Committee for a Better Environment

Approved: 11/23/15 M&C Somers Gardiner Committee for a Better Environment Davis Hall, College Park October 19, 2015 7:00 PM Members Present Absent Suchitra Balachandran X Matt Dernoga X Karen Garvin X Susan Keller X Janis Oppelt X Kennis Termini X Donna Weene X Guests Present: Steve Beavers, City Liaison; Adam Killian, UMD student; Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm by Ms. Oppelt. 1. Review and approval 9/28/15 meeting minutes Ms. Oppelt made a motion to approve the draft minutes from the September 28, 2015 meeting with the corrections stated. Ms. Weene seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. 2. Comprehensive Revise of Council Advisory Boards With the information handed out, there was a revision suggested to Attachment 2: Chapter 15, Boards, Commissions and Committees, 15-34. Powers and duties. The motion was made by Ms. Termini to change beautification to sustainability. Ms. Oppelt seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. As a side note, Mike from Sustainable Maryland will be attending the November 23 CBE meeting. 3. Budget There were no budget changes to report at this meeting. Mr. Beavers announced that the finance department appreciates everyone using the reimbursement form for expenditures. 4. Ongoing Business a. Green Awards. The Green Awards will be revamped; considering changing the award name to Sustainable College Park Awards. The sustainability issues will be reviewed. There will be a plan done by January 25 and then advertising will be done for them. There will be a list generated of places as well as websites for the Green Awards to be advertised. Mr. Beavers indicated that he will put the CBE on the Council agenda that is closest to Earth Day. The awards will be given out on Earth Day and will be re-announced at College Park Day. b. The movie “Tapped” is scheduled for showing on December 5 at City Hall Council Chambers at 4:00pm. This is about the bottled water industry. This is being co-sponsored by the Prince Georges County Sierra Club. A motion was made by Ms. Weene to spend a maximum of $125 to do a raffle drawing with prizes (e.g., Britta pitchers, glass or metal water bottles) at the movie. Mr. Dernoga seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. c. Ms. Oppelt did purchase the film “Inhabit.” This is about permaculture. It will be shown on January 9. Mr. Killian volunteered to put up flyers about the movie when a final date has been decided. d. Mr. Ben Fischler has agreed to do a composting seminar at the Old Parish House in the spring. 4. New Business a. Pesticides/Herbicides regulation from Montgomery County was shared with the committee. There was a question of how to go about starting the process on educating about pesticides. Ms. Balachandran has information that she will email to the committee. b. Ms. Balachandran discussed the Prince Georges Parks and Planning regulation of replacing playgrounds with rubberized materials that meet ADA compliance. The sanitizing solution of the artificial turf is toxic. She is waiting to receive the MDS on the materials. Apparently there is evidence that the materials can cause cancer in children. There should be lobbying of the EPA to not use this rubberized material on playgrounds. c. Zero Waste Strategic Plan . There is a $100,000 in the Prince Georges County budget being used for SCS Engineering to come up with a four season waste sort program for the County. They are looking for a group of 6-7 people to talk to the engineering firm about Zero Waste as SCS is not an expert in this area. They would like to get this meeting done by the end of December. Ms. Balachandran has a chart showing where all the waste is coming from in the County and she will share with the committee members via email. d. There is a multi-city compost at the nine acre UDC farm. University Park is actively pushing to start a jointly shared composting area. e. An inquiry was made about purchasing two 250 gallon rain barrels for Cherry Hill. Officially they are not part of College Park and CBE cannot spend money for them. 5. Next meeting date  The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Monday, November 23, 2015 at 7:00pm. A motion was made by Ms. Weene to adjourn the meeting and seconded by Ms. Termini. The meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm. Minutes recorded and submitted by Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary