City of Columbia, Missouri
Meeting Minutes
City Council
Conference Room
1A/1B
Monday, March 21, 2022
5:00 PM
Pre-Council
Columbia City Hall
701 E. Broadway
This item is open to the public: Annual Sustainability Report
Attachments: CAAP 2021 Annual Report
City Manager De’Carlon Seawood introduced Leanne Tippett-Mosby, Chair of the Climate
and Environment Commission and Eric Hempel, the Sustainability Manager for the City of
Columbia, to present the 2021 Annual Report Columbia Climate Action & Adaptation Plan
(CAAP), see the attached report.
Mr. Hempel explained that he will present another report to the City Council covering the
findings of the Community and Municipal Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory at a
subsequent meeting. This inventory will detail the overall greenhouse gas emissions of
the City and the community in 2021 and provide analysis of the contributing factors.
Mr. Hempel explained the establishment of key performance indicators to make the
City’s progress towards CAAP goals quantifiable. He described a sample of the progress
the City has made towards CAAP goals thus far. Council Member Fowler and Council
Member Thomas asked clarifying questions about data provided by Mr. Hempel about
progression towards CAAP goals. Mr. Hempel responded that the data would be covered
more thoroughly in his next presentation to the City Council.
Mr. Hempel shared his team’s goals to reduce municipal emissions through building
energy, transportation, and natural resource CAAP policy development. Additionally, he
explained that CAAP teams are charged with communication, outreach, and education to
support CAAP implementation. The project management of formulation and
implementation of CAAP goals is performed by Office Sustainability (OS) staff. In order to
support OS staff, CAAP teams were developed, comprised of City Staff and volunteers in
the areas of clean energy, resource stewardship, clean transportation, healthy housing,
good stewards - natural resources, good stewards - buildings, to bring a diverse range of
perspectives and expertise.
Council Member Fowler asked whether or not the recommendations from the Utilities
Department are intertwined with recommendations made by CAAP. David Sorrell, Utilities
Director, expressed intent to work with OS and CAAP when developing their
recommendations.
City Manager Seawood reiterated Director Sorell’s sentiment, stating that department
goals and strategic plans will all be developed with CAAP in mind.
Council Member Thomas inquired about OS’s collaboration with Boone County and
wondered whether there were similar county-level sustainability goals. Mr. Hempel
explained that his office has conducted preliminary talks with the Boone County
Resource Management Department that have been productive. Mr. Hempel did not believe
that Boone County had any similar stated sustainability goals or targets.
