Benjamin Martin was elected chair and Baxter Swilly vice chair of the City of Evanston’s Healthy Buildings Accountability Board during the panel’s meeting, which also centered on how the city should identify and support “equity prioritized buildings” under the city’s Healthy Buildings Ordinance.

City sustainability staff presented an overview of equity‑prioritized buildings and options to reduce harms to vulnerable renters and nonprofits required to meet the ordinance’s building performance standards. Gabriela Martin, the city’s new sustainability and resilience manager for building programs, warned of possible unintended outcomes: “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the word renovictions where perhaps, due to renovations … an owner may say, ‘I’m actually going to sell this building’ and the next owner may decide to evict all the tenants.” Martin presented examples from other cities — flexible timelines, free energy audits and targeted grant programs — that the board could consider adopting or adapting for Evanston.

Board members pressed staff for operational detail and data. One board member said that “almost 50% of renters in Evanston are cost‑burdened,” and several members urged that protecting affordability be an explicit goal of the board’s work. Members discussed three candidate approaches to define equity priority status: geography (neighborhoods or census tracts), building function (affordable housing, nonprofits, community facilities) and ownership (nonprofit versus private owners). Staff said the city maintains benchmarking spreadsheets and a public Beam portal with 2023 data and is working to post 2024 reports; staff agreed to collaborate with community development colleagues to flag which covered properties are subsidized or otherwise affordable.

On implementation mechanics, staff clarified that the ordinance’s 100% renewable‑electricity criterion is a procurement standard rather than a requirement for on‑site generation: the city and several local institutions procure renewable electricity via third‑party contracts and renewable energy credits, staff said. Board members proposed a tiered compliance timeline — for example interim steps in 2030 and 2035 on the path to final 2050 targets — and discussed alternative compliance pathways that could provide extra time or adjusted targets for buildings that serve vulnerable populations.

Members identified specific next steps. Staff will post the meeting slides on the board’s webpage, and the board asked members to email staff written goals and criteria for equity‑prioritized buildings by Dec. 31 so staff can compile them ahead of the board’s Jan. 9 meeting. The technical committee will continue developing interim energy‑use intensity standards and report back; the board agreed to receive regular, brief technical‑committee updates.

The meeting concluded after the board voted to approve the prior meeting’s minutes and adjourned. No formal numeric vote tallies were recorded in the transcript; motions to elect leadership and to adjourn were moved, seconded and approved as noted in the minutes. The board will reconvene with the materials and member‑submitted goals on the agenda.