It's mostly quiet on the legislative front this week, but we do have one Council committee meeting to satiate our desire for some exciting policy-making action -- the Environment Committee meets tomorrow!

Remember, if you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.

Environment Committee -- Thursday, Sept. 24

The agenda for this month's Environment Committee meeting, chaired by Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, begins with one consent item -- a technical matter involving the City's solid-waste franchise agreements. It's considered noncontroversial and won't be discussed unless a committee member or member of the public wants to pull it out for discussion.

The discussion / information agenda is highlighted by a couple of items involving the City's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, plus two items related to water quality:

• Municipal Energy Strategy: In 2015, the City adopted its landmark Climate Action Plan, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in San Diego in half by 2035. One of the strategies for achieving that goal is to make all City facilities more energy efficient, and the Municipal Energy Strategy (MES) is a framework for how that will get done. On Thursday, the City's Sustainability Department will give the Environment Committee a presentation on the MES.
• Energy Savings Performance Contracts: And speaking of reducing energy consumption at City facilities, the Sustainability Department would like the committee to weigh in on its request to make changes to the Municipal Code that would allow the City to enter into contracts with energy service companies to make City facilities more energy efficient. Under this scenario, the contracted companies would guarantee a certain level of energy savings, figure out what upgrades are necessary to achieve them, and arrange financing for those upgrades.
• Southern California Coastal Water Research Project: Since 1969, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) conducts scientific research related to discharges of treated wastewater into the ocean. As one of four Southern California entities that discharge wastewater into the Pacific, the City of San Diego is a member of SCCWRP and is partly responsible for funding its ongoing activities. On Thursday, the committee will be asked to OK a 10th amendment to the joint powers agreement that created the agency, setting the City's financial contribution over the next five years at $2.73 million.
• Performance Audit of the Industrial Wastewater Control Program: Back in 2013, the City Auditor investigated the City's Public Utilities Department's Industrial Wastewater Control Program, which permits, monitors, and inspects a variety of industries across the City and to limit the discharge of toxic substances into the sewers. That investigation found some issues with outdated fees, billing lapses, and cost-recovery problems. 

Well, the Auditor has completed a follow-up audit that found that "while some progress has been made, the issues we identified in 2013 remain largely unaddressed." It also found an additional concern: "City wastewater customers alone are subsidizing program costs, even though the program serves customers in the larger metro area...."

The follow-up report makes two findings and nine recommendations to address them.

This past July, the Auditor presented this report to the Council's Audit Committee, which insisted that the Auditor also bring it to the Environment Committee before taking it to the full Council. So here we are.

The meeting starts at 1 p.m. only City staff and credentialed members of the press may attend in person. However, anyone can participate and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meetings on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream it online.

Next up will be a post on the meeting of the full City Council scheduled for Sept. 29.

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