Heat. Heat. Let's get started. I call this meeting to order. Good evening and welcome to the July 21st. >> Hello. Okay. Oh, sorry. Um, welcome to the July meeting of the city of Minnotonka Sustainability Commission. This is our 22nd in-person meeting and prior to that there were a number of uh Zoom meetings during CO. This is our fourth meeting this year. I'd like to uh reintroduce Diane Meyer, our new vice chair. And as Diane knows and as Ashley our former vice chair knows, their primary role is to run the meeting if the chair isn't here. So generally it's not too uh we're glad glad you glad that you're both here and glad actually that you are still on the sustainability commission too. The commission generally meets every other month on the third Tuesday of the month. The schedule and tenative agenda can be obtained by contacting the city's planning division or by visiting the city's website at minnotonkamn.gov. Residents can provide input uh onto tonight's agenda via email or provide input during this meeting if so desired. The Sustainability Commission first meeting was May of 2021, long time ago. Since then, we have accomplished a significant number of useful and practical actions for all city residents. Areas of review for the commission include air, water, energy, land, and ecological resources, recycling, and uh organics collection, which is relatively new here in Mitaka. Uh waste management. Sorry, didn't bring my reading glasses. And other related sustainability areas not addressed by city code or another city advisory group. The sustainability commission has a has a unique role here in Minnetonka as we serve both as an adviser to the city council and as an ambassador for the city programs. As an adviser to the city council, the sustainability commission makes recommendations on city plans, policies, procedures, programs, practices, and proposals that relate to to sustainability and conservation of our resources. Final decisions are then made by the city council. That's very important to note. As an ambassador, the the sustainability commission attends events to promote city initiatives with the public. With that, I'd like to uh move to agenda item number two, which is roll call. >> Carr >> here. >> Meyer >> here. Norman Patine here. Sher and Cher G >> here. There are four of us here. We do have a quorum. So that's critical. Uh that concludes item two. Next is approval of tonight's agenda, which is item agenda item number three. Uh, Miss Wishak, do you have anything to add to the agenda, >> Julie? >> Oh, no. No. >> Oh, Ally. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. No change orders. Very good. Uh, would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda from one of my fellow commissioners? >> I'll motion to approve. >> Ashley, thank you. Is there a second? I second >> Diane. Thank you very much. Uh Julie or Ashley Ally, will you be pulling? Julie, thank you. You'll pull. >> I know we've really thrown a curveball. Sorry. Sorry. >> I'll just pull if you don't mind, chair. >> Thank you. >> Uh Carr, >> approved. >> Meer, >> yes. Betain, >> yes. >> Chair G, >> yes. Thank you. >> Uh with that, we'll move to uh agenda item four. We need to approve the March 17th uh 2026 meeting and the May 19th meet uh minutes. Are there any changes to those minutes from any of my commissioners? No one is indicating there are any changes. I did re review it as I always do and I didn't see a single change noted. So with that, I looking for a motion to approve the minutes from one of my fellow commissioners. Is there a motion to approve both of those? I make a motion to approve the minutes. >> Thank you, Dave. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you very much. Julie, would you pull the members? >> Yes. Carr? >> Yes. >> Meer? >> Yes. >> Patine? >> Yes. >> Chair Gob? >> Yes. Motion passes. Next, we have our agenda items. Before we start, let me quickly review the steps for each one. Um we will ask our my fellow uh sustainability commissioners to ask clarifying questions to staff. Uh if no one is registered to comment, I would then open and immediately close the public input portion for the agenda topic. If an agenda topic isformational, um we will then and no vote is required, we will simply move along to the next agenda topic. So with that I will turn over the meeting to uh Ally. Thank you. >> Great. Uh good evening chair commissioners. Tonight uh we have two items on the regular agenda. This item is item 5A uh commercial geothermal systems presentation. So this is anformational only presentation tonight. Um it's essentially we have a guest speaker here. I will kick it off with a little bit of a staff intro um setting the scene for the presentation, but then we'll conclude. Uh the staff recommendation tonight is just essentially to listen to the presentation um make any comments or ask any questions that you have from our presenter. So, uh Robert Ed, who is the director of marketing and strategy at Darcy Solutions, has prepared a presentation for you tonight and he will kick it off in just a moment here. But before that, just wanted to give a little bit of background as to why we're talking about this tonight and a little bit about Darcy Solutions as well. So, they are a Minnesota based geothermal company that specializes in commercial scale systems. So, you may have heard of residential systems, but tonight's presentation is focused on the larger scale commercial side. He will review uh geothermal system technology that's deployable by all different sectors um at that commercial scale. So some examples could be governments, just commercial buildings, educational institutions, which includes both K through 12 um buildings, but also even universities as well, healthcare facilities, and then there's much more. Again, this is intended to be purelyformational and just one example of a commercial scale renewable energy system that is an option for commercial businesses to deploy. Uh so again just asking you to share your thoughts and ask questions after the presentation. Also wanted to note um that this presentation in general relates to the 2026 sustainability commission work plan that the commission approved and put together earlier this year. You may recall that item four talked about the commission collectively attending either 10 webinars, trainings, workshops, essentially just learning opportunities throughout the year, either individually or as a group that relate to implementing the climate action and adaptation plan. So you all have been doing that throughout the year um whether individually or not. Tonight is kind of a group effort. So, um, Darcy Solutions will talk about that geothermal or the renewable energy, um, education piece. And then I also just wanted to say a quick thank you to our learning subcommittee. You also might recall that one, um, goal that we had in our work plan was to create these subcommittees that are meeting outside of our regularly scheduled commission meetings um, with just one or two commissioners. and one of them has morphed into a learning committee. I think at one point it was maybe a tours committee and we've decided, hey, there's so many opportunities to learn. Um, let's chat about that. So, thank you Commissioner Carr and Commissioner Golib um for suggesting this presentation and for inviting Darcy Solutions and getting in contact with them. So, thank you for that. Also wanted to note that this relates to the climate action and adaptation plan that the city has. We approved this in 2024. And also just wanted to note that the two overarching goals of this plan is the first is to reduce per capita emissions within the community. So communitywide 63% again per capita from 2018 levels. And you might wonder where are we at with that? Um, so this graphic kind of indicates over here that based on the 2018 levels, we have reduced our emissions since then by 28%, which means we're about 44% of the way to meeting our 2030 goal. So that's our near-term goal. Um, our long-term goal is to be net zero by 2050. And this is again a communitywide goal. So um essentially to keep on this same pro uh progress right now we're you know really honestly dependent on the entire community all sectors for either um learning about how you can get involved in the near term considering how to get involved and then ultimately implementing these technologies soon um as 2030 is coming sooner than later. So, that's kind of where we're at with um how it relates to the two different goals of the commission. With that being said, I'd love to invite up um our speaker, Robert Ed with uh Darcy Solutions. Yep. And we have his presentation loaded and ready to go. >> Thank you so much. Um and do you just want me to advance using the mouse here? Okay. >> Um yeah, you could actually probably use the um >> Yeah, the arrows on the keyboard, too. That might be a little bit easier. >> Okay, great. Uh, thank you so much for the time to speak a little bit about Darcy. My name is Robert Ed. I'm a strategy and marketing director at the company. >> I was the ninth team member at Darcy Solutions and uh we've been growing relatively rapidly mostly in the Midwest here. We're up to 50 team members and I was just telling Ally that uh we're actually looking at a building for that expansion here very close to if not in the city limits which is pretty exciting. I have a limited amount of time, so I'm going to go relatively quickly and I'm going to keep it pretty high level, too. Okay, so the first thing that I wanted to touch on was geothermal technologies as a whole. If you're not familiar with geothermal, essentially what you're doing is borrowing the thermal capacity from underground to bring it up into a building and utilize it for cooling and heating. There's another type of geothermal that's really about electricity production and that's a different technology although the same principle and that you go much deeper to access heat to turn a turbine to ultimately produce electricity. That's not necessarily what Darcy does. However, we build advanced systems that allow for large production of thermal capacity in buildings for heating and cooling. The reason that's really innovative is that most buildings in northern climates are actually burning fossil fuels to heat those buildings. And so that's a big driver of emissions. it usually causes roughly 60 to 75% of the emissions from a building's operating uh footprint. And so that's a challenge that's uh really compelling to a lot of different people and it's why I ultimately came to work at Darcy. This slide here shows three different types of systems there. These are the most common for commercial and industrial applications. I'm not going to go really in depth about these technologies. The one on the far left is the most common and that's what's known as a ground loop. That's when you actually put a a Ubend pipe into the ground and circulate a glycol fluid through it in order to change the temperature of the fluid, bring it back into the building, and then amplify it via heat pump or some other different technology that you're using to distribute the heat. The second is a similar technology where you're actually pulling water up and out of the ground, putting it through a heat exchanger, then reinjecting it down into the ground. Again, it's really impressive technology in the amount of thermal capacity you can build, but ultimately it's a little bit more challenging to design engineer. The third is actually Darcy's technology and it combines those first two technologies by building a water well, placing a heat exchanger at the bottom of the water well and then using a submersible pump to push that water across our heat exchanger, bringing back that energy to the building. What's unique about it is that you can build a geothermal system that produces a lot of energy in a very small space. Historically, you haven't been able to use geothermal in many tight areas of that where there's not a lot of land mass like urban centers because of that. So Darcy's gotten a lot of market traction because we're able to offer a solution that can both provide a lot of thermal capacity but can also be 100% electric. So if something's 100% electric, you can use solar and wind renewable energy to power it, thus uh limiting your operating footprint of emissions. So Darcy's technology uh hopefully this shows up decently. It looks like it's okay on the screen. Uh this is a illustration of what we're doing. Again, we build a usually a 12-in uh municipal grade water well. These are the same types of water wells you would use for supplying water to a water tower or an agricultural uses. And we uh at the bottom of the well place a heat exchanger. Heat exchanger is usually about 20 ft long. It's very heavy, not you know, it would be very challenging for us to lift it. And we lower it down into the water well for uh thermal exchange. Below that, we place a submersible pump. It's usually 5 horsepower to 25 horsepower. And that submersible pump pushes water across our heat exchanger continuously throughout the year. Above that, we have drop pipe that serves as a closed loop back to the building. And that's the the general idea behind the innovation is that we're doing the thermal exchange in the aquifer without actually producing any water to the top of the the water well. Because of that, we don't necessarily need an appropriations permit. And we keep all of the water where it stays. We're non-conumptive, non-eaporative cooling. Uh generally these systems also are really interesting in that you can