Environmental Advisory Committee

Agenda for the Environmental Committee Meeting Date: May 17, 2021 1. Opening – Dave Brizzolara “This meeting, which conforms with the OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS LAW, CHAPTER 231, PUBLIC LAWS OF 1975, is a regular Environmental Committee meeting. Notices have been filed with our local official newspapers and posted on the Municipal Bulletin Board”. 2. Roll Call – X Dave Brizzolara X Dritan Xhillari X Norel Blundo X Boniface Kiamue X Kathryn Cribbin X Councilman Chris Montana 3. Public Forum 4. Council Liaison Report – TREX Chris: now that borough buildings are back open to the public, we may need to start collecting again because there could be a demand for it i. Norel will take up this task as the Green Team has been asking about this as well. Will delegate a group of volunteers to do pickups each week. ii. Dave to send Norel Stephanie Hicks contact information when we get it from Jeanne – SCOUTS Chris: now that the pandemic is calming down, can Tim McClair sit down with the regional scout master to brainstorm environmental projects with the WEAC. We should try for the June 21 meeting. – We are all comfortable meeting in-person for next meeting – Chris: we are still working on a replacement candidate. There were 3 names, two no longer interested. We need to find someone. i. Dave: we should put something on social media looking for volunteers ii. Kate: also add to the Pascack Press article 5. Passing Meeting minutes – Passed 6. Recap of Town Clean-up and next steps – Chris: Great feedback on the clean-up, public was very happy with it and thought it was well organized. Will utilize other means of getting the word out next time, but this time was very well attended. Next time there is the opportunity to work Palisades Ave; maybe in the fall? – Boniface: we should reach out to the local neighborhood of where we are cleaning up next time i. Kate: in addition to the social media posts, we can stick flyers in mail boxes – Chris: all about community involvement and awareness  – Chris has a bunch of pictures and will send them to Kate for social media. – Article for Pascack Press? i. Dave will draft something up for the Pascack Press to John Schneider. Will send something for the group to review this weekend for inclusion in next week. ii. Chris: we had 39 bags and a lot of loose trash 7. Environmental Scavenger Hunt – Dave: do we want to pick a date? Summer? No August meeting so need to keep in mind for organizing and logistics – Norel: can we Lauren and Roseanne from Celebrate Westwood – Kate: there are summer environmental dates in June 5 (World Environment Day), July (Plastic Free July), and September 16-17 (Clean up the World Campaign) – Norel: summer is tough because school is not in session to generate interest – Chris: maybe we can do it in conjunction for another clean up off of Palisades Avenue – Kate: could do scavenger hunt and have it wrap up with the next environmental clean-up. Could target September 18 and have a prize. – Norel: Plastic Free July would be a good time to get TREX program up and running again; need to get a hold of TREX contact so we can figure out where they bundle these bags 8. Nugent Park – Meeting with scout leaders? 9. Other Items – Dritan to connect with Chris from the Brewery in June hopefully for renewables i. Not the right time right now for the owners of Prohibition – Norel: has been doing a lot of reading for wildflower gardens, but we missed the growing season – Norel: Bird sanctuary park – instead of bird boxes, can we think about native plants to attract birds; could potentially reach out to contacts at the Audubon society for other ideas 10. Action Items – Dave to draft article for Pascack Press by this weekend – Kate to make some social media posts on the clean up – Norel to reach out to TREX (Dave to get contact info) – Chris will reach out to Tim McClair for June meeting attendance