ATCFPB Approved Minutes - January 8, 2024 — original pdf

Approved Minutes

MEETING MINUTES January 8, 2024 Austin/Travis County Food Policy Board The Austin/Travis County Food Policy Board (ATCFPB) convened on Monday, January 8th at the City of Austin Permitting and Development Center, 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr, Room 1406, Austin, TX 78752. Board Members in Attendance: Andrea Abel, Lisa Barden, Mark Bethell, Marissa Bell, Joi Chevalier, Kacey Hanson, Larry Franklin, Karen Magid, Natalie Poulos, Sari Vatske Board Members Absent: Rosamaria Murillo Staff in Attendance: Edwin Marty (City of Austin), Angela Baucom (City of Austin) CALL TO ORDER Chair Joi Chevalier called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. PUBLIC COMMUNICATION None APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Board Member Mark Bethell motioned to approve the meeting minutes from the Regular Meeting on December 11th with Board Member Marissa Bell, seconding the motion. Minutes passed on a 9-0 vote. STAFF PRESENTATION 2. Food System Planning Overview, Edwin Marty, Food Policy Manager for the City of Austin (see back-up materials) a. Currently the food plan timeline is focusing on what is most important to accomplish in the next five years. We will then look down the road to develop the next phase. b. This is formally a shared plan between Austin and Travis County, but since the city spreads into Williamson and Hays Counties, the plan will impact residents across three counties. Williamson County does have representation in the planning process. c. For equity assessment, each of the strategies developed by the Issue Area Groups is evaluated by the Issue Area Groups using the SEAT rubric, and then the CAC repeats the evaluation for a second level of review to ensure Equity is being effectively integrated. It is designed to prevent negative impact and make room for additional positive impact. d. Strategies developed by the Issue Area Groups are now also being compared against public input over a large number of events across all parts of the City and County to integrate all feedback received so far. e. Even though we have five separate Issue Area Groups concentrating on their area of concentration, the project team is identifying cross-cutting themes to connect the sectors and ideas brought up across different groups. We are trying to prioritize the strategies that cut across the issue areas most effectively and lift those up into the food plan. f. At what point is there discussion with potential backbone facilitators? The Project team has tried to bring backbone stakeholders into the conversation in the CAC and IAGs. The private sector is underrepresented, which is common for municipal processes. We tried to compensate by completing the Supply Chain Vulnerability Assessment and getting ample input there, and also inviting them to participate despite understanding that they were likely to be underrepresented. In a future stage of work, we plan to present strategies to stakeholders identifying who could potentially do the work, how much it would cost, and on what timeline. Stakeholders and this board will help identify those stakeholders and bring them to the conversation to opt in and take responsibility. g. Concerns about need to prevent duplication of services are complex, as it will require significant definition and parsing of specific parameters. This food plan process is being designed with an understanding that our food system lacks unity, and we need to invest into existing and new infrastructure to fill gaps. The plan should look to complementary and not redundant actions. In addition to duplication, the question was also raised about whether it’s good policy of the board to recommend using taxpayer dollars to fund the duplicative efforts. h. Board involvement in this process in the next month or two is essential to prioritizing and refining the work to be done in implementing this plan. i. January 16th is the next CAC meeting where each strategy will be put through the SEAT tool. Board members are invited to take part in this process. The project team is intending to have comments to provide feedback to the Issue Area Groups on the strategies for their issue area so they can do another round of review and refining to determine final recommended goals. Contact Edwin Marty or Angela Baucom if you are not already invited and would like to be. In February, all of the Issue Area Groups will meet to go through the strategy prioritization process. j. k. The goal is by the beginning of March to create a draft plan that brings all of the pieces together. This draft will be presented by City and County staff to Boards and Commissions. It will also be posted online through Public Input to seek broad community feedback. l. Around mid-April, the public feedback will be incorporated by the CAC. m. In mid-Summer, the goal is to present the plan in its entirety to the City Council and County Commissioners. n. It is recommended that elected officials also be included in the presentations to allow time for their engagement and familiarity. o. Karen Magid is leaving