The Sustainability and Resiliency Committee meeting was held in the City Commission Chambers at Fargo City Hall at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 8, 2022.
Present:
John Strand (chair), Fargo City Commissioner
Tim Mahoney, Fargo Mayor
Bruce Grubb, Fargo City Administrator
Mark Williams, Fargo Assistant Director of Planning and Development
Brenda Derrig, City of Fargo Engineer
Bekki Majerus, Fargo Facilities Director
Casey Steele, At-Large Member of the Public
Greta Gramig, At-Large Member of the Public
Dave Leker, Fargo Park District Representative (Ex-officio)
Shawn Paschke, Xcel Energy Representative (Ex-officio)
Blake Mikesell (via conference call), Fargo School District Representative
(Ex-officio)
Absent:
Ben Dow, City of Fargo Director of Public Works
Shawn Ouradnik, City of Fargo Inspections Director
Jennifer Sweatman, At-Large Member of the Public
Paul Matthys, Cass County Electric Cooperative Representative (Ex-officio)
Approval of the Agenda:
Mr. Grubb moved the agenda be approved adding two additional items, a letter
from ND Senator Merrill Piepkorn and an update on reusable bags. Second by Ms.
Derrig. There was unanimous approval.
Approval of the Minutes:
Mr. Grubb moved to approve the minutes from the January 5, 2022 meeting.
Second by Ms. Derrig. There was unanimous approval.
FM Plastic Bag Task Force Update:
Mr. Grubb said the FM Plastic Bag Task Force recently completed a project
procuring 1,000 reusable bags to distribute throughout the community. He said they
worked with the schools and allowed 5th graders in participating schools to design
artwork for the bags depicting what they are learning about both recycling and plastic
bags. He distributed bags featuring the winning artwork to each committee member
and the remainder of the bags will be turned over to the Recycling Coordinator to be
distributed through the schools. He thanked Darla Lewandowski from the FM Plastic
Bag Task Force for her part and Blake Mikesell from the School District who contributed
some funding to make this happen.
Mr. Strand said it is nice to see the tangible results from the effort.
Correspondence on Carbon Capture:
Mr. Grubb said ND Senator Merrill Piepkorn asked him to share a publication
with this committee called “Great River News” that he thought the makeup of this
committee would find interesting. He said Senator Piepkorn was at the last meeting
where Project Tundra Carbon Capture was discussed and told Mr. Grubb he enjoys the
work this committee is doing.
Proposal Presentation – Carbon Dashboard and ICRSR Plan
Mr. Grubb introduced John Flory, Executive Managing Director of The Alliance
Risk Group and Brian Treu, Vice President, Sales & Business Development for
Innowatts (both participated virtually). He said at the July SRC meeting, the
presentation on the RoCo Smart Energy ramp feature to the Roberts Common garage
included a carbon dashboard. He said it was created to track emissions reductions
through the use of renewal energy elements incorporated into the RoCo garage.
Following that presentation, he said, he and Michael Redlinger asked Mr. Flory about
the possibility of producing some sort of carbon dashboard for the City and asked if
Alliance and Innowatts may be able to help. The question is, he said, where to start.
He said the team of Alliance Risk Group and Innowatts prepared a proposal for the
creation of a carbon dashboard, as well as an Infrastructure Carbon Reduction,
Sustainability and Resiliency (ICRSR) Plan, which looks at things to consider to aid in
reducing carbon emissions. He said if this committee likes the dashboard idea, he
would ask for a roll call vote and he will prepare a formal plan of action coming out of
this committee as a recommendation to the City Commission.
