Committee for a Better Environment

Approved: 07/27/15 M&C Committee for a Better Environment Nagro Davis Hall, College Park Gardiner June 22, 2015 7:00 PM Members Present Absent Phil Aronson X (arrived at 8:00pm) Suchitra Balachandran X Matt Dernoga X Gemma Evans X Karen Garvin X Susan Keller X Janis Oppelt X Kennis Termini X Donna Weene X Guests Present: Councilman Fazlul Kabir, Steve Beavers, City Liaison; Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary The meeting was called to order at 7:10pm by Ms. Oppelt. 1. Review and approval 5/11/15 meeting minutes Ms. Oppelt made a motion to approve the draft minutes from the May 11, 2015 meeting with the one correction stated. Mr. Dernoga seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. 2. Budget The current budget shows a balance of $2612. Monies requested include $1450 to the Tree & Landscape Board for 50 tree bags and two doggie waste stations. Ms. Oppelt made a motion to approve the $1450 allocation to the Tree & Landscape Board for their request. Ms. Termini seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. Reminder that the new fiscal year starts on July 1, 2015. 3. Ongoing Business a. Bike to Work Day. Was a success. There were over 100 people. There were many raffle prizes and drawings.  b. Green Awards. The sub-committee has not yet met, but Ms. Oppelt will schedule a meeting shortly to discuss. c. Permaculture. We need 3-4 volunteers to weed this area. Mr. Beavers stated that he will call Lincoln and see what dates he might have available to assist during the week. d. Community Garden. There are currently 16 garden plots. The current owners have already established a plant exchange program. Approximately $8,000 has been spent on the garden. There are more plots available if people are interested. All plots should be cleaned by mid December. The next step is to find a permanent water supply. 4. New Business a. Welcome two new members: Susan Keller and Karen Garvin. Mr. Aronson announced he has resigned from the CBE committee. b. Councilmember Kabir presented the idea of placing a bench at 53rd Avenue and 52nd place. Mr. Beavers stated that he researched the various bench options. After discussion, Ms. Evans made a motion to buy the bench not to exceed $2500. Ms. Weene seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. c. Discussion on energizing and cleaning up areas in College Park to make them more clean and green. It was stated that we cannot do anything with private properties; Code Enforcement should be notified for private properties who are not maintaining standards. One area mentioned is the Dry cleaners which is having a cleanup on July 12 that includes planting perennials, retaining wall, clean up the area … Mr. Dernoga made a motion that CBE should be a sponsor for the July 12 event. Ms. Weene seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. d. Discussed updating the CBE brochure to be included in the Resident Information packet. Possible brochure items: membership, permaculture plantings, committee events, rain barrels, canning, doggie depot, benches, movie nights, birding, etc. Ms. DeWalt stated that she will be happy to type up the brochure once all information is received. e. Ms. Garvin stated that there seems to be an abundance of unhealthy noise levels. College Park does have a noise ordinance and it is 65 decibels during the daytime and 55 decibels during the nighttime. Code Enforcement should be notified for any noise issues/concerns. After discussion with the committee, Ms. Garvin stated she would do some research and find out about neighboring communities “quiet lawn” initiatives. f. CBE is looking for a storage area of historical items. Ms. Oppelt will check with Davis Hall for an area. g. Discussed table at College Park Day for the CBE. Ms. Oppelt made a motion to not have a separate CBE table. Ms. Termini seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. h. Tabled discussion on a Facebook page/social media page for the July meeting. i. The Girl Scouts want to do some planting around the pool in College Park woods in the fall. CBE will be glad to assist with the purchasing of plants and this will be brought up at a later meeting. 5. Next meeting date The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Monday, July 27, 2015 at 7:00pm. The August 2015 meeting has been cancelled with a motion made by Ms. Weene and seconded by Ms. Termini. All in favor; no opposed to cancelling the August meeting. A motion was made by Ms. Weene to adjourn the meeting and seconded by Ms. Oppelt. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm. Minutes recorded and submitted by Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary