Environmental Advisory Committee Meeting

Regular Meeting Minutes January 18, 2024 MINUTES FOR THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTE OF THE BOROUGH OF WALDWICK HELD ON THURSDAY JANUARY 18, 2024 OPENING PORTION • Executive Director Mr. Joseph Oravetz called the meeting to order and read the Statement of Compliance. • Mr. Oravetz also took the roll call. Present on the roll call were: Dr. Raina Parnov-Dawson, Dr. Mohammad Quamrul Ahsan, David Isaacs, David Zilkowski, Dan Montella and Thomas McCormick. Town Commission Liaison Mr. Mark Ramundo was also present. • Pledge of Allegiance made. • A motion was made to waive the reading of minutes from December 2023. PUBLIC PORTION • No comments from the public • Dr. Raina Parnov-Dawson was sworn in again for a new term by Mr. Oravetz. • New committee member Thomas McCormick was also sworn in by Mr. Oravetz. • David Isaacs will serve as secretary for 2024. OLD BUSINESS • Status of Sustainable Jersey o Mr. Mark Ramundo reported that Waldwick Boro Administrator, Mr. Steven (Steve) Neale, has had experience filing for Sustainable Jersey for Verona during his previous position, and that he would like to pursue and help file for 2024 Sustainable Jersey Status. Steve will leverage himself and Matt Guilder to prepare write ups for actions. He knows how to prepare the write ups and can use boiler plate (i.e., templates) from his work in Verona. He will also push for the Water Conservation action. He wants to do actions that will provide credit for rain garden and municipal solar panels. o Mr. Ramundo sent Steve a copy of ANJEC grant document/application for available money available for energy efficiency program. This could be used to fund solar lights poles for pathway at Borough Park. Solar lights will help the town avoid costs of running and installing buried conduits/ feeds. • Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) o EPS drive was held on January 6 at the Waldwick Recycling Center. The entire 40 cy dumpster was filled to capacity (i.e., to the to the top). Allendale Green Team members also participated, including: Mark Savastano, Jim Stouch and Patty Finn. o There is a new EPS flyer on the town website. o Upcoming EPS drive collection (April 13, July 13 and October 5). o Mark discussed opening a bin at the DPW for Expanded Polystyrene (EPS/ Styrofoam). Then the DPW can take it to the densifier in Ridgefield Park once a month for densifying. o Mark will propose/ask for the Municipal Recycling Center to be open late one night in the week. The committee also recommended directional Arrows (or signs) for traffic flow at the Municipal Recycling Center. 1|Page Regular Meeting Minutes January 18, 2024 • Townwide composting o Legal advice is needed for how to mention the two composting services available in town without giving a specific endorsement to either. • https://www.neighborhoodcompost.com/ • https://www.source-compost.com/ • Nextrex (Trex) Plastic Bag Drive o A photo needs to be sent of the collected bag as proof. o Municipalities are now limited to one bench per year. The Nextrex program requires us to hit 1,000 pounds of material in 12 months to get one bench. o DPW Poured pads for 2 benches at public service building. o NexTrex Recycling Program: https://nextrex.com/ o NexTrex Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDNFXtMu6M0&t=103s • Environmental flyer/ newsletter o Information on the two (2) new Level 3 Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations that is to be installed in town are to be provided to Dan Montella for inclusion in the newsletter. o Matt Guilder went for 75K grant for level 3 EV station. o Dan Montella will ask Steven Neale if it is beneficial to include the EV charging stations in the newsletter. • Dan put a note in the newsletter on two composting services available. Language will be included that we don’t endorse either vendor. • https://www.neighborhoodcompost.com/ • https://www.source-compost.com/ • Cost, ~$15-$17 per week • Service will pick up your composting NEW BUSINESS • The Environmental Advisory Committee, the Green Team and the Beautification Committee will be merged. However, there have been no further developments or information on this. • Boro Administrator, Steven Neale mentioned that Verona is hosting a backyard composting discussion. o https://myveronanj.com/event/backyard-composting/ o https://youtu.be/XdoxKL0Uwbc?si=PjDqbICWc7N_9rDp • Waldwick will be hosting the Sustainable Jersey Bergen Hub on January 29th - energy efficiency grant program in the council chambers. • Bridge Flower Boxes: o Dave Zilkowski presented photos of Bridge flower boxes in Saddle River and of the proposed boxes. o Bridge belongs to county. Therefore we may need to check for permissions. This effort can br done together with beautification Committee. o We need to figure out what kind of boxes and how to irrigate. Irrigation can be done via sump pumps encased in filter bag dropped in river. o Tom McCormick suggested asking if Waldwick Gardens be interested in doing this and posting their sponsorship. 2|Page Regular Meeting Minutes January 18, 2024 • Deer Control: o Discussed how Saddle River handles der population control. o It was mentioned that sterilizing is not an option in NJ. (Note this is included among alternate population control measures.) o https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/wildlife/community-based-deer-management/ • Tree seedlings – NJDEP Forest Service Nursery still hasn't posted what tree seedlings will be available. o www.forestnursery.org • Earth day is coming up in (April 22, 2024). • Town wide cleanup potentially in the Spring. • Tee shirts: a new logo was found that can be used for pattern on shirts. • Community garden was discussed and could possibly include a greenhouse. CORRESPONDENCE None ADJOURNMENT Motion for adjournment made at 8:30 PM. Next meeting (reorganization meeting) will be on February 15, 2024 at the council chambers. 3|Page