Recommendations

1. Council can easily pass a resolution to join the 36 other Ontario community members of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 148 Partners for Climate Protection.  ^[1]
   
   
2. Direct all senior staff to review 'Hamilton: Electric City' ^[2], 'Bloomington Peak Oil Resolution 06-07' ^[3] and 'Report of the City of Portland Peak Oil Task Force' ^[4] and prepare a joint overview with suggested recommendations.
   
   
3. Using the Hamilton report as a template, direct staff to devise a format for reporting whereby all recommendations are assessed through Climate Change and/or Peak Oil (CCPO) lenses.
   
   
4. Direct staff to assess the 'Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities' ^[5] and 'Hannover Principles: A Design for Sustainability' ^[6] with the intent to advise council on their adoption.
   
   
5. Instruct Economic Development to prepare a report suggesting strategies for the relocalization of economic activities.
   
   
6. Having endorsed the City of Vaughan's Excessive Packaging motion in October 2006 ^[7], council should prepare a follow-up motion, calling on local and regional businesses, and retail outlets, to adopt best practices in reducing excessive packaging and all other waste.
   
   
7. Direct Purchasing to prepare an official Green Procurement Policy.
   
   
8. Instruct Mayor McMullan to direct his Prosperity Council to review their formulated recommendations through CCPO lenses.
   
   
9. Finally, the reworded version of Resolution No. 50 submitted to the 2006 U.S. Conference of Mayors drafted by the mayors of Albuquerque, Seattle, Chicago and Miami)

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1. WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has previously adopted strong policy resolutions for cities, communities, and the federal government to take actions to reduce fossil fuel consumption and global warming pollution; and
   
   
2. WHEREAS, the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international community's most respected assemblage of scientists, has found that climate disruption is a reality and that human activities are largely responsible for increasing concentrations of global warming pollution; and
   
   
3. WHEREAS, the North American Building Sector has been shown to be the major consumer of fossil fuel and producer of global warming causing greenhouse gases; and
   
   
4. WHEREAS, North American governments at all levels have adopted high performance green building principles; and
   
   
5. WHEREAS, a recent study completed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the most definitive cost-benefit analysis of green buildings ever conducted, concluded that the financial benefits of green design are between $50 and $70 [US] per square foot, more than 10 times the additional cost associated with building green; and
   
   
6. WHEREAS, the large positive impact on employee productivity and health gains suggests that green building has a cost-effective impact beyond just the utility bill savings; and
   
   
7. WHEREAS, studies have indicated that student attendance and performance is higher in high performance school buildings; and
   
   
8. WHEREAS, recognizing that a building's initial construction costs represent only 20-30 percent of the building's entire costs over its 30 to 40 year life, emphasis should be placed on the "life cycle costs" of a public building rather than on solely its initial capital costs; and
   
   
9. WHEREAS, the construction industry represents a significant portion of our economy and a significant portion of the building industry is represented by small business and an increase in sustainable building practices will encourage and promote new and innovative small business development throughout North America; and
   
   
10. WHEREAS, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the national professional organization representing architects has adopted a position statement calling for the immediate energy reduction of all new and renovated buildings to onehalf the national average for that building type, with increased reductions of 10% every five years so that by the year 2030 all buildings designed will be carbon neutral, meaning they will use no fossil fuel energy; and
    
    
11. WHEREAS the 2006 U.S. Conference of Mayors resolved to encourage its members to adopt the following "2030 Challenge" for building performance targets:
    • New construction of City buildings shall be designed to and achieve a minimum delivered fossil-fuel energy consumption performance standard of one half the U.S. average for that building type as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy.
      
      
    • Renovation projects of City buildings shall be designed to and achieve a minimum delivered fossil-fuel energy consumption performance standard of one half the U.S. average for that building type as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy.
      
      
    • All other new construction, renovations, repairs, and replacements of City buildings shall employ cost-effective, energy-efficient, green building practices to the maximum extent possible; and
      
      
    
    
    
12. WHEREAS, that U.S. Conference of Mayors further resolved to work to increase the fossil-fuel reduction standard for all new buildings to carbon neutral by 2030, in the following increments:
    

    60% in 2010
    70% in 2015
    80% in 2020
    90% in 2025

    Carbon-neutral by 2030 (meaning new buildings will use no fossil fuel GHG [green house gas] emitting energy to operate).
    
    
13. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of St. Catharines will urge mayors, and regional chairs from around the nation to join this effort by developing plans to fully implement the above mentioned targets as part of their procurement process and by establishing policies to insure compliance and measure results; and
    
    
14. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of St. Catharines will urge mayors, and regional chairs from around the nation to develop plans to fully implement the above mentioned targets for all new and renovated buildings within their City and/or Region; and
    
    
15. BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the City of St. Catharines will work in conjunction with The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (otherwise known as ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability) and other appropriate organizations to join this effort to develop plans to fully implement similar targets as mentioned above.
    
    

 

Council agreed that at Councillor Heather Foss's request, "On this important topic, the best thing to do would be to refer [presentations] back to staff in order for staff to comment on the presentation material and ... to address the steps which can be taken at the municipal level."

 

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1. http://www.sustainablecommunities.ca/Partners-for-Climate-Protection/Milestone_Status.asp ~ URL updated Aug. 26, 2011

2. June 2005 http://www.hamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/144F4643-22C1-4D97-9BBA-639D2D2FA70C/0/Apr28CM06012PeakOil.pdf

3. July 2006 http://energypreparedness.net/resolutions/bloomington?PHPSESSID=f7213cc236c7ccebd102201dcd4d5d3c ~ No longer accessible, Aug. 2011

4. March 2007 http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=145732

5. http://www.davidrisstrom.org/100GreenAchievements/100GA-MelbournePrinciples.html

6. http://www.mcdonough.com/principles.pdf

7. http://www.stcatharines.ca/cityservices/citydepartments/corpsupportsvcs/agendas_minutes/docs/agendas/2006gaoct30.pdf ~ No longer accessible, Aug 2011

8. http://backspace.com/notes/2006/05/all-city.php ~ URL Updated Aug. 26, 2011

 

Good evening Mayor Brian, Council, Staff and viewing public.

My name is Bernie Slepkov. I live at 213 St. Paul Street, Unit 1.

I want to extend to staff my appreciation for this report. It acknowledges the City's various roles in addressing the emerging threats confronting our institutions and residents. It warns of impending impacts of climate change and rising costs of energy. It cites Canadian best practices. It eludes to the opportunities for stimulating local economic development. And it clearly expresses the need for engaging our institutions and residents in being part of defining a future based on urgent new challenges confronting us all.

If, as I expect will happen, council endorses the report's recommendation for a summit I can expect further opportunities to help shape that future. Meanwhile, I have two suggestions to make, and one unanswered question to ask again.

At the June 4^th meeting for which this report was requested, I recommended the endorsement of a specific motion concerning the attainment of carbon-neutral buildings. At that time, I also suggested an endorsement of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' and Local Governments for Sustainability's "Partners for Climate Protection Council Resolution to Join". By the way, if I am not mistaken "Partners for Climate Protection", if not FCM, offers funding for initiatives such as the recommended summit.

At first I considered putting the actual Partners for Climate Protection motion before you tonight. Then I remembered Mayor McMullan's 'carbon footprint' motion recently adopted by regional council. In any case, I feel that within the next few weeks council should formally endorse some kind of motion to display this council's unquestionable commitment to addressing the issues raised within this report. Such a motion I think would increase the level of public interest, participation and commitment in the summit since it would put our institutions and residents on notice of impending policies and priorities they will be asked to help define.

The second suggestion concerns redefining the focus of the recommended summit. I think the term 'environmental' unintentionally downplays the community economic development potentiality of the summit. While we tend to think of global warming as an environmental issue, the coincidental emergence of issues surrounding an end to cheap and plentiful fossil fuel will more immediately impact our social and economic systems. Despite that however, they do represent opportunities for some economic renewal.

As to the unanswered question, Mr. Mayor, it was not rhetorical. So I ask again; how has this City's entire operating budget, including all emergency and municipal service fleets, been affected by rising costs since Hurricane Katrina?

Thank you again for this opportunity.

 

The outcome, after Jane Hanlon of Climate Action Niagara (CAN), and Don Alexander also addressed council, was council directing staff to investigate potential partners, content, timelines and costs for a summit and to prepare a report for the next Strategic and Corporate Planning meeting (in October). Amendments to the staff recommendation included the formation of a citizens' steering committee for the summit, reporting on the FCM motion for the next meeting, ensuring that candidates for the position of Urban Designer display strong awareness for environmental concerns, and that steps to be taken in responding to my question of operating costs (to be undertaken by the budget committee(?).

 

I asked for this appointment so that I could announce the birth of my second granddaughter, Sophia Nicole Saturday morning to my son, Aaron and daughter-in-law, Emily nee DiBattista.

Thank you for allowing me to speak to the report regarding the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Partners for Climate Protection Program. My name is Bernie Slepkov, 1-213 St. Paul St.

Thankfully, I was able to speak directly with the staff member who authored the report before you tonight. I'm thankful because prior to that conversation, I had a more confrontational and accusatory address prepared. In light of this morning's conversation however, I have a better understanding for the report's contents and the recommendation it be received for information purposes.

