Beautification Committee

Salem Beautification Minutes from 12/11/18 Meeting started at 7:10 In attendance Lisa Lyons, Sandi Power, Mary Ellen Haliwell, Giulia Bellofatto, Annie Scott, Ty Hapworth and Staff Person Ellen Talkowsky. Absent Sam Fiore, Bill Doane, Stephanie Hagyard and Barbara Sirios. Brief discussion regarding Barbara Sirios. Sandi suggested that Barbara be given recognition for her time and work with the Beautification Committee to move forward with bringing on a new member. Ellen does not think it is the Board’s responsibility to remove Barbara from the Beautification Committee and suggests no action be taken. She will look into when Barbara’s term ends. Is there a general board ordinance or by law? First up, review minutes from September and October. The meeting was paused, minutes reviewed and approved. Pumpkin Decorating Contest- All agreed the trailer was in a really good spot (behind the food trucks at the beginning of the Commons). There were not as many entries as last year. This could be due to the rain on Saturday, but Sunday brought some good, enthusiastic entries. Boys and Girls Club -This year Ellen left all the needed supplies with them and it worked out well. They did everything after school and took care of the registrations. Several winners were from the Boys & Girls Club entries. Ellen has dispersed all the prize checks. Wreath Lighting – A small, but energetic group on hand. Sam, Bill, Sandi and Giulia working with Kylie. Pole Wrapping – No one from the BCOMM was available so we don’t have much information on it, other than the wrapping was done over two days. Traffic Islands – Sam aided by Bev Moustakis, added greenery, festive colored balls, golden pine cones and some red branches. Perfect combination for the Yule season. From Sandi’s report – November found myself, Janice Manning and Nancy Neville taking advantage of one day tropical weather (50 degrees) opportunity to clean up St Jean’s Credit Union new island at Summer and Essex. All the sunflowers and other dead annuals were pulled out, lilies cleaned up, azalea trimmed, and best of all, because of the long rainy, spell, we were able to completely pull out the ivy that has been threatening to take over the island. We then went on to the Mill St. median strip to pull out the dead annuals from the urns and clean up the litter. This resulted in a total of 14 bags of yard waste. We are done for the winter! Annie brought up the subject of new planting beds outside 120 Washington Street (being developed by RCG). She has pictures that she’ll send to Sam to see if she has any information on them. Annie has some down time to discuss any new ideas for the traffic islands. Ladies of Salem - The ladies are down, handled by Mary Ellen, Sam, Steve and Bill. Mary Sholds at YMCA has allowed the Ladies to be stored in the basement. Will check for repairs in the spring. Bios will need to be worked on and laminated. Will need to purchase 10 new clamps. Ellen will need a purchase order for the clamps and lamination. Mary Ellen requested putting dates in place for upcoming events. Would be helpful to know ahead of time to plan accordingly. We now have two dates in place. Clean Sweeps will take place Saturday, May 4th with the Plant Sale taking place on Saturday, May, 18th. Annie has some down time to discuss any plant sale idea. Ellen suggests that the Committee come up with ideas to spend down BCOMM $$. Lisa suggested some urns, lighting for statues in a particular area. Also suggested a call out to the city to ask for ideas. Lisa also suggested donating some kind of permanent structure to the Central St. area. Lappin Park – (owned by the Salem Redevelopment Authority) There are sparse spots – grass is all down from people walking all over it. Would need to go through the re-development authority to do any work. Ellen will have a conversation with the people she knows. Central St. - Sandi ran into Giovanni who discussed that he would like to do something more permanent. He purchased and put up a fence which got crushed, it was not seen by passers-by. Giovanni would like to get the different businesses together to do something permanent. Sandi has also suggested including some permanent structure so plants don’t get trampled. Annie has offered her assistance. Front St Parking Lot – The sidewalk island needs some new planting. Annie suggested some aggressive plants to withstand people cutting through from the lot. Mary Ellen brought up the subject of litter. It’s a big problem and she suggested partnering with the city and some school kids. Lisa suggested a few $500 scholarships (BCOMM $$), if it doesn’t get too complicated. Ellen is not sure if we can do this. She is going to check into Salem Recycles and get more information as to what they are doing. Motion to adjourn at 7:58. Respectfully submitted, Giulia Bellofatto