421 N. COUNTY FARM ROAD  
WHEATON, IL 60187  
DU PAGE COUNTY  
Environmental Committee  
Final Summary  
www.dupagecounty.gov  
Tuesday, August 5, 2025  
8:30 AM  
Room 3500A  
1.  
CALL TO ORDER  
8:30 AM meeting was called to order by Chair Sheila Rutledge at 8:30 AM.  
2.  
ROLL CALL  
Additional Board Members: Member Paula Deacon Garcia  
Guest Speaker: Tom Ricker and May Lee Lue  
Staff present: Joy Hinz, Geoffrey Matteson, Myles Barnes, Catherine Figlewski, Tim Harbaugh,  
Joan Olson, Nicholas Alfonso, and Jason Blumenthal.  
Cronin Cahill, Haider, Honig, LaPlante, and Rutledge  
Evans  
PRESENT  
ABSENT  
3.  
4.  
CHAIRWOMAN'S REMARKS - CHAIR RUTLEDGE  
Chair Rutledge addressed the board with a recap of how grateful she is for the work they've  
gotten to accomplish together during her tenure as chair.  
PUBLIC COMMENT  
Kay McKeen - Founder and Executive Director of SCARCE extended thanks to those that  
attended STEM-A-PALOOZA. Kay explained that they had over 20 hands on activities for kids  
and made the committee aware of the fall recycling extravaganza’s that are coming up. Kay also  
shared news that Northwestern Hospitals and their 721 locations were considering starting bread  
tag and key collection programs. Kay closed out her comment with thanks to the committee and  
to Sheila for her tenure as chair of the environmental committee.  
4.A.  
25-1877  
Online Public Comment  
Enviornmental Committee - Public Comment 8-05-25.pdf  
Attachments:  
5.  
APPROVAL OF MINUTES  
APPROVED  
RESULT:  
Cynthia Cronin Cahill  
Saba Haider  
MOVER:  
SECONDER:  
5.A.  
25-1810  
Environmental Committee Minutes - Regular meeting - Tuesday, July 1, 2025  
7-1 Minutes Summary FINAL.pdf  
Attachments:  
6.  
PRESENTATIONS  
6.A.  
25-1812  
EV Readiness and EV Charging Station Map Demonstration  
Ian Johnstone - Energy Analyst for DuPage County Environmental Division highlighted  
that DuPage County is apart of the Greenest Region Compact (GRC) outlined by the  
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus (MMC). The GRC provides a framework, list of strategies  
and objectives for local communities to achieve sustainable goals. Ian describes that it  
was necessary for the County to join the GRC to qualify to participate in the Metropolitan  
Mayors Caucus Electric Vehicle Readiness Program. This program gave the County a list  
of action items to complete to be considered ready for the EV boom happening across the  
country. Ian explains the different checklist items the county along with other  
municipalities had to complete to earn our 2nd Cohort bronze status (2024), and he  
compared those objectives to this year’s checklist for the 3rd Cohort silver status award  
(2025) that was given to the county for completing the outlined objectives and actions  
given by the MMC Program. Ian ends his presentation highlighting that the County was  
granted $10,000 for local public safety and electrification projects through the Powering  
Safe Communities Program Award from the MMC and ComEd. This award allows the  
county to fund Level 2 and Level 3 charger stations on county grounds that will be  
following ComEd’s Make-Ready Rebate requirements.  
Tom Ricker - Manager of GIS Information Technology developed an EV Charging Map  
to present to the board based of data from Illinois Alliance of Clean Cities. Tom  
explained how to navigate the tool and the parameters they used to show an accurate map  
of charging stations throughout DuPage County and its neighboring cities. Tom explains  
the Geo Processing section of the map that highlighted the gaps in service stations in  
DuPage County and the drive time it takes to get to them. Tom explained the geo  
processing of EV ownership through census data that helped locate placement for any  
new stations in the county for commercial/industrial purposes. Committee Chair Sheila,  
Member Paula Deacon Garcia, and Vice Chair Saba Haider had questions following this  
presentation.  
EV Readiness_Environmental_08-05-2025.pdf  
Attachments:  
7.  
STAFF REPORTS  
7.A.  
25-1811  
Green Energy Justice Cooperative & GrowGeo Chicagoland  
Joy Hinz - Environment & Sustainability Manager for DuPage County Environmental  
Division highlighted two opportunities for the County to partner with the Geothermal  
Alliance of Illinois’ GrowGeo educational campaign and Green Energy Justice’s  
Community Solar Cooperative. Mary Lee Leu - Project Manager of Accelerate Climate  
Solutions explains in depth to the board the initiative of their non-profit in partnering  
with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) to make residents of the County aware of an  
opportunity to invest in renewable energy. Member Cahill had a follow up question to  
this presentation.  
Green Energy Justice Memo.pdf  
Attachments:  
RESULT:  
ACCEPTED AND PLACED ON FILE  
9.  
OLD BUSINESS  
Environmental Committee Chair Sheila Rutledge shared how proud she is of the work she got to  
do during her tenure and thanks the staff that made it all possible.  
10.  
11.  
NEW BUSINESS  
Vice Chair Saba Haider, Member Cahill, and Member Honig thanked Chair Rutledge for her  
service and they recapped all the great work they have done together.  
ADJOURNMENT  
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 AM.