Green Team

Morgantown Municipal Green Team Monday, April 1, 2019 5:30–7:00pm Minutes Facilitator: Jim Kotcon Notetaker: Dan Pan Members Present: Jim Kotcon, Pam Cubberly, Joseph Kanosky, Vanessa Reaves, Dan Pan, Mark Brazaitis, Jenny Selin (City Council), Bill Kawecki (Mayor), and Sarah Cayton (Friends of Deckers Creek). Those present approved submission of the March Minutes to the City for posting on its website. I. Special Presentation: Sarah Cayton, Executive Director, Friends of Deckers Creek ● Sarah replaced Holly Purpura as executive director last year, where she already worked. Her sister Abby Cayton worked as an LED and energy intern for the Green Team a couple years ago. ● FODC is launching a busy construction period: (1) Acid mine drainage treatment in Preston County maintenance and clearing. (2) Implementation of a $3 million grant to treat Richard Mine discharges is underway; building a bridge over Deckers Creek to get to building site is first priority. (3) Work with MUB and WVU to implement EPA grant to study E. coli and Coliform bacteria in Deckers Creek. (4) Continuing successful programs with schools and Boys and Girls Clubs; Arts in the Parks Series: and 13th Annual Spring Meltdown at the Morgantown Brewing Company; a cleanup the following weekend behind the Sabraton Kroger’s and up Route 7 along the trail. Litter is a high priority for FODC. ● Pam mentioned discussion with both FODC and MRTC on a litter component to the REAP grant proposal, but neither Sarah nor FODC’s Ella Belling could think of anything that also increased pickup of recyclables in litter for recycling. ● How can Green Team help FODC? FODC always appreciates funding opportunities for remediation projects. FODC is very focused on Preston County but its staff would like to do more in the Morgantown area. Regarding Richard Mine, they welcome identification of issues; contacts with landowners who may be willing to help, and contacts with groups that may be interested in an FODC presentation. She welcomed calls or email from Green Team members at any time. II. Updates on Ongoing Team Work A. RRR Working Group (Vanessa, Pam, and Jim) 1. General grant development ● The City approved one Vista volunteer and matching funds of $7,500. The grant will fund a Recycling Manager for a total stipend of $25,000 for the 14-month period. ● The Recycling Manager will officially manage the entire grant as a temporary contractual City staff person, overseen by the GT Coordinator and other Team members, especially new team chair, Jim Kotcon, who has long been involved with the team’s recycling efforts. The manager will focus primarily on preparing and implementing the April- October Curbside Anti-Contamination Campaign. 1  ● The Vista volunteer will serve for 10 months starting November 2019 (with possible extension) as Publicity/Media Specialist, working closely with the Green Team Coordinator. ● Pam Cubberly has offered to work half-time as the Green Team Coordinator to oversee implementation by the two paid staff and work on citywide publicity/media/education through the grant period except travel/vacation in the summer. ● All three of these “positions” will be responsible for monitoring program quality, data collection on grant implementation, data analysis, and in-person and written reports to the City, Green Team, and State REAP office (for the latter, quarterly and final reports). ● Pam is waiting to hear from both WVU’s Reed College of Media and WVU’s Communications Studies Department for pro bono and possible paid graduate interns on, respectively, fall design of a citywide publicity/media campaign and a pre- and post- survey of all city households. She is also pricing out costs of a broad publicity/media campaign, the anti-contamination campaigns, and subprojects. ● Robyn Hess will start reading through information supplied by Vanessa and Pam on April 15 and start writing, while Pam, Jim, and Vanessa answer her questions, do more research, review her text, and resolve any issues. ● Team members will also introduce the Mon County Solid Waste Authority to the grant proposal at the SWA’s April 30 meeting as well as submit the proposal at its May 28 meeting for State-required SWA approval. All team members are welcome to lend support to the grant proposal at these meetings. ● Jim, Vanessa, and Pam were to meet with Paul Brake and Republic’s John McGoran to request support and specific assistance for the success of this grant, which targets goals of specific interest of Republic Services. 2. Off-Campus Housing Project. Vanessa reported on progress on the off-campus housing campaign, undertaken during Spring Session in association with WVU’s Office of Sustainability. Those involved did a baseline survey of occupants at two student apartment buildings to compare with a final survey to note impacts. Lasting 8 weeks, the group audited recyclables collected for contamination nearly weekly. They inform residents weekly about most common contaminants in the hope that students will stop putting them in. It is too early to say whether the results will be good enough to warrant expansion of the pilot to a subproject in the REAP grant proposal. Vanessa had created a Green Team Twitter account as well as Team email address to communicate about the OCH pilot. She asked the team for approval and will be in touch with Andrew Stacy on City guidelines that she will adhere to. 2019 Republic Services. Pam noted that Republic Services had sent the team through Paul Brake several versions of their 5-page brochure. They had responded to nearly all of the team’s comments. B. CAP and Energy Committee Jim reported that the Green Team’s energy intern Kevin Apreku has collected a large amount of data to help the committee to further refine the City’s recently adopted Climate Action Plan. The street light inventory downloaded into a Google Earth map may not be easily manipulable. New Business A. Team leadership (Jim and Pam) 2  After 8 months without a chair since Holly Purpura stepped down, Jim and Pam agreed to fill the gap to reflect how the team has actually been continuing its work without clear leadership. Jim agreed to serve as Chair for one year with a key focus on recruiting new members and working with any to involve them in topics or projects in which they are most interested. Pam suggested that she become Vice-Chair in order to relieve some of the Chair’s duties. (The final distribution of responsibilities appears in an appendix to these minutes.) With the help of note taker Dan Pan, Pam agreed to continue basic duties of the Secretary while trying to find a replacement through various means. B. Working Families Earth Day activities (Jim). This event will take place on April 20 at the Morgantown Farmer’s Market from 10:00am to 3:00pm. Jim volunteered to staff a Green Team table there. The Marketplace is available as the outdoor farmer’s market opens two weeks later. Pam said that Jing had stored all the team’s banners, posters, etc. at his office on High Street. C. Leaves of absence for some members? (Pam). Several team members have not attended 3 times in six months as required in the team’s procedural guidelines. She asked if we could allow these hard-working individuals “leaves of absence” so that they may return when they have more free time? Action: Jim said he would check in with all three mentioned. Next Monthly Meeting: May 6, 5:30–7:00pm, Morgantown Public Library, Conference Room B. Appendix: Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary Roles and Responsibilities for 2019-2020 4.2 Chair The Chair of the Green Team prepare an agenda, call and preside at monthly meetings, act as a primary liaison with the City Manager and City Council, coordinate the activities of standing and ad hoc committees. S/he will also oversee recruitment of talented new members and assignments to leadership positions, as well as encourage involvement of members in team projects. S/he shall also represent the team with representatives of the media and inquiries from other organizations or agencies. The Chair may also lead or serve on specific team committees or projects. 4.3 Vice-Chair The Vice Chair shall act as Chair in the absence of the Chair. S/he will also facilitate, as needed, the activities of standing and ad hoc committees. The Vice-Chair may also lead or serve on specific team committees or projects. The Vice-Chair shall have such other duties as the Green Team may authorize from time to time be assigned to the office. 4.4 Secretary The Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining adequate records of all monthly meetings of the Green Team, recruiting members to assist with drafting key team documents, and assure their editorial quality. S/he will assure that minutes, annual reports, long-term plans, and other key team documents are written and produced on time and uploaded, as appropriate, to the team’s City webpage and Green Morgantown and maintained in online and print archives to be passed on to future team secretaries and chairs. The Secretary will also maintain records and information on team members as needed (bios and/or resumes, membership applications/status, contact information, etc.). 3