Environmental Commission

Madison Environmental Commission Meeting Minutes March 23, 2017 1. Call to order by Chairperson Stephan Stocker at 7:35 2. Announcement of meeting notice Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act: Read by Stephan Stocker, Chairperson. This meeting of the Madison Environmental Commission complies with the Open Public Meetings Act. (P.L. 1975 c. 231) Notice of this meeting was provided to the Madison Eagle, Daily Record, Star Ledger, and to tapintomadison.com. Copies of this notice are posted on the bulletin board at the main entrance of Hartley Dodge Memorial and were made available to the general public. 3. Present: Stephan Stocker, Mary Ellen Kapalo, Claire Whitcomb. 4. 5. Absent: Trina Mallik, Ellen Kranefuss, Brian Monaghan, Jeff Gertler, Carmela Vitale 5. Communications: Plan reviewed. What was that property? 6. Guests: Brooke Winters, Drew intern. 7. Continuing Business: * Mary Ellen set up a Facebook pg, Green Madison NJ, and a google docs link so that MEC members can share the inputting of names from the Green Forum that took place 4 years ago. * She cited frustration with getting local groups (Rotary, Shade Tree, I Love Madison, etc) to like and engage with our FB page, something that is necessary for FB metrics. Possibility discussed of paying to raise the posts in people’s feeds. General thinking that a small fee might be feasible if it made a difference. * Green Fair will Be April 29. * Native Plant Society follow up from Claire. Should we sell plants at the Green Fair? Decision was no. * Health Kids Day at the YMCA is also April 29. Gwen Riddick invited us to have a table again—who will man it? * Claire will reach out to Judy Honohan, who has a native plants game that would make a good display. Do we need MEC signage for the table? Marilyn M. may also be interested in volunteering again. * Library is doing publicity for the Green Fair. * Ciel Power. Claire posted article in Madison Eagle and Daily Record. Also posted on FB in Madison Area Parents and MACTA. * No additional publicity needed at least until letter from Mayor is sent out. This was scheduled for February but has not happened yet. * Mayor Conley’s house will be audited soon and a video will be done by Ciel Power. * Stephan Stocker’s house was audited. He found repairs he could do himself. No video will be done. * Should we give a free audit to someone at the schools? Claire will write to Johanna Habib for her opinion. * Carmela Vitale had an audit done. * Video project with MHS: no response to Stephan’s letter. * Shoe drive: The YMCA is not participating, but there will be two drop off sites: Suburban Shoes and the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts. In addition all 5 schools are participating. * Suburban Shoes will recycle on an ongoing basis. Starting Line Sports also recycles gently used spot shoes, which it sends to Africa. Shoes are refurbished and sold to raise seeds for organic farming. After the school shoe drive is ended, Claire will do a story on shoe recycling at these two stores. * Claire is also connecting with the Baptist Church about their March shoe drive (shoes go to the homeless) so we could create a comprehensive list of venues for recycling. * MRC: Stephan is working with two interns. One completed clearing a trial that joins a lower and and upper trail. The second intern located 40 trees, mostly white oak, that budded in the first week or two of Feb. when it was warm. These are marked on Google earth. Follow up will take place with an arborist. * April 8 Stephan will be planting 200 trees and 300 shrubs in wetland restoration. * Trina has scheduled the town hall for June 14. Planning for 100 people with three main topics: lawn and garden care (native plants, sustainable lawns), reducing home energy (solar, Ciel Power), reducing waste (composting, recycling). She is partnering with Brooke Winters, Drew intern, who is creating a logo. Claire and Ellen are also helping. 8. Closing: Meeting ended at 8:55 PM