The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-04-24
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (15,571 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
The Climate Resilience and Land Use Committee met on Thursday, April 24, at 9:33 a.m., with roll call confirming attendance. The session opened with two agenda items: input from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) Committee co-chairs on preliminary budget recommendations, and a report on appointments to the new Sustainability and Climate Commission. The PCEF discussion covered the fund's five-year Climate Investment Plan, concerns about mission creep, protection of the 1% surcharge allocation, and the balance between city bureau funding and community-based grants, along with themes raised at a prior PCEF committee meeting regarding a proposed surcharge increase. Questions from committee members addressed collaboration with utility-sector professionals, historical revenue projections, and structural budget solutions. The second portion featured presentations from City sustainability staff on the design, recruitment process, and demographics of applicants for the 20-member Sustainability and Climate Commission plus five alternates, followed by statements from numerous mayoral appointees and alternates describing their backgrounds and motivations. Committee members raised questions about geographic and demographic representation, the alternate appointment process, and procedural timing relative to pending code updates. Votes occurred on moving the PCEF-related discussion forward and on recommending the slate of commission appointments to full Council; outcomes are recorded in the vote ledger. The meeting adjourned at 11:09 a.m.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
0 Oh it's working now. Thank you.
1 Okay.
2 Good morning everyone. Oh no. Okay I think we're going to start. Some folks are having technical difficulties and we're just going to wait for that to get resolved. And I think councilor Avalos will be coming in in just a few minutes. So good morning, everyone. I call the meeting of the climate resilience and land use committee to order. It is Thursday, April 24th at 9:33 a.m. Rebecca, will you please call the roll?
3 Canal?
4 Here.
5 Ryan.
6 Here. Novick. Here. Avalos. Morillo.
7 Here. We have two items. Oh, claire, will you please read the statement of conduct?
8 Good morning, and welcome to the meeting of the climate resilience and land use committee to testify before this committee in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at Portland gov slash council slash agenda, slash climate resilience and land use committee. Or by calling 311. Registration for virtual testimony closes one hour prior to the meeting. In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. If public testimony will be taken on an item. Individuals may testify for three minutes unless the chair states otherwise. Your microphone will be muted when your time is over. The chair preserves order disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed. If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. Your testimony should address the matter being considered. When testifying, please state your name for the record and address is not necessary. If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. And finally, virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. Thank you.
9 Thank you. Claire. We have two items on our agenda today. First, we have the PCEF committee. We've asked the PCEF committee co-chairs to share their perspectives with the committee on preliminary budget recommendations. We wanted to make sure that this was a space where we're getting feedback, that we're doing it transparently, and that we're working with community on some of these tough budget issues that are coming up for us as a council. Then we're going to hear a report on the appointees to the new sustainability and climate commission. Claire, would you read the first item or do we are we done doing that?
10 I'll read the first item. One Portland clean energy community benefits fund committee input on preliminary budget recommendations.
11 Thank you so much. So if megan, doctor megan horst and ron villatoro are in the room, if you guys want to come up, are they already here?
12 Yes.
13 Good morning. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate your time and expertise. And oh, sorry. These mics always go in and out, you guys. Yeah. Thank you so much for being here and volunteering your time to share your feedback with city council on this issue. So you'll have 15 minutes to discuss, and then we'll have some time to discuss any of the feedback that we heard and ask any questions. And also for whoever's running the zoom, they're sharing a screen for us as councilors right now, in case you were not intending to do that. And please go ahead.
14 Good morning, and thanks for having us. Councilors. My name is megan horst and I am co-chair, along with renfe's of the sf committee, PCEF community advisory committee. And thanks for the invitation to come. Talk about PCEF a little bit about me as I've been on the committee for about five years since the beginning, and was involved in door knocking and gathering signatures to get PCEF on the ballot and passed by over 66% of voters. So very excited. And here we are five years later. It's been a journey and a pretty exciting journey to have the country's largest climate justice municipal fund. In my day job, I also do climate action consulting for a bunch of cities, and I see Portland. I'm able to compare Portland and see it as a leader in having the type of fund that pccep has to advance climate justice. No other city has anything quite like this of its scale and its particular mission on justice. I also am a affiliate professor at PSU in the school of urban studies and planning, where I teach urban planning and climate resiliency planning, and my contributions on the cep committee, besides being co-chair, are specifically advising in the regenerative ag and Green infrastructure areas which overlie overlap with my particular research and professional practice. And a little bit about PCEF. You all heard a lot a few weeks ago from staff and from jenny and damon. Grantees and advocates of the PCEF of PCEF. So we're not here to repeat all that. We didn't bring slides or a fancy presentation because you got a lot of that. We mainly want to be here in dialog. So I do have a few opening kind of points and comments and I'll pass it around. But we want to spend the majority of the time being in dialog with the caveat that ren and I are co-chairs, but we do not represent the entire committee. So we'll be able to share a little bit about our preliminary conversations with the committee. But this will probably be a bit of an iterative process. So but just a few comments about PCEF before I respond to or make some opening remarks about the proposal around increasing the increasing the what do you call it, the surcharge, I should say a little bit about PCEF is I was really heartened to hear you all with your good questions a few weeks ago, and express your deep commitment to what PCEF is, and to enacting the climate investment plan. As passed. We, the committee, the community and piece of staff, as well as grantees and city staff put a lot of effort into developing the climate investment plan. We have a five year plan to spend money really smartly towards community, agreed upon projects in a wide range of areas. And while the money that PCEF has sounds like a lot of money to an average person, we also know it's not nearly enough to address the true climate crisis. So it's really critical that we keep the climate investment plan intact and keep money that's dedicated to PCEF towards PCEF. And I'm excited in the coming year for you all to see some of our pccep projects in action and to get out in the community and see the insulated buildings, the bikes, the transit, the trees, the urban agriculture, everything that's being funded by PCEF a little bit about our committee. We're nine members. We're in the middle of recruiting two more who will hopefully be joining us soon to fill out the full nine. And I think what you'll hear from the committee over and over is we know that our mission and charge, as stated in city code and as imagined by voters when they approved PCEF with the language of having a community advisory council, is that we uphold the intent of the voters back in 2019, and that's that. Pcef is towards has twin goals of advancing climate action, both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing our communities resilience, and particularly making sure that the benefits of that action serve priority populations. And in the code that includes low income communities and communities of color, and among workers, workers with disabilities, and women who are underrepresented in the trades. Also in the original code, there was a huge priority towards funding community based orgs and nonprofit orgs, and I think that's something you'll hear over and over from the committee, is that we want to make sure that the funding for those organizations stays intact. And even as more funds come in that that grows, we see the demand by organizations for those community responsive grants is high in the upcoming proposal. I expect that will get way more applications for funding than we're able to fund. And communities are hungry for to for funds to do climate justice in their communities. So that's something you're going to hear from us over and over that that's a top priority for our committee. Meanwhile, we've been responsive in the last few years to the ongoing city budget crisis. I empathize that you all came in to a really difficult time, and it's not a new crisis. The crisis has been unfolding, the city budget crunch for years, and city councilors have historically tried to look to PCEF to solve for broader city budget rules. And we've been responsive as a committee and empathetic to that need, especially where there's been deep alignment with climate action. So you'll see the climate investment plan, a huge percentage of the funds actually go to city bureaus, city projects, city staff. And we see that as important to the mission of sf, because the city is a key actor in planting trees and in retrofitting buildings. So I think we see a lot of alignment there. And yet we have some concerns that get expressed over and over by our communities that more and more percentage of the funds are going to serve the city, and not as directly to the communities as was originally imagined. And we have some concerns that ongoing focus on solving city budget crisis will threaten the original mission and intent of PCEF, which was to fund community orgs to do climate action. So going forward, what so going what you'll hear over and over from the committee, regardless of the specific proposal that we're hearing, is that we spend a lot of effort developing a really thoughtful five year climate investment plan, and we want to implement that as is. We also want to have an annual review process and not sort of entertain proposals ad hoc, but come to a moment where we annually review how is our climate investment plan working? There may be times where we realize programs aren't happening according to plan, and we see opportunity to have an annual process where we open up, perhaps opportunities to revise and amend the plan. And the committee in code is supposed to be the organization bringing forward recommendations on that. And then we hope to have really positive relationships with you all this committee and council at large, and be proactively coming before you or inviting you to come to the committee, especially if you're entertaining ideas about PCEF. So that's kind of my broad comment. And then councilor Morillo invited us here today to talk specifically about what the committee is thinking about the discussion around increasing the surcharge. And we did have a public PCEF committee meeting last Thursday, and you're welcome to watch the recording of that on youtube. The final 15 to 20 minutes or so are where we discussed the original, or we discussed the proposal at very high level. And I will say it was a preliminary temperature discussion only because it wasn't a vote and we didn't have specific language to entertain. We mostly were reacting to what we read in the news and talking about that. So temperature check only. So we're here to share a little and I will say rent fees and I did. You can watch. We tried to share a fairly balanced viewpoint of it and some pros and cons from our perspective on the proposal. And committee members went around and shared. And I think overall, many of them expressed huge concerns and not a lot of strong support at this moment in time for the surcharge increase and a lot of questions. So the themes of those were mainly I sort of covered already, but as they relate to this, were a concern about mission creep and scope and that and whether we can be sure that the 1% that's set aside for PCEF right now, how can we be sure that it's protected if this surcharge increase were to go forward? How do we be sure that there wouldn't be future legal or other attacks or other pressures to reduce that? So that was just a huge concern. Also, there was just some concern that we have time and time again, been asked for peace up to solve broader city budget crises. And there was questions like, what other structural solutions have been considered by council? Why did they first turn to PCEF? So I know this may be a little bit disheartening or disappointing for you all to hear, but I do want to just be. Those are the valid concerns that keep coming up in. Will probably share a few more, but I think if this comes forward to if you bring this forward to our committee, those will be areas that you would really want to address to, to address the concerns of the committee who just holds the mission of peace dearly to our hearts and will fight to protect it. So that's that's my perspective. I want to pass to ramfis and then just be open to dialog.
15 Chair Morillo chair co-chair Novick. Members of the committee. I think megan covered everything I don't I think I'm done for the day. No, I just want to appreciate the invitation to be here to talk before each of you. You know, I'm going to be really candid. It's really nice day outside. So I was really apprehensive about coming here. But the ambiance here is really nice. I really do like the new setup. I just want to first and foremost. Want to one recognize the importance of the city and its role for addressing climate change. We need a well functioning city to do and perform the basic services that we need, to ensure that we are reducing our emissions, to ensure that we are delivering the services that we provide, whether it be again for parks, whether it be for community services, whether it be again for roads and all the things that we expect our city government to do and perform. We cannot just fund climate change again without a well functioning city. With that said, I think we would extend the same level of argument and logic to every other service within city limits. We need well functioning governments, well functioning schools, a well functioning port period to address climate change. It's going to need to go beyond the investments within the Portland clean energy fund. It is difficult to say, but it is a drop in the bucket for what we need to do to prepare for climate change. We need these funds to protect our most vulnerable communities, communities that have been historically left behind when it comes to land use policy. When it comes to issues of resilience, when it comes to the overall impacts of pollutants in our region, in our area. With that said, I want to appreciate the opportunity for each of your offices for opening your doors for us to connect. I know we still have some meetings to meet with each and every one of you, but I do want to appreciate that openness. It's a huge priority for megan, myself, and the committee to maintain and cultivate a relationship because we know when it comes to addressing the issues, not just for pccep, but also for climate change. We need to have a collaborative approach for how do we address those issues. We also know and understand that we need community to also be part of that conversation. So I just want to again, thank you for that opportunity. And I think one thing I do want to flag here is, you know, we did submit a letter to each of your respective offices this past week. I won't I won't go and read the entire document. But I do want to highlight some important points we stated in our letter. So as we hear other subsequent proposals, we do have an expectation that every council member respects and uphold the amendment process. So amendments related to piece of code require a piece of committee meeting before a scheduled hearing before council, I will again cite the source. So there's a letter of the rule. But we also want folks to at least honor the spirit of the rule. So we know that there are limitations to how far that rule goes. We just want, again, the spirit of that rule. It's about collaboration, it's transparency. It's being able to have some experts who are working on the front lines of the program to at least have an opportunity to share, through a public process, its own viewpoints on the matter at hand. Subsequently, we asked that we uphold the PCEF code on notifying the committee and public on changes to the budget and the climate investment plan. So we know that you all have a very important role in terms of adopting and approving a budget. Within that, we have the climate investment plan. So every investment we make in the Portland clean energy fund lives within the climate investment plan, which again, is a five year commitment. We hope and expect that council as it considers updating and making changes within the climate investment plans, even if it's funding allocated to the city, that you give us an update on those changes, it is our responsibility as PCEF to ensure that we're updating the website and those in the rationales for those changes. So again, we hope to at least have a two way communication about those changes and how, again, we update the public to those changes to uphold voters trust in the program and how we're stewarding in that program. Additionally, furthermore, one of the last two points I want to make is just we strongly encourage, given the historical nature of how the fund came together, it was a community led ballot initiative with the purpose of again investing in creating clean energy investments and not just solely raising revenue for within the city. We hope that each of you in the respective offices collaborate with community. We don't have any particular group to say, hey, please check in with this group. We just say we just encourage to be broad and inclusive in that outreach. I think that precedent was established in the first code amendment when then commissioner Hardesty helped convene community stakeholders for an initial amendment that would have excluded certain businesses from having to be subject to the surcharge. So, again, we hope this council and this form of government will uphold that precedent. And collaborating with and be inclusive of a broad set of stakeholders that includes community organizations, labor and businesses. Lastly, and just as importantly, take the long view. The city has challenges to date. We understand that no one enjoys having the conversation of cutting services to parks or services to community centers. Those are important aspects to what builds the character of the city. But I also urge this council to consider protecting and preserving the future of the fund for the future challenges we'll be facing. So I'll note one one study the pacific northwest utilities. Coordinating conference made a butchered their acronym, but pnoc has stated by 2033 we should expect an increas energy demand by 30%, which will mean that in the next few years, we'll see an increased risk for blackouts and brownouts, eroding the quality of life for portlanders. Now, I don't know about you all. But that's something that keeps me awake at night. Additionally, we know that the impacts for climate change are only going to accelerate the issues around deploying clean energy is going to require an all hands on deck approach. It's not going to just require city government, but it's going to require collaborating between community groups, between other forms of government, between businesses about how we can deploy the energy solutions for the future. And I'll just say the 1% fund alone will not be sufficient. We will need a collaboration between investments and policies to protect portlanders in the future. In saying that, I also recognize back to my original point we can't tackle the future challenges if folks are worried about basic services. So I recognize the challenge we have at hand. But again, you know, I'll just close here by saying we recognize these challenges. We want to be in collaboration. We want to tackle these issues together. And I think historically, the committee has approached this in a very collaborative manner, and we hope that continues moving forward. I'll close here, and I think megan and I are both open to any questions from you all in the committee. You know, I think megan's already covered some of the concerns and questions that we've had in the committee, but we continue and expect to continue having a proactive dialog and conversation about the solutions we'll need here in the coming weeks and months. Thank you.
16 Thank you both so much for being here and for sharing all of that. I think that that was really valuable. And doctor horst, I know that you said sorry if this wasn't what you were hoping to hear. Maybe it's a little disappointing. I think that's okay. I think it's okay for us. We're frankly in a very difficult budget time. We're hearing a lot of the suffering and fear from our constituents, and that's with some of the federal government stuff not even coming down yet. And we also, as councilors, had a very short window with how the budget was set up under the charter structure to figure some things out. And so the process is a little messy, and sometimes you're brainstorming and you're throwing things at the wall and trying to figure it out. I think that's okay. And maybe it's because I'm south American, but I think open conflict is healthy, you know? And I don't even feel like this is conflict. I think that this is good for us to have these discussions. And I also really appreciate, I think, for all of us as new councilors, you reasserting yourselves and saying, hey, these are the procedures we would like you to follow. This is how we would like to be consulted. This is the way that you fold us in. I think all of that is really great feedback and I intend to really take it to heart. So I'm very grateful for you guys being both firm and understanding with us as councilors. I think that makes us better at our jobs, and I'm very grateful for that. And with that, if we have about ten minutes until, well, now, nine minutes if we have to have any further discussion or questions that you would like from our two presenters. And I see we have a few folks with their hands up. So first we'll move councilor Kanal I saw your hand up first and then it went down and then it went back up. So I'll go with you first. And then councilor Ryan.
17 Thank you so much. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you so much for being here. And I think the approach that you've talked about with collaboration is something that we've heard from a lot of city volunteer groups. It has not always been as successful as it could be, but I think that there are models from your particular entity that that that are actually positive that we can learn from and hopefully build on. So I appreciate that being a focus of what you're, you're saying here to us. And just wanted to start by commenting on that and that it's vital, in my view, that we co-create policy with community and that we're also expecting that our our volunteer groups are both themselves representative of community and a conduit to the broader population of the city. And I think there has been a lot of success there so far. I'm looking forward to our meeting as well. I guess I wanted to ask one question specific to how the adjustment in the climate investment plan historically has now led to more of sfrs dollars going towards city bureaus. You referenced it, but I'd like to get a little bit more information in terms of the committee's thoughts on that. And if you feel you need to go back and consult the committee for more on that, I understand, but that does seem like a slight directional question that has come up, and also how that money has not only been used, but used to free up other general fund resources for potentially non climate related things.
18 Yeah, I'll take a first stab at that. And megan, feel free to correct me. So I think the last, you know go around the initial reopening of the climate investment plan was reopened by then commissioner Rubio and the mayor to sort of think through investments that could help supplement the city's budget, that would have fit within the Portland clean energy fund's mission and purpose. Now, I think I won't rehash all the previous discussions. Most of those are in, you know, public record meetings that we've had and discussed. You know, I think the general flavor for our committee conversations has always been where and how has the conversation been with the broader public and the community coalitions out there? So again, generally, which will be a running theme in almost every proposal and has been in time immemorial, before then has been what's the collaboration been like in developing these investments? What is the rationale from and the process? And then what is the role for the committee to be part of that process? So our role has always been to ensure is there a process, what is that process? Are we making strategic investments? And when we're making those strategic investments, are we doing that alongside with community? So I think those were the initial processes. It was really important for megan, myself as representatives, as co-chairs of the committee to ensure that we were having proactive conversations with not just the then commissioner and also the then mayor, but also to reach out to every individual office, to making sure, hey, that there is a balanced approach here. One of our asks was making sure as we opened up the cip that there is balance with a with for the broader public, such as schools such as the county, such as community coalitions who are doing amazing work. So I think we would say that was the sort of impetus for those changes, mainly city driven. But we did appreciate at least the collaborative nature of at least making sure that there is some balance, not just for the city to look at its internal investments. Could the process have been better? For sure? Could the investment more strategic? For sure. But those things do take time. And I think what we kind of want to encourage this council is, as you think about future investments, as you think about being more strategic on investments, it's going to take time. It's going to take collaboration. Our initial climate investment plan took a few months to get together, took several rounds of, you know, community engagement. Those things take time. And so I would say encourage process. When we encourage collaboration, there's got to be at least a development, a semblance of a formal process of how we do that. Anything you would add or share that I would have missed or mischaracterized?
19 Just another addition. Councilor and I am in district two, so councilor Kanal Ryan personally, but I would say also in our early years we didn't have accurate revenue projections for the first few years. And so a factor in all of this was then sort of last minute, we got a revenue projection much higher than we'd been planning for. And I think that was also a moment that the city was facing a budget gap. And so it created a lot of pressure. I think that steered a lot of what happened. Now we're hopefully in an era where we have stable revenue projections. We know what we're planning for. So I think the context has changed. I will say it's critical for staff to have regular projections that we can trust and work with well in advance of the decision making moment, so I hope we're in that spot now. I think we are.
20 And someday I hope to be in the same spot of having revenue projections.
21 Yeah, yeah, I thank you. I hope you do too.
22 Colleagues. Sorry. We're at 1002 and we have until 1005 for this portion. And I see councilor Ryan and Novick have their hands up. So if you could keep your questions and your answers brief, and I expect that you will also have more one on one meetings with us, councilor Ryan.
23 Yes. Thank you. Chair. I will be brief. I'll do one question then. Pcf community fund leadership. Megan, thank you for being here and I've always enjoyed our one on ones or two on one conversations we've had over the years, and especially the one recently. I appreciate your comments. I think it was you. We need a well functioning city. Yes. Thank you for saying that. Include broad stakeholders. Yes, more on that. And by 2023 demand will go up. Did you say 30% correct?
24 I think it's a projection.
25 With those statements. We all agree with the first two and we're concerned. I'm concerned about the trade off. Conversations are not balanced. We're not working together to stop these brown and blackouts. And that you mentioned as such one of my themes in this space based on my collective impact background, and I guess a lot of us don't mind having conflict at the table and having tension in the room. I call it creative tension. And that's in fact how you get things done. And it seems to make people uncomfortable. That's usually a good thing because that means we're on to something. So as such, one of those themes I've been is what? Why do we struggle to include professionals who work in the energy utility sector at the table? I feel like we're we're in echo chambers and groupthink, and then we end up having dominant.
26 Brian.
27 So my concern is that we're not getting to the action that we need. So why do you think we struggle to include such professionals at the table?
28 This doesn't feel on topic to what we need the PCEF committee to address. This is a broader question that I think we should answer as a committee.
29 I think it's very appropriate because they have a committee that's been that's a theme of today. Maybe I'll just have to repeat the question with the next group. But it's a fair question. I think it's part of democracy to have such dialog.
30 Yeah. Again, I'll just take a quick stab at this conversation to say, you know, I think we look forward to finding new ways to improve collaboration between multiple partners. As I noted originally, like when it comes to addressing climate change, we're going to need all folks at the table. Historically, the communities have been left out, have been the most vulnerable communities. So I think utilizing the Portland clean energy fund, like the city, has an opportunity here to making sure that we when we set that table to include those voices that you're talking about, councilor Ryan, that we're ensuring that we're including those vulnerable communities and those community groups as well. So I do look forward to like identifying how and improving those relationships for sure, and how we become more strategic.
31 Okay. Thank you. Your comments earlier inspired me to ask the question. So thanks. And we'll talk later about the piece of use of the bureaus. I thought you handled you covered that well. Thanks.
32 Councilor Novick.
33 A couple things. One, I wanted to say that I agree with virtually everything the two of you said, and I really look forward to working with you and councilor Morillo to defend the current investment plan and to start working on the 20 2934 investment plan very deliberately. I also want to let you know that partly because of the committee's concerns, I am exploring whether there might be another progressive revenue source to help us balance this year's budget. I can't say that I'll find one, so I'm not saying I'm going to withdraw the proposal that I've made, but I will tell you that I'm exploring it. I also wanted, just wanted to take this opportunity to make it very clear that when with due respect, councilor Ryan and councilor Zimmerman both proposed using pcf to help balance this year's general fund budget. I wrote to the mayor saying very strongly that I hope that he would not take that advice in his proposed budget. I called damon mott's story, one of the prominent friends of pcf, and asked him if he could get people to the budget listening sessions to say, don't use pcf to balance this year's budget. And when I proposed increasing the tax on giant retailers and using the amount of the increase, only the amount of the increase to help with the general fund, I called before I made that public. I called damon mott's story. I called jenny lee to explain what I was doing and explain that I had no intention of touching the 1%, the 200 million a year that goes to pcf. So I just wanted to take this opportunity. I know you already know that, but I wanted to take this opportunity when people are talking about pcf to make that very, very clear. Thank you very much for your testimony and your work. Thanks to the committee. And again, we look forward to working with you closely in the days and months and years ahead.
34 Thank you both so much for being here. And with that, we need to rush to our next agenda item. I expect that folks will reach out to you if they have further questions, or if you have any feedback for us. I hope it'll just be a reciprocal feedback loop and you'll feel free to contact us as well and let us know your thoughts. Really appreciate your time and expertise today.
35 Thank you all.
36 Thank you.
37 And claire, would you read the next item please?
38 Item two confirm appointments and alternates to the city sustainability and climate commission.
39 This item comes to us from the mayor, who has asked the committee to consider appointments to the new sustainability and climate commission. We have vivian satterfield and elaine livingstone here to kick off the report.
40 Good morning. Thank you. Climate resilience land use committee co-chairs Morillo and Novick. For the record, I'm vivian satterfield. I use she her pronouns or my name, and I'm your chief sustainability officer located in the city administrator's office. I have today with me, elaine livingstone, sustainability and climate commission coordinator, and will be supported by becky tilson, the strategic policy analyst, helping us navigate on zoom. Going to ask for a bit of your grace, because when we do get to the presentation component, we have a mix of both audio prerecorded in person, and we're coordinating some timing with our amazing appointees. And so that's been a lot of coordination. If we have any hiccups. Thanks for your grace in that y'all. I am beyond excited to begin the confirmation process today with you for the inaugural sustainability and climate commission. Elaine and I have worked for the past two years to design this commission, and we have recruited community members since November of 2024. And today we're bringing you 20 portlanders, volunteers who've been appointed by the mayor and five additional alternates. Next slide please. Today, we'll quickly take you through some background of this commission so you can appreciate what this commission's function is going to do, our recruitment process. And then you'll hear from some of the mayor's appointments to the sustainability and climate commission. Next slide please. And next slide please. So to begin, I'll just ground us in some city history. We used to have a planning and sustainability commission. It was established in 2010. And it had to balance both the state mandated roles of serving our stewarding, our state land use law, as well as the importance that portlanders have on climate and climate action and sustainability because of that dual charge. And quite frankly, the role of land use is so great on its own. The commission had a difficult time balancing these two charges. A report was commissioned by then commissioner Rubio to examine what changes could be made to this current structure, and a recommendation was made to disband. Then the psc, the planning sustainability commission. And because by state land use law, we have to have the planning commission. Then there was a recommendation that we would disband that and stand up a new sort of climate commission. It was directed to the bureau of planning sustainability to bring forward that new climate commission proposal to council. Alongside that, we also had the first phase of charter reform, which was passed by November 2022 by voters in ballot measure 2622 eight, in that it actually states in the responsibilities of both the mayor and the city administrator that it would, quote, advance the city's efforts to mitigate the human made climate crisis and prioritize environmental justice initiative. Close quote. So with that, there also was the phase two of charter reform, in which there were environmental and climate justice listening sessions. We heard quite clear from portlanders in the community that having a climate oversight body taking bold, urgent action on climate change and to center frontline communities or non-negotiables, those are absolute things that the city of Portland needed to do. Alongside that, we also have current city climate action planning starting in 2020, in which city council declared a climate emergency. From that, the current city climate emergency work plan, which serves as our climate action planning document, was approved and it has a set of actions 47 actions that runs through July 2022 through 2025, and there are yearly progress reports and a final progress report is anticipated later this summer to city council. Amidst all of that backdrop, in early 2023, I was hired as the chief sustainability officer and I was tasked with creating this new climate commission. As a result of charter reform and as a result of the disbanding of the psc, I then was able to work quickly to hire the climate commission and coordinator here with me today. So together we embarked on designing the sustainability and climate commission. And I kind of wanted you to appreciate the sort of background, research and work that we did in order to bring forward the initial framework proposal to design the sustainability and climate commission. We combed over all of the city history. We read the documents, we listened to the listening sessions to all the notes. Elaine also brought their expertise of working with climate commissions in the state of hawaii, and they researched other climate commissions. We also worked with community and city leadership and staff. I have to express appreciation and thanks to the volunteer portlanders who accepted my personal invitation to come together and work together as a work group to help advise me on the design of the sustainability and climate commission. Some of their names may be familiar to you damon mont, jackie. Kerouac, fram, sasha pollack, sarah o'brien, beth vargas, duncan, kristen leber, tim miller, brian lewis, micah mezcal, and tana culbertson. Their guidance, thoughtfulness, and expertise has been foundational to me in helping to design this commission. Their work, plus working with a group of dedicated city staff that I consider climate practitioners resulted in a framework that was brought forward to Portland city council to establish the sustainability and climate commission, and that was approved by the previous council in may of 2022 of 2024. Pardon me. So now with you all as incoming legislators, you heard the associated code update as we work to build upon the establishing framework and then align it with our new form of government during the April 16th meeting of this current city council. That's all background. So let's go ahead and move to the next slide, please. From here I'll go ahead and pass it to elaine.
41 Thank you. Climate resilience and land use committee and co-chairs for having me today. For the record, my name is elaine livingstone. I use she they pronouns and I'm the sustainability and climate commission coordinator. The purpose of this commission is to advance climate action across our city, focus on environmental justice and accountability, and this body will create and evaluate the city's climate action plans, which includes identifying specific actions and the associated outcomes for those actions as passed as part of our ordinance in may 2024, and with feedback from the governance committee, we've proposed these nine initial focus areas that the commission may change, but they may organize their work by. These focus areas come from our past climate action plans, dating from 1993 to today. Next slide please. This commission will be 20 total active members, which includes at least four designated seats for youth, which we've defined as ages 16 to 24. And today we have also proposed five alternates, which will be expected to attend meetings and be prepared to step into the role in case any seats are vacated. Membership should reflect our broad representation of portland's diverse communities and socioeconomics, and include at least two individuals from each of the city council's districts. The terms are four year staggered terms, so for this initial appointment, you'll see some people have four year. Some people have two years to begin that staggered term cadence. And then youth are one year seats. Members must have expertise or lived experience in sustainability and climate issues. They must accept human made climate science, and they must be motivated towards collective, collaborative climate action. Next slide please. This is a list of the powers and duties of the commission. The commission will advise all three city council, the mayor and the city administrator and will recommend actions. It can hold hearings, work sessions and committees for the climate, for the city's climate action plan and hold hold joint committee committee meetings with other advisory bodies internally and externally. They will provide a forum for community and create processes for evaluation, accountability and transparency. This commission will report to the chief sustainability officer, who will also set agendas. Next slide please. Now moving on to our recruitment process. We started recruitment in November 2024 and kept applications open for eight weeks. As a result, we had 240 community members apply, including 39 youth, which is the second highest for an advisory body in city history. From January to February, we convened approximately 30 city staff from across service areas to score applications. Following a scoring guide that we created. We then interviewed 113 people in 12 panel style interviews that were designed to mimic commission dynamics. So we had our goal was to have similar ratios of youth commissioners to adult commissioners, to city staff that we may see in regular commission meetings. So for our panel interviews, this meant at least two youth, eight adult commissioners with four city staff. In one interview, all of the staff scores, recommendations and notes were then presented to the chief sustainability officer, who made her recommendation of a pool of top candidates to the mayor, who then made his appointments. As you see them reported to you today. Next slide please, where vivian will briefly go over the demographics of our applicant pool.
42 Thank you so much, elaine. So I have heard that there is interest from this body and the council broadly in understanding the demographics of our initial applicant pool. As a part of the application, there was an optional demographics survey provided from civic life's advisory bodies template. So we gleaned the data that you're going to see here from that optional survey, 67% of the applicants to the commission took this survey. It does remove all identifiable information and it is not linked to any application materials. We have chosen to present a few results from the survey, but all the information collected is listed here in smaller print. Next slide please. For age, we had an intergenerational applicant pool from ages 16 to 81. Over three fourths of the applicants identified as being white for ethnic for ethnic identity. Next slide please. The applicant pool was skewed higher towards household incomes and higher educational attainment. Next slide please. We had 13 applicants from district one and about 60 to 70 from the other three districts each. I'll just note here that I requested that all district one applicants be interviewed, regardless of the scoring of their initial applications. A majority of the applicants are homeowners, and over a quarter of them identify as being renters. Next slide please. From here, we have the mayor's appointments. I just want to take in the full visual of the diversity and age range and, you know, incredible talent that we have in this appointment list. Next slide please. So at the conclusion of this presentation, you'll get the chance to hear from some of the community members that are stepping up to lead on climate for our city and in volunteered their time to serve on the sustainability and climate commission. I can't thank you enough. Throughout this process, I have been absolutely humbled by the abundance of talent and skills that our city residents bring forward and the willingness of portlanders to have to working alongside us to solve some of the biggest issues of our times. I have immense gratitude for every person who applied. The mayor's appointments are truly an intergenerational group, with individuals from ages 16 to 79, and they bring a variety of expertise and lived experience to guide the city. As we embark on creating our next climate action plan. Our requested action. After you all hear from the mayor's appointments, any public testimony and have any discussion is to recommend the appointments and the alternates to the full council for confirmation. Next slide please. That's the conclusion of our presentation. At this time, I would like to invite the mayor's appointments to the sustainability and climate commission to give testimony. I'll be going ahead and calling them up one by one, so please wait until you hear your name. Some of them joined us here in person, others are online, some are taking classes in school and couldn't be here today. And some prerecorded video. As I mentioned, we did preview the tech. We may have some issues, so please bear with us as we try to run through and see how that goes. And unfortunately, not everyone was available to give a verbal statement today, so I'll be calling on each appointment in the order that you see them in the report. I think with only a few exceptions, and I encourage you to follow along in the report to see every appointments. Biography.
