Food Policy Council (FPC) Meeting on Mon, January 23, 2017 - 6:30 PM

1. Administrative Items
   1. Determine quorum of members, agenda approval
   2. Approval of October meeting minutes
   3. 2017 membership changes
      1. Youth representative spot open
   4. 2017 meeting locations (accepting suggestions)
   5. 2016 Annual Report
      1. February 1, Douglas County Commission Chamber (1100 Massachusetts St.)
   6. 2017 budget overview and approvals

1. Douglas County Food System Plan Review
   1. Overview
   2. Public comment process and next steps
   3. Discussion

1. Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department request for DCFPC letter to City Manager concerning City of Lawrence healthy foods policy.

1. Urban agriculture public communications plan, Spring 2017

1. Subcommittee Reports
   1. City (Aundrea Shafer)
      1. Common Ground application process
   2. County (Jen Humphrey)
      1. County farmers market project updates and next steps
   3. Community (Kim Criner)
      1. CSA Toolkit revision update
      2. Directory (Helen Schnoes)

1. FPC Member Updates
   1. Help needed—Common Ground booth at Kaw Valley Seed Fair. February 11.
      1. 9:00am-11:00am & 1:00pm-3:00pm

1. Adjourn – 9:00pm   

In attendance: Marlin Bates, TK Peterson, Pattie Johnston, Aundrea Shafer, Michael Showalter (pending), Inti Hurt (pending), Ashley Jones-Wisner, Josh Falleaf, Kim Criner, Christine Ebert, Michael Steinle, Jennifer Kongs, Jill Elmers, Elizabeth Burger

Absent: Jen Humphrey, William Vesecky, John Pendleton, Scott Thellman, Larry McElwain, Brent Smith, Jan Hornberger

Staff: Helen Schnoes, Eileen Horn

Public: Erick Ogwangi, Melissa Freiburger, Betty Pickerel, Carol Gilmore, Connie Fitzpatrick, Emily Hampton, Cyara Le, Robin St. James

1. Administrative Items
   1. Determine quorum of members, agenda approval (Kongs, Steinle—all approved)
   2. Approval of October meeting minutes (Steinle, Hurt—all approved)
   3. 2017 membership changes—need to identify replacements for the following FPC roles
      1. Youth representative
      2. 3rd District
   4. 2017 meeting locations (still accepting suggestions—we want to get to a mix of places, including different towns and unincorporated Douglas County)
      1. Ideas: Sunrise Project Center (summer/fall); Merchants Pub + Plate; KU Dining; Eileen & STAR; Haskell; After the Harvest/Just Food; grocery stores; Aunt Netter’s
   5. 2016 Annual Report
      1. February 1, Douglas County Commission Chamber (4pm 1100 Massachusetts St.)
      2. FPC members encouraged to come help represent our work
   6. 2017 budget overview and approvals; see end of document (Elmers, Steinle—all approved)
      1. It was clarified that the Douglas Co. budgets automatically reset at the end of the calendar year—we can’t roll over funds.
      2. A number of budgetary items approved last year could not be paid because County policy requires payment only after the work has been completed.
      3. Eileen reminded the group that a number of grant opportunities exist for larger-scale projects that may need extra funds. The uses for graphic design, public communications, and community gatherings are exactly what this budget fund is intended to provide financial support for. Helen also noted that many of these “holdover” projects and early expenditures represent key FPC initiatives over recent years and will be used for years going forward.

1. Douglas County Food System Plan Review
   1. Overview
      1. The first draft of the county Food System Plan was released this week. This is a project initiated by the Steering Committee overseeing the update of the comprehensive plan (H2020) that will guide food system development for 10 years. The FPC can think of it as a framework to build their work plans in coming years.
      2. Staff presented overview slides of process and next steps. Some edits made to wording of the “working goals” was presented. In particular, the idea to align Goals 3 & 4 with the definition of “food access” as relating to physical (built environment), affordability, and cultural-appropriateness. The goals were also re-ordered to put economic development first, then have the next four goals follow a simplified food system, from production, to access/consumption, to waste/reuse.
      3. Guidance to FPC when reviewing:
         1. Identify missed opportunities in proposed policies or community issues that remain unaddressed
         2. Suggest changes to currently drafted policies
            1. Policy approach (including additional research)
            2. Policy strength
            3. Issue framing and language
         3. Identify key indicators and future research opportunities
         4. Draft implementation plan and select high priority area
         5. Help build community buy-in and support for adoption
   2. Public comment process and next steps
      1. Stakeholders, public, and FPC members are asked to review and comment by February 21 in writing. Public comments will be accepted at the February 27 FPC meeting.
      2. The goal of the February 27 meeting will be to come to consensus about directions to staff as to revisions. Helen will then present edits in advance of the March 20 meeting. The goal of the March 20 meeting will be to hopefully agree to send the plan on for adoption, perhaps noting a few final edits.
      3. Additional review during this time will include:
         1. Presentation to Planning Commission March 8 @ 7:30am
         2.  Work Session with City Commission March 14 or April 11
         3. Public Health Law Center likely to provide technical review
   3. Discussion
      1. Use of “access” in Goal 4 could be considered in rewording
      2. Group agreed to use the February subcommittee meetings to discuss plan
         1. Members can send to Helen in advance or bring to the meeting to discuss
      3. Members were encouraged to give lots of comment
      4. It was brought up that the plan uses the word “healthy”: Do we want our community members and our decision makers who see this, to reading with their definition? Or do we want to put our definition of “local, healthy”? What do we mean by “healthy”?
         1. Perhaps there will be a general understanding?
         2. It was discussed if the group should or should not just keep with the FDA definition
         3. Helen shared a desire to not define “local” but left the final decision on both “local” and “healthy” to the FPC membership to decide in coming months.
      5. In reviewing, FPC members claim a part of review, instead of looking at the whole thing—language, framing, layout, etc. Follow up with Helen if you have a preference.  

1. Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department request for DCFPC letter to City Manager concerning City of Lawrence healthy foods policy.
   1. Marlin provided overview of letter brought to DCFPC from Chris Tilden, Director of Community Health at Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. Momentum has stalled in implementing a healthy food policy. The grant that helped spur this work is ending soon and Chris hoped the DCFPC encouragement could help get this policy back on the radar.
   2. Group identified need to find an appropriate fact about the dollars and cents behind the productivity of investing in health—carries some punch.
   3. Motion to approve (Falleaf, Steinle—all approved)

1. Urban agriculture public communications plan, Spring 2017
   1. Helen presented near-final graphic design work to help community understand City of Lawrence urban ag policies. These will be given away at key organizations and events in the spring as folks get ready to garden.
      1. Ideas about locations and events are welcome!
   2. Move to approve funding for 1000 copies (Burger, Kongs—all approved)

1. Subcommittee Reports
   1. City (Aundrea Shafer)
      1. Common Ground, City of Lawrence community garden program, will have its application process revamped this year. Subcommittee helped to make a drop-down on the City of Lawrence website. Facebook promotion, other City communications, and collaboration with the library will be key parts of outreach.
   2. County (Marlin Bates)
      1. County farmers market project funded by USDA beginning to come to a close. Anthony Flaccavento, lead consultant on the project, came in last week and met with the farmers’ market leaders from around the county. He met with a larger group of vendors in the evening, and we started working through ideas of how the recommendations “landed” and what the next steps could be together. There is interest in finding opportunities within the broader farmers’ market community, as well as specific market actions. There is $6000 in the grant for TA to assist with implementation. Recommendation 1 is about bringing together leaders and market supporters to shepherd the project forward. FPC is “handing off” the project direction. Group that met on Wednesday January 18 was very excited. Small percentage of community participates in farmers’ market shopping, but what could it look like to double from 2% to 4% of the population, and what it could mean for farmer livelihood?  
      2. Good coverage in the Journal World on Sunday: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2017/jan/22/growth-potential-great-douglas-county-farmers-mark/  
   3. Community (Kim Criner)
      1. CSA Toolkit revision update
         1. This is a document created several years back by the Health Department to help worksites being serving as a CSA host site for employees. KU student did independent study last fall to make content updates. Some minor edits remain and Kim will clean it up. Will be released over summer, to help new worksites begin planning for 2018 CSA season.
      2. Directory (Helen Schnoes)
         1. An update to the 2015 pilot local food directory will be released in the coming weeks. This directory will include several dozen farmers, 7 grocery stores, 9 restaurants, the 3 main public schools in Douglas County, and the Eudora Culinary Arts program.
         2. Helen will work with TK and Rick Martin to launch directory to larger restaurant community to use in the coming year.

1. FPC Member Updates
   1. Help needed—Common Ground booth at Kaw Valley Seed Fair. February 11.
      1. 9:00am-11:00am & 1:00pm-3:00pm
      2. Jill Elmers agreed to help at one. Additional volunteer still needed.
   2. Pattie: Lawrence Public Library is getting their seed catalogue handout again. This THURSDAY you can come to Meeting Room A from 3pm to 8pm to put seeds into packets. It’s fun! Aundrea is bringing food to share.
   3. Outreach starting Monday, February 20. It is a good event to target with the urban ag materials.  
   4. Marlin reminded the group that in February, we are not scheduled for the 3rd Monday because it’s a federal holiday. We will meet on February 27th.

1. Public Comment

1. Adjourn – 9:00pm    (Steinle, Falleaf—all approved)