Clean City Commission

FULL COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Hampton Clean City Commission February 12, 2019 ~ 3:30pm Board Members Present: Barb Abraham; Ryan Adams; Jackie Cannan; Wendy Iles; Will Kotheimer; Gayle Mooney, Jamie Osso Also Present: Linda Curtis; Dave McCauley; Kay Trotter; Leslie Crandol; George Curran; Jim Williams; Cris Ausink; Debbie Blanton; C’Faison Harris Opening Business Welcome and Time Sheet: Will Kotheimer opened the meeting. Greg Enterline and Stephany Holguin of Waste Management were introduced. Waste Management presented Clean City with a $2500 Think Green Grant representational check. A presentation photograph was taken with board members, council liaison, and department heads. Guests Chris Bowman and Leslie Crandol were also introduced. Roll Call & Protocol: Roll call was conducted and Will announced that a quorum was present. Approval of January Minutes: Minutes from the January meeting were approved. Motion to accept minutes as written offered by Wendy Iles and seconded by Barb Abraham City Council: Linda Curtis noted that Council will approve the Think Green Grant award at the February 13 session. City Attorney’s Office: No report 1 Parks, Recreation & Leisure Services: Dave McCauley, the new director of Parks, Recreation & Leisure services, was introduced and provided a synopsis of his experience and expertise. He also asked that Clean City synchronize its litter awareness and environmental educational efforts with the Parks Team through the Adopt-A-Spot program for contractors. He noted that the city’s major gateways are in dire need of maintenance and that maintenance should be on a continuous basis. Will asked the location of the gateways and Dave responded with Magruder, LaSalle, King, and Hampton Roads Center Parkway. Debbie stated that she would send Will additional gateway listings. Will also asked Debbie to share the results of the annual litter indices with Dave. Jackie Cannan asked that greater emphasis be placed on contractors being required to first pick up large pieces of trash and debris prior to mowing. Jamie Osso offered that in previous years, particularly at Ft. Monroe, city crews collected trash bags, but did not pick up any litter that surrounded the containers. Dave stated he is trying to create a culture of job ownership rather than just “renting” a position. Jim Williams added that in prior years there were four parks managers who had crews responsible for sectors of the city, but that now it seems that although the workload has increased, the staff has decreased. Ideas and Projects from January Minutes Will announced that this topic will be left on the agenda, but any ideas and projects will be addressed during the regular meeting. New Business CivicRec Online Donation Process: Debbie announced that the online donation process has begun and thanked C’Faison Harris for her assistance. C’Faison added that the procedures were done with the excellent assistance of Parks, Recreation & Leisure and Finance staff members, Iris Spruill, Shalanda Wilson, and Veronica Kmetz. Kay Trotter added that guidelines for stewardship must be in place along with a procedure for proper acknowledgements Discussion Items Volunteer Collaboration with Neighborhood & Unity Commissions: both departments asked Debbie about the possibility of combining volunteer individual recognition programs into one large event. Jamie noted that doing so would increase the number of guests, the number of honorees, the number of types of awards, and a larger expense for venue and catering. Ryan Adams suggested that rather than combining the events that Clean City should first collaborate with the agencies on smaller events such as community cleanups, community blitzes, the educational movie screenings, etc. Jim added that the city already does a general volunteer recognition for all city volunteers but that he believes Clean City’s event to be more personal and intimate because of the common The Hampton Clean City Commission works to improve and enhance the physical environment of Hampton through beautification, solid waste management education, coastal awareness activities, and litter abatement programs; educates citizens; and encourages their participation. As an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc., we share the philosophy that each of us has a responsibility for enhancing our community environment. 20190212 case. Chris Bowman mentioned the possibility of planning a 2-hour event with the agencies that could take place at a venue similar to the American Theatre. Ryan then made a motion to table the volunteer event, but to collaborate with the agencies on a smaller scale. Wendy Iles seconded and the motion passed. Increasing Adopt-A-Spot Volunteer Participation: Debbie stated that a slight decrease in program participation has occurred, most likely due to inclement weather conditions, and she asked what could be done to enhance participation. Leslie Crandol suggested the use of promotional items to be distributed to communities, churches, schools, civic associations. Jackie suggested advertising the program via the Next Door application. Leslie agreed stating that each AAS group could promote its cleanups or that Clean City could use it to announce community cleanup, litter indices, and tours de trash and recycling. Linda Curtis stated that the app is designed for each particular neighborhood; however, Jackie noted that one just needs to sign up to receive information from other areas. Wendy suggested that this is an opportunity to build a speakers bureau and Barb said she would begin working on that. Dave recommended working the Neighborhood Commission on this aspect. Will also asked that the Litter Awareness and Recycling Committee also research this effort and present findings at the March regular meeting. Walk Hampton Clean: Debbie announced that the annual citywide event is slated for April 20-27, a timeframe that includes Earth Day. Cris added that last year the event garnered more than 600 volunteers. She also said that the event is now on the