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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019_02_05 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes, February 5, 2019 Attendees: Mitch Green,Arlene Novich, Sue Odierna, Marc Karell, Mark Kramer, Colin Goldberg, George Roniger, Diane Neff, Elizabeth Poyet, Karen Khor, Michele Lewis, Beth Radow, Elana Mass,Jeff King,Victor Tafur, Katherine Desmond Minutes of January 8th meeting were accepted. Introductions of guests Katherine Desmond from Village of Mamaroneck working on Healthy Yards sub- committee and Victor Tafur, Village of Mamaroneck Trustee. Food Waste Recycling Beth and Elana updated the group on their progress regarding the NYS DEC Food Waste Prevention Grant. Focusing on education piece, why it is necessary to prevent food waste and how to do it. Would like to hire consultant who will create professional campaign. District administrators and facilities staff have been met with and school initiatives are being fleshed out. School personnel are very excited, they say the timing is perfect. Municipal initiatives consist of LMC-TV PSA's and advice on website, FB, e- newsletter(will include recipes, how not to waste at the source, distribution of door tags). Would like to have cooking demos re:how to use food scraps(not throw out)and orient towards food-insecure people too. Elana to meet with Steve re:solid waste consultant names. Beth has talked with and recommended a consultant based in California who is interested in working on this. Target is to have a full draft of the grant in about a week. The maximum we can request is$250,000,staffing amount cannot exceed $150,000. Karen mentioned she will meet with Dr. Shops,Annie Ward and others from the school district regarding a district-wide Sustainability Committee and that they are trying to figure out how to include this in the curriculum. Karen was asked if this committee would consist of school staff, volunteers or both. Karen to report back to us at the March Collaborative meeting. Karen also updated us that Hommocks and Chatsworth Avenue Schools will start bringing their food waste to Maxwell Avenue in March and that the school district will handle the transfer. Comments/questions included: George wondering what our statement is as to WHY we're concerned about food waste. Beth explained that food waste is the 3rd largest contributor to global warming and also that financially speaking, the average family of four throws away$2,000 per year in food waste. Katherine D. thought re:educational materials that it would be helpful to have the visual of a garbage truck with all of the waste we throw away, these types of photos would be helpful. Victor T. mentioned that Tom Murphy(Village Mam'k Mayor)asked him to attend this evening because this grants involves all three municipalities(and the school district)and he was to report back to Tom. Several collabs had reported last month that the food waste cans in the front at the Yard were full;there was some improvement since the January meeting and this week most cans in the front had been emptied, though there were reports by some that this was not consistently the case. Sanitation staff were asked to check cans more frequently and rotate full cans to the back. Westchester County, through George Latimer and Peter McCort, is trying to update the Climate Change Action Plan and they are looking for volunteers. Interested parties should contact the County Executive's office. Action Item 1: Karen to report back at March meeting on her meeting with school personnel Action Item 2: Beth/Elana to update us at March meeting on grant status(grant is due March 1st.) Reusable Bag Initiative (RBI) Sue reported that the Town Attorney is continuing to work on the draft of the Town's reusable bag law. Though NY State has a proposed bill in Governor Cuomo's budget, it does not include a fee for paper bags. Since it has been shown that the fee is the only way to truly increase reusable bag shopping and decrease paper and plastic single-use shopping, municipalities and organizations were asked to attend public hearings(Sue attended NYS Assembly delegation hearing and Nancy attended NYS Senate delegation hearing). We will also be asked to write letters to our NYS elected officials emphasizing the need for the fee. (Good news is that if the Town passes a law in which there is a fee, it appears that will stand even if the State's potential law does not have the fee.) Action Item: Mitch asked Sue to set up call with Steve Wolk regarding next steps (this was done) Action Item 2: Reminder to continue to do! Per Steve Wolk's recommendation below, please remember the following when you shop: "Thank all stores in town for supporting the Reusable Bag Initiative. Best to thank the manager, but even if you thank someone at the register that is good. If they hear it enough,it will get through to the manager and then corporate HQ.You can do this even if you haven't heard that they support it yet. If they say they don't support it,then people should act shocked and dismayed (but not argumentative,just deeply disappointed as you would really feel). It will have an impact." Action Item 3: Letter regarding the plastic bag ban to be drafted by Citizens Campaign for the Environment and sent to municipalities and enviro groups. Once received, Sue to forward draft to Mitch so Collabs can sign off on letter;Nancy to consider sending one as well(letters will go to NYS elected officials) Healthy Yard Initiative Diane reported that the plan is to launch this program on March 1st The initiative will emphasize pesticide free lawns, but also that a healthy yard can be beautiful and that yards are not meant to be perfectly manicured spaces but living, growing yards. Diane suggested the Town hire an integrated pest management consultant. Regarding the lawn signage promoting healthy yards, Diane and Michele passed around various sign designs and stands(metal, wood)for comments. Also Michele has purchased 50 copies of the "The Prfect Yard"book. Arlene is working with Larchmont Library to produce support packages regarding the April 27th Healthy Yards program there. The speaker at library event will be the President of Audubon Westchester. Katherine Desmond(VoM)is designing a one-page bookmark Sue reported that she and June met to work on the Healthy Yard webpage with IT Head, Roz and that that is progressing nicely. June will have a more finalized webpage to show off to Collabs at the March meeting. Michele passed out the proposed budget, totaling$3,753 which includes printing,postcards,signs, banners, books, buying plants and seeds, costs for lecturers for events. After Collabs sign off on it, the Town Board needs to approve. Action Item: Mitch and Nancy to discuss budget(which needs to be approved by Town Board) Update: this has NOT been done yet Noise/Leaf Blowers Elizabeth P. reported that the VoL Trustees are working on the budget currently and won't be able to meet on the leaf blower issue until March or April. Victor mentioned that VoM is working on their budget too. Mitch emphasized that one municipality or another is bound to be working on a budget and that we should try and schedule a call with Nancy to get her views on how to move forward on tri- municipal code changes regarding leaf blowers. Meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm. The next Collaborative meeting will be Tuesday, March 5,2019 at 6 pm at the VFW/Senior Center in the large dining room.