Environmental Advisory Committee

The City of Cortland Environmental Advisory Committee March 6, 2023 Wastewater Treatment Facility The committee convened at 7:04 PM Monday 6 March 2023 at the Wastewater Treatment Facility. In attendance were members John Busch, Steve Broyles, Jeremy Jimenez, Diane Chu and Donald Chu. Also attending were city government liaison Bruce Adams and Virgil resident Bonnie Quackenbush. 1. Approval of the Minutes Chairman Busch called the meeting to order. Steve moved to accept the January meeting minutes and Diane seconded the motion. 2. Reports Water Works Usage Steve had contacted Amanda Barber with the Cortland Soil and Water Conservation District (CSWCD) and she asked to be included when the committee discusses new uses for the woods behind the Water Works. He suggested crafting a mission statement. Bruce offered to check with Water Department chief operator Matthew Wethje to see if there already is one. Ideas for opening the area to the public had been scaled because structures would have to be built to protect the wellheads. John will invite Amanda and Matthew to the March repurposing discussion. Tompkins County Recycling Tour Annika found that committee members were available to tour the Tompkins County Recycling and Solid Waste Center Monday March 20th. Friday March 24th is another possible date. Steve is only available after 1:30 PM. Diane will request a tour or presentation for 2 PM March 20th. Glass Recycling Diane had not found out about glass recycling purity standards and prices since the committee had not yet visited the Tompkins County. Cortland Electrical Infrastructure Donald was unable to show his slides due to not having PowerPoint on his laptop. He will try again at the April meeting. 7/23/23 EAC minutes 20230306 1 CNY RPDB Availability Bruce had contacted the Central NY Regional Planning and Development Board, but they did not respond with their availability to present to the committee about Cortland electrical grid capacity. 3. Unfinished Business Action Items 1. Steve contacted the CSWCD about Water Works usage. 2. Steve found that there was no need for tree recommendations. 3. Steve will ask if there is a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the college and city for using the Water Works grounds. 4. Annika conducted the Doodle Poll for a Tompkins Recycling Center tour. 5. Donald prepared slides on Cortland City electrical infrastructure. 6. Bruce invited CNY RPDB to present to the committee about Cortland electric capacity. Municipal Trees Steve spoke with Mike Dexter of the city’s Landscape & Design Committee and found that they did not need tree recommendations. FOG recommendations memo The committee did not go over the FOG memo that Annika Huber had drafted. Had Donald been better prepared, it could have been discussed using the conference room projector. He will make sure he has the appropriate applications on his laptop for the April meeting. Vermicomposting recommendations memo Bruce reported that the Common Council has authorized the mayor to negotiate an agreement with the county to build and operate vermicomposting trenches at the county landfill. A committee memo endorsing the project is still welcome but not needed. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is satisfied with the progress and will not cut off funding. The opening date is uncertain, however, and operations seem unlikely to start this year. The committee might wish to weigh in on this as there is no municipal site for food waste composting. Project engineer Ram Shrivastava (president & CEO, Larsen Engineers) and county landfill manager Jim Akin are both supportive of having the trenches and the landfill. Jeremy offered to check if the college had started composting food waste again. It had been using Cayuga Compost and P&S Excavating, LLC. 4. New Business Reuse Center John reported that the Reuse Center is thriving. One storage garage had been converted to a workshop, and they were looking for storage space at a second site for donated construction materials. The Reuse Center also has a food pantry. 7/23/23 EAC minutes 20230306 2 John also reported that the Reuse Center planned to glean useful articles from what college students discard at the end of the school year. He also explained that the center was a non-profit run mostly by volunteers with two paid employees. Getting to Zero Waste Donald had shared a memo on how the city might start on the road to Zero Waste, i.e. not sending anything to the landfill. The plan would start by collecting small amounts of clean sorted recyclables at the county’s Pendleton Street recycling center. Markets for those recyclables would be sought, and if successful, the types of recyclables collected and the number of collection sites would be expanded. Bruce suggested checking first with Mayor Steve and then with county recycling director Chris Spadolini. Environmental Grants Donald asked if there was committee interest in applying for environmental grants and noted that there seemed to be plenty of money for food scrap composting. https://grantsgateway.ny.gov/IntelliGrants_NYSGG/module/nysgg/goportal.aspx?NavItem1=3 Bruce said that the committee would not be the one to submit a grant but that it could recommend grants to the mayor and common council. No Mow May Publicity Diane was concerned that more people had not yet signed up for No Mow May (NMM). It has been posted on the city website, but that may not be enough. Jeremy reported that 10 people had signed up so far. He offered to post it on the Neighborly social media site. Steve said he’d spoken to the head of facilities at the college and that he was willing not to mow some parts of campus. Steve also got some money to make NMM signs to post in the unmowed areas and planned to contact Szilvia Kadas about a design. South Franklin Street Yard Waste Facility John suggested that the committee recommend investment in the South Franklin Street Yard Waste Facility. Bruce noted that it had been improved with netting to catch things thrown by the tub grinder but that the perennial problem was to keep the yard waste clean. People dump plastics, construction materials and other things there. Homer had the same problem until it hired a retiree to watch what was discarded. Bruce suggested contacting Department of Public Works Superintendent Nic Dovi for suggestions the committee could endorse. Steve made a motion to adjourn which was seconded by Jeremy. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM. The next meeting will be April 3rd. Action Items 1. Jeremy to post No Mow May on Neighborly social media site. 2. Jeremy to check with SUNY dining about their current food waste composting. 3. Steve to check on city-college MOU for Water Works. 7/23/23 EAC minutes 20230306 3 4. Bruce to ask Matthew Wethje about Water Works mission statement. 5. John to invite Amanda Barber and Matthew Wethje to Water Works discussion. 6. Diane to set up tour/presentation at Tompkins County Recycling Center. 7. Diane to find out about glass recycling standards and prices. 8. Donald to contact Nic Dovi for South Franklin Street suggestions. 9. Donald to contact Mayor Steve and Chris Spadolini about additional recycling collection. Proposed Agenda – 3 April 2023 1. Approve Minutes 2. Reports a. Water Works Mission Statement b. Glass sorting requirements and prices (Diane) c. Zero Waste – inputs from Mayor Steve and Chris Spadolini (Donald) 3. Unfinished Business a. FOG recommendations memo (Annika) b. Vermicomposting recommendations memo (Donald) c. Action items from March meeting 4. New Business a. South Franklin Street recommendation memo - Inputs from Nic Dovi (Donald) b. Electrical infrastructure overview (Donald) c. Other topics of interest 5. Review New Action Items 7/23/23 EAC minutes 20230306 4