43 So good.
44 Okay, okay. Should I go ahead and start with the. Our first appointment is, I believe, joining us online today. Correct. And we have shreya. Shabnam. Shreya, are you with us?
45 Hi everyone. Good morning. Thank you for having me today. I'm really excited to serve on this council. I'm Portland native, I'm a student organizer and I've been championing climate justice since I was 16 years old. And I think that we're setting a really important precedent today for our nation. Thank you.
46 Thank you so much, shreya. Damon is unable to join us today, but damon is the director of the sierra club Oregon chapter and brings a strong commitment to intersectional climate justice, combining policy advocacy with grassroots organizing and community centered solutions. They were also invited to be a part of my initial workgroup to help design the sustainability and climate commission. Next, I'll invite jessica zan to join, please.
47 Thank you. Yeah.
48 Good morning. Hello. Thank you to the committee for having me here today. My name is jessica zan. She her represent district one as a resident of the hazelwood neighborhood. And I'm really pleased to be with you all today. I bring 18 years of sustainability and communications experience working on sustainability disclosures, goal setting, strategic planning and engagement. And I'm incredibly passionate about waste recycling systems, energy efficiency, and climate justice for all. I see climate change as the greatest risk and also the biggest opportunity for the city in building a resilient and lasting Portland. My hope is that through this, through the sec, we're able to meaningfully support the city and the next climate action plan and our path towards net zero. I look forward to working with my fellow councilors, the committee and the many sustainability professionals across the city on delivering this important goal. Thank you very much.
49 Thank you jessica.
50 Our next mayoral appointee, jose guerrero jorgensen, is unable to join us today. But just briefly, and I can't really do service to their biographies, obviously. But jose is a school board member of david david douglas school district, is a past co-chair of the government transition advisory committee, and brings lived experience with a disability and background in environmental science and an extensive community governance experience to this commission. We're so pleased to have him. Our next mayoral appointee is going to be a video recording. It's maya nara. Let's go ahead and tee that up. Thank you.
51 The audience are.
52 We anticipated this might happen. So your patience. Thank you. It doesn't appear that our audio is working. Councilors I'll go ahead and make sure I can drop this in an email to you so that you can hear the brief comments that our video recorders have presented for us today. Our next mayoral appointee. Do we have professor vivek shandas available? Excellent. Vivek, whenever you're ready.
53 Okay. Hello everyone. Vivek. He him his really a privilege to be here and share with you a few of my motivations to want to join this commission. I'm a professor at Portland state university for the last 20 years. I'm also a climate consultant and have been had the privilege of working with communities around the country. And my main reason for joining is in 2020, I, a group of us published a study looking at 108 cities across the country to look at the relationship between historic segregation policies, primarily redlining and the exposure to extreme heat. And this was the first study of its kind and surprising to me. Having lived in Portland for decades, Portland was top of that list of 108 cities, showing that those communities that were historic, those areas that were historically disinvested, as well as the communities that live in them, were exposed to these extreme heat events. And we saw that bare, laid bare in the 2021 heat dome. And that has really emboldened my interest in wanting to do on the ground work with you all, with my fellow commissioners and the city staff to be able to really advance this work. I've also served on the urban forestry commission and chaired that for several years. So the other interest I have is really working across other commissions in the city to be able to lift up priorities that you all, as well as our commission, fellow commissioners and city staff lift up. So with that, thanks for your for this opportunity and I look forward to working with you in the coming years.
54 Thank you so much, vivek. Our next mayoral appointee, charity fein, is unable to join us today. But briefly, charity is the executive director of the community energy project and brings lived experience with poverty and disability, which informs her deep commitment to energy and climate justice. We're grateful for her interest in the commission, our next mayoral appointee, nora apter, did prerecord a video. We will go ahead and make sure that you receive that at the conclusion of today. She is the Oregon director of climate solutions and a commissioner on the Oregon climate action commission as well. Our next mayoral appointee, dana veysey, is here today. Dana would like to join us.
55 Good morning, climate resilience and land use committee. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. My name is dana veysey. I currently work at metro as a senior climate analyst to decarbonize our facilities and sites, which includes electrification, renewable energy generation and development, low carbon materials and fuels, procurement and energy efficiency. During the last five years that I've been at metro, we've been able to reduce our emissions by 40%. Prior to being at metro, I was living in san diego and working for the county of san diego to implement their climate action plan and really learned about the virtues and also challenges of california statewide climate program. I grew up in Portland, and I'm now raising two children in Portland that go to Portland public schools. So I, I'm really invested in I grew up well, sorry. I am both deeply committed to the future of Portland and really connected to the history of this region. Climate touches everything from personal safety to public health to community livability, and I seek to really build bridges, to grow relationships, and to raise up the voices of those who have been most impacted. I think that climate solutions really need to come from robust community engagement and also rigorous analysis, and this appointment would really allow me to act in a citizen role, which is something that's really interesting to me and exciting to serve a city that I love. So thank you. Thank you so much, tina.
56 Our next mayoral appointee. Elana. Are they available? Elana.
57 Hi. Good morning. My name is Elana. My pronouns are she her. Thank you for the committee for having me today. It's truly an honor to have this opportunity to join you all. I moved to Portland five years ago, originally from the midwest, and one of the reasons was just how overwhelmingly bike friendly the design of the city was, and the option to have curbside composting was. So that was one of the main drivers why I moved here. My background is in biotechnology and I hold an mba in sustainable solutions. I have 12 years of diverse experience, nine of which have been intentionally directly involved in progressing sustainability efforts in areas of supply chain, landfill diversion, food waste reduction and access, and also advancing sustainable innovation. Innovations focused on reducing carbon emissions. We are at a pivotal time where a line change is needed with collective and collaborative partnerships between community members, government corporations, nonprofit entrepreneurs and investors are necessary to change and to create and shape a future where we can thrive. As Portland residents, I bring a scientific lens where I rely on data to drive decisions, as well as inclusiveness to hear all voices. There is no one size fits all solution that will help us solve this complex issue. But if we understand and act on the most impactful changes first, the momentum will carry us to build new infrastructures and way of operating. Thank you for your time and appreciation or consideration for to have me join the inaugural commission.
58 Thank you so much Elana and my apologies for mispronouncing your last name. Next appointee is available for with us today. Galen whalen, would you like to join us, please?
59 Good morning. Committee, thank you so much for having me today. As everyone has said, it's an honor to be here and be considered for this, for this great inaugural commission. My name is galen whalen. I'm an architect in town. I'm also a resident of district two. I work primarily in the sustainable sustainability field within our firm. And then I also co-lead the Portland hub of the carbon leadership forum, which is a national organization that focuses on addressing embodied carbon in the built environment. And I'm already excited to be a part of this commission and be a part of this process. Everyone here comes from such a diverse background and has such expertise across the board, so I'm excited to continue that and continue to work with you. Hopefully. I think we've already heard from from sf earlier today about how it's kind of an all hands on deck situation. I think that's really why I decided to join. I think we need an abundance of ideas from an abundance of points of views, and so I'm excited to help distill that information and work with city staff and you all. So thank you so much.
