City Council Meeting Date: March 10, 2020
To: Mayor and City Council
City Administrator
From: Beth Kallestad
Program Coordinator
Title
Consider a Resolution Application for 2020-2021 Minnesota Greencorps Member.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council adopts the attached resolution Application for 2020-2021 Minnesota Greencorps Member.
Summary Report:
The City of Northfield adopted a Climate Action Plan in November 2019 to help the City both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions as well as to build resiliency. Some of the strategies in this plan relate to waste reduction and prevention as well as food and organics management. In 2019, the City also received a donation from a resident to help implement some of these actions. We have been working with some interns from the local colleges to develop programming but would like to expand our capacity with a GreenCorps member.
The overall scope of the project will be to provide expertise and assistance to strengthen community resilience through waste prevention, recycling, prevention of wasted food, and composting/organics management. Outreach and education will be the primary focus and will include such items as: 1) Reducing contamination of recycling through bin tagging and educational materials for residents, 2) Recycling Champions program where residents will be trained to teach others about recycling, 3) Composting/Organics management options, 4) Assisting in the development of a Zero Waste plan to help Northfield be zero waste by 2030, 5) Assist local volunteers to explore developing a Food Coordinator position which can assit with prevention of food waste, locally grown food opportunities, expanding the Farm to School program and other possibilities to build resilience around food production. As a portion of the City is in the Environmental Justice Story Map area for at least 40% of people reported income less than 185% of the federal poverty level, the Member will work with community organizations that have relationships in this area to help with outreach and education to this population.
As the Climate Action Plan also focuses on Energy and Transportation as two priority areas, the Member may be asked to assit with outreach and education on these topics as well as marginal functions.
Member projects will serve to improve Northfield’s capacity to respond to environmental threats and the impacts of climate change through improved infrastructure and increased community resilience.
As part of the application process a Council resolution is required to indicate the City's interest in the program, willingness to support the staff time and resources necessary for mentoring the GreenCorps member to succeed. General information about the GreenCorps program is available on the MPCA website: <https://www.pca.state.mn.us/waste/minnesota-greencorps>
As a host site, the city is expected to provide standard office supplies, computing/network access, and onsite task - specific training from city staff. A city staff member must be identified as the supervisor and submit regular reports to the MPCA on the work progress of the GreenCorps member. Beth Kallestad, Program Coordinator, will serve as the site supervisor and the GreenCorps member will have office space in the Community Development Department suite. The MPCA estimates the cost to host a GreenCorps volunteer (in-kind supervisor time and office costs) at approximately $5,500.
Staff recommends this approach as a way to increase our capacity to implement items in the Climate Action Plan in an economical approach. The Environmental Quality Commission approved a motion of support for the application at its February 19, 2020 meeting.
Alternative Options:
The Council does not support the resolution and the application is not submitted.
Financial Impacts:
There is no direct cost to the City for the GreenCorps member. Staff time will be required for supervision. Funds from the donation received in 2019 from Jan Shoger will be used to pay for materials and other needs for the GreenCorps member to carry out outreach activities and for training.
Tentative Timelines:
Application submittal to MPCA - March 18, 2020
Host sites notified - mid-April 2020
GreenCorps Member term of service - mid-September 2020 - mid-August 2021.