city calendar and registration will be available on the agency’s website beginning March 1. Outreach efforts include the general population, Scouts, military, schools, businesses, and churches. In addition, Cris also provides a segment on stormwater education for participants. Jim suggested using Walk Hampton Clean to increase AAS participation. Will stated that highlighting participating neighborhood organizations might enhance AAS growth. Appointed Member Reports Bee City USA: Earlier discussion questioned the investment costs of the program versus the return on the investment. Barb noted that on March 23 the Master Gardeners would vote on the initiative. Wendy added that Heather Larosee of School Age Programs is to send in plans on pollinators. Gayle Moony asked about the timeline for the project. Barb stated that all information should be ready for the approval process by June 1. Will noted that his housing development has an incredible migrating monarch butterfly station that seems similar to the Bee City initiatives. Once the Bee City programs are up and running, he suggested that the board look into the feasibility of endorsing migrating monarch butterfly stations as a complementary project. 2 Beautification Committee: Barb announced that this season’s beautiful yards judging program planning is underway, with the judges’ training to take place early April. More information is forthcoming. Fund-Raising Committee: Wendy stated that the January 24 Murder Mystery was a wonderful success with no one really knowing who the murder suspect was – not even the suspect. She thanked Leslie Crandol and the Woman’s Club of Hampton who provided not only a beautiful venue but also an excellent Italian collation. The Painting with a Twist event is February 21 at Peninsula Town Center, tickets $40/person. Hampton Community Gardens: Wendy announced a March 9 Seed Swap and soil blocking class at the Marian Center beginning at 9:30am. She encouraged members to check the Facebook page or city calendar for updated information. March 23 will be a workday at all three community gardens, beginning at 10am. Also working closely with the students of Moton Pre-K on a plot. HCCC Staff Reports Clean & Green Workplaces: Jim Williams reported that the Reduce Reuse Recycle Community Collection event, hosted by Goodwill, was February 2. They had approximately 60 persons visit the site and hope to increase participation for next year’s event. He added that Barb gave a presentation on Native Plants for Native Bees. Jim also announced and encouraged board participation in the March 7 Virginia Peninsula Clean Business Forum Breakfast, to be held at The Grey Goose in Hampton, 8:30am. The topic will be Green Burials presented by R. Hayden Smith Family Funeral Services. Hampton’s quarterly Clean Business winner is Waste Management – Bethel Landfill. Hampton Waterways Restoration Project: George Curran announced that Fullers Raw Bar just opened up in Phoebus. The bar has agreed to collect oyster shells for the Project’s oyster gardening program. The data set for the cigarette litter program (Foxhill and Mercury site) is now available. He added that the data showed there was no huge or significant change to the amount of cigarette litter in the area, but that may be due to signage not be readily visible to the public. Will added that the signage was confusing or unclear. George thanked Cris Ausink and Ashley Haynes for their work on the project and stated that there’s a possibility the program may be extended for another six months. The Hampton Clean City Commission works to improve and enhance the physical environment of Hampton through beautification, solid waste management education, coastal awareness activities, and litter abatement programs; educates citizens; and encourages their participation. As an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc., we share the philosophy that each of us has a responsibility for enhancing our community environment. 20190212  Litter Awareness & Recycling: Debbie is to distribute a listing of the 2019 community cleanup dates, times, and sites. Master Naturalists: Cris noted that HWRP has offered two water monitoring sites, Gosnold’s Hope Park and Air Power Park, to the Master Naturalists. No further information is available at this time. School Pride in Action: Debbie announced the committee’s next meeting is February 13 at Kecoughtan High School. She added that more than 1,000 pounds of plastic bags were collected since the start of the contest, and asked members to continue donating their bags to participating schools. Virginia Cooperative Extension: Gaylynn Johnson stated that VCE will partner with Community Gardens and Blue Bird Gap Farm on vegetable gardening via a class called Planting to Harvest & Post Harvest. She is to send Debbie an event flyer for distribution. VCE is also completing its needs assessment that is due by March 1. Gaylynn described the city’s needs as:  Training for landscapers  Stormwater education  Schools and community gardens  Opportunities for youth/vocational schools Staff Reports: Cris Ausink announced the next rain barrel workshop on Saturday, February 16, 9am-11 am, cost $50/person. Announcements  HCCC Full Commission Meeting, HCCC, March 12, 3:30pm  HWRP Meeting, March14, 6:30pm  Community Cleanup, March 15, 3pm, Nettles Lane  Clean & Green Workplaces Meeting, March 19, 3:30pm  Litter & Recycling Awareness Meeting, March 7, 11:30am  Litter & Recycling Awareness Meeting, April 4, 11:30am 3  Tour de Trash, April 5, 9am, HCCC  YARDS Judging Training, April 8, 8:30am, HCCC  Full Commission Meeting, April 9, 3:30pm, HCCC The Hampton Clean City Commission works to improve and enhance the physical environment of Hampton through beautification, solid waste management education, coastal awareness activities, and litter abatement programs; educates citizens; and encourages their participation. As an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful Inc., we share the philosophy that each of us has a responsibility for enhancing our community environment. 20190212