60 Thank you so much, galen. Thank you.
61 Our next appointee is Dan trefon, who is joining us here today in person. Dan.
62 Thank you for letting me talk for a little minute here. I'm Dan, I use he him pronouns. I live in the Montavilla area. I'm bringing to this commission a couple of things that I haven't quite heard yet. I'm the climate and health program specialist for the Multnomah county health department. And as much as the climate crisis is definitely an environmental and crisis, it is also fundamentally a public health crisis. It is affecting people. And that's one of the main reasons that I'm here, and I want to bring that expertise of kind of public health lens. I've also been a part of the county's climate justice planning for the last two years. We are in public comment right now on our climate justice plan, and I'm very excited to see that come to fruition. And finally, I work multi-jurisdictional a lot. Most of my work is multi-county and regional, and I think climate change has no boundaries. So having that and bringing that is really important to me. So thank you and thank you for considering me. Thank you so much, Dan. Yeah.
63 Our next recommendation is greg retsinas who is unable to join us today. But briefly, greg is the president of kgw tv and brings a business minded approach to climate action rooted in strategy, communication and investment. I was unaware until I met greg, that kgw is the first news station in Portland to have a dedicated climate beat. Our next appointee, stephanie kaza, was unable to join us today, but briefly. Stephanie is a professor emerita at the university of vermont in environmental studies. She brings deep expertise in environmental ethics, intergenerational collaboration, sustainability education, and systems thinking. Our next appointment to recommendation is available and is joining us today. Angus duncan, would you like to join us, please?
64 Good morning, madam chair. Members of the council. It's interesting to be back in these precincts today where I spent some of my early formative years in public service protecting the bull run reserve, withdrawing the mount hood freeway and developing the first municipal energy policy of any city in the country back then, I today I work for the natural resources defense council, mostly on western states electricity transmission issues. One of the lessons, however, that I brought back with me from 17 years chairing the states commission is that if the state can't leverage the city of portland's capabilities and urban densities, then the state is not going to achieve its its greenhouse gas goals any more than the city will. And I was pleased to listen to the mayor and to council member Novick in Laurelhurst park this past weekend. Emphasize the city's appetite for taking hard choices and for vivian's note that there are there are bold and urgent actions that are that are needed. Minute is turns out not to be really much time to do a deep dive into these kinds of bold and hard decisions. So I have taken the liberty of developing one page worth of such suggested conceptual ideas, which I'm going to leave with your staff, and I hope that it will be distributed to members of the council and to members of the commission. Yes. Okay.
65 We'll make.
66 Sure everyone gets it.
67 Oops. Oops.
68 Sorry, duncan.
69 Thank you very much.
70 Angus. Pardon me.
71 Thank you so much. Our next mayoral appointment, sous ware, is available today to join us. Sous.
72 All right. Hi. Good morning everyone. My name is susan ware. She her thank you to the committee for the chance to be here. It's a gift to see so many people passionate about climate and our city. I'm here because I'm an environmental communicator who loves research and group projects. I have a huge passion for urban ecology and mitigation strategies. I didn't grow up in Oregon, but when I came here for the first time as a young adult, I knew within 24 hours this was home. Not because it's perfect, but because this city overflows with courage, creativity, and an honesty I just loved. I found my place quickly, bringing my design and communications background to grassroots conservation and climate teams. I learned from advocates of all ages who shaped my mindset, from one of individual striving to one of collective strength, and we are going to need that collective strength. More attacks come out every day against environmental justice and critical sustainability goals. But we have power here in Portland. We have a legacy that's made us a Green leader for decades, and our story can and will be different from the broader narrative. I believe this commission can be a catalyst for listening to our communities and showing that climate is a space for everyone. I believe by doing so, we will run towards the only livable future, which is one built on equity, responsible innovation and a willingness to adapt. And I believe other cities will run with us. I can't wait to get started. Thank you all.
73 Thank you so much.
74 Our next few mayoral appointments are youth commissioners, youth youth appointees who are in classes so briefly. I look forward to recommending celeste ruiz, who is a parkrose resident and serves on the Multnomah youth commission's transit equity environmental advocacy committee. I also look forward to the appointment upon your recommendation of issa taylor. Issa taylor is a junior at ida b wells barnett high school. He has been deeply involved with climate work within ps and his school for the past two years, serving on the ps climate justice youth advisory group since last year and helping plan the ps annual spring climate summit. Leah alameda is a student at lincoln high school and an active youth advocate for environmental justice. She believes climate policy is the most direct and effective way to solve the climate crisis. She co-founded constellation climate policy to bridge the gap between policymakers and youth, and encourages young people to get involved in the legislative system. Luna gonzalez gonzalez did offer a prerecorded video. I have an update from bts. We may try to run the videos after after we do some of these other appointments. For the folks who are joining us in person, and our next appointment recommendation is garrett wong, who is available to join us today. Garrett.
75 Hi, everyone. Thank you to the committee and the council for having me today. My name is garrett wong. I use he him pronouns and I'm a sustainability associate for w.m, formerly known as waste management within advisory services department, I collaborate with sports and entertainment organizations, corporate entities, and community leaders to advance their sustainability goals, calculate emissions inventories, and develop strategic roadmaps towards zero waste. Also, as a member of the emerging professionals board at blanchet house, a social services organization based here in downtown Portland, I support the organization's mission by working to expand its volunteer and donor network among younger demographics. Our efforts contribute to the provision of essential services, including food, clothing, and transitional housing for individuals in need, and thus with a background in sustainability consulting and community engagement, I want to contribute towards data driven strategies and inclusive perspectives to support the commission in advancing portland's climate objectives with equity and impact. I'm really excited to work with the members of this committee and with all of you in advancing all of these efforts forward. Thank you for having me.
76 Thank you so much, garrett.
77 Our next appointee recommendation, carla chen, is available. And joining us today in person. Carla.
78 Hello.
79 Good morning. My name is carla chen. Thank you so much for having me today. I was born and raised in brazil, and I've been in Portland since 2017. Thank you. I have a bachelor degree in chemical engineering and I worked previously in continuous improvement, health and safety and quality roads. But for the past two years I've started working in sustainability and that changed my personal life, my habits, and I and I wanted to learn more, which more, I learned more I wanted to get involved. And that's why I applied to be part of the committee today and which more. And I'm excited to learn and to share what I know and be part of the one of the alternate committee members. Thanks for having me today.
80 Thank you so much, carla. Appreciate you being here.
81 Our next appointee recommendation is b sloan who is joining us here today. B.
82 Good morning, madam chair and councilors. My name is b sloan. Thanks to the committee for having me today. I have been concerned my entire life about urban heat and its effects on underserved populations, which is why I recently went back to school and earned a master's degree in environmental science and management at PSU. My goal as an alternate is to be informed and ready to step in to serve on the commission as needed. As a long time project manager, if I were to be an active member of the commission, I would advocate for the establishment of smart goals to aid in the execution of climate related planning. Specific, measurable, achievable and extra a accountable, relevant and time bound. And I would do my best to help create relationships between stakeholders and players, both official and personal, so that we can pool our knowledge and coordinate our work, and so that we can take care of each other. The last earth day celebration. Mayor wilson referred to the peril of falling into despair. We. Instead, I think we need to believe that we can affect positive change if we work together with hope and with stout hearts. And I hope to bring a sense of joy and even some lightheartedness into the process. I am thrilled and honored to be part of this crucial work to serve the city I love so much. Thank you.
83 Thank you so much for.
84 Our next two recommended appointees. Have prerecorded videos. But before we try to see if we can get the videos to work is holland bird, who is a student at saint mary's academy. We also have the appointee of sky dancy, who is the associate vp of facilities at Oregon health and science university. But we're going to see if we can have some of these prerecorded videos, starting with, I believe, maya pujara. Thank you, adam, for your assistance.
85 Prayers for a master's degree in. My name is maya khurana and thank you to the committee for having me. I grew up in northeast Portland before moving to new york and then to paris for a master's degree in international development and environmental sustainability from sciences po. Yet the most fundamental lesson of sustainability I learned here in Portland. As a high school student at a title one school, I saw how frontline communities were alienated from decision making and denied opportunity to share in the fruits of our collective labor. That taught me we need an alternative now, one that shifts power to frontline communities so they can shape the systems that serve them. The sec can help deliver that by listening to the working class, planning for climate action, and advancing policies that nourish, not deprive people. I bring credentials to the commission, but more importantly, I bring conviction that portland's transformation to sustainability will be a product of the public and all of the power we hold. Thank you.
86 Thank you so.
87 Much, adam. I believe this is still going to work. So let's see if we can tee up nora apter, please.
88 Good morning. My name is nora apter, and I'm honored to be an appointed member of the city's new sustainability and climate commission. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity to join you today and share more about why I am so excited about this work. I've spent over a decade working in climate policy and public service, including roles with the Oregon environmental council, nrdc, and senator biden's office. I currently serve as Oregon director for climate solutions and as a commissioner on the Oregon climate action commission, where he focused on advancing bold, science based, community driven climate policy solutions that are grounded in equity and long term impact. I was so inspired to serve on the scc because I believe Portland has both the opportunity and the responsibility to lead on climate justice and our work at the local level to protect public health, support family wage jobs and strengthen community resilience has never been more critical. I firmly believe in portland's ability to serve as a model for innovation and climate leadership, and see this commission as a chance to bring community voices to the table, ensure accountability, and help shape a more sustainable, resilient and just Portland. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve and very excited to get to work. Thank you.
89 Next, I believe we will try teeing up the video for luna gonzalez. Gonzalez. Thank you adam.
90 Good morning. My name is luna gonzalez. Gonzalez. Thank you to the committee for having me here today. I am sorry I couldn't be there in person as I will unfortunately be in class at the time of this meeting. A little bit about me is that I'm a junior at catlin gabel school, where I serve as a student inclusivity coordinator as part of my school's equity and inclusion team. I'm also one of my classes co-presidents. In addition to being a co-leader of environmental action team and a co-leader of the hispanic and latino affinity group, I applied to be on the sustainability and climate commission because I'm really passionate about the intersections between environmental justice and community, and helping youth be a part of that solution, not just as a way to address the issues faced by our society, but also as a way to help train the future generation of leaders to come. Thank you.
91 Thank you. Our next video recording is from holland bird. Thank you adam.
92 Hi everyone. My name is holland bird and I am so excited to be serving as an alternate on the sdc, the sustainability and climate commission. A little bit about me I am a current high school junior at saint mary's academy in downtown Portland. This year I am fortunate enough to be the co-leader of my school's environmental justice club, or ejc, and have been a member for the past two years. Our goal is to bring environmental justice related initiatives to our school through outreach and events. Last summer, I interned at crag law center, which is an environmental law center and really deepened my passion for environmental advocacy and work. I hope to bring a lot of my knowledge from that internship into the sustainability and climate commission. I'm very passionate about bringing youth voices to this commission and connecting community needs with our own goals and our own outcomes. Thank you all for having me.
93 Thank you. I believe we have one last prerecorded video from sky dancy.
94 Good morning, madam chair and councilors. My name is sky dancy and I use he him pronouns. I'm really excited to be a part of this new commission, and I can't wait to play a part in benefiting the city. I'm a licensed mechanical engineer with a background in planning, construction, and design of complex facilities. I also hold an mba from Portland state university and a career in business leadership. I'll be on the commission as an individual citizen, but I want to highlight some of my experience with OHSU advocating for environmental sustainability, such as leed certified buildings, transportation demand management and planning, and renewable power procurement through pge. My teams are also the front line to deal with climate related disasters. Inclement weather, wildfire smoke, increasing ambient temperatures. I have a hands on understanding of the need to improve our societal resilience against climate change. I know the collaboration that it takes to drive progress in a large organization, and I'm eager to understand the needs of multiple diverse groups, especially those that have been underrepresented. And I look forward to working with commission to create and deliver on a vision. Thank you for this opportunity.
95 Thank you so much, adam, for the magic that you enacted to ensure that we could hear all of those prerecorded videos during council councilors. That concludes our presentation. I do believe that the folks who are able to stick around are here. If you have any questions for the appointees, thank you for your attention.
96 Thank you both so much. This is a very exciting day for all of us, and it's great to hear about everyone's experiences and to have gotten to read all the biographies beforehand. First, I think we have to check. Rebecca. Do we have anyone signed up for testimony?
97 No one is signed up.
98 Okay. Thank you so much. So I guess we can move into committee discussion. In case folks have anything they want to say or any questions that they might have for any of the folks who were so gracious enough to be here with us today. And I see hands raised already. So I'll start with councilor. Councilor Kanal.
99 Thank you, madam chair. I have a comment and two questions and they're all for staff. So no need to come up. I want to start by saying this is a really solid list. I do intend to refer the proposed membership to council with a due pass recommendation. I do have questions related to the process, and this is our probably our best chance to get to ask those questions. So for those of you who are here as prospective appointees, please don't take any questions as criticisms of you individually or collectively to the staff. I think you did a fantastic job at recruitment. On the whole, I think one of the groups that I used to support previously held the second highest number of applicants on record, and I'm happy to see that broken. I will take this opportunity to propose citywide, a little like competition. We should be trying to get hundreds of applications for every volunteer group, and if holding the record is a is a motivating factor, let's do it. And I also think that you've done a good job of taking an applicant pool that did have some disproportionality to it, and creating a representative group of nominees. Having said that, the disproportionality you highlighted do offer a benchmark to compare future recruitment against and to try to get that pool closer to the city. And so my first question is how will you contribute to the city's overall attempts to increase engagement with district one and from people who live in district one, such that next time the applicant pool is closer to proportional? And I'll name four things here, the d one being one of them. People without graduate degrees, and in particular renters and people of color. We just heard from PCEF and from many of the proposed appointees that we're aware of the impact of geography as well as race, on people's experience with climate and geography, is often more of a factor when you're a renter as well, based on where rental properties are and how you get sort of how the sorting happens into where people live. So for those four factors, I guess in particular, what's the what's the plan going forward on that?
100 Thank you for the question. Councilor canal. And thank you for the very complimentary words. I'm very proud of this recruitment, and I think it reflects both myself and staff. Elaine's experience prior to coming to the city, I've worked for 15 plus years in nonprofit sector. I am fortunate enough to be a homeowner in the same neighborhood that I started as a renter, and did a lot of my grassroots organizing work in east Portland communities. And so I we've reflected some of those perspectives, but absolutely, more work can be done. I look forward to continuing to work with the chief engagement officer and civic life through their processes on the public advisory bodies. Elaine has been attending those meetings on the regular as this work is iterative, continuing to share lessons learned from our experience. While we had very successful applicant pool and designed a process that did result in this incredible slate of nominations, we learned some things along the way that highlighted, to your point, the disparate applicant pool from geography, educational attainment, and other factors as well. I do believe that through the policy development, a lot of that work happens within embedded in the bureaus, and we can do a better job of lifting up that staff level relationship building and engagement and communications to these overarching larger processes. So while I think this is a really strong first step. Clearly there's a lot of work to do, and I look forward to continuing working with staff and also external community members as well, not just through policy development, but also. Through process development to continue to do better in reflecting the communities that we know haven't traditionally had a seat at the table or even voices included.
101 Thanks for that. And I'll advise against overreliance on either of those two parts that you mentioned in the engagement or civic life for recruitment assistance. And because I've seen in my experience, the times that it's been the most successful is when the staff for a specific group goes out and recruits specific to that group. My second question is about alternates. I have some skepticism about the structure as it relates to alternates, because if we have to have you come back to council to confirm them to the committee, it seems weird to me, for lack of a better word, to put people in the position of expected to attend meetings without having the ability to vote for however long until there's a vacancy, as opposed to just instructing staff to go back to previous applications. Whenever there's a vacancy on the one hand, or allowing for direct appointment at the discretion of somebody other than council from a pre-approved list of alternates into that vacant position. Neither of those may be the case here. I'm not 100% sure. So my question is, ultimately, what is the process after council approves someone as an alternate for making them a member of a commission of the commission? If and when a vacancy arises? That may maybe they're the best fit for.
