## Richfield Sustainability Commission Agenda August 27, 2026 -- 7:00 PM ## Richfield Municipal Center ## Heredia Conference Room ## 6700 Portland Avenue South 1. Call to Order 2. Approval of the Agenda 3. Approval of Minutes a. Minutes ## 4. Open Forum a. Participants can share their comments in person, by voicemail, or email, and may also request to participate virtually. For more information on submitting comments, refer to the Sustainability Commission Agenda and Minutes page on the City's Website. 5. Reports/Recommendations ## a. Solid Waste: • Event recaps: UWHM waste, Furniture donation, Employee clothing swap • Organized collection survey • Volunteers needed for Penn Fest recycling - September 20th • Future events: o Food waste cooking workshops- September 13 and 27 o Winter clothing swap- September 26 o Pumpkin smash- November 7 o Repair fair- February 2027 o Building materials swap- April 2027 ## b. Sustainability: Tree plantings, Energy Efficiency/PiE project, Home Tour volunteering ## 6. Other Business ## a. Commissioner Park Clean-up Recap (Sookchain) ## b. RPS Tree Inventory and Assessment Report (Kueper) c. EAB letter to Council (Kueper) ## 7. Committee Reports a. CSC Report (Meyer) ## 8. Next Meeting a. Thursday, September 24th, 2026 ## 7 P.M. - City Hall, Heredia Room 9. Adjournment Auxiliary aids for individuals with accessibility needs are available upon request. Requests must be made at least 96 hours in advance to the City Clerk at 612-861-9739. Includes Materials - Materials relating to these agenda items can be found in the Sustainability Commission agenda packet located by the entrance. The complete Sustainability Commission agenda packet is available electronically on the City of Richfield’s website. Page 1 of 4 ## Richfield Sustainability Commission Minutes June 25, 2026 ## Richfield Municipal Center ## Heredia Conference Room ## 6700 Portland Avenue South 1. ## Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Commission Chair Danner at 7:01 in the Heredia Conference Room. Members Present: Chris Danner, Katy Boone, Craig Heinen, Katrina DeVore, Rose Thompson, ## Amanda Kueper, Alexa Wozniak ## Members Absent: Margaux Meyer ## Staff Present: Rachel Lindholm, Zach McCarty ## Guest Presenters: Chris Link 2. Approval of the Agenda MOTION: made by Heinen, seconded by Sookchain to approve the agenda. ## Voting Aye: Danner, Boone, Thompson, Heinen, DeVore, Sookchain Motion carried: 6 - 0 3. ## Approval of Minutes MOTION: made by Heinen, seconded by Boone to approve the meeting minutes from 5/28/26. ## Voting Aye: Danner, Boone, Thompson, Heinen, DeVore, Sookchain Motion carried: 6 - 0 a. ## Minutes 4. ## Open Forum a. Participants can share their comments in person, by voicemail, or email, and may also request to participate virtually. For more information on submitting comments, refer to the Sustainability ## Commission Agenda and Minutes page on the City's Website . 5. ## Reports/Recommendations a. Solid Waste: Building materials swap (volunteers needed), Organics audit result (part one) Upcoming events: - building material swap (7/16) - furniture donation event (8/1) - food waste cooking workshops (September-October) - winter clothing swap (9/26, drop off at farmers market 9/19 and 9/26) McCarty reported half of organics audit has been completed - so far positive. Most contamination came from disposable food containers. Building materials swap - requesting volunteers, contact McCarty, flyer distributed soon. Furniture donation (8/1), no volunteers needed, at small parking lot at Donaldson Park. Food waste cooking workshop, starting in Sept, using food scraps, pickling & preserving, how to use the whole apple, registration through rec guide and likely earlier. Winter clothing swap, 9/26, drop off available at farmers market 9/19 & 9/26. Heinen requested information about resident reports that solid waste collection has combined organics and trash - city staff following up with Republic b. Sustainability: Trash/recycling at bandshell & park buildings, PiE project Lindholm reported adequate solid waste containers available at bandshell. Solid waste receptacles will be made available for park building rentals. Starting post implementation project focused on weatherization, more information to come in August regarding budget and target population. Request for 1 member to join comprehensive plan steering committee to serve as liaison between comp plan committee and sustainability commission. 6. ## Other Business a. ## Presentation about EAB/Forestry (Chris Link) ## DRAFT Page 2 of 4 • Current EAB plan approved in 2010, designed to stay within city’s current operating budget, included $50,000 annually to pay for chemicals to treat trees • 2021 last large scale treatment of trees ~700 trees treated, work for treatment and most tree removals completed by city staff • Around 700 Ash trees remaining in blvd • Requesting residents to treat Ash trees - public works will be doing targeted mailing to residents with blvd ash trees by end of July. • 16-20 blvd trees currently treated by residents • City needs to know if residents are treating trees, no cost permit is required, city keeps record • Hard to say how much it costs city to treat 1 Ash tree, city more cost effective than contractor, but staff time is a constraint • $170,000-230,000 annually to pay for contractor to treat ~700 ash trees remaining • Goal is to replant new tree in year following removal, current challenge is avoiding underground utilities, will be using full width of city right-of-way. • Commission members asked questions of Chris Link b. Educational outreach/fun events (Wozniak) • Suggestion to an plan environmental trivia in fall • Could coordinate in conjunction with clothing swap • Contact Wozniak to help with drafting trivia questions • City staff will share list of potential prizes c. DIY tote bag craft event (Wozniak) • Proposed to be in conjunction with Woodlake nature center opening • Supplies needed - fabric scissors d. Sheridan Hills school sustainability outreach (Kueper) • Focused on better solid waste sorting in cafeteria this spring • Will be working on additional efforts next school year • Plan to reach out to school board e. Trashwalking and clean-up events (Sookchain) • Requesting at least 2 volunteers • Discussion of how to reach volunteers beyond commission - outreach to sustainability email list, outreach to NHS students • Sookchain will work on planning when and where • Goal to make it a monthly event 7. ## Committee Reports a. CSC report (Meyer) Meyer absent. Lindholm gave brief report. 8. ## Next Meeting a. August 27th, 2026 - 7 PM ## Heredia Room, City Hall 9. ## Adjournment MOTION TO ADJOURN: made by Kueper, seconded by Heinen to adjourn the meeting at 8:36 PM. ## Voting Aye: Kueper, Heinen, Boone, Danner, Wozniak, Thompson, Sookchain, DeVore Motion carried: 8 - 0 ## DRAFT Page 3 of 4 ## DRAFT Page 4 of 4