CITY COUNCIL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE MEETING
Hybrid Meeting
January 13, 2025
5:00 p.m.
MEETING MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER: Meeting called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Council Member Angela Andrews.
ROLL CALL:
Committee Members:
Angela Andrews, City Council Member/CSC Chair
Julie Roche, City Council Member
Francisco Zermeño, City Council Member
Staff:
Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Stephanie Dumont, Sustainability Specialist
Ben Jex, Recycling Outreach Fellow
Linda Ko, Senior Secretary (Meeting Recorder)
Jeff Krump, Solid Waste Program Manager
Erik Pearson, Environmental Services Manager
Ava Samuels, Sustainability & Climate Action Fellow
Other:
Mimi Dean, Public Comment Speaker
Sandra Frost, Public Comment Speaker
Jesus Gutierrez, Local Clean Energy Alliance (LCEA)
Virginia Harrington, Waste Management of Alameda County (WMAC) Rick Hatcher, Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD) Matt Kritscher, Public Comment Speaker
Melissa Milleman, Public Comment Speaker
Hernando Sanchez, Local Clean Energy Alliance (LCEA)
Jason Toro, Tri-CED Community Recycling
Jessica Tovar, Local Clean Energy Alliance (LCEA)
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Public speakers Sandra Frost, Melissa Milleman and Mimi Dean expressed their desire to preserve the green open space at the former Skywest Golf Course location for environmental reasons including habitat for monarch butterflies.
Council Member Roche commented that any future plans for the Skywest property would be discussed at the Council Infrastructure and Airport Committee.
Approval of Minutes of the Council Sustainability Committee (CSC) meeting held on November 18, 2024 The item was moved by Council Member Zermeño, seconded by Council Member Roche, and approved unanimously.
Existing Building Electrification Roadmap – Review and Comment Stephanie Dumont, Sustainability Specialist, and former California State University East Bay (CSUEB) students, Hernando Sanchez and Jesus Gutierrez, presented an update on the preparation of the Existing Building Electrification Roadmap and the outreach efforts performed by the LCEA and CSUEB students to engage with Spanish-speaking residents on existing building electrification.
Public Comments
Jessica Tovar, with the LCEA, stated that low-income residents would be affected by higher gas prices as more people transition to electric appliances and measures would be needed to assist them so they would not be left behind.
Melissa Milleman commented that PG&E offers a program that helps seniors with free weather-stripping.
Hernando Sanchez shared his family’s experience with building electrification.
Committee Comments
Council Member Roche suggested paying the cost for small neighborhood conversions by providing free appliance replacements instead of using grants to subsidize only a portion of the electrification cost.
Council Member Andrews suggested partnering with the Conservation Corps to incentivize survey participation. Erik Pearson, Environmental Services Manager, stated staff had worked with Rising Sun for green house calls and said staff would look into partnering with the Conservation Corps. Council Member Andrews also suggested partnering with schools and libraries to provide information to families.
Council Member Zermeño suggested using a 30-second video as opposed to a flyer to provide information to the community.
Possible New Litter Receptacle Installation Requirements for Development Applications – Review and Comment Jeff Krump, Solid Waste Program Manager, presented a report on litter receptacle requirements for new developments in Hayward and asked the CSC for comments.
Public Comments
Matt Kritscher inquired, given Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383), why three-stream waste receptacles were not required for new developments. Mr. Krump clarified that they were required for new businesses but not for public litter cans that would be out in the parking lots. He also stated that organics bins for public litter cans would be difficult to maintain.
Committee Comments
Council Member Roche thanked staff for the report and stated that she was in favor of requiring new developments to include trash receptacles throughout the parking lot which would include numbering and location identifications of the trash cans. Council Member Roche asked staff to consider adding fines or fees for bad actors to add more teeth to the Conditions of Approval (COA), especially for large drive-throughs and corporation-owned businesses. Alex Ameri, Public Works Director, noted that staff would discuss available options with the Planning Division. Council Member Roche expressed that she would like to see the onus of trash maintenance on the manufacturers of the trash and not on the consumers.
Council Member Zermeño suggested adding regulations that required businesses to place garbage cans both outside the door of the business and also in the parking lot. He also noted that volunteers and residents should be included in the list of people who help with litter collecting efforts in the community.
Council Member Andrews expressed her support for adding more trash cans throughout parking lots and also stated she was in favor of adding more chute receptables. She inquired what trash requirements were required of permitted street vendors. Mr. Pearson answered that street vendors were required to have a trash receptable on-site.
Solid Waste and Recycling Franchise Agreement – Updated on Implementation Ben Jex, Recycling Outreach Fellow, presented an update on the Solid Waste and Recycling Franchise Agreement between the City of Hayward and WMAC.
Public Comments
Sandra Frost expressed her thoughts on the need for more garden spaces where residents could bring their food waste and make their own compost.
Virginia Harrington from WMAC stated a barrier to composting was the “ick factor,” where people were not familiar with the process and techniques of composting and found it more convenient to put their food scraps into the trash.
Jason Toro with Tri-CED Community Recycling provided an update that all trucks have been delivered and the third-eye cameras were installed and were currently being used in the pilot phase. He stated that a new update to the system would be happening in the first quarter of 2025 and that the system would be officially running and collecting surcharges by July 1, 2025. Mr. Toro announced that a 5.5 million dollar update to the material recovery facility (MRF) was upcoming and that this would significantly improve the diversion rate.
Rick Hatcher from HARD stated that he would bring up the issue of compost education in the Hayward Youth Commission meeting because he believed that the youth served as great messengers to inform parents.
Committee Comments
Council Member Roche inquired what was the biggest barrier to getting more compost. Mr. Jex stated that the biggest problem was the lack of knowledge about composting. Council Member Roche agreed that more education on the harmful effects of organics matter in the landfill would be helpful.
Council Member Zermeño asked when the replacement of the old public waste bins would be finished. Mr. Krump stated that the old public waste bins in poor condition would all be replaced in the next year or two.
Council Member Andrews stated that WMAC and Tri-CED had presented great reports on sorting to the Keep Hayward Clean & Green (KHCG) Task Force and expressed her interest in reviewing them in a CSC meeting to find ways to share the information to the public, possibly through The Leaflet.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS:
Proposed 2025 Agenda Planning Calendar: Review and Comment Mr. Pearson shared the proposed 2025 agenda planning calendar with the Committee.
Public Comments
There were no public comments.
Committee Comments
Council Member Zermeño suggested adding a StopWaste presentation by Timothy Burroughs.
COMMITTEE MEMBER/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REFERRALS:
Council Member Andrews announced a Toiletry Drive for the SoCal wildfires that would start on January 14th and last through January 25th.
ADJOURNMENT: 6:18 p.m.
MEETINGS
Attendance
Present
1/13/25
Meeting
Present
to Date This Year
Excused
to Date This Year
Absent
to Date This Year
Julie Roche
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1 0
0 Angela Andrews
✓
1 0
0 Francisco Zermeño
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1 0
0