When I made my presentation back in September, I asked council to "formally endorse the PCP program or failing that, some kind of motion to display this council's unquestionable commitment to addressing the issues raised within [the previous] report. I [still] believe that such a motion would increase the level of public interest, participation and commitment in the summit" which you approved in September. The only reason I did not insist then that council immediately endorse the PCP motion was because I feared its resolution to form a committee might become a sticking point. But then, even before requesting this report from staff, Councillor Foss asked for, and council endorsed an amendment that night to form a committee. With that part of the resolution out of the way-and the fact that such a committee would likely include staff and council representation anyways-passing the PCP tonight should have been a no brainer. Actually, it still is!

I say this for a number of reasons, but mainly because "the PCP program is just a tool to help move the bar" as I was told by Welland Councillor, and FCM board member, David Alexander.

By becoming a partner under the PCP program, we will have access to over 154 communities, most of which will gladly share with us their learned knowledge and insights. According to the authors of Stormy Weather: 100 Solutions to Global Climate Change, Guy Dauncey and Patrick Mazza, in outlining the American version of PCP; "You will be provided technical assistance, training, grants, working policies, publication, case studies and a connection with mayors, councillors and city staff in cities and towns that are working on similar strategies." ^[9] In Canada, they claimed back in 2001, we would receive almost identical benefits.

To quote even further from the section 'Join the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign':

There is nothing impossible about eliminating greenhouse gases, as 300 cities [world-wide…] that participate … already know. The campaign requires leadership and community support; once underway, it is not excessively complicated and all the initiatives that will make a difference have been tried, tested, and found to work.

So what kind of thing are we taking about? Nothing unexpected, but when you put them together, these greenhouse-gas-saving initiatives have a remarkable effect. They will save money and bring many side benefits while making your community safer, more attractive, and more ecologically sustainable. For the most part, they will be politically uncontroversial, which is useful if you are a mayor or councillor and conscious of the people who voted you into office."

There are already a number of initiatives either underway, under consideration, or as I would hope, may emerge from the impending summit. You can identifiy these from the following list of first steps detailed in FCM's "Quick Action Guide": Muncipal Action on Climate Protection: ^[10]

In the [municipal] Corporate Sector:

1. Building Retrofit
2. Change traffic lights to LED fixtures
3. Replace streetlights with more efficient bulbs
4. Start a water conservation program
5. Plant trees
6. Implement an anti-idling program to reduce emissions from municipal fleet vehicles
7. Provide parking incentives to carpoolers
8. Purchase alternative fuel for corporate fleets
9. Purchase green energy
10. Create guidelines for green buildings and sites

In the Community Sector:

1. Start a community-wide composting program
2. Sell rain barrels at reduced prices
3. Use financial incentives to reduce waste
4. Launch an awareness program on the importance of clean water
5. Promote energy efficiency in the industrial sector
6. Create incentives for public transit use
7. Support and encourage local residential energy efficiency initiatives
8. Develop and maintain a bike-friendly infrastructure
9. Initiate a commuter challenge, bike to work week or car-free day in your community
10. Support community gardening-donate surplus land, promote green roofs

Truth be known, the author of the report and I are on the exact same page, and unless council holds any disingenuous intent for addressing all the challenges confronting our community, which I doubt, in light of the above, there's nothing preventing us for joining Partners for Climate Protection.

While I trust various tools and resources required for this city to effectively pass PCP's five milestones to become more clear after the summit, I share a concern unmentioned by this report's author. We don't wish to see this city end up like the majority of PCP's 154 Canadian member communities, which after years of signing on, show little-to-no progress.

But as I wrote in closing my Niagara Voices article published last Thursday in the Standard: "Despite our stubborn hold on outdated models, the winds of international change have intensified dramatically. …. With a little foresight and enough guts to anticipate and focus on fulfilling societal demands for sustainability, Niagara's future prosperity could stem from leading that charge into the 21st century." ^[10]

That brings me to the report mentioning a need for a consultant services and the likelihood of one or more new positions. You may wish to ask staff to clarify this. As I understand it, and you might ask staff to report back with a clarification, those aspects were not intended expressly for the emission audit and related activities.

The reality is that unlike North American communities showing progressive leadership, this City has yet to make a formal, solid commitment to addressing sustainability imperatives. Despite our various initiatives and undertakings putting the framework in place, that lack of commitment affects the quality of that framework and I think it undermines what the Corporation of St. Catharines is really capable of. Furthermore, by failing to spotlight the objectives and opportunities the evolving 'sustainability' movement represent for this community, and region, the discussions and debates out from which solutions and new job opportunities could emerge become stifled.

But rest assured, the time will come when council will have to seriously undertake considerations for such services as provided by the 'Natural Step of Canada'.

