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63 were a handful of building owners that showed up but there was not any resistance, <br />64 just a lot of questions. <br />65 Member Spencer asked if St. Louis Park is looking to do more solar power or other <br />66 renewables or is it a combo of doing what the city can with the land it has plus <br />67 purchasing renewable power going forward. <br />68 Ms. Ziring explained in May 2019 the Sustainability Commission went to the city <br />69 Council and recommended the city purchase wind source subscriptions for all of <br />70 the buildings that are not currently subscribed to renewable connect or renewable <br />71 energy. All of the city street lights and wastewater and almost all of the city's <br />72 operations are now subscribed to Xcel's Wind Source program. The city is getting <br />73 to be as renewable as it can for city operations. On the community side of things, <br />74 the city is looking at where it can install community solar on a public building and <br />75 then sell subscriptions potentially to local residents. There is also a solar group buy <br />76 program that is going into year three and helping to market as many programs as <br />77 can be found that the city thinks makes sense to its residents and community <br />78 business owners. <br />79 Member Misra thanked the city of St. Louis Park for taking the lead on this and <br />80 laying a lot of the groundwork and allowing other cities to ask questions on its <br />81 progress. She was curious, given these are pretty long projects, what sort of <br />82 technical expertise, given that hopefully there will be changes in technology and <br />83 innovation, how is the city going to make those adaptations or keep track of that. <br />84 Is there a list of resources that is regularly updated. <br />85 Ms. Ziring explained St. Louis Park is in a good place with great community <br />86 partners. When needed the city can get consulting services as needed. She did not <br />87 know if there is any technology currently that the city is worried about <br />88 implementing. <br />89 Member Huiett asked what advise could be given for communities just beginning <br />90 its first step into a climate action plan. <br />91 Ms. Ziring thought engaging with the programs that are out there, talking to cities <br />92 like St. Louis Park and cities that have implemented it is pretty important. Talking <br />93 to getting involved with partners in energy, which was a great first step for St. Louis <br />94 Park. Also making sure the city is really engaging its community members and <br />95 find out what the community is looking for. <br />96 Chair Cihacek asked how difficult it for the city Council was to authorize specific <br />97 sustainability positions as part of this plan. He wondered if this is a job that could <br />98 be done by people at a .2 or .5 and be successful or does this level of undertaking <br />99 really require dedicated resources to really be successful, given it is such a long- <br />100 term, data and communication extensive process. <br />101 Ms. Ziring thought the city would need at least one full time employee in order to <br />102 do this. There is a lot to juggle and many different plans and programs out there. <br />Page 3 of 5 <br />