Committee for a Better Environment

Committee for a Better Environment Davis Hall, College Park February 22, 2016 7:00 PM Members Present Absent Suchitra Balachandran X Matt Dernoga X Karen Garvin X Alan Hew X Susan Keller X Matt Killian X Janis Oppelt X Kennis Termini X Donna Weene X Guests Present: Steve Beavers, City Liaison; Melissa Avery; Matt Killian, UMD; Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm by Ms. Oppelt. Introduction of guest: Melissa Avery – new College Park resident. She is interested in becoming a member of CBE. 1. Review and approval 01/04/16 meeting minutes Ms. Garvin made a motion to approve the draft minutes from the January 4, 2016 meeting. Ms. Oppelt seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. 2. Budget FY 2016 Mr. Beavers stated that there is $9600 in the CBE budget which needs to be used by June 30, 2016. Discussion took place on ideas and necessities for spending the monies including Councilmember Brennan’s anti-litter campaign. Ms. Oppelt made a motion to spend $3600 on two trash cans as requested by Councilmember Brennan’s anti-litter campaign and $1500 on signage for the permaculture garden. Ms. Weene seconded the motion. All in favor; no opposed. 4. Permaculture Garden A permaculture subcommittee has been created consisting of Alan Hew and Matt Killian. Ms. Balachandran stated that she has a group of students that are looking for volunteer work and would recommend them to work on the permaculture garden. It was suggested to have a tour of the Permaculture Garden for College Park Day. 5. New Business a. The University of Maryland is renovating their visitor’s center. b. Discussed the SMART program which is a zero waste program and educating the College Park population including the University of Maryland students. Ms. Balanchandran made a motion for CBE to recommend the SMART program to City Council. Mr. Dernoga seconded the motion. Ms. Weene abstained from voting; all other members voted aye and the motion carries. c. Councilmember Brennan is requesting monies towards a slogan contest for his Anti- Litter campaign. Ms. Oppelt and Mr. Beavers were on a conference call with Tia, the “Trash Guru” with Prince George’s County and they were discussing different ways of having people, including the University of Maryland, get involved on reducing litter throughout College Park. Mr. Dernoga made a motion to give $400 from CBE’s FY 2016 monies for the slogan contest. Ms. Weene seconded the motion. Ms. Balachandran abstained from voting; all other members voted aye and the motion carries. d. Janet MacClausin will be replacing Loree O’Hagan as the Sustainability Coordinator. 6. Ongoing Business a. Fences. Ms. Balachandran attended the last APC meeting where the letter CBE drafted was reviewed. She is concerned that APC is concentrating more on gardens than on fencing. APC meets the first Thursday of each month and the next meeting is March 3. Several CBE members indicated they may attend the March APC meeting. b. Rubberized playground flooring. Ms. Balachandran discovered that instead of rubberized flooring for the playgrounds, engineered mulch/wood can be used. The decision was made to use the engineering mulch/wood for the College Park Woods playground. c. The composting seminar will be scheduled on a Saturday in May at 10:00am. d. Mr. Beavers will schedule a date for CBE to make a presentation to City Council on the Green Awards. 7. Next meeting date The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Monday, March 28, 2016 at 7:00pm. A motion was made by Ms. Weene to adjourn the meeting and seconded by Ms. Oppelt. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm. Minutes recorded and submitted by Sheryl DeWalt, Contract Secretary