do the on andm on them by pulling uh up a hoist to it taking the system out replacing the pump and putting it right back down. Question comes up quite a bit. So if you think about why that's powerful geothermal systems again not built in urban environments that's a challenge. The unbalanced loads that you usually find with some buildings are a challenge for geothermal systems as well. Traditional systems use the ground as a battery. you're pulling away heat during the summer uh excuse me during the winter and uh vice versa in in the winter when you're needing to to pull in heat and because of that you have to have a balanced load to a certain extent or you just have to have a bigger battery for the traditional system. Aquaferbased thermal transfer is a little bit different in that the aquifer itself is flowing slowly but surely over the course of time. That's the nature of aquifers underneath our feet. And because of that, they have a natural recharge to the thermal mass that you're accessing. And so that means that you can have a lot more flexibility as far as designing these systems to fit a really large building thermal load. The last is the total cost of ownership, which is far and away the best for these types of systems. Geothermal systems last 50 to 100 years and because of that they have a much longer shelf life than other types of systems that are exposed to the elements such as you know rain, snow and uh everything else that's exposed to uh outside of a building. Beyond that, they're capable of really high coops or energy efficiency. COP stands for coefficiency of performance. It's basically how much energy you put into the system versus how much you get out of the system. With fossil fuel systems, your limitation is typically, you know, one 98% if you've got a really high efficiency boiler that's using natural gas. For geothermal systems, you can see coops of anywhere from three up to eight plus depending on the season you're in. So that means you're going to be paying a lot less energy uh a lot less for the energy needed to run the system over the course of time. Unfortunately, these systems tend to cost a little bit more upfront and because of that, uh, the investment tax credit that's available is really powerful for lowering that first cost. Trai today, the total cost of ownership is driven down by upwards of 40 50%. at as uh you get through the commissioning process and get an investment tax credit back from the government either in the form of a direct payment if you're a non-t taxable entity like I assume many of the buildings the city owns or if you're a taxable entity you get a tax credit that you get to use as part of your taxes or you can actually sell on the open market I think it goes for somewhere around 85 to 90 cents on the dollar so that lowers that first cost quite a bit and then beyond that you have this long-lasting system that is really energy efficient and uh ultimately can be electrified such that you're not having an operating footprint as well. Uh this is a comparison of what we're doing versus traditional systems. On the left there, you see the conductive thermal transfer that you see with traditional bore bore ings that are used in vertical bores. Those bores usually go 200 to 800 feet, but they're very common in commercial industrial applications. And it's a great technology. By the way, I'm not trying to denigrate that technology so much as just introduce a different type that uh Darcy utilizes, which is shown on the right, the advective based thermal transfer. You're accessing significantly more thermal mass by doing that, and you're able to produce a lot more thermal capacity for a building in a very small footprint. So, when you do that, you're able to limit the amount of land mass needed. You can see here what a traditional bore uh field would look like comparatively speaking to the Darcy system. The 200 tons of cooling that you might need for a fairly large building is shown with the 120 borings. It's about 25,000 square feet. And then that's that represents about one water well that we would build right next to a building usually about as close as 10 ft away. We like to space our uh wells about 100 ft apart otherwise. And so you can produce tremendous amounts of energy enough to uh provide heating and cooling for a very large facility like let's say uh you know US Bank Stadium or something like that with a really small footprint and so a lot of organizations that are interested in sustainability think it's worth evaluation and incorporation and we're expanding into a lot of different segments because of that. The energy efficiency associated with these systems is really powerful. You can see our solution there on the left comparatively speaking to a lot of fossil based solutions. Every building's unique and bespoke and so every uh every energy model has to take into account the differences between where the buildings are and how much energy they use. But it is important to understand that the value from these systems is driven over the long-term ownership of the system despite the capex differences. We're currently uh on our eighth and soon to be ninth and tth version of our heat exchanger. Darcy's very advanced in terms of the research and development that we're using for the technologies. I won't belabor all of this information, but uh rest assured the technology is improving and we'll continue to do so. On the inside of the building, we provide a great deal of uh equipment. Uh we don't actually install all the equipment on the inside of the building. However, we do commission each water well individually as as the systems being commissioned. We do oversee all the installation of the exterior of the building. So we subcontract all the drilling, development and excavation, everything that goes into building the wellfield itself. We bring that into the building where a mechanical contractor will typically take over. However, we oversee the quality assurance to the system via commissioning. Uh this is a this is a slide that just covers off on what Darcy furnishes versus what other organizations would provide. I won't dive into that as that's a little bit more granular than what we needed to speak to. So what do these systems actually look like? Uh you can see on the left here, it's hidden somewhat in the picture, but one water well next to the Mstead County Public Works. This is a two well system. We've got another project down uh right down the road from this one as well. This was commissioned I think about a year and a half ago. This is Washington Casiasco Elementary School in Winona. This is a four-well system. There's another five well system in Jefferson Elementary that's about a mile away. Um that system is was put in on this building which was I believe built in 1930s and so uh really cool retrofit and uh just an example of the fact that these technologies can be applied to significantly older buildings. This is a project new bed tower. This is new construction in Lacrosse, Wisconsin that uh the Mayo Clinic built. We have another project with the Mayo Clinic in uh New Prague that is a sixwell system. The other system is a two-well system. >> Oh yeah. >> And uh yeah, if you could pull up the website, that'd be great. And we can start with this one. This is a uh project in North Minneapolis that is actually an office training facility for many workers that do solar. And uh this one was our second project that we built. The first one was actually St. Paul Pipe Fitters, which is over in St. Paul. By the way, if anybody on the commission or anybody uh uh that's interested from Minnetonka wants to see some of these systems, we do tours of these all the time. So, if you're interested in learning more and you know want to see what's going on with them, we can show you the finished product or show you those that are actually being drilled actively. It's very common for us to do. And so, this is a one well system. I believe they this one got a grant for uh starting the the process of financing it and it's been in place since I think approximately 2022. The next project here is a good example of affordable housing. There's actually been quite a bit of news on this project fairly recently as uh Wells Fargo, Projects for Pride and Living and a number of other community stakeholders came together to retrofit this building that had gone through significant uh damages through some of the George Floyd protesting and a few other elements of it. This is a two well system. It houses both commercial uh storefronts on the bo the bottom layer of the housing as well as uh apartments on the top of it. And this was uh recently opened within the last 3 months or so for people actually moving in. This is going to be a very common application for Darcy where we're actually building out uh you know multi-use facilities or multifamily. Beyond that, the technology itself can be applied to thermal energy networks which we're seeing in places like Rochester, Minnesota and even on the coast and New York and uh Massachusetts and in the Pacific Northwest. A lot of interest in how you actually decarbonize the distributed gas system. So, we believe that the National Gas uh Innovation Act will be embracing that via Centerpoint over the course of time and we're very interested in serving as a backbone technology to that as well. Um, we can go back to the slides if you if there's anything there. Otherwise, we could uh answer any Q&A that you have too. >> I think there are a couple slides before we move on. I just figured since we're looking at their website, just wanted to share a plug. So, if you go to projects up, so the website is darcissolutions.com. If you go to projects at the top and you click project map, um, it'll show all these different projects. You can see different case studies if you click explore all recent projects. You can sort by sector and see I don't know are these all of your projects? >> No. So I I built the the site um gosh um January through February this year and we've got about a third of the projects that were act that are built there. We plan to backfill the the remainder of them over the course of the next few months. It just takes us a while to get the development done. >> Understandable. Yep. So, I just wanted to show um that there's far more case studies that you're able to explore online, but I think that there were maybe two more slides. >> Yeah. And this just kind of highlights the um the number of projects here. 65 is actually a little uh light now. We're probably closer to 70. And the map is certainly dated. So, just to give the reason that the concentration in Minnesota is so heavy is because the technology itself came out of the University of Minnesota. Our co-founder Jimmy Randolph started it in the early 2010s. We incorporated in 2018 and then the ground swell on the technology started here locally which is you know obviously why we're based here but we're rapidly expanding into other places. So for instance we have three projects uh being built out in Madison for uh local middle school high schools. Just today we were awarded our first project in Colorado. We've got a project in Ohio, another one one project being built in Illinois, and a a few more in Kentucky. And so we're probably in about 10 states now. And uh we're rapidly advancing to partnerships with different organizations in New York, Vermont, sorry about that. Um and uh the Pacific Northwest as well. So uh the the northern climates tend to be a really good fit for us because the technology is a great fit for heating and cooling. uh excuse me, heating during the winter, whereas down uh down south, you're oftentimes going to need more cooling capacity. And so we will expand there and provide the technology for different applications for that as well. But generally, we're we're expanding pretty quickly and we're looking forward to being in your neck of the woods here soon. Uh this last piece I probably won't dive into too much, but uh it walks through what it's necessary to actually build one of these systems. I don't know if there's one slide after this, but basically it's really easy to work with Darcy. We we don't uh charge anything for our services up to the point of actually building something on site and you can just go to our website and click on free site assessment. We'll look at your particular parcel of land and tell you if our techn is a fit. It isn't always a fit, although in Minnetonka it's a pretty darn good ch chance it is. Most of uh the metro area of Minneapolis St. Paul is a good fit. So, if you hear of an organization that's looking to consider geothermal, we'd be happy to take a look at their site and uh give them any recommendations they're looking for. >> Great. >> Any questions? I'd love to. Personally, I enjoy the Q&A uh portion of these things a lot more than uh the presentation. So, I don't know if you have any questions I could help with. >> Yep. Chair Gallob, I'll uh hand it off to you to um field commissioner questions. >> Very good. Thank you. Um my fellow commissioners, do you have any questions? >> Diane, you >> welcome. >> Um thank you. Fascinating presentation. Um I wanted to clarify, you mentioned that um the Darcy system utilizes 20 times less land. Is that compared to vertical traditional geothermal or >> That's right. Yeah, vertical borings uh typically have to be spaced somewhere between 15 and 25 uh feet apart in a radial pattern in order to not have any thermal conductivity interference with one another. >> Okay. >> The same is true of pump and reinject. However, it it works differently in that you just have to space the production well about 500 ft away from your rejection wells and there's commonly more than one and so you end up using very close to a similar amount of space with both of those technologies. Again, both those technologies are great for electrifying, heating, cooling. They just have that trade-off of needing more land mass. >> And then in assessing the number of wells and the size of the system for um an organization, is it driven more by the heat needs for winter than the cooling? Similar to airsource heat pumps, >> it it can depend on the building application. Some buildings have higher peak loads for heating or cooling. And so ultimately we rely on the engineer of record associated with the project to tell us what peak capacity is going to look like for both heating and cooling. And then we can optimize to either design a well system that meets that cooling or heating capacity or in some instances if you have a higher uh heating thermal requirement. You might optimize for let's say 75% of heating and cooling and then have something like an electric boiler backup. And that way you wouldn't necessarily need let's say four wells versus three wells and that can lower your overall capex. Every project just uh ultimately needs a solution based on what the building application requires. >> And then maybe similarly um is there have there been any situations where um heating water hot water is included? Yeah, I I and I'm not an engineer, so I don't get involved in the design of them as often, but I do know that domestic water supply and using uh thermal capacity for that is quite common. So that's definitely something that can that the technology can be a fit for. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for the questions. >> Any questions? >> Yeah, I have one. Um, in your I think one was your one of your first slides you talked about the investment tax credit. >> Could defraise some of the capital costs. Is that a federal provision and is it still around? >> Yeah, so the investment tax credit was introduced in 2005 by George W. Bush for a number of different technologies. It was extended in 2008 by Obama and then co you know in many years ensuing it's been extended up until the recent one be beautiful bill act which did extend it for certain technologies including geothermal however solar and wind were omitted from it at that point I actually worked in the solar industry for seven years at Mortonson uh prior to coming to Darcy and so uh I got very well uh well uh uh educated on the ITC and how it operates. rates and basically it is going to be available through 2033 for geothermal and it applies to the design equipment construction and even O andM of the system for up to 5 years you can get 30% of the value back for using prevailing wages and apprenticeships on your project another 10% for Americanmade equipment and then finally another 10% if your facility falls within what's known as an energy community or a brownfield site um that Last one's a little bit more less likely around Minnesota, but there's lots of places in the US that operate that way. So it if you think about the entire cost of a system, especially if you're building a new system, you there's going to be a certain amount of design and engineering cost, the equipment itself, the construction, and then O andM. And uh you get to apply that percentage, the 40% to the whole system. And what's really unique about that with geothermal is you've got your geothermal equipment outside that's meant to bring in that thermal capacity into the building, but all the equipment that you would be using in this building to distribute that thermal energy would also qualify. And so that basically gives you a reduction of all the cost to build that element of the system that you wouldn't otherwise get if you were building a fossil fuelbased system. You probably know that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester is undergoing a huge construction boom. Are are you involved with any of their new construct their new buildings? >> I I don't know that we're involved with any of the construction ongoing right now. It feels like that is a perennial exercise down there. Um that said, I I know that they've got sustainability interests and um I I I don't think we're actively building anything down in Rochester for Mayo specifically. However, we do have a number of projects in the area that we are building outside of that. >> In terms of the the project duration from beginning to end, is there a a range in terms of timing? I'm just curious how long >> Yeah. Well, so our our technology is predicated on building the water wells themselves, which drilling is kind of an art as much as as a science, but generally the rule of thumb we use for one well is about a month. um it takes a while to drill through the rock through all the rock that we're trying to get to the target aquifer and then from there if it's a multi-well system you can trade flow from well to well there's also other elements of the system that have to be built out for laterals and stubbing into the building. So it's really dependent on the general contractor schedule but our scope of work we tend to think about it as a month to a month and a half in total per well. That said, we can start uh and get our work done before some of the other contract work's being done or come in after the fact to do it as well. It really just depends on what's most um effective and efficient for the general contractor and the owner. >> Thank you. Any other qu any other question? Ashley, >> not a question, just a comment. Um, so I joined the sustainability commission more so out of a passion, so I have less of a technical knowledge. And I just wanted to compliment you on your ability to explain what to me sounds like a very complex topic in a very digestible manner. Um, additionally, one thing that I did want to comment on is I really appreciated seeing a diversity of projects. So understanding that um, this um, technology is applicable to older buildings as well as newer builds as well. So that's something that I think is very exciting because when we think about um trying to make things sustainable um uh and and to innovate sometimes it feels like um older bills have to be left out of that thought process and so that's really exciting to see that your technology does it's not excluding that. So but thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate you. >> Yeah, thank you so much for the commentary. I I totally agree with you. I have I have another question. What roughly what percentage is retrofits versus new construction? you know, your perspective. I'm just curious. >> Yeah, I think we looked at this a year a year year and a half ago and at that point it was about 50/50. I haven't done the analysis. Generally speaking, I think that it is it seems to be half and half. There's probably some diversity there that I'm not necessarily aware of just given the amount of projects that we've built. But we we see both uh opportunities quite a bit and um they're both quite viable. It's just uh really dependent on um you know what people are doing and how they want to do it. So, uh, a lot of, uh, retrofits just require a little bit different engineering to figure out if the existing system will be applicable for a hydronic system versus new construction where you're kind of starting from scratch and you can really look at different substitute systems and what makes most sense given what the owner is trying to achieve. >> Thank you. Any other questions? I I want to thank you for a a very uh educational presentation. This is the first geothermal presentation that the sustainability commission has had since we were formed back in 2021. So, it's it's timely and uh I really enjoyed your presentation. Thank you very much. >> Thank you all. I really appreciate the opportunity. Again, I'd invite uh if we can ever be of service uh to the commission or other folks in the city, the the reason we do what we do is to help on decarbonization of all buildings. So happy to get involved if it's at all valuable. >> We may take you up on that offer going forward. Thank you. >> Come on out and see one. It'll be fun. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you all so much. I'm going to run. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Um with that I think we will move to uh Ali item 5B on the agenda. >> Yes. Thank you chair commissioners. Um item 5B is uh a discussion about the youth climate action fund. Uh the staff recommendation is to provide feedback on how the commission will support this program that I'll be presenting. Again, it's called the youth climate action fund. Um today I'll talk about the program background, just what the program is, who funds it. Um it is a grant opportunity, so we'll discuss that. We'll talk about the uh participant eligibility who can apply for the grants that we will be um providing. Talk about the timeline and that will help to summarize what the city's role is as well as the uh sustainability commission's role in this whole process. Then um I'll share ideas of what I've developed with some input based on some of the um subcommittee groups that we've hosted on what the sustainability commission support could look like. And then item five is really just asking your feedback on that. So I've come up with some ideas. I've heard some of your thoughts, but would love to have a discussion on if there's anything else you would like to get involved in or just thoughts, um, you know, more deeper into some of the ideas that I'm sharing. So with that, um, I'll kick it off. So again, we're talking about the youth climate action fund today. This was a grant that I learned about from another peer community actually back in January. I saw the opportunity. Um it was a grant that is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, John Hopkins University which actually includes the public innovation center. Um at John Hopkins University is located in Maryland. So they also helped to fund this C40 cities and then United Cities and Local Governments which is located in Spain. So, it's a collaborative effort funded by all those entities, but um it's a grant where communities, well, cities around the world are selected to receive $50,000 to provide micro grants to youth climate action projects that can be implemented for the community within the community by youth ages 15 to 24. So when I saw the opportunity, I was like, "Wow, this is this would be really great and aligns with so many of our priorities from climate action to engaging youth um and really just bringing our climate action in adaptation plan to life with the energy and um innovation that youth bring. So when I saw that, I decided to apply. Um we actually were uh accepted and we received that response in April, which was really exciting. we were selected as one of 300 cities uh globally to participate. So we were very shocked but we're very excited. Um and since then we've been working on kind of the administration side of this grant. So we brought the initial notification to the city council in May which they did accept. Um and then since then we've been working in the background trying to get the program set up just understanding all the ins and outs of the requirements. Um and so that's why we're here today. I actually hosted yesterday the first internal staff meeting with other staff um that either have a work plan that intersects um climate action which for example could be like our natural resources department or others. Um youth engagement. So if a a staff member you know interacts with youth in some capacity or um thirdly if they interact with a nonprofit or school that would also be an eligible entity um to apply. So, we'll go through some of that, but just want you to know that it's not only myself working on this grant. It's not just the planning or community development department, but we're trying to uh make everyone, you know, anyone that's interested that works for the city or eventually in some capacity, like volunteers even for the city aware of this and how they can be involved. So, that's kind of where we're at now. Um, yeah, so we're just trying to get the the program up and running. So, that's kind of a background. I wanted to showcase some imagery from the Youth Climate Action Fund website and their materials because it's just so exciting to see all these um pictures from youth around the world. And I also wanted to do um just mention a caveat when I say youth, it's ages 15 through 24. And that's a UN definition. I think around here we tend to use young adults, like our young adult commissioners to represent that demographic. But in this case, I'm using the term youth um because that's how the grant um defines it. So, yep, we have uh pictures from really around the world of uh youth participating in this. Our communications staff actually uh use the graphic and then overlay that with uh area in Minnetonka here. So, you'll be seeing this graphic more often with our promotions going forward. And then over here, this is um statistics from the last round of their their grant program where they involved 100 cities on third or in 38 countries on six continents. So you can see it's a really widespread reach and it's just really exciting to um be a part of this soon here. And then also wanted to just relate it to our climate action and adaptation plan to kind of ground us and why we're thinking about this and why it could help us. Um so our climate action and adaptation plan has two overarching goals as we've talked about mitigation and then also adaptation. So mitigation is talking about as we all know um but just in case anyone else is listening uh reduction in communitywide greenhouse gas emissions. We know our government operations account for roughly 2% so it's critical to get all sectors on board um meaning you know businesses residential institutional but even our transportation emissions are important and then adaptation is another huge piece of this and I think something that's really exciting when we think about um youth climate projects that can be implemented. So not just reducing our greenhouse gas emissions but adapting and being more resilient to a changing climate. So we can think of that in terms of emergency preparedness is one category. Um you can think about like climat uh climatic emergencies or climatic weather events going on like extreme heat that we've been experiencing. You know air quality concerns, droughts, flooding, hail. These are all things that we are expecting to um be experiencing in a more extreme manner. Um vulnerable populations are even more at risk for this. Without uh you know additional resources, it's much more challenging to adapt and protect yourself against these um types of environments. And then again like energy storage is another another way that we can think about how to be prepared for an emergency. And then lastly, also thinking about how we can adapt not just our built environment but our natural environment in green spaces. So as we think about like what could a youth climate action project look like, it could be kind of within the realm of any of these and the ideal scenario for both the city and Bloomberg is that these youth climate action projects are complementing the city's priorities for climate action. So, that's another thing to kind of keep in mind as we're thinking about what these projects could look like. So, in terms of background on the grant, um Bloomberg Philanthropies is the funding source of this grant, that uh nonprofit is funded by Michael Bloomberg, who's an entrepreneur, three-term mayor of New York City, who you may have heard of. Um they fund a bunch of different programs but uh the main five are one is empowering cities which is where the youth climate action fund uh falls into but they also have other programs that they sponsor. So c uh arts and culture education which is K through 12 public health and environment and again they operate on an international scale. So they're doing these projects really throughout the world. So, I encourage you to go on to their Bloomberg Philanthropies website if you ever have a chance just to look at what they um sponsor and the types of programs that they fund and support. And so, for background on this specific grant, um again, it's called the Youth Climate Action Fund. Cities that participate receive $50,000 to distribute as micro grants to youth. So, again, those ages 15 to 24. The history of this grant is that it's actually quite new. So it started in 2024. 90 cities were selected at that time to participate after having applied. Um and then I believe in 2025 they provided about three4s of those cities another $50,000 if they successfully implemented um the first round of grants. And so now they're at round 2026, which is the one that we were selected for as one of 300 cities globally. Can see this is the most um recent selection of cities. So we're one of 300. Um and then similarly in 2027, it sounds like they will be doing that second round of additional funding for a select amount of cities. So if we successfully implement the grant, we um have a chance at being selected for another round if we want to be a part of that. In terms of the process, the process is is that city halls once they are notified that they've received this grant, they set up a time to open this micro grant competition. Um they invite applicants to apply and then eventually they select the strongest proposals. They award $40,000 of that $50,000 grant to the youth projects and then most maintain 10% or $10,000 for administrative implementation costs. And then more specific information about the project. So communities can award between a,000 to $5,000 per project. So it's up to the community how many projects uh each community wants to fund and how much money they want to provide for each project. We have to award at minimum eight projects. So you know come come this fall we will be selecting at least eight um and then projects that are able to be funded can fall under really any climate city climate priority. However, um I want would like us to relate it back to our climate action and adaptation plan because this is meant to benefit the Minnitonka community. So, examples, you know, are much broader than this. But they could include building energy and renewable energy projects, natural areas, green space, shoreline restoration type of projects or adaptation projects, anything related to DEI in the climate capacity um sense, water quality or conservation, sustainable transportation, community engagement and support services, thinking about that emergency preparedness piece. Um and yeah, followed by the emergency preparedness. So I think the next Oh, one more slide. So that's kind of, you know, projects can fall within that realm, but it's really up to youth to come up with a project and um a topic that they're most interested in. So who is eligible to apply for these micro grants? It's twofold. Um the teams will include both youth sponsors and an organization sponsor. So first off, every project has to be led and developed by at least two youth. So really this program wants to emphasize not so much the organization coming in with an idea but the youth approaching an organization saying this is what we want to create. They are the leaders of this project. Um, it has to include at least two youth and they can either be a Minnotonka resident well and or a student that is uh goes to a school located in Minnetonka. And I think one of the reasons that our application was as competitive as it was is that we have several high schools in Minnetonka. So, Minnetonka High School, of course, is located within our boundaries, but Hopkins High School is also, if you're not aware, several of the Hopkins district schools are located physically in Minnotonka. So, our application said that I believe there was nearly 5,000 high school students within our area. And then we also have Lionsgate Academy, which is a charter school, and they would actually be eligible as well. So, I there may or may not be others that I'm aware of, but I know for a fact that those three at least are. And then, you know, if you're a homeschooled student, um you also would be eligible. Also, again, if you go to, for example, um the Weisetta district, but you're a Minnitonka resident, you would um be eligible. So, that's the uh youth. And then in terms of the organizations, so interestingly, the organizations are actually the applicant even though they're not the lead, but the reason is is that to I think for the the money to be properly managed, they need to be um the the sponsor really for the program, the official sponsor. So, organizations must be legally registered entities. They must be recognized as a public entity, a nonprofit, or a charitable organization under local law. They have to have a bank account. And what's really exciting is that they either can be located in Minnotonka or they can actually be outside Minnetonka so long as they're working with a youth that falls into the um previously stated eligibility requirements of either being from here or going to school here. So um that wasn't initially clear to me. So, when I found that out, I thought that was really exciting because we live in a very well-connected metropolitan region with a lot of organizations that um you know operate in Minnetonka but aren't necessarily physically located here. So, I think that will really help to broaden our scope of who can apply and be engaged in this. Um, and then in terms of example organizations uh that are eligible to apply, one would be a youthled organization. So I think of this as a like a club at a high school, an environmental club for example that is youthled. Another organization could be um those that support young people. So they're maybe adultled, but they're supporting youth like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, YMCA, or the Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts. Um and then lastly, just general sponsor organizations can also be uh schools, educational institutions outside of the traditional school sense, museums, community groups, faith groups, so long as they meet all these other eligibility requirements. And I think um as we get into more outreach and promotions, we will continue to refine this because I think in some ways it can be a bit confusing, but we're also trying to navigate and understand the complexities of this and the legal status of a variety of entities. So our communication staff and I are we're working uh with Bloomberg to fully understand this to try to summarize it in a in a sense that people can very easily understand but as of now this is the the information that we have available. So the fun part um some pictures. So, I I I just really like seeing all the variety of um projects can that can be implemented because there's such a variety and every time I see another project, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, that's just a really cool and innovative idea." So, I wanted to share some photos with you. Um these are from around the world. So, the first is just kind of like a marine study. I think that they were looking at invasive species on the left hand side that actually was in the Philippines. Um, middle is a project where they were crushing plastic or sorry, glass bottles to recycle into building material. That was in um I think the Philip Yeah, Philippines as well. Apparently, there's a San Francisco Philippines. I learned through these photos. Um, in Argentina, this is a group of youth hosting an organized trash cleanup. Some other examples, this was a youth hosting a hackathon talking about how they can help to uh promote the reduction of use of private cars. The middle example was uh creating a sustainable garden at a high school. This example on the right was a showing of a documentary that was created by a youth project specifically regarding pollinators in peril. says on the left uh this was a group in Argentina where they were organizing a workshop for younger children about how to make cards out of recycled paper. This middle was uh learning how to bike um station essentially. So teaching people all ages. Well I think actually it's youth but I was imagining hey this could you know be for all ages. Um, I think I actually did some research. I guess these are very fairly common in Italy. I I learned that these learn how to bike uh stations are something that is common within their culture. But I thought that was neat. Uh, this picture over here is a educational workshop on learning about hydroponic systems. So, growing plants in that way. And then I also wanted to show these because um these are almost uh like presentation um trying to think of like posters I guess if you will that you would maybe see at a like a college university or you know um like research project but these were completed by uh young adults in Lacrosse Wisconsin actually. So pretty close to us. they were participants of that 2025 2024 round and um I would like to have us kind of create something like this as you know an out outcome of these projects where we're not only just showcasing the photos but also summarizing the students experience. So they have a ton of examples on their website which I can certainly share with the commission after this um project but I just I chose three to kind of showcase. So the first is a Mung youth garden pilot where they completed 10 garden sessions that year. They were learning from elders about how to cook traditional mung dishes and also how to um just grow their traditional plants too. So it this is again one of the youth within that project summarizing their experience. The second was a savannah restoration project. And then the one on the right is a serve thrive kit. So essentially kind of like a um climate emergency survival kit for those that are vulnerable or homeless where they were packing um sunscreen, aloe for sunburn, and then um bug spray as well. And there's probably other items in there, but handing those out within the community to vulnerable population. So you can see I think those were all the examples I included. There's hundreds more. Um but I just wanted to kind of showcase the variety of projects that are available. And I do hope as we go through this um process that we learn about even more so that ideally we can maybe share these ideas out to help inspire youth. Not saying that these are the only ones, but I think it helps to jog your imagination if you will. So, in terms of the timeline, um May 2026 of this year, that's when council approved our grant. We announced the program publicly on our website and in other communications materials just saying that we were selected and what we anticipate um being the application deadline date in that month. We also released our program website, which I've shared with the commission by email, and this is public. It lives on our Minnitonka Matters web page. And so that page will be updated frequently as more program information comes out available. There's a timeline on there and um ultimately that's where people will go to apply eventually. Uh starting this month, we're going to start uh targeted promotions of the program. So we'll be starting to do outreach to our organizational contact lists. I've been reaching out to that group of city staff that I mentioned I met with yesterday who might have connections um you know within their network that are applicable to this program. We're looking at internally you know within the sustainability division what organizations we think may be um interested in applying. So we will be sharing out a very wide broad email there and then our communication staff will also do that in a even more public sense of going on our website, our social media, LinkedIn, that sort of thing. And before we do that, we're going to be creating an interest form on our Minnetonka Matters page, which will actually be live if not today, it'll be by the end of the week. And we've decided that we think one of the barriers to the application process will be organizations connecting with youth. I think some may have those connections, but I have a feeling that majority may not. And so when we promote the program, we want to share that we have this interest form. It's not an application form, but it's to say, are you interested? Are you a youth um individual interested or an organization interested? Let us know. fill out a few questions. We create this list and it won't be direct matchmaking, if you will, but I what I'm envisioning at this point is that we have um a set of organizations that are interested in participating and we let those interested uh young adults know and that they can then contact those organizations to get in touch if they're interested in that. So, that's what I'm thinking at this point. that um may morph into an additional version of that idea, but um so far that's how we're intending to use that and to help kind of facilitate that process. Um yeah, so those promotions will continue between July through next month. And then in September, that's when we're going to officially open the application. So the intent is that in July and August we are broadly sharing the program so that people are well aware that the applications are going to be opening in September so that they have time to actually even think about a project before ask us questions so that when September rolls around they might just learn about it but they also hopefully are a bit informed prior to that. Um because the application will be open through midocctober, we will continue to promote the program during that time. And then actually through staff discussion yesterday um we decided that it would be helpful to have um well and this is also kind a requirement of Bloomberg's program too is that we host application support meetings for applicants and they want us to actually be reviewing applications and providing guidance which is I would say a bit unique for a grant program but I think because of the demographic um and the age of these um applicants that they they want us to help them build the best application that they can or most most successful I guess I should say. So um because of that we were thinking that we might have um somewhat of like a loose deadline if you will for having a draft application completed and submitted by the city to receive feedback. And then during that time, we will host those likely in-person events to answer any questions or to help um the applicants with that submitt. In October on the 16th, that's when the application deadline closes. We'll have a staff committee review all of the applications received. We're expecting or hoping to get probably around 20. That's what I'm envisioning right now, at least 20. Bloomberg hopes that most communities receive at least double the amount that they're going to award. And the reason being is that they want to award um I guess the most um competitive or innovative projects so that there's an opportunity to select and review those. It's not necessarily a requirement. It's just a suggestion on their end. Um and then what will happen is that the staff committee will make that recommendation and that recommendation will then come to you all as the sustainability commission who will um be asked to review the applications, review the staff recommendation and then ultimately the commission will select the awardees and we'll um determine you know how much money you want to provide each applicant but there will be um again that staff recommendation. I'm also envisioning possibly having uh the commission review these applications for a longer period of time prior to the meeting. Um you know essentially publishing the public meeting packet maybe like a week or so early so that you have time to review and possibly consider like a scoring process before we get to the meeting. So, we're doing that less less um at the meeting and more so coming with your thoughts and ready to share with each other and discuss at the meeting. So, we can talk about that process closer um to that meeting time, but that's what I'm envisioning. I also think it was removed, but we're intending on hosting a special meeting in October actually for the commission to review and make those um awardee selections. And the reason being is that in o uh in November, that's when we have to notify awardees and host that kickoff meeting. And so in order to meet the time frame that Bloomberg is requesting us, we really need to start making those decisions in October. So date is to be determined by the commission and staff and we had to fit it in the very large public meeting schedule that already exists with all the uh city council meetings and other commissions. But stay tuned on that. Just wanted to give you a heads up that that will um be something that we'll be scheduling and I already referenced it, but in November we'll notify all the awardees that were selected. We'll host a kickoff meeting which will be really exciting. It's a celebration for them to say you were awarded. We can't wait for you to implement this. Um and so that will be somewhat of a celebration and informational meeting. And then between November to April, that's when they implement their projects. will host monthly office hours at that time, too. Um, that's another requirement of the grant, but essentially we're just going to be available for them. The intent is that their program sponsor helps, you know, more on the the day-to-day with the implementation. But if they have any questions that the city can help guide them, that's uh when they can join us. And we're envisioning that as being maybe we set up one day where we have a few hours that we're available. they can stop in, they can join via Zoom and um on the next slide I'll I'll share that the sustainability commission could be involved in those if you're interested at all. And then lastly, the celebration of projects. So that will um occur around Earth Day. We'll have some sort of presentation celebration of projects. All communities handle that differently. So that's actually something that the sustainability commission could certainly help to plan and we could have a discussion on what we want that to look like. I was thinking maybe we could um combine it with our clothing swap that we host over Earth Day. Like perhaps there's another area of that venue that we host all of the the posters and invite the students. But I'm sure there's lots of ideas there that we could think about. All right, the fun part. Um talking about how the commission will support this program. So again, these are just my ideas and going through that timeline. And I actually already referenced some, so they'll sound maybe repetitive a bit, but between July and September, um, I was thinking that the commission could certainly help to promote the program at ambassador events. We've actually already started doing this. We, um, have promoted it at two farmers markets so far and then also the Everything Electric exhibit at Summerfest, too. And um I believe a few of you have talked to families that were interested. So we'll have more opportunities there, but know that that's an opportunity through September. Um if you have a project idea to share that with me, I'm envisioning putting just a list of ideas on that Minnotonka Matters page to inspire applicants to think, oh, okay, like this this is what I could do. We certainly don't want to be telling them what to do and I also don't want to pigeon hole them into certain ideas, but I think there's a way that we can do it um that inspires and also actually helps the projects align with city um work plans and goals. So, if you have any ideas, you can certainly share those with me. Um absolutely would love the help uh promoting to your local network. So, what we're going to do with staff and then I'll we'll do the same with commissioners and others is that we're going to be creating template like emails or flyers if you will and asking you to share those out on your own to your network. So, we'll have some sort of draft language in an email. You can edit it um you know to make it seem a bit more personable to you and then you can share those off with your local networks. It'll include information on how to apply, what the program is, etc. And then also you could attend the applicant support meetings. So when when we host those meetings in September to help applicants with their applications, you're certainly welcome to join those and to review them and to provide um any thoughts that you have. And we probably will have some sort of meeting before that to go over, you know, how do we want to provide feedback. But no, that's an option. Between November or so, October through November of this year, again, the commission will help with selecting those awarded projects. So, this is where I mentioned the special meeting in October. And then also, you're invited to that kickoff meeting in November, which we don't have a date for yet, but um you would be invited to that. And the mayor will also be there as well. Um mayoral support is a big aspect of this program too. So we'll invite the mayor to join these uh celebration events along with the commission between December through March or technically yeah I think that they'll start in December is that you can attend those monthly office hours that I had mentioned before if you want to help um provide support to any of those um applicants or project awarded projects. and then lastly attending that final Earth celebration. So, um the recommendation for this presentation is really just to provide feedback on the program, how the commission um could be involved or wants to be involved or any other thoughts and questions. So, I'll just I'll keep this slide up since this lists the support ideas. But with that, that's all I had. So, Brian, I'll pass it back to you. >> Thank you, Ally. Uh first of all, congratulations. It's it's a major major accomplishment having written grants in the past. If you're ever selected, it's always amazing. One question I have for you. 300 cities have been selected. How many of those 300 cities are in the United States? Do you know? >> I don't off hand, but it does say online. I want to say it's less than a hundred. >> Okay. And then of those 100 cities in the US, how many are in Minnesota? >> Unfortunately, we're one of two. >> Yeah, >> just kidding. Um, Minneapolis was also selected. >> Okay. I was I was curious. >> Y Okay. >> There there is a formal list online. Um, I could search for it now if you'd like, but um, >> we can look it up, too. >> Maybe I'll I'll look it up while you guys are asking questions. >> But I think we're in uh good company and you have a lot to be very proud of and and so does the city of Minnotonka. We I know our our former mayor always like to consider us to be one of the leaders. this grant award clearly would put us in that category. So, my hats off to you, Ally, for doing a great job. It's wonderful. Um, my fellow commissioners, do you have any specific questions? Dave, go ahead. >> Thank you. Um, I I share Brian's enthusiasm about uh congratulating you for winning that grant. That's a big deal. So, nice work. appreciate that a lot. We couldn't do a lot of this work in the commission without your successful track record. So, thank you. Um, I had a question, you know, having responded as everybody in this commission has to requests for applications for whatever it might be, no matter who the organization is. It's always good to have really good guidance and it looks like you you set up a process to make this information very public and accessible to applicants. Um would you plan during the promotion period to have those examples um of projects that you showed us from every thing from Allentown to um Guatemala or San Francisco as kind of templates and examples for people because it it uh sure has a wide variety of kinds of projects. everything from a bike um training area to a natural resource and wetland environment. You know, it's it's a really broad definition it looks like. So, um I I would wonder if we could post some of those examples for whoever applies so they can see, oh, that's the kind of thing they're looking for. >> Yeah, I think that's a great idea. And to be honest, I wish I wish that uh the program had kind of like a database, if you will, you know, of photos, but >> they don't. And I I question if they do that because they want innovation and so they don't want to just lock them into share. >> Um, however, really almost every city to some extent has um that that has participated has a program web page that has these images. So, I think yeah, either we could maybe link to some examples of those or create our own, but I agree. I think it just helps to give um a more comprehensive idea of all the different types of projects that could exist. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um, I also wanted to echo the the thanks for your proactive application and successful accomplishment with the grant, not only this but others. So, thank you. Um, clarification for the application. Um, will that include specific requests or details of a project idea? Um, or is it open-ended? >> Yes, thank you, chair, commissioners. Great question. Um, they do have a template application online that I will admit I actually haven't looked at in detail, but it absolutely does ask what their application is going to be for. It actually requests a budget sheet even so how they're going to use the um the expenses. So yes, it gets very detailed. Um it's meant to be, you know, submitted by the youth but also the organization. So it's a joint effort there. Um but yes, it it asks what the project will be and it has to be implemented within that uh November through April time frame that all work must be completed and all expenses must be expended within that time frame. And then as far as um participants, can um can it be an overlapping group? For example, the the full environmental team at a high school, can they apply as a team or do they need to have uh two youth as leaders? >> Yeah, great question. Um chair and commission. So, uh there is from my understanding I I did ask this question to our coach. We have a coach that's been um assigned to us as a community. >> There is no limit to how many students or young adults participate per project. >> One organization can actually support three projects up to three. Um but yeah, so really I mean as many youth that want to participate per project, they're able to. There's just a minimum of two youth. >> So sometimes we have like one individual that's really passionate, but they're going to need a partner. And if I could add to that, I think our coach at our last meeting suggested that there may be some um applicants who have very similar projects, >> but we might team them up or suggest that they team up so that they can um >> both or each team participate in this award and not be competing um against each other. So we'll try to make those connections also. Dave, >> thank you. Um, we've all been through projects before that uh sometimes uh are under budget but many times are over budget. Um will there be a mechanism or one of us or some of us that can help coach the young person the the pair of young people on how to budget and have contingency plans so that they don't get halfway through the project and have overestimate or underestimated the cost. you know, if we award them say $5,000 and the thing ran 6,000 or conversely, if it came in at 3,000, is there a mechan we have probably haven't worked out any of those details, I'm sure, but I just wanted to offer the idea of having one of us or some of us as a coach on how to budget and control to a budget so that they don't accidentally end up doing more work than they thought they had to to stay within their budget. >> Yeah. Nope. That's a great question and great point and great advice. So, few things that come to mind. Um, during that application review process, the budget could certainly be reviewed and should be reviewed. And if we have any concerns with how it's laid out or any advice on how um they could incorporate those contingency plans, they certainly can be incorporated at that time. We actually had um our natural resource staff >> yesterday mentioned that maintenance like ongoing maintenance after implementation of a project is really important >> because the students might graduate they might leave but the project lives on. >> Um so we were my thought was well you know we could ask the the student to um innovate on how can we build in like a maintenance plan into their budget. So great point. That's just one example I thought was a great idea. Um the monthly check-ins are a requirement from Bloomberg. So we um and whether they attend or not is optional, but we at least have to receive an email back saying, "Yes, we're we're doing well, but we could incorporate in there, how's your budget going?" and ask for an update on that and making sure that we're um helping to set up those guard roles maybe each month because I I agree. We don't we don't want them to overexpend because we won't have a fund for that. Um >> did you have any other thoughts there? Um, Miss Wishnack just reminded me specifically that if um if anyone from the commission or staff is engaging very directly with the youth on one-on-one basis, we'll have to get our legal uh team involved and and make sure that we all have appropriate background checks and all of of those things. But that would be more to come. Any other thoughts, questions? I wanted to follow up on your um the mention of the monthly um check-ins and the power of peers, the positive power of peers that if it's a designated time that all of the groups are checking in, um I think they could benefit from each other, the questions that are asked by one group might be eyeopening for another. And if it's part of the schedule from the beginning, I think participation might be greater. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. I think now that reminds me I think that that came up in some way and it was possibly during the application support meeting where you know it's not just talking to us but the applicants are talking to each other and getting ideas and um you know it's just exciting to talk to somebody else that's going through the same application process. So I think that's great. I think the monthly meetings um that idea is great because in some ways they actually might support each other more than we can because they're they're the ones going through the projects at the same time. So great point. I took a note of that >> and also it dubtales with our goal of um encouraging them to research and educate about other areas of sustainability for the future their careers and and future decades. Thank you Diane. Any other questions at the moment for Ally? If not, once again, Ally, I think it's going to be a fantastic experience for everyone involved from the applicants to us here and the city staff and uh it's going to be exciting to see how things play out and uh and looking at the and to look at the diverse projects that will be uh proposed and carried out. So it'll be exciting to watch and to participate in. So thank you very much. >> Great. Thanks. And I did want to just mention one thing. I think another um aspect of our application that made it competitive is having the sustainability commission as um you know something that the city has that it will be a part of the review team and that typically we have two young adult commissioners on the commission too. So, um, I appreciate your support. You all helping to create the climate action and adaptation plan. All these things went into the application for this grant. So, I appreciate your support. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Uh, with that, that would conclude item or agenda item 5B. So, we would move on to uh agenda item six, Ally. >> All right. Uh so, this is just general staff updates. Our next meeting is going to be September 15th. Um at 6 p.m. As usual, uh I did reference the October special meeting date. So, again, that date is to be determined, but um stay tuned. We'll have a conversation about what that date will be and you'll be able to weigh in on that. Um I mentioned the young adult commissioner seats their term. So um they their terms ended on June 30th of this year. So they are currently both vacant. Um that term is a bit different in um when it starts and ends. It was updated a few years ago I believe to align with the school year. Um, typically we would start uh appointing those seats, but right now we're going through an ordinance revision of all commissions so that they're all aligned and the mayor and the city manager have decided that they want to wait until that process is over to uh appoint the young adult commissioners to all the commissions. So, we anticipate having two young adult um commissioners back by September 15th, which will be great because they can engage with the young uh youth climate action fund project at that time. So, stay tuned on that. Um oh, and then we actually did solicit applications for those seats back in April and June, and we received at least three applicants for that. So, there were interest. hopefully they'll stay around and still be interested when we're um ready to appoint them, but just know that there was interest. So, that was really exciting to see. Um in terms of climate action and adaptation plan updates, we hosted the Everything Electric exhibit at Summerfest. I believe there was around 4,000 attendees this year. Um it was a really well um held event. It was very well organized. A lot of people came. Weather was amazing. We had four electric vehicle drivers present. One of them brought a robot electric lawnmower that was a hit. Uh, Commissioner Meyer and her husband were there talking about their electric heat pump. So, thank you for that. The Commissioner Golub was there. Commissioner Carr was there. Um, Commissioner Sher was there. I think I'm getting everyone. Um, so appreciate all your support with that. also helping to host the um tattoo station which really helps to involve the kids too because it really is a family oriented and um young child oriented event too. Um and then I'll ask maybe the commission in the next item when we have commissioner comments if you want to have uh share any highlights or your thoughts on that. I would be happy to hear them. But thank you for that. That was an exciting event. We uh have a couple updates on the MPCA grants. We received two additional grants. So, one was for the green cauter program, which we've discussed. That is still in the planning phase. So, I'll be able to share an update on that program in September. But, that was a $50,000 grant we received to provide um rebates for energy efficiency projects and electrification projects in residential um homes. So, stay tuned on an update for that. That's exciting. The other one was an electrification study um that is adjoining a facility study that's already planned. So that was another $50,000 grant. Uh we just signed the contract this past week. And so um we're excited to kind of work through that and identify the fossil f fuel equipment that exists in our facility. Um determine what the electrification alternative would be. see the costs, energy savings, emission reductions that would be associated with that. Um, and then also as part of that, we're funding um level two audits of five priority buildings, which likely will be based on their energy usage. And then the remaining buildings will all receive level one energy audits, but that's also funded through that grant. So 13 um buildings, city facilities will be a part of that. So that's really exciting, too. Um zoning update. The city council is going and uh our planning division um is going through a zoning code update right now. Uh the city council actually just listened to that last night. There are sustainability components included in the zoning code for really the first time in some ways. Um so we're trying to go a bit above and beyond of what we had required in the past. We are going through a um stakeholder engagement process right now where we well soon here where we'll uh solicit comments from the public on that and both uh Miss Wishnack and Miss Thomas will bring an update to the sustainability commission in September on that September 15th date on where that uh zoning code update is asked at and then um we'll talk about the sustainability aspects at that time too. So that's a very exciting update for our department. And then lastly, um we also applied for a green core member um to serve from September of 2026 through is it August of 2027. We were selected. It's quite competitive nowadays from what I hear. Um so we got the green core member this year. So we're really excited about that. Um that person again will be starting in September, so stay tuned. And I imagine that you'll interact with them quite a bit over the next uh well their their service term of 11 months. We did receive um Greenep City Cities recognition again. I believe it was the seventh year. Let's see. Yeah, seventh consecutive year. So um we reported 100 communitywide sustainability metrics again. And I did want to share just a few notable 20 25 metrics. So we we every spring we submit these hundred different metrics from the previous calendar year and then I comb through and I figure out which ones seem most exciting. It's the ones that actually improved from year-over-year too that I call out. Um so a few updates that we had shared with city council is that we have 52 private buildings in Minnotonka that are either lead or energy star certified if you didn't know. Um, this year the city purchased, well, sorry, 2025 we purchased two Ford Etransit all-electric vans and those were added to our city's building fleet maintenance um or sorry, building maintenance fleet. We actually shared those at the city open house. So, if you were there last year, we shared one of them um with the public and we'll showcase that one again. But, it's pretty cool to see a van that's all electric. Uh the city approved three 40 kilwatt hour solar array developments last year and that was fund helped uh it was funded through the public or solar on public buildings program through the MPCA if you're not familiar. So that helped to support that. You may recall the home energy squad audit uh free campaign that we uh held last year and that was actually funded by another MPCA grant. We had 382 audits that were completed in 2025, which was twice the annual average visit rate. So, that was definitely thanks to you all for helping to promote um those at so many public events last year. So, thank you. Thank you for your help on that. I think it's pretty amazing. Twice the annual average. That's a lot of visits. So, thank you. And lastly, there are 56 solar arrays that were installed communitywide last year. Um, and that includes both residential and commercial and that was 23 more than the prior year. So, a lot of solar happening last year. Um, let's see, just a few last points. Commissioner, learning opportunities. I've sent an email. I'm just trying to collect all of the learning opportunities that you've attended this year. I know you all have done that individually and I want to make sure that you receive recognition and that there's um you know record of that. So, thank you for sending that if you've done it. Um there's a lot of different ways you can learn. I know one of you was mentioning you had a home energy squad visit done which I consider that absolutely a learning opportunity. So, you can certainly think outside the box. Um and then also if you wanted to share any learning opportunities that you completed in the next item um with your fellow commissioners, feel free to do that. And then lastly, ambassador opportunities coming up. We have another farmers market. Oh, I put July, but it's August. Um August 11th, I believe Greta is helping at for the 4 to 6 shift, but if you're available from 2 to 4, we could use your help. Um, oh, and then just to add something else on our calendars, um, we had talked about doing a CE business blitz again, and because CE can provide so much support for that, I figured let's chat with them and see if we can still get this on the calendar yet this year, um, they are available to help host that on August 26th. So, if you're available on Wednesday, August 26th, which is just about a month away, um we could use your help going to business to business. So, there I what I've proposed is there's three different shifts, two hours. We would have one commissioner join a CE representative. This year, I'm going to try to call a handful of businesses and try to get them to pre-register so that they know we're coming. um it might result in them actually signing up over the phone. If not, we are offering to come on site, tell them about what the one-stop efficiency shop um program is, and if they're interested in learning more, they can sign up um with that CE representative. but you as a commissioner um can join and we thought it would be a really great opportunity for you to learn about how their business uses energy, what sort of um projects they've already implemented, what they're interested in um potentially implementing in the future. So really just you know a learning opportunity to talk to the business and learn more about their energy use and their you know energy bills any any um troubles that they're experiencing in that regard. So, and then also wanted to uh put a note there if you are interested in joining that, we'd like to ask you to attend an info training session just so we're all kind of on the same page with what those um visits will look like. So, just note that that will also be something that we will be scheduling eventually, too. Also, if you want to attend for more than two hours, you're welcome to sign up for all three. I see Commissioner Meyer gladly nodding, so maybe she'll take all three of those. I don't know. So, watch out. You might have competition there. Um, and then lastly, there will be these upcoming Youth Climate Action Fund opportunities. So, stay tuned. Um, they're all going to be what I already previously shared about, but I'll probably occasionally put them on Signup Genius like we normally have or they will be on, you know, email, too. So, that is all I had for that. Thanks. >> Thank you, Elliot. It's a uh a lot of activities going on, but they're they're all good. Very very good. Um with that, that essentially concludes item 6A. So, we'll move along to uh item seven on the agenda, which is a report from our sustainability commissioners. Does anyone have anything they would like to report back to the group? Diane, do you? >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chair Goolum. Um, as as you may know, I am passionate about clean air. Um, initially as a pediatrician fighting for clean indoor air, smoke-free and now clean outdoor air by reducing the burning of fossil fuels and helping residents and businesses electrify. Um, through rewiring America, I was able to take a a free course on uh becoming an electrification coach. So, it was a very good review. Um they were live sessions recorded as well as workshops um beginning with as we recommend home energy audits, weatherization, insulation, calculation of manual J learned a lot about the engineering behind it. Um, and then progressing to different appliance uh, replacements, uh, cost benefit, pros and cons, differences nationwide as far as the, um, potential energy and cost savings. Uh, because here in Minnesota, we natural gas is very inexpensive compared to electric. Um, and that's different in other parts of the country. Um, overall it was a a fabulous program and I would recommend anyone interested in getting more than the one-hour Electrify Everything seminar, it was well worthwhile. Um and then for my capstone project with the help of John Litet um communications director of Minnetonka in Alley, we were able to put together um a photo review and a PowerPoint presentation of the electrification projects that we've done in our home. Um and showed that for the Summerfest. Um, and I I look forward to utilizing that PowerPoint presentation going forward to maybe add a work session for the commission as well as public gatherings um our farmers market maybe in fall especially for indoor events. Um I would also encourage I know that um Ashley your passion in recycling and organics um your engineering experience Dave if we could all pick an area of passion and sustainability and do similarly do research and put together a presentation I think that would be helpful both for our commission as well as for the community. Um and as I wanted to dovtail um the experience at uh Summerfest, there were a lot of people who stopped by briefly, a lot of interactions. Um but I was struck by the progress that residents have made in the couple years that I've hosted the Everything Electric. More people had already begun electrifying. Many of them had an EV already. Um, many were familiar with heat pumps had already been researching them or had them installed. Um, so I could see the progress and even those who had not electrified were positively interested and I had zero negative comments. So that was exciting. Thank you. >> Thank you, Diane. Anything else? Any Ashley? >> Yes. So, my report is I bought a house um and it was in the city of Minnotonka, which let me tell you that is a challenge. Um, as you all know, I um well, part of what some another committee that I was very fortunate enough to be able to serve on is um the zoning committee, which they have a different um ambassador or excuse me, commissioner from each of the boards um represented on that committee. So that has been a really unique opportunity for me especially with my legal background just to learn about our zoning laws um which have are have not been updated in quite some time. So the fact that the city has um taken on this project is a really unique project that I get to look at um but it has also been very interesting as someone who recently took uh uh took on the endeavor of trying to find a home in the city of Minnetonka. um because I do love the city so much and um what brought me out here is my child and um our amazing school system and I wanted to stay make sure that he was able to stay out here. Um and so something at our actually our last um board and commission um banquet that we did was we got to learn a lot of really cool facts about the city of Mitankka. One of which is how many school districts they're actually zoned for. Um and so um which is technically four, which is kind of surprising, but I really wanted to stay zone for Minnitankka Middle School West. And that put like carved out a tiny little area of Minnetonka that I could buy a house in. And then of course, as you all likely are not surprised by, I needed to find a house that was EV ready or I I wanted to, of course, um because I had just bought my EV because I am very committed to sustainability. I'm um and so despite the fact that I had just paid off that brand new car, >> I went and bought another brand new car that was EV like that was a fully electric vehicle. And so when it was time for me to get my new home, I said we the one of the first things that we were looking for is how close is that electrical panel to the garage. Okay? And let me tell you, um that is a hard find. So when we found my perfect home, the electrical panel was already in the garage and and it was already set up um with a EV uh charger out there. I was shook y'all. I was shook. Okay. I did still have to have my electrician come out, which I will talk about. But so it was um a very interesting um experience for me to be able to have to buy a home in the city of Minnitonka. It taught me a lot that I hope to bring back to the zoning um committee just because um we are trying to really focus on how we can make sure that um we get to bring more people into the city of Minnotonka. We have so many great things to offer our residents here and we want to make sure that it's uh really accessible to people um because of how amazing our city is. So I look forward to bringing that back. But also some things that I want to bring back to you all is of course it's really great when we um when we have people who are buying the EVs, but we also want to make sure that when they make this investment in a an EV that they also are able to keep the EV with them when they're trying to look for new homes. And uh I looked at a lot of homes and only the the home that I did end up purchasing was the home that was EV ready. Um, and unfortunately some of the other homes that I looked at looked at it would have had it would have been an investment for me to have to um ensure that the home would have been able to accommodate accommodate my EV. So I do appreciate in lots of the talks that we've been having with the city that they are making sure that they're talking to builders and prioritizing making sure that homes are EV ready. And so that's something that I really appreciate um that we're doing as a part of our um climate uh adaptation and action plan. I think that's really important. And so that's something that I as a uh you know person who had just bought a home is something that I appreciate um that the city has been really working with uh the builders on. Additionally, I wanted to make sure to uh discuss another thing that was really important to me when I got my new home. Of course, I had a home inspection done cuz that's really important and whatnot, but I immediately was like, Home Energy Squad, how quickly can I get these folks out here? Okay, number one, it was really it was quick. I had them out there quick. I'm tell you right now. Uh, so number one, I had um obviously I had a home energy squad visit done at my previous place. It was a little bit different. So we lived in a condo at my previous place. So it was like a like a forplex and so it was a condo. This place that I'm in now is a townhouse. And so it was actually a unique experience for me because they performed kind of a different home energy squad visit on a condo versus what they would do for a townhouse. Like they couldn't do the blower test in the condo, but they could do it in the townhouse, which so that was kind of nice. Additionally, something that I thought was really unique, and I hope to share this with individuals who uh potentially are um have questions about the Home Energy Squad visit is it was interesting because I had just had an inspector come out to my home who I paid a whole lot of money to make sure everything was up to code, right? And then I had the Home Energy Squad people come out literally, I want to tell y'all, it was probably a week later, okay? And so, um some of y'all might might have been like, "Okay, is that a little bit redundant?" Which potentially, right? Um, but I was actually there when the Home Energy Squad people were there as opposed to the inspector. I just came in afterwards and he kind of told me all the stuff. A lot of it over overlapped. And so to me, that just tells you how good the Home Energy Squad individuals are. Okay. And so, um, as he was telling me all the things that I should look into, I'm like, "Yep, the inspector guy caught that last week. Yep. He that's something that he looked at as well." So, I just want I think that it speaks to uh which I mean this is not surprising of course because of course they're um educated and you know fantastic individuals and you know great in their field but it speaks to um like the quality of work that you're getting with these individuals that are coming into your home. So I think that that's something that I really appreciated being able