Austin and a new CAC member will be encouraged to step up as the next liaison and recommended for Judge Brown’s appointment in February. As an alternative or addition, the board can invite a CAC member to present updates to the board in place of the liaison’s update. Sari Vatske left the dais at 7:11 pm  DISCUSSION ITEMS 3. Review board members’ meetings with City and County officials. a. Joi Chevalier is scheduled to meet the end of January with Comm. Shea and Comm. Travillion. b. Andrea Abel emailed with Judge Brown because her board term is up in February and also discussed an upcoming meeting, to be scheduled to discuss the Food Plan. Emily Ackland requested inclusion as appropriate. c. Larry Franklin has been talking to Austin Public Health about barriers to nutritional education. d. Natalie Poulos reached out to Comm. Howard’s office for a meeting to provide information based on talking points provided by consultant team on Food Plan and CTFB dashboard. e. Marissa Bell requested to be included as possible to learn about the process by observing others. 4. Board vacancies, appointments, and reappointments. Two vacancies from Comm. Shea and Gomez. One term reappointment is required from Comm. Brown for Andrea Abel’s position in February. 5. Discussion of Commitment for Board Priorities and upcoming budget recommendation cycle a. Amanda previously sent a sign-up sheet to be completed after last meeting for topic areas that people would like to work on for writing recommendations. b. Board member responsibilities include making formal recommendations for City Council, and those recommendations must be developed, agreed upon, and then shared with the whole board to be finalized by the end of March. c. Areas are related to Food in All Departments, Emergency Preparedness, and Charitable Food Permitting. d. Emergency Preparedness i. The next step for the group is to decide if there is a recommendation or series of recommendation that needs to be made in light of the Food Plan timeline and past recommendations and information from HSEM ii. Still waiting on answers for outstanding questions posted to HSEM e. Food in All Departments i. Have read other plans, and do not feel they have all of the information they need to make a formal recommendation. Currently in the gathering information stage, so it doesn’t feel advantageous at this time, especially if it could detract from the Food Plan. 6. Discussion of Joint Sustainability Committee meeting, Larry Franklin a. Still trying to figure out what a Sustainable Purchasing program would look like b. Simone Benz of SFC recommended a Land Trust/Bank which will be discussed at 7. Discussion of Food Planning Working Group, Karen Magid (Community Advisory the next JSC meeting Committee liaison for ATCFPB) a. None 8. Discussion of Emergency Preparedness, Including Resilience Hubs, Joi Chevalier a. A series of questions was sent to HSEM and we still do not have feedback 9. Discussion of Food in All Departments, Kacey Hanson/Andrea Abel a. Meeting scheduled for Feb 1st at 2 pm, which may be flexible if needed b. London plan review notably did not include all departments, just relevant departments i. Discussed possibility of creating an assessment of relevant departments to inform the creation of a more robust recommendation ii. Moving towards a Food in All Policies approach c. Want to review the Baltimore Plan 10. Discussion of other board activities not included in previous updates 11. Review Board Member Assignments (take item out of order and discuss at end of meeting) a. OOS staff and/or Board member will invite CAC member(s) to provide updates at future meetings, possibly on a rotating basis (similar to how it has been done with the Executive Leadership Team). Edwin Marty will take point to coordinate who will take primary responsibility. b. Board members should communicate to find a time to meet with recommendation development groups to plan timeline of recommendation writing to meet budget timeline requirements i. Sign up on the spreadsheet emailed by Amanda Rohlich and coordinate with c. Edwin Marty and Joi Chevalier will meet to discuss next steps to follow up on others in your group HSEM questions d. Joi Chevalier will send an invite for a virtual meeting 4 pm on January 24th for the Emergency Preparedness recommendation meeting e. Andrea Abel and Kacey Hanson want to schedule a meeting with Edwin Marty and Amanda Rohlich to discuss connecting with other departments f. Karen Magid and Marissa Bell will connect on the Food Plan working group FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 12. Discussion and scheduling of future agenda items a. February - Travis County's Land Use and Transportation Plan progress update b. Discuss creation of a Food Plan advocacy plan and how to get the shared speaking points and divide among City and County officials to go in as teams and talk to them. ADJOURNMENT Chair Joi Chevalier adjourned the meeting at 7:59 pm Minutes were approved at the February 12, 2024 full board meeting on Board Member Kacey Hanson’s motion with Board Member Andrea Abel seconding. Minutes passed on a 9-0 vote.