With respects to any emission audits, this need not be rocket science. A simple google search for "greenhouse gas emissions caluculator" yields 492,000 links. Carbon-offset companies [i.e. www.climatecare.org www.carbonneutral.com ] all offer calculators for specific activities.  ^[11]

PCP does not dictate timelines, rush performance, nor demand perfection. But just so you know, it is only a matter of time before business and municipal accounting practices will change such that various forms of full-cost accounting will be expected, and the benefit, as reflected within FCM's brochure (included), is cost savings and becoming "prepare[d] for the carbon trading future".  ^[12]

With respects to this city, each municipal department might initiate some kind of informal education and active engagement of staff so that over time staff will have contributed towards completing a picture of our corporate emissions, including costs and savings. Additionally each department, through staff input could generate corporate-wide emission saving ideas. Through the website, if tools were provided, members of the community could be invited to make their suggestions, complete with projected emission and cost savings.

In closing, I ask again that the PCP motion be passed as a clarion display of this council's commitment to preserve and enhance the taxpayers' resources and assets. We need to get past the stigma of accepting or refuting climate change and acknowledge that those strategies which we must begin to utilize just plain conserve and extend taxpayer dollars in the long-run.

 

The outcome: At first, Councillor Washuta requested an amendment to Councillor Stack's motion to receive the report for information purposes. He requested that the City endorse the PCP motion, "and that prior to committing any funds towards the action plan that the City consult with other municipalities, organizations, residents and businesses on a way that this plan may be brought to fruition." Immediately after that Councillor Stevens asked Councillor Washuta to repeat his amendment, to which he altered the last portion by saying that "the City consult with other municipalities, organizations, residents and businesses regarding the implementation of this plan." Councillor Stevens then declared that if any monies are to be given out, it should be deferred to [the] budget [committee] in light of all other needs and wants. The request for deferral therefore killed Washuta's amendment and any chance for further discussion.

As a result, I sent the following:

-----Original Message-----
From: Bernie Slepkov
Sent: November 7, 2007 10:39 AM
To: Susan Harrison; Ken Todd; Cindy Upshall; Councillor Bruce Williamson; Brian McMullan; Councillor Dodge; Councillor Gill; Councillor Phillips; Councillor Stack; Joe Kushner; Elliott, Mark; Heather Foss; Peter Secord; Greg Washuta; Burch, Jeff; Jennie Stevens
Cc: Bernie Slepkov
Subject: Please rectify an error

Dear Mayor Brian, et al

Since I have received informed confirmation regarding my impression of the events of last night's deliberation surrounding Item 5, (Acting CAO's report), I am writing to request that someone ask to lift the matter from the minutes and proceed however you will.

To get right to the issue at hand, there is in effect, nothing to be deferred to Budget to discuss. Here's an almost word-for-word recap of what transpired at Monday's council.

Councillor Washuta requested an amendment to Councillor Stack's motion to receive the report for information purposes. He requested that the City endorse the PCP motion, "and that prior to committing any funds towards the action plan that the City consult with other municipalities, organizations, residents and businesses on a way that this plan may be brought to fruition." After that Councillor Stevens asked Councillor Washuta to repeat his amendment, to which he altered mostly the last portion by saying that "the City consult with other municipalities, organizations, residents and businesses regarding the implementation of this plan." Councillor Stevens then declared that if any monies are to be given out, it should be deferred to budget in light of all other needs and wants.

To clarify, passing the PCP motion does not call for any monies to be spent, or even to be considered. Furthermore, there is no action plan in place, nor any need at this point for any consultant.

To simplify the matter, the Councillor Stevens request of deferral was not 'Forthwith'.

If however, the matter still goes to Budget, I wish to be informed as to the date of that meeting so that I can attend.

Thank you for your considerations in this matter.

Here's to our children's legacies
Bernie Slepkov

http://for-legacies-sake.ca/

Founder/President:
http://sustainableniagara.ca/

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The next week, Councillor Washuta did pulled the minutes, called the motion for the City to endorse the PCP motion, and it passed.

 

 

9. 'Stormy Weather: 100 Solutions to Global Climate Change'; Guy Dauncey with Patrick Mazza, New Society Publishers, 2001, pg. 96

10.Quick Action Guide: Muncipal Action on Climate Protection; 20 steps you can take to curb greenhouse gas emissions-now!, Federation of Canadian Municipalities

11.Sustainability hinges on strong leaders: Communities determined to pioneer new directions will be rewarded; Bernie Slepkov, November 1, 2007

12.The Rough Guide to Climate Change: The symptoms, the Science, the Solutions; Robert Henson, Pub. 2006, pg. 314

13.Partners for Climate Protection (brochure) - http://www.sustainablecommunities.fcm.ca/files/Capacity_Building_-_PCP/pcp-overview-En.pdf