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 Impact Lvl 1: Best Practice ; Sustainability
Public Report on Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan led by City of Rochester, MN
Last modified: November 14, 2015

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The city of Rochester has the potential to become a leader in energy efficiency and sustainability, according to two reports delivered at a Tuesday night Rochester Energy Commission special meeting.

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PB Reporting

Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 9:13 am

Andrew Setterholm, asetterholm@postbulletin.com

The city of Rochester has the potential to become a leader in energy efficiency and sustainability, according to two reports delivered at a Tuesday night Rochester Energy Commission special meeting.

DMC plan

Destination Medical Center plans are at the heart of the opportunity for energy action in the city. A report prepared by the Minnesota Center for Energy and Environment for the DMC Corp Board has aggressive recommendations for its focus area — two DMC districts in the downtown, Heart of the City and Discovery Square.

Those recommendations include establishing the two DMC districts as a sustainable energy zone to focus attention on all energy opportunities in the geographic area; building on Mayo Clinic's district energy and co-generation system; and building any new developments with Architecture 2030 standards, which strive for zero net carbon emission buildings by 2030.

More important than the specific energy goals, though, is the communitywide goal to establish a culture of sustainability, said Sheldon Strom, CEE president.

"We think it's important as we do this to establish a culture of sustainability," Strom said. "It makes a huge difference what the public thinks and what the users of a building think."

The focus area of the CEE's energy recommendations for the DMCC board is relatively small, but Strom hoped the area would become a model for more widespread practice.

"There is a limited focus to those areas, but we're hoping to develop strategies that can be expanded if proven successful," he said.

Strom and Jenny Edwards, CEE director of Innovation Exchange, also emphasized the importance of starting with practical, cost-effective measures.

CEE staff will present the energy update to the DMCC board at a Nov. 19 meeting.

Energy action plan

The city of Rochester is also in the process of evaluating its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The Rochester Energy Commission, created in 2009, was tasked with creating anenergy action plan that would help the city reach energy goals set by the state of Minnesota, including to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent, relative to a 2005 baseline, by 2050.

With funding from the city, the energy commission hired Wenck Associates as a consultant to assist in formulating the plan.

After about four months of work, that plan has made significant progress, reported Erin Heitkamp, Wenck global sustainability practice leader. Wenck has completed the major tasks of reviewing its role with the city's comprehensive plan update and comparative analysis with other cities.

A large portion the work so far, Heitkamp said, has been related to: "Ultimately, understanding what the city's baseline greenhouse gas inventory looks like and then understanding what the real material opportunities are to influence that going forward."

As part of its greenhouse gas inventory, Wenck reported the city's emissions impact included more than 76,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2014 from city-owned and city-controlled sources; that was only a fraction of the emissions from indirect sources related to city activities.

A draft energy action plan is on schedule to be ready around the end of March, Heitkamp said.

Great to see this effort.

 

 

 

  

 

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Pinned City of Rochester, MN organization and project reports

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Project Report of Rochester Vision 2050 : October 02, 2024 : Rochester Vision 2050
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Vision 2050 AI-Powered Interactive Survey LINK

Mayor Norton Memo to the Public

 


Organization Report: September 30, 2024 : Economic Vibrancy & Growth Management
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City teammates providing an update on this work, specifically regarding legacy public infrastructure projects, Unbound, infrastructure investments and regulatory milestones.  


Project Report of Targeted Business Enterprise Utilization : August 05, 2024 : Second Half 2024 Targeted Business Enterprise Utilization Plan Reports
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3Q2024: July 2024 Admin Message and Reports

 

 


Project Report of Rochester Vision 2050 : August 02, 2024 : Rochester Vision 2050
Impact Lvl1: Arts & Culture, Best Practice, Caring Relationship, Civic Engagement, Co-design, Diversity and Inclusion, Economic Development, Education, OpenBeam, Vision/Identity
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The visioning effort calls for soliciting broad community input to help propose desired strategic initiatives based on desired outcomes through 2050.


Project Report of Targeted Business Enterprise Utilization : July 01, 2024 : First Half 2024 Targeted Business Enterprise Utilization Plan Reports
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2Q 2024: June 2024; May 2024 - Admin Message, TBE Report; April 2024 - Admin Message, TBE Report

1Q 2024: Feb 2024 - Admin Message, TBE Report; Jan 2024: Admin Message, TBE Report

Special callouts: Women in Construction; City of Rochester Equity in Development 


Project Report of City of Rochester: 2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan : June 26, 2024 : City of Rochester - Justice, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (JEDI) Audit Status
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June 24, 2024 City Council Study Session: Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Audit per Goodenough 

Departmental Audit reports of: Human Resources; Rochester Public Library; Parks & Rec 

 


Project Report of City of Rochester: 2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan : June 20, 2024 : Community Building Fund
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The City of Rochester welcomes applications for the Community Building Fund.  This fund is all about supporting projects, programs, and events in the city that actively promote equity and inclusion.


