Bee City USA

Bee City USA January 11, 2023 Via Teleconferencing through Zoom 7:00pm Term Exp. Members Present Absent Staff Brenda Alexander X 6/30/2024 Gail Brown X 6/30/2023 Maria Ulloa-Bustos X 6/30/2022 Anahi Espindola X 6/30/2022 Ariela Haber X 6/30/2024 Alan Hew, Chair X 6/30/2024 Marc Pound X 6/30/2023 Jim Sauer X Also present: Terra Virsilas, resident of College Park; Sheryl DeWalt, contract secretary The Bee City Committee meeting was called to order by Alan Hew, Chair, at 7:02pm. 1. Mr. Hew stated that Ms. Virsilas has applied to join the Bee City USA Committee. Introductions were made by Ms. Virsilas and committee members. 2. The agenda was reviewed, and two items were added for review. Ms. Espindola made a motion to accept. Ms. Haber seconded. Motion caries for approval 6-0-0. 3. The December 14, 2022, minutes were reviewed. Mr. Pound motioned to accept the minutes with the amended changes. Ms. Brown seconded. Motion carries for approval 6-0-0. 4. City activities: a. The 2022 Annual Report and 2023 Work Plan were submitted to Mayor and City Council for review at the January 17, 2023 work session. b. Latoya Moore has a new position supporting Kenny Young, City Manager. Elyse Daniels is the new assistant in the City Clerk’s office. 5. Native Plant Nurseries list. Ms. Ulloa-Bustos received the list from the Maryland Native Plant website. The current list on the College Park website will be updated with information such as: hours of operation, closed for winter, how to order online, and verbiage will be added to indicate why these particular nurseries were suggested for College Park. Ms. Ulloa-Bustos is also looking for the address for Millie Farms in Laurel. Ms. DeWalt volunteered to obtain the address as she lives in Laurel. 6. iNaturalist photo contest for Now Mow April. Ms. Espindola emailed verbiage and instructions for the contest explaining about iNaturalist and how to submit photos: a. iNaturalist is a free global social network that allows people to submit, find, and explore biodiversity observations from around the world. Through this network, every time a person observes an organism anywhere in the world, they can take a picture of it, upload it to the server, and then have the network help them identify what it is (using image recognition software), its location, its date, and the input of other members. This information is then stored in a public database, which can be explored easily to learn  about where species are, understand the biodiversity present in regions of the world, or just become more knowledgeable about and connected to the natural world that surrounds us. b. Bee City would be looking for observations of any organism seen interacting with flowers (for example, a bee, butterfly, hoverfly, hummingbird, etc. seen visiting flowers). c. The simplest way to do this is using the free INaturalist app on your phone (although you can also upload pictures from a computer). A tutorial can be found at https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials. d. All observations would be submitted from April 1 – April 30. Residents can submit as many photos as they would like. The more photos submitted, the more chance to win a prize. e. Suggested prizes: Bee Hotel, picture in the “Here and Now” and the City’s website, $10 gift certificate to a local native plant nursery. f. The committee would have to create a “project” on iNaturalist and ensure that residents are aware of where to post the photos. 7. Municipal Scene article for February issue- What is a Bee Hotel- Ms. DeWalt volunteered to draft and the committee will help finalize. Mr. Hew will share pictures of the bee hotels at the February meeting. 8. Bee Hotels. As discussed at the December 2022 meeting, City Council has agreed to fund five bee hotels. Ms. Alexander is trying to find out if the hotels are just for North College Park or for the city in general. Since there are several types of bee hotels, Ms. Alexander will send an email to the committee to obtain a consensus on which hotels to order. 9. The request for FY 2024 budget is $2500. The $300 grant reimbursement for Good Neighbor Day plant purchases was received. Requested funding will be used towards: June’s pollinator week activity, Maryland Day, College Park Day, signage for bee hotels or plantings, potential multi-city Bee City festival. 10. The next meeting is scheduled for February 8, 2023, at 7:00pm. Ms. Espindola made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Ulloa-Bustos seconded. Motion carries 6-0-0. The meeting adjourned at 9:05pm. Respectfully submitted by Sheryl DeWalt, contract secretary.