April 5, 2010 MinutesCITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
April 5, 2010
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas
convened in a Special Called Work Session on Monday, April 5, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. in the
Council Work Session Room.
PRESENT: Mayor Burroughs, Council Member Engelbrecht, Council Member Gregory,
Council Member Mulroy and Council Member Watts.
ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tern Kamp and Council Member Heggins
1. The Council received a report, held discussion and provided staff direction regarding
progress made by staff on environmental resolutions and directives.
Katherine Barnett, Special Projects Coordinator, presented information on Environmentally
Preferable Purchasing (EPP). Resolution 2007-032 created the framework to implement EPP as
a means to lessen the impact of municipal operations on the environment. The key to the success
of an EPP program was that all city departments would do their utmost to ensure that
consideration and/or preference was given to environmentally preferable products to the extent
that they were available and practicable. Options available through Corporate Express, the
City's on-line ordering system, was to post announcements on the ordering website reminding
employees that there was an EPP resolution and to always provide the option of an EPP item
when one was available.
Mayor Burroughs noted that a topic of future debate for Council was whether the City would be
willing to pay more for an EPP item than a non-EPP item. At this point there was no policy for
those types of purchases.
Barnett stated that departments were already doing sustainable practices. Internal Policy
Guidelines to increase EPP purchases encouraged/required EPP products that were equal or
lesser cost than requested items. Fleet Services was using sustainable practices in order to have a
zero waste stream facility.
Shirlene Sitton, Recycling Division Manager, stated that a Solid Waste Department directive
prohibited city funds to be spent on bottled water, styrofoam, disposable ware and plastic
shopping bags. She detailed what was wrong with bottled water and presented water alternatives
such as personal, reusable water bottles, community dishes in break rooms, pitchers and glasses
for meetings, igloos for the field with personal bottles/cups. She reviewed the problems with
styrofoam and presented serving-ware alternatives. Those included personal reusable coffee
cups and travel mugs, inexpensive dishes in break rooms for employee use, matched dishes for
meetings, disposal ware for large events that had to be recyclable or biodegradable and requiring
vendors to eliminate extras and styrofoam.
Barnett presented a comparison of dishes vs. disposables.
Sitton presented information on what was wrong with plastic bags. Plastic bags were a litter
nightmare and only 1-2% was recycled. Plastic bag alternatives included reusable Chico bags
given to employees, a Bag Station set up for city purchases, and just saying no to plastic bags. A
"Green Gazette" was developed to help employees understand the importance of recycling.
Product Stewardship Initiatives encouraged manufacturers to redesign products using less toxics
and make them more durable, reusable and recyclable. It also encouraged taking increasing
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April 5, 2010
Page 2
responsibility for the end-of-life management of the products produced. Currently they were
working with Tetrapak to recycle juice boxes and milk cartons. The department was also
working with Denton Regional Hospital for a bring back pharmaceutical day.
Council Member Mulroy asked what other cities were doing to minimize the use of plastic bags.
Sitton stated that there were a few cities that had passed a ban.
Mayor Burroughs stated that an outreach program would be helpful for retailers doing some of
the research and then passing that along to others.
Barnett stated that they were currently working with the Chamber to develop such a program
2. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction concerning the
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) awarded to the City of Denton.
Ken Banks, Environmental Services and Sustainability Director, stated that the City had been
awarded EECBG funding based on full formula funding. He recapped the project selection
which started with asking Denton staff for projects that met DOE's goals. A total of 16 projects
were submitted with the projects prioritized and ranked by a consultant during several
Committee on the Environment meetings. The rankings were based on how the projects met
DOE goals, how the projects met municipal energy efficient/sustainability goals, and job creation
of the proposed activity was heavily weighted which was a major goal of the Recovery and
Reinvestment Act.
Banks detailed projects included in the grant. Municipal Facilities Energy Efficiency
improvements were projects based on a comprehensive evaluation of municipal facilities for
energy efficiency gains and payback period. The Landfill and Wastewater Methane to Energy
Projects included projects that collected methane from the landfill and from the wastewater plant
and converted it to electricity using the existing generating facility. The Energy Audit Program
Equipment and Training directed funds toward the purchase of additional equipment to enhance
DME's Energy Audit Program. Equipment included a thermal camera, a duct blaster to detect
leaks from a HVAC system and a blower door system which detected whole house leaks. The
Municipal Sustainability Plan directed funds toward completing a comprehensive sustainability
plan for the City that would address short, medium and long term sustainability goals, actions,
and tracking metrics. It would address energy consumption, energy efficiency, water use,
wastewater production, solid waste, air quality, and similar sustainability issues. Staff was
working with other municipalities in the metroplex who were completing similar plans using
EECBG funding.
Funding was also made available for a Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Coordinator for the
term of the grant. The coordinator would be responsible for administering sustainability
initiatives, developing goals and tracking metrics, public education and outreach, and grant
management and reporting. The intention of the position was also in keeping with the "job
creation" component of ARRA.
Council Member Gregory asked about local news events surrounding this program.
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April 5, 2010
Page 3
Banks stated that there was a story right after funding was announced but nothing recently.
Council Member Gregory asked if there were other municipalities operating landfills that were
recovering methane to generate electricity.
Vance Kemler, General Manager-Solid Waste Division, stated that Lewisville did that but there
were only about 10% of the landfills performing the procedure.
Mayor Burroughs asked if smart meters were planned in Denton and if so, were mini tests being
done.
Phil Williams, General Manager-Electric Administration, stated that DME was implementing
automated meters in pilot projects. They would be going to out for bid on the new meters in the
future.
Mayor Burroughs asked about the weatherization program. He felt there was a high risk that a
significant amount of funding from ARRA would never be spent because the institutions doing
to program could not get out and do the work before the end of the funding program. He
questioned whether staff had a sense of whether the City was at risk of losing funding allocations
within the 2012 deadline.
Banks replied that the program was a state level program.
Barbara Ross, Community Development Division Manager, stated that a process was being set
up that if an agency was not making goals within six months or a year, a reallocation of the
funding would be explored.
Mayor Burroughs asked for periodic updates.
Ross stated that the agencies had to do quarterly reports and copies of those reports could be
obtained to see where the agencies were in the program.
Council Member Watts suggested an update on what projects had been completed, what was
underway and a time line for new projects.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned 1:05 p.m.
MARK A. BURROUGHS
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS