Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee

Sustainable Madison Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes June 21, 2022 Chairperson Kathi Caccavale called the meeting to order at 1:15 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 Angelique Devost, Resident/Regular Member Rachel Ehrlich, Borough Council Liaison/Regular Member Sarah Fischer, Board of Education liaison Mary Ellen Hennessy-Jones, Resident/Regular Member Joan Maccari, Resident/Regular Member Absent: Marilyn Musielski, Resident/Regular Member Members of the Public: Jay Khandelwal, Drew University student The special guests introduced themselves. May minutes were approved. MEC news is that there is a solar talk tonight by Frank Curran. There is a native plant giveaway by Joan (pickup Thursday at the Farmer’s Market). On June 29, the MEC is co-sponsoring with Friends of Madison Shade Tree, a public meeting about the Drew Forest at Rose Hall. If you can come, that would be very helpful. We need folks to monitor the group discussions at the end. Rachel reported on the Waverly re-visioning construction project: you can find proposals on Rosenet. Please review these materials. An ADA trail is expected to be constructed this summer that will improve pedestrian access from Ridgedale into the MRC. Members of DPW staff attended an informational meeting on funding for EV charging stations. The town received funding from the county to redesign the playground at Dodge Field, which will improve accessibility of the playground (following universal design principles). Sarah recommended inviting SPEG, a special education parents group, who can offer comments on playground design based on their children’s needs and experiences. Sarah Fischer reported on school meetings that are considering sustainability in design and planning elements moving forward. She is serving as a liaison with the superintendent regarding native plantings. Peter reported meeting with department heads this morning about purchasing electric vehicles (EVs). It looks like future purchases of EVs can be prioritized. Kathi reported that we submitted our actions in May. We discussed action submissions likely for August. We reviewed the Sustainable Jersey tracking sheet and our progress. Rolling action items are as follows: Action Item: Peter Fried would like information on upcoming events in order to share information to the Madison Eagle. Jersey Green column volunteers needed for the coming year. The next SMAC meeting will be on July 19 at 1:00 P.M. The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 P.M. Minutes respectfully submitted by Lisa Jordan