to attest to. Um so yeah, I of course appreciate the home energy squad visits. Um, it's something that I was really, what I was really hoping for when they came out was I wanted the digital thermostat. I love the EcoB. Everybody else, Eco, Eco, anybody love that thing? No Eco program. >> We'll talk about that later. >> Works just fine. >> It's very efficient. >> You're not connected to the system like the main system like like where they can all collectively if they need to cool us all down at the same time. you are still you still yeah you can do that still okay fine we'll we'll allow it then chair um but anyways love my eco I don't have an eco I also love the eco because I can from the comfort of my bed adjust the thermostat y'all know what I'm talking about I can't do that right now and I'm on the struggle bus okay I didn't realize how much I was dependent on that thing okay I got to go downstairs to change the thermostat it's a hardship I'm going to be honest with you first world problems I understand this is a hardship to have to go downstairs in this hot hot weather to turn the AC down. Okay. Yikes. Anyways, um so yes, so that was honestly my primary reason for having to come out. I was like immediately get this thing out of my house. Okay. Get me an EcoB right now. Um but anyways, so very appreciative to the Home Energy Squad for coming out. Additionally, I had booked my visit for I think as soon as I could get it, which was like I don't know 2 weeks out. And they were like, "Hey, we have a spot for you. We have a spot." They texted me at like 7:00 in the morning. I was not up, but I was like, "Hey, can you come?" Yes, you can come today. I work, you know, from home and they're like, "Okay, we're on our way." Fantastic. So, they will bump you up, bump up your visit if they can. So, it was just a fantastic visit. Another um two uh vendors that I want to shout out in my capacity as a Minnotonka resident, not as an um a sustainability commission ambassador, but as a Minnitankka resident is Plugs Electric. They are the people who initially had set up my um EV charger at the first place. So, I had them come back out to check in my panel and whatnot. Cam from Plugs Electric, love that guy. That's my electrician. He's He's going with me to every Well, I want to stay in Tonka. So, I hope we're not going to no more houses, but Cam came out, made sure my EV charger was good to go, that we were we were looking great again. Plugs Electric, love them. And also, Anderson Windows. They happen to be in the neighborhood, so they were like, "Hey, do you want us to look at your window?" And I the house is built in '92, so we were looking good. I didn't need anything. But he gave me such great education on um the windows and when it does come time to update them, like what is most sustainable? And I was like, do you want to come talk to the commission? His name is Gosh, I just had it up. It's Mr. It's Mitch Wlette from Anderson Windows. So, that is something learning crew, learning team to potentially talk about because windows obviously insulate and making sure we have wellinssulated windows is something that is of great importance as well. So, he was absolutely fantastic. When I told him I was a sustainability commissioner, he was like, "Oh, you know, we we're always looking to give off our education." And he also had some really great information about how um what is appropriate as far as like window types for u Minnesota with like for us here in Minnesota. And like he it just I was kind of blown away by the education that he was doing and I know sometimes when you have people coming out coming out to you it's it can be very salesoriented but I was just really impressed with his the education that he offered. So yes really really was pleased with that. So, lots of great vendors that came out, but also just really appreciated the home buying process obviously um and just appreciated that that I was able to stay in the city of Minnetonka. I love being a resident here and so just wanted to share that um experience with you all and then of course continue to um offer my support for the home energy squad visit just and the home energy yeah the home energy squad visits and whatnot. So, yes, that's just my report and my little update for the commission. >> Thank you, Ashley. Very very interesting. Anything else anyone wants to share? Dave, go right ahead. >> Uh, thanks. Um, because of Ashley's thorough report on the home energy squad, uh, it, um, reminded me when we were at the, uh, Summerfest, um, I was kind of trying to promote the home energy squad to a lot of people that hadn't heard about it or thought they heard about it but weren't sure about it. And so I was kind of promoting that they do it cuz we did it, too. But, um, I'm just wondering if we could re-energize a grant or a fund to be doing that again for free for people cuz, um, so many, you know, I'd say maybe a third or a quarter of the people I talked to had heard of it, but the other twothirds or so hadn't and they were really interested in it and had no idea that Minnetonka offered it. So, um, good work on, uh, promoting it and having it done. But, uh, it also benefited me quite a bit cuz I have an 80s house and it's got a lot of holes in it. But, uh, it there's a lot of gaps that could be filled. So, I'm just wondering if maybe in the future we could consider the freebie home energy squad visit again as an idea. >> Yep. Thank you, chair, commissioners. Um, so two parts to that. Um, the city of Minnitonka for I think at least five years or so has um Oh, six. Brian, he's skipping me. >> No, I think it's five. >> Um, oh, okay. Five around five years has subsidized home energy squad visits at 50% of the cost. Um, alike at least a handful of other communities around the metropolitan area. So instead of paying $100 for your visit, you pay $50 for your planning visit, which is the includes the blower door test that Commissioner Patine mentioned. Um, we did request funding from the MPCA in 2024 and 2025 to fund free home energy squad audits, which we saw was wildly successful. Um, so that was great and that was Drew Inglesen who applied for that grant back then. Uh we actually saw that a third of those visits were actually um lower income qualifying applicants too which was really exciting to see that and maybe somewhat unexpected but that was a good outcome of that even though to be honest they actually are already free to begin with but I think us for for that population but I think us continually reiterating in the promotions that they are free increased their participation in the program which was an interesting outcome. Um that being said, when we applied for the green cost share grant that I mentioned um for this year and we have received, we wanted to go above and beyond just funding the home energy squad audits to get people to take the next step which would be to do those insulation projects. So that grant which I did not mention earlier actually includes 80 free home energy squad audits um opposed to the 300 and instead of funding it fully to the just just home energy squad audits the remaining is going to go to those um rebates for the energy savings equipment. So we'll still have the 80 free home energy squad audits plus everything else would be uh subsidized at the 50% too that the city has offered. So yeah, >> but I agree. I think it's something that we want to continue to offer and we see value in it. So great points. Thanks. >> Thank you, Dave. Any anything else? I have something I'd like to share. I think I'm going to be brief and I don't think I'm going to go through everything. This This is an old issue of Time magazine. It's not that old. It's back from February. Sorry about that. Anyway, there's an article here that I I want to just bring to your attention. I don't think I underlined a number of things because I think there's it's all related to climate change and the situation with the federal government. And I'm I'm not going to get political, but these are facts and I'm going to be very brief. I can provide a copy of this to you, Ally, and you can share this with some of the other commissioners, but the article is titled the women saving America's climate data. It's an extremely interesting article and it talks about the current administration made 70% more changes to official environmental websites that were made during the first term of the president. a lot of a lot of information uh and and specifically 18 federal data resources were either taken down, discontinued, or had significant elements removed. I went on the EPA's website just the other day and I was looking up climate change discontinued, not available. It's it's very disheartening. Um yeah, it's hard to measure the value of climate data. Governments need it, researchers need it. It is essential for tracking emissions, legal ch legal cases and protecting health. One one question that come or one aspect that comes to mind that I think all of us can benefit from is the particullet that has has invaded our state is primarily from the Canadian wildfire fires. There are 800 fires burning uncontrollably in in the wilderness areas in in Canada. Boundary waters was caused by lightning strikes, but the particulate level here in the Twin Cities and in most of Minnesota has been horrendous. It's it it has exceeded, as Diane probably knows, the hazardous uh category. There's a a handy little website I would encourage all of you to jot down and use for yourself personally. It's called air. AIRI now.gov airnow.gov. It ties in to a responsible reputable for uh a agency called the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency because you're not going to get it from EPA. But if you go to airnow.gov and you and you hit it, you're going to see this is going to pop up and all you have to do this is almost idiot proof. I can do it. Anyone can do it. Type in your zip code, your your your name will the city will show up and this graphic will show you the air quality at that instant and it's tied into MPCA air monitoring events or locations throughout the city. So, let's just do that and put on my reading glasses so I I get the right zip code. 556. Oops, sorry, wrong one. 55305. It pops up as Hopkins as opposed to Minnetonka because of the zip. The post post office is Hopkins. So I just tap tap that and it says right now we're in the moderate category and the concentration of particulates is 68. Um and you know it's it's the it's reported as pollutants particulate matter two of 2.5 microns and smaller. Those are the small particles that get into your lungs. bad news. So if you want if a person would like to know what it is with a quantitative number, the number is presented here and the and the colorcoded category is presented here too. So it's it's it's very beneficial information. Um, I also did do uh a keyword search and I said reliable sources of climate change information in 2026 because if you don't put down the year, you may get some information that refers you to EPA and then you get very excited and you go to EPA and it says not continued, discontinued, it's gone. So one is called the inter intergovern inter intergovernmental panel on climate change the world meteorological organization climate tra trace there is information out there but the old standby EPA is not no longer available um nor is CDC the uh in terms of climate change and health effects it's it's unfortunate but this is a remarkably good article here on what's been what's going on right now in terms of the loss of information of practical useful information. So it's disheartening but I thought it was worthwhile in mentioning to everybody. So with that that's the last thing I would like to just convey to everybody especially our now airnow.gov which is a useful little uh tool to use. Uh because even though we've had a couple of great days in terms of low humidity and and beautiful temperature, the hot air and the particulates are coming back. Um and it'll probably be on again, off again. And someone's asked me, is this going to continue or not? If it rains, will it will it slow down the amount of particulates in the air? It has a factor, but the a greater factor is prevailing winds going from the west to the east, blowing it away, making it Wisconsin, Michigan's uh Indiana's, New York's problem. Um, and that's reality. Um, there's there's an old expression in the the the pollution world, the solution to pollution is dilution. So, when the fresh air comes in, the particulates get pushed away. And that's basically what you do with OSHA, too. You want to you want to get you want to bring in air to the company and you want to exhaust out the contaminated air. So, it's it's it's a good tour. It's a good tool. So, I just wanted to share that. That would conclude item number seven on our agenda. Uh our next item is other business. No, >> sorry. There's just no items for that. Under other business. >> Oh, right. Right. Yeah, that that that was that was the uh conclusion of that. Um in item eight, right? There are there are no business. So under under item eight under there business, there aren't any items. So I would I would move to item nine, which is adjournment, which is the last item for tonight. So, would any of my fellow commissioners like to make a motion to adj to adjourn tonight's meeting? >> I move to adjurnn. >> Thank you, Ashley. Is there a second? >> I second. >> Dian's uh second it. All in favor? I think we won't pull. I think we can just simply say I. >> I I >> I. >> We are adjourned. Meeting is over at 7:58. Thank you all.