Beautification Commission

STERLING HEIGHTS BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 8, 2024 Chairperson Gary Isom called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Commissioner’s present: Sheryl Burns, Arielle Dueweke, Sue Hobig, Gary Isom, Nancy Kijek, Lisa Lane, Linda Meida, Patrick Rye, Matthew Smith Commissioner’s absent: Henrietta Baczewski, Steve Duncan, Manny Gonzales Other present: Dawn Bondarek, Citizens Services Specialist Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve Minutes of the September 11, 2023 meeting by Kijek; Seconded by: Burns Ayes: all Nays: none Agenda Items: A. Election of officers (Chairperson, Vice Chairperson) • Isom opened the floor for members to make nominations for Chair and/or Vice Chair. Meida nominated Isom for Chair; Isom nominated Kijek for Vice Chair; seconded by: Hobig. Congratulations to Isom and Kijek. • . B. 2023 Holiday Decoration Jurying • Bondarek displayed photos of residential homes that were decorated for the holiday season and asked commission members to select their top three favorite. Members voted on the following and three winners were chosen. • Bondarek stated that she will send out congratulatory letters, a certificate and home depot gift cards to the winners. The winner’s photos will also be posted on Facebook. Old Business: • Burns stated it would be best to put our spring native plant sale on hold this year because the company we used to have the event was diagnosed with cancer and will not be running as many events this year. • Isom asked Burns to possibly create a new logo for beautification. When we get a new logo we can purchase new shirts.  • Lisa Lane asked if we were still purchasing interactive signs. Parks and Recreation wants to make sure we use the same company for all signs moving forward. We are waiting on which company they decide before we can make our purchase. New Business: • Bondarek introduced our newest member, Arielle Dueweke. Isom gave her an overview of the commission and discussed all of the events that the commission sponsors and/or is involved in: volunteering at Sterlingfest, planting flowers at the children’s library garden, planting a tree for Arbor Day with council on City Campus, Beautification Awards and marching in the Memorial Day Parade. He added that we also have a Halloween house decorations contest, holiday decorations contest and a snowman contest. He also summarized all that we had done last year to complete the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge. • Isom suggested that we plant a fruit tree between Walsh Elementary and Davis Jr High and told a story about how when he was young there was one planted there, and it would be nice to replace it. Burns and Smith said that the sustainability commission is trying to get it passed through the city that we can only plant native trees and that none of those trees would fall under that category. • Kijek stated that there were two brand new trees knocked down in the median at 15 Mile and Van Dyke and ask Bondarek to let the city know so they can be replaced. • We are now taking submissions for the 2024 snowman contest. The snowman contest information is in the winter magazine. We will also post to social media anytime it snows. We will vote on this contest at our March meeting. • Bondarek stated that Arbor Day this year is going to take place on Tuesday, April 16th at 6:00 p.m. We are going to plant a tree near the library because the library is going to have a ribbon cutting for their interactive art sculpture’s and we are going to combine the events. She added that this year the sustainability commission wanted to hold an event for Arbor Day/Earth Day with some sort of giveaways/art painting. An example was a canvas bag that residents could paint and take home. Bondarek asked members to think of any ideas for the event. Sustainability Commission suggested we meet in February or March to collaborate in this event. • Bondarek stated that our yearly children’s garden planting at our may meeting which is typically the first Monday of the month was pushed back a few weeks because Weigand’s did not get native plants in that early and the weather was not warm enough yet. As time gets closer, we will decide on a day. She added that our yearly plant exchange will take place on Saturday, May 11th at the Nature Center.  • Lane asked if we could all get a copy of the action items for the Mayors Monarch Pledge in hopes that we can complete new action items this year. • Kijek announced that the Shelby Twp library is holding a native plant event on January 31 at 7:00 p.m. The guest speaker is Jean Persely who spoke at our BCSEM luncheon last fall. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn the Beautification Commission meeting made by Burns; Seconded by Kijek Ayes: All Nays: None