Members and Alternates Present: Doug Brown, City of Longmont; Bette Erickson, City and County of Broomfield; Ken Lenarcic, Town of Jamestown; Ben Pearlman, Boulder County; Chris Perret, Town of Nederland; Mark Ruzzin, City of Boulder; Lisa Skumatz, Town of Superior; Valeria Skitt, City of Longmont; David Strungis, City of Lafayette; and Staff Dickey Lee Hullinghorst and Sheree Stroud

Chair Ben Pearlman said that during the Consortium’s goal setting session last year, the energy issue received the most votes.

Pam Milmoe, Boulder County Public Health, reported to the group that Boulder County is taking a county-wide Greenhouse Gas Inventory that will be divided by sector and political divisions. This will provide a great resource to understand where the sources of greenhouse gas emissions are. It should be completed by June 1 so that the information can be incorporated in 2007 budget planning . The county’s Sustainability Plan will also be completed by June 1.

Sarah Van Pelt, City of Boulder, reported that identifying the sources of greenhouse gasses is helpful because actions in the last decade are influencing the issue today. Actions underway such as open space purchases, land use planning, urban foresty projects, recycling, weatherization, and clean fleets are having an impact.

Commissioner Pearlman asked the group if they had any ideas on what the Consortium energy effort should be called.

Mark Ruzzin reminded everyone of the Mayor’s Resolution. This is a great way to demonstrate a municipality’s commitment to energy saving efforts.

Pam Milmoe outlined many major steps that other areas have taken regarding sustainable energy. (See attached.) Sarah Van Pelt added that the implementation of Amendment 37, passed in 2004, is beginning to kick off with rebates on solar photovoltaic systems. This is a great opportunity for communities to promote these rebates.

Lisa Skumatz made a presentation outlining what each municipality is currently doing in this area. She will e-mail the spreadsheet to each community so they can add those items that might have been missed.

There was general brainstorming on what types of things that might benefit from a region wide energy effort. Topics included utility franchises, consistent and strong energy codes in each community, green building codes or incentive programs to build green, education program combined with kits for homeowners, education for homebuilders, utilization of the LEED and Energy Star programs, and adoption of the Green Point program. Other ideas that came up were to get partners such as the Chambers of Commerce or have challenges between communities.

The group agreed that it might be difficult to get councils to buy into the need for inclusive programs. It appears there is great citizen support for such efforts and a survey may be helpful in demonstrating this to councils.

Commissioner Pearlman said that the Consortium should consider establishing a task force to look at all the various options and come up with some strategies and recommendations of action. Mark Ruzzin believes it would be helpful to identify what ideas should be pursued such as increase quality of building stock and education campaign.

The group agreed to a discussion at the next Consortium Meeting regarding the formation of a task force. Staff will provide a proposed charge to the task force and a broad set of goals for the discussion.