Environmental Advisory Board Meeting

Ogden Dunes Environmental Advisory Board Town Hall, January 9th, 2024 5:30 p.m. Attendees: Frank Lani, Tom Davenport, Vicky Albritton 1. Review and approve agenda – any additions? No. 2. Review and Accept Minutes from Previous Meeting We did not have a quorum, so we could not approve the minutes. Vicky said that it was frustrating that it takes so long to approve the minutes. It can be delayed for one, two, or even three months. These delays prevent town residents from following the activities of the EAB closely. Tom suggested that we switch to an email approval system. We hope to implement this change soon. 3. Long Lake Marsh - . N/A 4. Save the Dunes Pollution Prevention Roundtable update. N/A 5. Monitoring Nearby Industries https://www.in.gov/idem/resources/lake-michigan-sites-of- interest/ a. Cleveland Cliffs - N/A b. U.S. Steel Midwest - Vicky mentioned the pending acquisition of US Steel by Nippon Steel. A brief discussion followed about Nippon Steel's reputation in Japan as far as environmental concerns go. They seem to do a good job in Japan, at least. The sale and changeover will be closely watched if it happens. c. PreCoat Metals - N/A 6. National Invasive Species Awareness Week (NISAW) a. February 2024. Frank is still playing around with different versions of the banner that will be placed across the town entrance. Tom encouraged us to start linking events together, using one event, like NISAW, to advertise our next event, such as an announcement of our Bird Town Status or a spring oriole count. The idea is to develop a more continuous awareness of the EAB's activities and show how each concern (whether related to birds, plants, pollution, etc.) is relevant to the others and how all are ongoing, not just isolated, annual events. As far as promoting NISAW, Tom suggested trying to post it as an event on the digital calendar of the OD Forum page on Facebook (Meta). We will have to announce Laura Brennan's upcoming talk about invasive plants at the Hour Glass--and again use that event to promote future endeavors too. Tom will talk to the Women's Club and others and ask whether they can promote events through their contacts. He also wants to draw attention to Karl's garden in order to show the town what native plant restoration on a private lot looks like. 'Before' photos ought to be taken in the early spring, followed by 'after' photos in the summer. Frank is interested in applying for a Community Fund Grant to pay for eradication of invasives and restoration of native plants at Polliwog Pond. 8. Bird Town Sub-committee update Vicky was pleased to announce that our Bird Town application had been accepted the day before by the Indiana Audubon Society. She will be meeting virtually with them soon to learn about OD's Bird Town page--what it looks like, what will be posted on it, how to manage it, and what can be done with it. More info to come. We will also have to decide where to put up the new Bird Town signs (and how many). Tom suggested it might be good to put one near the Tolleston Dunes NPS sign on 12. He also wondered whether an event could be held at the fire house, perhaps something to educate town members about Bird Town Indiana. Frank suggested that Patty might be interested in helping. 9. Septic Coordination Workgroup Report Nothing to report. A meeting is coming up on the 25th. 10. Beach water quality monitoring N/A 11. Recycling - Tom will talk to Karl about the slot needed to compress cardboard. 12. Other - Tom brought up a number of additional ideas and tasks. He said he would ask Amy about the password for the computer monitors in the meeting room. He also contacted Purple Air to talk to them about their monitoring system. He has not yet heard back. He wants to look into various sustainability-issues in OD. We could do more with regard to road/walkway salt management. We should help educate those applying salt so they apply the correct amount at the right time. He said he would ask Jennifer Osborne to help with this. 13. Next Meeting – Feb. 20th, 5:30pm, Town Hall. Tom might be here; if not, then Bianca has agreed to lead the meeting. We are still considering a hybrid in-person/Skype meeting. Meeting adjourned at 6:33 pm Minutes taken and submitted by Vicky Albritton