Elgin Sustainability Commission June 2024 Meeting: Gardens, Dams, and Governance

The Elgin Sustainability Commission met on Tuesday, June 11th at the Edward Schock Centre of Elgin. (Spoiler alert . . . the meeting was adjourned at 7:28pm for the second month in a row ... so, kudos to Commission Chairperson Tom Armstrong).
   
The agenda was small, but it felt like everyone had something to say on the following topics:

• Elgin's tree planting program
• Climate Change Action planning process (and consultants)
• Grant proposal re. Eastside Community Garden
• Grant proposal re. Native Garden Demo Project
• Elgin Farmers Market
• Kimball Street Dam proposed removal and commission recommendation to city council

Honestly, the star of the meeting was Friends of the Fox River's Art Malm, who was also the city's first water engineer and was primarily the person who wrote all the operating protocols & procedures for the city's water plant. Lots of learned during this portion of the meeting, including:

• removal of the Kimball Street damn is a separate issue from the city's need to move the water intake pipe for the water plant
• the recommendation to remove dams on the Fox River is the result of years and years of work done by the Fox River Study Group
• opposition to dam removal is loud but spearheaded by a very small group of residents throughout the watershed
• Malm cited an opinion poll where almost 50% of people in the watershed believe the Fox River is dangerous because of perceived water quality concerns (which dam removal would address)
• allegedly deciding not to remove Fox River dams would trigger the EPA to require implementation of a phosphorus mitigation plan that could cost an estimated $60 million dollars
• and so very much more

During the deep-dive segment of this episode, Tia decided to focus on the uncomfortable tension in the room by looking more closely at governance issues related to commissioners and the staff liaison.

• whose role is what?
• what responsibilities belong to who?
• who reports to who?
• who has the authority to do what?
• setting commission priorities and how to prioritize projects/work?

The deep-dive segment of this episode is certainly not as sexy as the Kimball Street dam removal issue, but it certainly may be the most important issue on the table that's not being talked about enough in open public sessions.

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