 Okay. Thank you all for joining us. It looks like we now have a quorum. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. It is 4.03. Can we take roll please? Yes. Mayor Rogers. Council Member McDonald. Here. Council Member Rogers. Present. Thank you. And we'll now go to public comment. This is a time when any person may address matters, not listed on this agenda, but which are within the subject matter of the jurisdiction. The public may comment on agenda items when the item is called. Each speaker is allowed three minutes. If you would like to make a public comment, please raise your hand and you will be called. I'm not seeing any raised hand, Council Member. Thank you very much. We will now go to item three, Department of Reports 3.1, Water Smart Expo 2022. Staff will provide an update on the 2022 Water Smart Expo, including the events, purpose, state location and associated activities and provide a presentation here. It looks like we have Ms. Heather will provide the report. Is that correct? Yes. All right. Thank you so much. Take it away. Well, let me share my screen. Can you all see my screen now? Yes. So it is not in presentation mode though. No. There we go. Well, thank you. My name is Heather Villas. I'm a sustainability rep with the Water Youth Efficiency Team. Thank you for having me here today, Council Member. I'm here to invite you to our annual Water Smart Expo, which will be held on June 29th this year from 5 to 8.30 p.m. It'll be at the Old Courthouse Square in downtown Santa Rosa, the normal Winstonite night market. This will be the first time we've had our Water Smart Expo in the past two years due to COVID with all the public events being canceled. We're extremely happy to be back with the community again. This is our annual water efficiency event that we've held since 2003 to help educate the community on water conservation both inside and outside of their homes. We plan on advertising it through film search, social media, radio, newsletters, print ads, as well as other local partners we have. At the event, we'll be handing out free drought kits. The drought kit includes side tasks, disaster codes for weeks, shower heads, hose novels, faucet aerators, and information on our programs. We'll also have our full staff there, so customers can ask experts about low water use plants as well as see our displays of water efficient things such as rain barrels, gray water set up in some unclear toilet things to teach them how to fix leaks. We also plan on having a children's area where they can make buttons and some other activities. And our goal this year is to focus on signing up customers for the Water Smart Portal. We hope to engage customers in using the Water Smart Portal to look at their water use data as well as that leak, alert, and threshold that we can fix with faster. Some of the vendors that will be there for the representing the city will have the hydration station, which is back at events again as well. Stormwater, water billing, which will be helping with the portal sign up, environmental compliance, and of course, we'll have water use efficiency, and we'll have a couple booths there. As far as outside vendors go, we'll have Sonoma County Energy Independence Program, Sonoma Water, Alt Water, which does gray water and rainwater installation locally, Sonoma County Waste Management, Army Farms, and the Master Garner Garden Sense Program. All of these vendors focus on sustainability. As I said before, we'd love to invite you to our Water Smart Expo on June 29th from 5 to 8.30 p.m. downtown Santa Rosa. Thank you, any questions? Yes, Councilwoman O'Connell. Thank you, Councilwoman Rodgers. I just wanna say thank you for your really cute logo of the drought is still here. It actually was really eye-catching on the information that went home in my last water bill because I think people have heard about it for so long that having that little logo and this event, I think, is gonna bring it all back. So I just wanna say thank you to staff for your clever work on your graphics and also to make sure that people know that we're still working really hard on making sure that we do our best to combat this drought. So thank you so much and thanks for the exciting event. I'm hoping I'll be able to attend. And I am definitely excited and I cannot wait to attend. And I hope that we have a host of community members that are down there attending. Last time I went to the market, there were so many people there. So I hope that there are a lot of people that are engaging in what we have to offer because we have a lot of information and not to mention a lot of supplies for people to take home and try out at home to help save water. So thank you so much Heather for joining us today. Like to see if anyone else has any comments or questions. So if you do, please raise your hands regarding this item 3.1. Any participants? I'm not seeing any raised hands at this time. Thank you. Moving on to item four, new business 4.1, Regional Climate Protection Authority, Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy, a call to action. And we have a couple of people here. It looks like we have Tanya joining us and we have Ross, correct? Correct, yes. Well, thank you very much for joining us and I will hand it over to the two of you. Thank you. Thank you council members very much for this opportunity to share with you an update on our Sonoma Climate Mobilization Call to Action. My name is Tanya Narath and I'm the director of climate programs for the Regional Climate Protection Authority. And with me is my colleague Ross Clintonen who is our marketing and communication specialist. And Ross has agreed to share the presentation with you today. So Ross, when you have a moment to share the slides, that would be great. So, next slide please. So the purpose of our presentation this afternoon is to give you an update on RCPA's work to mobilize the resources and funding that we need to support Sonoma County's very ambitious climate goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. So today's discussion is really intended to give you an update on the work that we're doing with the Sonoma Climate Mobilization and to hear your thoughts and certainly to gather your support for the work that we're doing. And so we're working to build on our mobilization strategy and start putting this strategy into action and really looking to build support in the entire community for the efforts that we're undertaking and also to define a shared community vision for what a healthy, livable and climate resilient Sonoma County will look like. Next slide please. So the time to act is now. I don't think I need to tell this audience that we're all very well aware of the impacts in Sonoma County and beyond of climate change. So there's no question that change is happening between the drought, wildfires, flooding, extreme heat. So it's really evident in Sonoma County and beyond that we need to take action to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Next slide. So the good news is that Sonoma County has long been recognized as a leader in climate action. So back in 2016, the image here on the left is a certificate that Sonoma County and the RCPA received from the White House. We were chosen as a climate action champion for the work that was done leading up to the development of RCPA and the climate action planning and implementation work that had been done. And then more recently, we were recognized as a county for being the first county in the country to have all jurisdictions adopt climate emergency resolutions. So we received some kudos from this mobilization organization for that action. And so our goal is really to move forward aggressively as we can to meet the challenge that we've set in front of ourselves to meet this 2030 goal. Next slide, please. And we feel the RCPA is uniquely positioned to launch this call to action because we have a really unique role in Sonoma County. We're the only agency of our kind in California that was created specifically to facilitate collaboration and coordination of climate efforts across Sonoma County. So through the work that we do with Santa Rosa and our other member jurisdictions and partners, we leverage resources, reduce duplication of efforts and coordinate plans because we all know that we can make progress much faster when we're working together. Our board of directors, which is the same as of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority enables collaboration and accountability across the county. So we have representation from all jurisdictions and the oversight of our board ensures that we balance city and county perspectives which is really important in this work. And then finally, we also work very closely with a number of partner agencies including Sonoma Clean Power, Sonoma Water, the Ag and Open Space District, Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and we represent Sonoma County in the Bay Area Regional Energy Network. Next slide, please. So as I mentioned, it's clear that climate change is impacting us here and now. And so I'd like to kind of switch gears and talk about what we are doing to better prepare for and address these climate impacts here in Sonoma County. Next slide, please. So this is some background, really leading up to the adoption of the Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy. So as you may be aware back in 2016, there was the release of a Countywide Climate Action Plan which our CPA led the development of. And that plan outlined a number of actions at both the county level as well as for each of our local jurisdictions to achieve a reduction target of 25% below 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. And then in 2019 to 2021, all of our local jurisdictions and the RCPA adopted the Climate Emergency Resolutions. And as part of RCPA's Climate Emergency Resolution, our board directed staff to work with our local partners to develop a new climate strategy that would take us to a new goal for 2030, which is this carbon neutral by 2030. So clearly all of our local policymakers and the community at large have recognized the urgency of taking stronger action and that really led to the development of the mobilization strategy which was adopted by our board in March of 2021. Next slide, please. So just a quick snapshot in terms of the data around our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and looking at a comparison between this new target that Sonoma County has chosen to be carbon neutral by 2030 and the goal that the state has set which is to be carbon neutral by 2045 through that executive order that's highlighted there on the right. So the graph on the left shows our inventory updates that have been done through 2018. So that's the red line. And then that purple line shows the targets that were set as part of that 2020 plan that was released in 2016. And so that was aiming towards the same goal as the state has which is to be 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. So for us to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, we have to really pull that dot up and achieve that 80% below 1990 levels by 2030. And then the remaining emissions would essentially be absorbed through increased sequestration. So that's why you don't see that green dot going all the way to zero because we don't feel like that is really realistic. One last note on this is that our CPA is currently working on our 2020 countywide GHG inventory update and expect to release that later this summer. And so that's gonna show us how we're doing relative to that 2020 goal to see whether we achieved the 25% below 1990 or where we're at relative to that number. Next slide, please. So now I'll just give a brief overview and talk in a little bit more detail in subsequent slides about the mobilization strategy. So this shows at a high level the strategies that fall into four different initiative areas and several different sectors. So these all are designed to achieve the 2030 goal which again, it's a very stretch goal, very ambitious goal. And we really feel that achieving this goal is going to require transformative change across our entire community because essentially we are switching the fuels that power our economy, if you will, from fossil fuels, gas and oil to renewable 100% carbon-free sources. So it's a big transition that we need to make and we feel that this is really only possible if we're all working together across local government, nonprofit business community to focus our actions and secure the resources that we need for success. Next slide. So now I'll go through a little bit more detail about each of these strategy areas. So first in terms of looking at our buildings and the energy that powers our buildings, we have two main areas of focus here. One is what we call the all electric buildings campaign which is to accelerate the electrification of our existing buildings and to electrify all new buildings. Now Santa Rosa has taken a big step forward in this area with your adoption of your all electric reach code. So that's kudos to the city of Santa Rosa for taking that action. And so your next step is really, and across the county is to look at how do we electrify our existing buildings which is obviously is the bulk of the buildings that we have out there in the community. So to decarbonize our buildings, we need to phase out the use of gas as quickly as possible and replace all of the gas burning appliances that we use to heat our homes, cook our food and heat water with appliances that are powered by clean electricity. And then second, working with our partners in Sonoma Clean Power and Healdsburg Electric continuing to clean up our electricity supply and moving to 100% carbon free electricity. So I mentioned the reach codes. That's an action that Santa Rosa has already taken. Your all electric reach code. And we're also looking within our CPA to work with our members and partners on strategies for electrifying existing buildings. Next slide please. So then switching to transportation which as you're probably aware is roughly 60% of our emissions in the county come from our transportation system. So this is probably one of our more challenging areas to reduce emissions in. And we're looking at two main areas of focus to achieve the shift that we need to make. First is to what we're calling our drive less Sonoma County campaign making it easier to get around without a car basically shifting our trips from driving to bicycling, walking, taking transit and then other forms of micro mobility like the e-scooters, electric bikes, et cetera. And then rapidly replacing gas powered vehicles for the electric vehicles. So one of the actions that is underway in Sonoma County across a number of our jurisdictions and I know Santa Rosa is looking at this as well is adopting bans on the construction of new gas stations. We have three jurisdictions in Sonoma County that have approved gas station or new gas station bans and then four more are working on bans. Coming up in the fall the Sonoma County Transportation Authority will be working with local partners to develop a new county wide active transportation plan that will be looking at ways to create a network of safe, low stress bike and pedestrian pathways. The RCPA is looking at ways to secure new funding for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations. This will be really critical to make sure that folks who live in multifamily housing and other workplaces will have access to charge electric vehicles. And then lastly to work with our local jurisdictions to look at our electric vehicle charging infrastructure codes and what requirements we can place on new construction, for example, to increase the number of EV charging or EV ready spaces that we have in those buildings or in those parking lots. Next slide please. So next up is Zero Waste by 2030 and I know that Santa Rosa again has been taking action here from a policy perspective. So this is an area that our partners at Zero Waste Sonoma are really taking the lead on developing a number of model ordinances such as the disposable food service wear and polystyrene foam bands and working with local jurisdictions to implement these ordinances. And then most recently Zero Waste Sonoma received a grant from the County of Sonoma's Climate Resilience Fund to support the development and implementation of a construction demolition and deconstruction model ordinance. And we're expecting a draft of this ordinance to come out I think later this summer, perhaps early fall. Next slide please. So now switching gears to carbon sequestration. I mentioned that this is a key component of achieving our 2030 goal because we recognize it's a pretty tall order to reduce our emissions as far as we need to and we don't think we can get all the way to zero by 2030. So we'll need to find new ways to sequester that carbon that we're not able to prevent from being emitted. And so we have a couple of strategies in this area. First and maybe the obvious one is to protect what we've already stored in the ground. So keep the carbon in the ground and then work on strategies to capture more carbon in our soils and plants. And then lastly to scale up the infrastructure that will support the sequestration. So we know that we need compost and we need the workforce to spread the compost and to implement the other strategies that can increase sequestration. So a couple of areas that we're working on currently with our partners, we've just recently kicked off an effort to do a survey of urban tree protection ordinances and to support our local jurisdictions that want to look at strengthening those ordinances with some, whether it's a model ordinance or a particular language that could be included in those tree protection ordinances. And then second, we're partnering with a number of local organizations on a project that's again funded by the County of Sonoma's Climate Resilience Fund to implement a project of applying compost on multiple properties in both the agricultural and community settings. So those are two areas that we're working on in sequestration. Next slide, please. And then in terms of resilience and adaptation, again, recognizing that climate change is already here and already impacting us, we know that we need to increase our resilience to climate change impacts and adapt to a never-changing environment. So the first area is really to look at ways to increase the resilience of our electric grid to both meet current needs as well as prepare for what we know will be increased demands from the electrification of our buildings and transportation systems. Now, a lot of this is really beyond the scope of what our CPA is able to address, but certainly working with our partners in our local Sonoma Clean Power in Hillsburg Electric and the work that they're doing to advocate at the state level for changes in funding to strengthen the electrical grid. And then there's some local projects that could be looked at here as well, such as implementing microgrids to basically be able to island off of the grid if there are power outages to be able to still provide the power that we need. And then second, to continue working on ways to become more resilient to climate. A lot of great work has been done in Sonoma County already related to this. So really working with our local jurisdictions and partner agencies to implement a variety of different plans and strategies around resilience. Next slide, please. So then the last piece of our mobilization strategy and really this is a fundamental and foundational element is to make sure that equity and community engagement are really a fundamental part of how we develop and implement the solutions to the climate crisis. And this is really a large part what our call to action campaign is really about. We know kind of technically speaking and programmatically what some of the solutions need to be to achieve our 2030 goal, but we don't necessarily know how to get there and the details behind some of that and the priorities. And so we really want to engage the entire community to understand those priorities, to have the community be part of developing those critical solutions. So this is again, a foundational element that needs to go through everything that we do. Next slide, please. So looking at what it's going to take to be successful to achieve our ambitious climate action goals. Next slide, please. So we kicked off our campaign our call to action campaign in April with a public workshop, virtual public workshop. And one of the questions that we asked the audience of that workshop is what is your vision for a healthy, livable zero emission community? And this is a word cloud of the inputs that we received at that meeting and hopefully you'll recognize at least a few words or phrases that resonate with you. So really something that we're trying to get a better sense from the community at large about what is our vision for what this community can look like in the future when we tackle successfully tackle the climate change issues in front of us. So next slide, please. And then thinking about what resources are needed to achieve this vision. Obviously funding, we know that we need more money to hire the workforce needed to purchase the new appliances and equipment and do the transformations that are needed. We also need a trained workforce to implement the solutions. Some of the new technologies are not so new technologies anymore actually, but things like heat pumps are not necessarily common out there in the industry. And so really training up our workforce, some great job, local job opportunities to do the retrofits and to replace the