Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee

Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes June 9, 2020 Due to the coronavirus outbreak, this meeting is being conducted on Zoom. Chairperson Kathleen Caccavale called the meeting to order at 1:36 P.M. STATEMENT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE OPEN MEETINGS ACT: “In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of this meeting of the Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee (SMAC) Meeting was provided by transmitting a copy of the meeting notice to the Madison Eagle and Morris County Daily Record, posting a copy on the bulletin board at the main entrance of the Hartley Dodge Memorial, and filing a copy in the office of the Clerk. This notice was made available to members of the general public.” The following members acknowledged their presence: Kathleen Caccavale, Chairperson/Regular Member Peter Fried, Resident/Regular Member Lisa Jordan, Resident/Regular Member Maureen Byrne, Borough Council Liaison/Regular Member Angelique Devost, Resident/Regular Member Marilyn Musielski, Resident/Regular Member Gene Cracovia, Resident/Regular Member Absent members: Joan Maccari, MEC Representative/Secretary/Regular Member Stephen Tindall, School Board Representative/Regular Member Guests: Claire Whitcomb, Chair Madison Environmental Commission (MEC) Christian Wong, Student Intern Dylan MacDonald, Student Intern May minutes were unanimously approved. Minutes will be submitted to Rosenet. Members reviewed progress on their individual assigned action items. Given the cancellation of the Green Fair due to Covid-19, supplementary programs and events were discussed, including Green Challenges options or a monthly community forum. Peter, Lisa, and Claire updated everyone on the recruitment of summer interns and volunteers, and discussed the projects that each intern would be working on. This discussion included clarifying questions on the role of high school student volunteers in the walks program. General consensus was that the mapping and technology-based work could be left to a more experienced college intern (Christian), while the high school students could be given the task of troubleshooting and verifying the walking routes. Gene reported on the tree inventory project & the Tree Protection Ordinance: ● Gene is in contact with Madison’s new arborist, ​Richard Wolowicz​, to run a tree ID workshop. ● Claire has been successful in recruiting about five community volunteers, all of which either have been contacted already or will be contacted shortly. Gene hopes to hold an initial meeting in the following week and map out the inventory work to be done over the summer. ● Marilyn raised the idea of finding ways to advertise the Tree Protection Ordinance to landscaping and construction companies. Gene responded that education on the Ordinance has been somewhat sidelined due to the current situation, but this month an FAQ will be added to the Electric Insert Bill. He also described how violations of the Tree Ordinance are typically dealt with. Marilyn shared that the Garden Club was looking for an intern to assist with the Gibbons Pines rain garden; they have already identified one and are waiting to hear back from him. The need for upkeep of the rain gardens at MRC was also discussed. Peter and Kathi discussed the need to coordinate a number of different actions and how they relate to one another, especially before the next Master Plan meeting. Kathi proposes making this a focus of the July SMAC meeting. The next SMAC meeting will be on July 21st, at 1:30 P.M. The meeting was adjourned at 3:03 P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Dylan MacDonald.