Green Tier Legacy Community Committee

1 2 AD HOC GREEN TIER LEGACY COMMUNITY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 3 Thursday, January 16, 2025 4 (Approved Version) 5 6 Agenda Item No. 1. The January 16 meeting of the Green Tier Legacy Community Committee 7 was called to order by Chairperson Kurt Harff at 10:30 A.M. 8 9 Present: Kurt Harff, Lisa O’Hearn, Paula Anschutz and Lilly Orozco. Sarah White was absent. 10 Mary Smythe was excused. 11 12 Staff: Village Administrator Julie Schmelzer and Clerk Heidi Teich 13 14 Others: Laurel Harff 15 16 Agenda Item No. 2. Approval of the Agenda 17 A motion was made by Orozco, seconded by Anschutz that the Agenda for the January 16,2025 meeting 18 of the Ad Hoc Green Tier Legacy Community Committee be approved as presented. Motion carried – All 19 ayes. 20 21 Agenda Item No. 3. Approval of the Minutes 22 A motion was made by O’Hearn, seconded by Anschutz that the minutes of the August 15, 2024 meeting 23 of the Ad Hoc Green Tier Legacy Community Committee be approved as presented. Also approved were 24 notes from the November 16, 2024 meeting. Motion carried – All ayes. 25 26 Agenda Item No. 4. Comments, correspondence, and concerns from the public 27 Correspondence for this meeting included the agenda and sign-up link for the January 27, 2025 28 quarterly GTLC Member Meeting, and the December 2024 issue of The Door County 29 Environmental News quarterly newsletter. 30 31 Laurel Harff inquired if there were any guidelines in the village concerning the use of string 32 lights on rental properties affecting the dark sky initiatives. Schmelzer will research this as she 33 has a model for a Dark Sky friendly lighting ordinance. 34 35 Agenda Item No. 5. Discussion/Action Items: 36 37 a) Recycling Plan/Plastic Bag Update 38 Schmelzer reported on the research she has done, and efforts undertaken to provide a facility 39 for plastic bag recycling in the area. She first approached Going Garbage, our local refuse 40 contactor, who toured a plastics recycling facility in Minnesota. Going reported that there 41 would not be enough volume of plastics in northern Door for them to provide a site. Schmelzer 42 contacted the City of Sturgeon Bay and County of Door, who also declined. She then met with 43 both the Director and CEO of Sunshine Resources, aka Sunshine House, who expressed genuine 44 interest in the project, noting that it would be a good opportunity for them to offer more 45 physical work activities for their clients. They also have a site available that could be converted 46 into a plastic recycling center, if it is large enough. Sunshine House currently does paper 47 shredding, and voiced interest in baling paper, if that could be done in addition to baling the  Minutes of the January 16, 2025 Meeting of the Green Tier Legacy Community Committee - approved 1 plastics. However, they would need someone to assist with the disposal of the paper bales. 2 Schmelzer went back to Going Garbage, and they did indicate that they could be of help in that 3 area. The next step is to wait for the Sunshine House personnel to tour an existing plastics 4 facility, and determine if their existing site would be sufficient. Schmelzer offered her 5 assistance in grant-writing for Sunshine Resources when they get to the point of setting up the 6 facility and acquiring equipment. 7 8 The committee members turned the conversation to what can be done now while awaiting more 9 developments on the plastics recycling facility. Th\ey previously explored the possibility of 10 designing and locally distributing reusable bags to reduce the amount of plastic in Sister Bay. 11 They would specifically target the grocery store as a distribution area, and Anschutz offered to 12 speak with the manager of Piggly Wiggly about setting up a display there for patrons to get 13 reusable bags if they would like some, and leave behind other reusable bags if they are looking 14 to dispose of them (bag swap). 15 16 O’Hearn recalled the research she had done on the cost of having their own bags printed. She 17 already has a contact for ordering bags, and if ordering in quantity (3000 bags), the costs are 18 manageable at about $1.06 per bag. It will take some time to get the order, so if they want to 19 pursue this option, they should start now. 20 21 The committee agreed to invest some of their budgeted funds into purchasing reuseable bags to 22 distribute and spoke briefly about opportunities to recoup some of the production costs by 23 getting sponsors to support their efforts. Orozco also brought up the possibility of SBAA 24 joining their effort and selling bags at events like the Concerts in the Park. 25 26 Anschutz offered to contact local artist Ryan Miller as a potential partner in the design of the 27 bag. If Miller is willing to donate some of his time in aiding with the design, which could also 28 feature the Sister Bay Green Tier Legacy Committee logo, his name would be incorporated into 29 the design that gets printed. O’Hearn and Anschutz will work together on a design and come 30 back to the committee with a report. 31 32 The logistics of distributing the bags will be discussed at a future meeting. 33 34 A motion was made by Anschutz, seconded by Orozco to purchase 3000 reusable bags at an approximate 35 cost of $1.06/bag, pending an approved design. Motion carried – all ayes. 36 37 b) Earth Day – April 22, 2025 38 The Sister Bay Green Tier Legacy Community gave away trees at Piggly Wiggly last year as part 39 of area Earth Day activities. Anschutz will contact Jeff Lutsey of the Climate Change Coalition 40 to check on the availability of trees again this year. The committee agreed to expend up to $500 41 for trees to give away. When they know if and when trees are available, the committee will 42 discuss the best days to distribute them to the community. 43 44 Orozco suggested the creation of a poster to offer the public suggestions on reducing pollutants. 45 The committee expanded on the idea by suggesting that they add the actions the Sister Bay 46 Green Tier Legacy Community Committee is doing to address those environmental concerns. 47 They will make it a goal to have the posters created and displayed at least three weeks before  Minutes of the January 16, 2025 Meeting of the Green Tier Legacy Community Committee - approved 1 Earth Day, if possible. 2 3 Agenda Item No. 6. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, 4 official, or employee 5 6 It was the consensus of the committee that the following topics be discussed at a future meeting: 7 • Discussion on submission of the 2024 Annual Scoresheet 8 • Earth Day Activities 9 • Update on plastics recycling facility 10 11 The next meeting of the Sister Bay GTLC Committee will take place Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 12 10:30 A.M. via ZOOM. 13 14 Adjournment: A motion was made by Harff, seconded by Orozco to adjourn the January 16, 2025 15 meeting of the Green Tier Legacy Community Committee at 11:40 A.M. Motion carried – all ayes. 16 17 Respectfully submitted, 18 19 Heidi Teich, 20 Village Clerk