appliances to weatherize homes, et cetera. We also feel like we need creative thinking and new ways of solving problems. And we need again to involve our local leaders and experts in the key climate sectors who really have been working on these issues for a number of years and have some great ideas that we wanna make sure are factored into the solutions that we're working on. And I guess bottom line, we know that local government can't do this work alone. We need to fully engage our entire community to successfully respond to the climate crisis. So next slide, please. Next slide after that. So talking about our next steps with the campaign. So this is a high level timeline of what we're embarking upon. So the first and foremost, we know that we can't wait any longer to take action and we haven't been waiting actually, but we need to continue implementing the mobilization climate solutions that we have funding for now. So with the resources and funding that we have, all of our local jurisdictions are working on a variety of climate related actions, including of course the city of Santa Rosa. And so that work needs to continue and accelerate. And then in parallel with that, we are again launching this outreach and engagement campaign to develop the community's vision and also climate solutions and ideas for reaching that 2030 goal. And then moving into 2023, starting to get more specific in terms of, what do those solutions look like? What are the priorities should, are there new ideas around transportation and ways that we can provide mobility solutions that we're not, maybe not even thinking about now. And then what are the ideas and the priorities around the types of funding options that we should be considering to bring in the resources to Sonoma County that are needed for all of these solutions. And then finally in 2024, our goal is to have the funding options identified. One, two, three, I don't know right now what those options will be. Certainly there are a number of different ideas on the table, but to be moving forward with those and securing community support to bring in that funding for our climate solutions. So I think Ross we're ready for the last slide, which is really how can you get involved? How can residents of the city of Santa Rosa get involved? We do have a short survey that we're inviting folks to take which is an opportunity to start providing some feedback on the mobilization strategy and the actions that folks would like to see us take. When you complete the survey you'll be invited to join our mailing list so that you receive news and updates on the call to action and the mobilization strategy. We invite you to spread the word in Facebook. So there's a link to our Facebook page. And then lastly, we're really interested in getting out and presenting to more community groups and organizations. So if you have groups that you're a part of that you'd like us to come present to, please let me or Ross know, we'd be delighted to come and give a presentation and to work with those groups to tailor the presentation to what their interests will be. So that concludes my presentation and I welcome your questions and comments. Thank you. Thank you for that presentation. Do you have any questions? I actually have a couple of questions if I may. Go for it. So one of the questions I had was around, I know we have a ban on gas stations but just out of curiosity, does that include emergency needed gas stations? Is there a special permit process? So say at a fire station or even out at the airport where they put in gas stations for Henry I or tankers that come in. I just was wanting to know if you had clarification on that because it sometimes is a question that I get answered. Yeah, yeah, so that's really, I think that's a very important point. We certainly don't want to take any actions that would impact our ability to respond to emergencies. And so again, to emphasize this is a ban on new gas stations and as the city of Santa Rosa, for example, as you're developing your specific ordinance or ban on new gas stations, that's really your opportunity to look at your emergency needs and to maybe carve out exceptions if you envision that you're, for example, building new fire stations in the future, that there would be a process to ensure that they had access to the fuel they needed. So definitely not an all out ban on every potential way of delivering gas but really up to the jurisdictions. And while RCPS working with each jurisdiction to share common language, there are unique circumstances. And I think this will especially hold true at the county level where they do have rural areas that will need access. So great question. Thank you for that. And I appreciate that and wasn't sure maybe language needed to be included in those premises specific for emergency response. And then my second question is on implementing the micro grids, I have a extremely like lucky opportunity to work with Oakmont, who is really working hard to put on in a micro grid and thought perhaps your group might be willing to talk to them and to assist them in any ways because that specifically is a community that when the power shutdowns happen and they are really impacted at a high level. And so I like the idea of doing micro grids and specifically I know just in my district that is one that I know of that they're trying to get through but do you see any sort of blockades happening for