Organization Report: April 27, 2024 : 2024 Destination Medical Center (DMC) Updates
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DMC Updates April 29 Presentation to City Council Study Session 

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Project Report of City of Rochester Home Ownership Creation Program : April 22, 2024 : Mayowood Phase II for fee waivers
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Allocate $272,959.00 to Mayowood Phase II for fee waivers (frees funding for Home Ownership creation program)

2. Allocate $ 272,967 to revolving Abatement program for homeowners


Project Report of Equity in the Built Environment (Bloomberg) : April 01, 2024 : EBE Presentation to City Council Study Session
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Impact Lvl2: C2C: Post-Secondary, C2C: Workforce Participation

1. Part of Feb 26, 2024 City Council Study Session on DEI: Presentation Slides include actions and measures to City Council Study Session and Link to City Council video 

2. Career Opportunities for Women of Color


Project Report of City of Rochester: 2020 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan : March 21, 2024 : Requests for Action Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan
Impact Lvl1: Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, Governance/Public Policy
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City Council Approved Requests for City Council Approval of two DEI Contracts: 

Contract 1: 2024: Professional Development: Cultural Humility Series $41.3K; 

Contact 2 : Critical Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Audit ($30K); Cultural Humility Professional Development Series: Digging Deeper $13.5K ;  

Video clip of council discussions and voting and related info about GoodEnough.


Project Report of Update Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Index : March 19, 2024 : Action Request March 18, 2024
Impact Lvl1: Best Practice, Business Process, Caring Relationship, Commitment, CMRC, Diversity and Inclusion, Governance/Public Policy, International, Intelligence, Mediation, OpenBeam, Vision/Identity
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Comment at the 3/18/2024 City Council Meeting:

To act on September 21, 2020 council resolutions for the city staff to develop a Intercultural City action plan.  


Project Report of Planning To Succeed: Rochester 2040 Comprehensive Plan (P2S) : March 18, 2024 : P2S Implementation and Comprehensive Plan Request for Proposal
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P2S Implementation Report

P2S Update Request for Proposal 


Organization Report: March 04, 2024 : City Council: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Updates; Housing; International Relations
Impact Lvl1: Best Practice, Business Process, Co-design, Disabilities, Diversity and Inclusion, Economic Development, Entrepreneurship, Governance/Public Policy, Housing, Metrics, Workforce Development
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DEI Presentation Topics: Language Access and Accessibility; Equity in the Built Environment; 2024 Initiatives

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Rochester City Council session on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion


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Impact Lvl1: Best Practice, Business Process, Commitment, Diversity and Inclusion, OpenBeam, Technology Enablement, Vision/Identity
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(1) City Council approved ICI Resolution

(2) City Council Study Session on ICI Index  


Project Report of City of Rochester Initiates New Budget Process and Publishes Digital Format : September 15, 2020 : City of Rochester Initiates New Budget Process and Publishes Digital Format
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2021 Budget Discussions


Project Report of Update Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Index : August 20, 2020 : ICI index draft released for City Council review
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  The City of Rochester, in partnership with the Diversity Council and others, announced the release of the draft Intercultural Cities Initiative program index report and an upcoming virtual site visit. 


Project Report of Update Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Index : January 30, 2020 : Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Presentation to City Council Study Group
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Updating the city council on the ICI workgroup summary of ICI data. 


Project Report of Update Intercultural Cities Initiative (ICI) Index : June 15, 2018 : Mayor Brede signed ICI pledge
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On Wednesday, June 13th, 2018 at 11:00 am, the Journey to Growth team, the City of Rochester and citizens of Rochester will gather in the City Hall Atrium for a special Signing Ceremony, designating Rochester as the first U.S. City to join the Council of Europe’s ICI (Intercultural Cities Initiative) program.


Project Report of City of Rochester Home Ownership Creation Program : September 21, 2017 : City Council Discussing Affordable Housing
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City Council's Committee at Large discussed Affordable Housing and Councilman Michael Wojcik's counter proposal. 


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About Beam

Community Beam (dmcbeam.org) is a registry of private and public resources (organizations, projects, initiatives, programs) that underpin economic and social developments of greater Rochester:

  • For the commercial sector, we tend to register startup activities (new companies and new commercial projects) that bring diversification and high-impact opportunities to the area.
  • For the non-profit sector, we wish to shine light on all the organizations and services that otherwise labor under relative obscurity.
  • Our hope is that dmcbeam.org will encourage cross-sector collaborations and creative solutions.

While there are a number of registries in the community, dmcbeam.org's  distinct value is to pilot a database with a data structure and categorizations that answer the questions such as: What organizations or projects/programs in our community that have purported relevance with some of the over-arching focuses put forward by initiatives such as DMC, J2G and Health Improvements?

This database could be used as one of the ways to explore the capacities of the community. If you are someone on an exploratory journey to learn about the greater Rochester community. dmcbeam.org could be an interesting first step.

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