Mr. Treu, said it is his team that supports the RoCo project. He said they look
forward to the potential of extending the partnerships with lessons learned and
extending capabilities to benefit the City beyond RoCo and looking at other sites. He
complimented staff and the committee on the vision to measure carbon and
understanding steps that can be taken to reduce it and benefit from it. He shared an
overview of the project deliverables which includes; a summary dashboard, detailed
dashboard, ICRSR plan for 2-3 City sites and a high level ICRSR Citywide plan to guide
infrastructure funding proposals; and schedule and funding structure options. He said
Governor DougBurgum has an ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 and
enhancing the sustainability and resiliency of infrastructure is a State and Federal
funding initiative. The steps the City has taken on a number of sustainability and
resiliency initiatives has resulted in a positive reduction in carbon and the dashboard is
intended to help down that path, he said.
Mr. Flory said Randy Roy, an Alliance associate is also virtual and he would have
the most involvement in moving this project forward. Mr. Flory shared a PowerPoint
demonstration that gave an indication of what the dashboard could look like. He said it
could include a summary dashboard at a high level, showing pounds per month of
carbon reduction and some other indicative numbers that people can relate to such as
miles of auto driving it would offset, percent reduction from the baseline and perhaps
operating costs. Early on in the project, he said, they would sit down with City
representatives and see what they want included. Initially, he said, the dashboard could
include the City sites referenced in the sustainability resiliency mini-white paper,
including City Hall, Main Library, RoCo parking, Central Garage, streetlights, traffic
lights, water storage, water treatment, wastewater treatment and sanitary lifts. He said
after the summary page, there would be tables for the individual sites showing things
more deeply such as the current usage and impact as well as and measures taken for
that site. The main way the dashboards would be generated, he said, is from input
data, most of which will be utility bill information and those would lead to a summary
dashboard for individual sites and a summary of all the City facilities. The City will help
determine the sources of the input data and sites, and obtain appropriate energy bills
monthly, he said, and advise of any changes planned for equipment or issues that
would materially affect energy emissions. Net energy is the basic unit starting on a
monthly basis, he said, and the possibility of doing it hourly as in the RoCo building
could be explored for other sites. A detailed dashboard would be followed by a
summary dashboard, he said, and include calculations intended for select City
employees and not the public. He shared an example of the detailed dashboard
illustrating baselines and carbon savings. He called attention to the economic
development benefit and analysis found that the Smart Clean Energy Package at RoCo
was instrumental in attracting workforce from out of the state and provided about $12
million in regional economic benefit. North Dakota has been fortunate to have
businesses, he said; however, the workforce has constraints. Enhancing the image of
the City will help attract workforce, he stated.
Mr. Flory said from a funding perspective, it would be helpful to include the
ICRSR Plan with similar calculations as the dashboard. He said the plan identifies a
recommended set of measures, particularly in terms of net energy, carbon dioxide use
and potential resiliency impacts. The plan for each site would be a set of measures and
the carbon dioxide total by site, he said, and include estimates of the operating cost
savings, initial cost and resiliency impacts. He said City staff would provide initial
information upfront and provide feedback as the plans are put together. He shared a
probable schedule and said the fees involved are an initial payment of $114,000.00 and
after 12 months, beginning in June 2023, there is a monthly payment of $3,000.00 in
addition to the existing Innowatts $2,000.00 current base fee.
Mr. Grubb said he would propose that the first year charge of $114,000.00 be
paid with funds budgeted for the landfill gas collection project which came in under
budget and has close synergy with this project.
In response to a question from Mr. Strand asking what the dashboards would
look like on the City’s website, Mr. Grubb said there would be a link on the home page
for the three initial locations and it would be kept interactive and dynamic. He said the
idea is that after establishing a baseline, work would be done with Facilities
Management to see where the City can become more efficient, save energy and reduce
carbon emissions. The data will drive future actions to become more proactive, he said
In response to a question from Ms. Gramig asking for clarification on the goal,
Mr. Grubb said people visiting the website would be able to see the dashboard and
understand what the City is doing to address problems. He said the information for the
public would be the summary dashboard and the data dashboards would be maintained
behind the scenes.
In response to a question from Mr. Strand asking if other cities are doing this, Mr.
Flory said a number of cities are in the process of putting together carbon reduction
plans. He said there is enough in sites and conversations on climate change that most
people respond positively. North Dakota has some specific benefits, he said, even
though electricity is used that has a significant coal component, when added to the
wind, the two together can reduce the carbon footprint.
Ms. Gramig suggested there be a way to incorporate the end goal of carbon
neutrality by 2030 so it can be demonstrated how far this has come toward meeting that
goal. She said she envisions something like the online fundraising efforts that show a
thermometer that demonstrates how far they have come toward reaching a goal.
Mr. Grubb said hesees the staff involved being those on this committee, including
Engineering, Street Department, Planning, Facilities Management and himself.
Mr. Treu said energy demand is what is being managed and usage coupled with
reductions in demand is driven by smart clean energy investments. He said each
building will have its load shape which helps in aggregate to understand the total carbon
and then based on data received from energy billings or the City or supporting partners,
there could be other trends or insights with efficiencies or reductions.
In response to a question from Mr. Mikesell asking how often information is
updated on the dashboard, Mr. Flory said initially it will be once a month due to data
coming from different sources and some will only have monthly billing data. They do
have the infrastructure and Innowatts can support it, that could allow near real time
electricity data and calculating emissions behind that, he said, and it could be moved
towards real time as metering technology would be installed.
Mr. Treu said updates can be enabled as low as a daily frequency and as this
evolves, if daily updates or reports are valuable, they can be enabled and made
available.
Mr. Strand says he hears people say “Fargo needs to declare a climate
emergency;” however, his nature is to find actionable, tractionable items to show
intention rather than simply put out a message about concern for the climate.
In response to a question from Mr. Strand asking what he sees as the value that
would provide in the light of climate concerns, Mr. Grubb said this allows the City to start
by measuring three facilities and hopefully demonstrating success and gaining
momentum. He said from an emissions standpoint there would be an economic upside
and he sees this as an exciting first step.
In response to a question from Ms. Steele asking if the dashboard will allow
historical comparisons, Mr. Treu said the intent is to establish a baseline of carbon
emissions associated with the sites to be measured, then the plan will establish steps to
be taken to reduce energy demand or the amount of carbon. He said that would allow,
over time, to see how the steps taken have a positive impact.
In response to a question from Mr. Strand asking, with the Governor’s goal to be
carbon neutral by 2030, is there State or Federal funding, Mr. Grubb said he believes
so. He said doing some of the work positions the City well to pursue infrastructure
funding.
In response to a question from Ms. Steele asking if another site should be
considered since City Hall is new with efficiencies built in, Mr. Grubb said perhaps that
could be reconsidered, an older site could have more improvements.
Mr. Grubb said the likely process is that a voting member of this committee
makes the suggested motion, followed by a second to the motion and roll call taken. He
said following a majority vote, it would go from this committee as recommendation to the
Board of City Commissioners under a Report of Action. He said he recommends staff
members on this committee select the three sites; one of which he feels needs to be
included is the City landfill.
Ms. Derrig moved the Sole Source Procurement with Innowatts for the
development and operation of a Carbon Dashboard and an Infrastructure Carbon
Reduction, Sustainability and Resiliency Plan be approved.
Second by Ms. Gramig. On call of the roll Derrig, Gramig, Strand, Mahoney,
Grubb, Williams, Majerus and Steele voted aye.
Absent and not voting: Dow, Ouradnik and Sweatman.
The motion was declared carried.
Mr. Strand said he is proud Fargo is taking a lead in the critical conversation on
climate. He thanked Mr. Grubb for promoting the topic and bringing the team players
forward for an action that will be looked back on as being a great initial first step. He
suggested the SRC Committee members be invited to the City Commission meeting
when this is acted on to be introduced to the full Commission.
Public Comment
There were no members of the public present for comment.
Next Meeting
The Committee will meet again on a date to be determined.
The meeting adjourned at 3:57 p.m.