these micro grids to go in? And is there something that we can do as far as policy goes to ensure that they are assisted if that is our goal not only to be really responsible with our climate and our emissions but to make sure that we have those opportunities because I'm feeling like they might have some blockades and I would like to be able to remove them. So this is an area that we haven't spent a lot of time on yet to be honest but our partners in Cinema Clean Power would certainly be a potential resource for you. I think that one of the big barriers that we'll all run into is funding. So obviously it costs money to establish these micro grids. I think there are some technical issues that would need to be potentially addressed. So really depending on the situation but would be happy to follow up with you in the community and to bring in partners as needed to share information depending on kind of how far they are into their process but definitely would be happy to talk further with you and the community members. Thank you so much, that was it for me. All right, so we will bring it to the public for public comment to see if there's any public comment. If you wish to make a comment please raise your hand at this time. Council member Rogers are not seeing any raised hands at this time. Okay, thank you. I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank both of you for coming and to just echo what you said that we really do have to work in collaboration because no city or entity is silo and we're so close together. We really have to work as a region if we wanna make an impact. One city will make a ordinance or do something and hopefully the rest of the cities are close to follow to do the right thing and do what needs to be done but we really all need to step up to the plate and know that this is real, it's not made up and we really just need to start to push forward and maybe a little bit more aggressively than we have been doing and if our weather is not testament enough to show us that this is definitely real for all the people that have been saying that it is not real, that climate change and these things are not real, it's definitely real. So in community engagement. So I like that even in the presentation that you gave today, the way that you broke it down it was broken down in a way that people that don't know very much could grasp onto the presentation. So thank you very much for giving that presentation and I know that people can get it from the agenda but if people don't go to the agenda where are they able to find not only this presentation but additional information that would be on the website that you provided. Yes, rcpa.ca.gov. And are you constantly providing additional resources or how often are you in the community? I would say we're just gearing up so that's our request to let us know if there are groups that you'd like us to present to. So yeah, every opportunity that we have we are getting out there. And we also have a community, we have a climate action advisory committee that we meet with once a quarter. And so that's an important group that provides input to us as well but definitely want to be out meeting with as many folks as we can. Okay, perfect. Well, again, thank you so much for being here today. We'll be moving on to our future agenda items. 5.1 presentation for future agenda items. Thank you. Hi, I'm Tasha Wright and I'm here to provide a little information about our future agenda items. But first I want to say thank you very much to Heather from the Water Department for her presentation on the Water Smart Expo that's really, really exciting. So hopefully we'll see everyone on June 29th. And I just want to say thank you to Tanya and Ross from RCPA for that great presentation. And that was wonderful that you provided the QR code for the survey. So hopefully folks can go ahead and do that and take advantage of the opportunity to provide some information to RCPA. And finally, I just want to say congrats again to RCPA for getting the recognition from the White House. We are so incredibly fortunate to have an organization like that in our community that serves our folks. And we are just amazing. It's just amazing that we have that in our community, that we have the opportunity to work together all the cities within the county and move forward. We are the only one in California that does that for that coordination. So that's something that we can all be proud of and for sure that RCPA can be proud of as well. So going on to our future agenda items for July, we have Recology coming to talk about their programs and an update from them. And then we will have an update on SB 1383 from our own Joey Hennowitz and he'll talk about compliance and the zero waste update. And then we're also going to have a little report out on this cool cities program. We've had a lot of requests from the community about what the city of San Rosa is doing around that. And so we want to provide an update on that. We do not have August locked down yet, but I'm looking at a couple of exciting things. And you can also see the pending schedule date. That too is available through our agenda. From today, you'll have the link on that agenda. So that's all I have for now and great to see everyone. All right. Well, that looks like we are on item six, which is adjournment. So thank you everyone for joining us and everyone have a wonderful afternoon. Bye-bye. Thank you.