102 Yeah, I appreciate that question regarding alternates. Councilor Kanal do you want to respond to that?
103 Sure.
104 Thank you. Councilor Kanal again, for the record, my name is elaine livingstone. The idea of the alternates attending meetings, although not having voting capabilities, is that there will be no lag time of trying to onboard them. So we are expecting to go through a very robust, a very deep onboarding process with these commissioners. And so the idea is that if someone's life changes and they have to lead, then this person can jump right into the position. Our understanding of how alternates become appointed to full members as of right now is that they would have to come back to council to be confirmed with their terms. That is not a decision based off of vivian and I, but rather how advisory bodies and alternates work. The reason why we chose this alternate system is also looking at the charter commission. So the charter commission was a large commission that also had five alternates. And so that was a lesson learned from the charter commission to use this alternate system. So we are mirroring that same system that the charter commission had.
105 Yeah. I'll let my colleague if, if she has anything on that, the charter commission I. I've been placed in a similar situation to you where you have external parameters that you didn't set on on this. And I felt like I was in a position where I had to be more extractive of volunteers than I wanted to be. As the project manager of the police accountability commission. And I'm trying to avoid that for people who don't have a vote. So that's that's my concern here. I would love to see a situation. And this is maybe a suggestion for my colleagues more than it's a question where we empower, ideally, our chief sustainability officer, to determine, based on a set of criteria which alternate is the best fit and just do it when a vacancy arises. And then you can come back to us the next time to refill the alternate list. So that there's not this second process of having to come back up here and do it again for someone. Because I think all five of these folks seem like they'd be very capable of stepping in if needed. And maybe if there's a need where, you know, it's one of the youth who's stepping off, then one of the youth would come on. But that doesn't need necessarily us if we've already pre-approved them as a candidate list for you. So I'll conclude my questions there, but I just wanted to daylight that. Thank you, madam chair.
106 Thank you. Councilor Kanal. Councilor. Novick.
107 Yes, vivian. Elaine, could you go back to the focus area slide?
108 Yes, yes.
109 Give us one moment, please. While that's queued up.
110 On slide.
111 Five, we have it.
112 Thank you.
113 Yeah. Thank you. Becky.
114 Thank you. Oh, actually, I never mind I overlooked something in the slide, so I'm not going to ask a question about the slide. So I think this is a fabulous group of nominees. But I told vivian before that given that transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the city, and given that the cost of transportation is a huge burden on low income people and people of color, I was surprised that there weren't more people in the group who had a transportation background, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to ask the nominees who are in the room. If you, first of all, by a show of hands, whether you agree that focusing on the intersection between transportation and climate justice should be a focus of the committee. Thank you. And second, how many of you here are online are are interested in spending a chunk of your time on the commission working on the intersection of transportation and climate and climate justice? Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm sorry for putting you on the spot, but I really appreciate your engaging. And does anyone with us online have anything to say on that topic?
115 I saw a few folks also raised their hands, so I think you're in good company.
116 Thank you very much.
117 All right, councilor Ryan.
118 Thank you for coming forward with a list of outstanding volunteers. And, vivian, we had a pretty lengthy conversation on the topic of the point of view diversity. And I want to thank you for what I listened to this morning. It was very refreshing. And so, anyway, I don't always get to say that. So I just wanted to acknowledge our meeting in January, and I thought all of the testimonies were outstanding. I especially liked listening to the volunteers stepping up from district two. I thought they really covered a lot of ground. I look forward to getting to know them. And so that's a big thank you to you for your work. I have a procedure concern. It's not to. It's mostly because I don't want to revote because we've been doing that lately. And so we're building something here. And so it's sometimes the timing between committee and you know, this. And so I just want to make sure how do we appoint when we haven't have we haven't established the code yet. Right. Because that was delayed or it was first reading. Right.
119 I believe we're voting to move them through to full council today. And we technically have some options. You could do it individually. I recommended that we vote for them altogether unless people had. I know at the last meeting you had a, you know, you wanted to vote for people separately. We do have extra time today, so I don't think that's impossible.
120 I'm good with that. It's more that. Vivian, do you know what I'm trying to get at? We haven't passed the code for the actual. And so I could hear an attorney saying, oh, well, you didn't. You appointed the folks before you had the code. You'll have to redo that. So really sorry to bore everyone out there. I just don't want us to be here at 10:00 on a Wednesday night having this conversation.
121 Thank you for thank you for the procedural question, councilor Ryan. And, madam chair, if I may. So we have two components, as I gave you part of the city history of the work that we have to update to take the code and update it. That's currently in play. I we were both here at 1030 on Wednesday evening, having that discussion at full council. With that moving to its second reading. That will be effective as of June. June 7th is the effective date that's written in the ordinance. You'll see the same language reflected here. So due to council action, if you choose to take action, those can be aligned and they all can be effective. Both the appointee list as well as the code all live and effective on June 7th. While I am not the city attorney, we did consult with city attorneys to ensure that could happen together.
122 I'm so grateful we just put that into the public record. Thank you.
123 Good question, councilor Ryan. Councilor canal.
124 Yeah. Madam chair, I move the appointments of the individuals named in the document to the sustainability and climate commission, be sent to the full council with the recommendation that the appointments be confirmed for all of the names listed second.
125 Okay. The motion has been moved by councilor Canal and seconded by councilor Novick. Is there any further discussion? I'm not seeing anything. So will the clerk please call the roll?
126 Canal.
127 Thank you. So, having managed a process like this myself for a lot of appointments and sat on that side of the dais as well as being appointed myself over there, I know how much work goes into it. I say that all to say I was very surprised by my own lack of notes when you presented how this process had worked. And so I really want to commend you, vivian and elaine, for the comprehensiveness of this job getting outreach done, getting applications in and reviewing them. It was clearly very thoughtful and thorough, and I hope that anyone else who sees this in the future looks to this process as a model for how that should work, and prioritization of broad outreach and representation. It's also really heartening to see such a high level of interest in joining this body in such depth of experience, particularly among young people. And it's a great sign for the future of climate action in our city. I do want to stress that I intend to continue the conversation around alternates going forward, and how we can make sure we're not extractive of volunteers, but but rather enabling them to achieve the goals that that you mentioned, elaine, of being ready to go at the time that it's needed. And so I did want to stress that. And I want to also specifically thank maya, vivek, Elana, galen, greg and garrett, the d2 folks, for stepping up here. Yeah. Thank you all for your commitment to this important work. I look forward to engaging with you and hearing your advice as the commission develops its work and its processes.
128 I vote yea brian.
129 Yes, thank you all for your time today. And I was really it was pure delight to listen to all of you speak. And I also want to say that I hope that you don't have a bunch of Portland polite meetings where you all get along and agree with each, or get along, but you don't have to agree with each other all the time. If you agree with each other all the time, I will think this is a failed group of people. So get into some good trouble, have some creative tension and thank you, I.
130 Novick.
131 I, I really appreciate all those of you who are able to make time to be here with us in person or online. I'm really excited about this commission. And also, I have to say that I've waited for 28 years to have a chance to vote for angus duncan for something. So thank you, vivian and elaine, for giving me that opportunity.
132 I Avalos.
133 Thank you so much for this thoughtful process. It is very clear that you all really reached across the city to find voices that could comprise this really important commission, and yet very hard to hear how few district one applicants were in the pool. And especially considering that my district is most affected in a lot of ways by climate change. So I really look forward to partnering with you all as we continue to develop just leadership in general in my district, but especially around environmental justice issues. But with that, I vote.
134 I Morillo.
135 Thank you guys so much. This was we don't always get to have really fun meetings. In my opinion. This was a really fun one. It was really it's just very heartening to see how many people care about our community and are excited to get into this work and are volunteering time to be here. And I think that with the new district structure, I'm so excited to see what it's going to mean to get that input from across the districts. But I also want to say thank you, vivian, so much. Thank you both so much for all of the work that you did leading this process. It's a big deal. And I think that we have just so much work to do together moving forward, and I just see this as a very positive step. I'm very happy and proud to vote, I thank you.
136 And with five eyes, the motion carries.
137 Who are we allowed to clap now? I'm chair. We can clap today. It's okay. Thank you all for being here at our next meeting. Councilor Novick is going to be. We're anticipating having josh alpert, formerly the c40 climate or formerly of c40 climate cities, speaking with the committee. And we're also going to discuss active transportation as well as the mayor's proposed budget and its potential impacts on climate friendly city programs. And with that, quite early, actually giving some time back at 1109, we are closing out the meeting of the climate committee. All right.
138 Thank you.