maureen Muldoon, Cassandra Nagle, Marty Strand.
Next meeting: Thursday April 2, 2:00-3:00. Room Swart 210
Procedures and structure
Comment on procedures
- We will use the “Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure” (Sturgis).
- We will have time slots for items on the agenda. If we are still discussing the topic when the time is up, the Council may vote to extend the time period.
- We will have a standard time-slot for our meetings: Thursdays, 2:00-3:00, roughly every other week.
- There will be three main sections of our meetings:
- An update from the Director.
- Discussion related to specific groups (see below), if appropriate.
- Matters pertaining to the Council as a whole.
- The annual sustainability report is the responsibility of the Director. The Director will submit a draft to the Council for comments and suggestions. The Director will consider those comments in her final version of the report.
Specific groups. As discussed and agreed upon in meetings Sept 17, Oct 22, & Nov 5, the CSC will have specific groups, who meet, make decisions, take actions, and consult with the council as needed. Each group will have a convener, who will send brief updates to council members 48 hours before council meetings. The updates should include:
- Meetings held, if any
- Actions taken, if any
- Other work done, if any
- Plans for the next few weeks
In general these reports will be in lieu of oral reports at the meeting. If there is a need to discuss any report, the CSC can take that up at the meeting.
Council-as-a-whole. The council will make recommendations to the administration and the Director.
Director’s report
Meetings: Almut has been meeting individually with the Deans and CSC members. She asked Deans who in the college were “sustainability champions.”
Office: Her office for now is in Swart. The CSC discussed several future possibilities: Dempsey, Oviatt, Pollack Alumni House, and the New Academic Building. Almut noted that we will need space for student interns. Steve pointed out that there will be space for her in the new Facilities Management building.
Website: Almut is getting trained in Plone so she can take over the website soon. Anyone with suggestions for the website should send them to Almut.
Annual report: Almut will have an initial draft of the Sustainability Annual Report by May 4. The CSC will make comments, and she will then create a final draft by the end of June.
Discussion of specific groups
Progress reports were sent to the CSC on Curriculum, Outreach, and Energy Conservation.
The New Academic Building will be at least gold. Platinum is a possibility. (This is the most ambitious LEED building in the state after the Aldo Leopold building.) Mike pointed out that going to the next level may depend on what the contractor does we need clear specifications and monitoring of construction. Jim suggested that we might recommend going platinum. Steve said he would draft a resolution. Steve will let the CSC know just before the design goes out. Groundbreaking it set for October 2009.
Energy: The campus and Division of State Facilities (DSF) are currently in the process of reviewing an energy performance contract prepared by Johnson Controls. A performance contract is unusual in that the contractor pays for all the improvements and gets paid through demonstrated energy savings. The contract contains over $2,300,000 dollars worth of improvements and has a 14 year payback period.
Council-as-a-whole (15 minutes)
By-laws. Mike, Steve, Almut, and David are working on a draft proposal for by-laws. They hope to have a draft by the next meeting.
Classified Staff (Brian Klinger)
Classified Staff Appreciation Day is June 5th. Its theme this year is sustainability. There are around 600 academic staff, and they are the ones that do the most purchasing. Brian argued that the CSC should have a visible presence, explaining who we are, generating interest in sustainability, and looking for interested parties. It is an all-day event, and we could have a booth in the morning. We could give out a Green award, like the STAR award. We could have a small grants budget for staff initiatives concerning sustainability.
