HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_10_26 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes
Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative
2021.1026 Collab Meeting Notes
Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative
Meeting Notes, for “November” held on October 26, 2021
(Meeting Live, Senior Center 6pm – 8pm)
Attendees: Mitch Green, Jeff King, Sue Odierna, Arlene Novich, Frank Owens, Mark Kramer, Karen Khor,
Elizabeth (Libby) Poyet, June Wallach, Michele Lewis, Nick Zuba, Karin Weisburgh, Kevin Crowe,
Mark Manley, Jake Levitt, and intern Kat Warwick
Notes of October 5, 2021 meeting were accepted. (We had two meetings in October, due to need to reschedule
November meeting.)
Mitch welcomed everyone and mentioned that Kat Warwick would be interning in the Supervisor’s office parti-
time, two days per week with Collabs volunteer Denise Dunn. They will be gathering data in order to resubmit the
Climate Smart Community certification due in early January.
Community Health
Tree Canopy Preservation
Discussion about how to move Town Board forward regarding increasing the tree canopy. Suggestions were made
to start a petition, that there needed to be a groundswell to get the TB moving. Other comments were that if trees
are part of the Climate Emergency Declaration, there might be more of an urgency to do something about trees.
The sentiment was that the County will want the Town to pass the Climate Declaration and this can help the Town
to get trees. Nancy had reported to Mitch prior to this meeting that the Collabs should not expect any changes
regarding trees prior to January 2022. Mitch explained that the new Town Administrator needed to work with the
Environmental Planner and the Town Engineer to discuss. Discussion ensued about requesting Town department
staff have a meeting with Collab Tree Committee members in January to discuss what they’ve come up with.
Mitch asked Jake to email his petition to Sue and he asked about Collab volunteers meeting one-on-one with
appropriate staff. Jeff King said it would not be a good idea to give Town staff a deadline of a January meeting.
There was a question as to what happened to the tree planting planned for this past fall. Sue said she would
follow up with the two departments.
Update: Sue spoke to Town Engineer Rob Wasp who reported the following: “The Town’s tree planting program
was unfortunately postponed, to resume in spring 2021. Storm damage assessment and reporting work from
Hurricane Ida occupied staff resources so that the fall planting list could not be produced on time within the
suitable fall planting season. We look forward to resuming a robust planting program in spring 2021.”
Climate Smart Communities
As a reminder, Mitch reported that Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson would like Collabs to help with the Town’s CSC
recertification, since we did not maintain our five year CSC certification that expired this past summer. Mitch gave
our intern Kat the CSC printout which contains the list of actions to apply for. The deadline to resubmit is
January7, 2022.
Climate Emergency Declaration
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The Town declaration, based on the New Rochelle model, was submitted to Nancy and Jeff on September 30. The
TB members were engaged but felt TB’s declaration needed to reflect the Town, not an 80,000 + city like New
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Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative
2021.1026 Collab Meeting Notes
Rochelle. TB asked for another draft. Nancy said she’d review prior to getting to TB. There were mixed opinions
as to deleting deadlines that certain staff needed to make. Also, it was felt that declarations should be all
encompassing so particular demographics are not left out. Collabs should help with how to implement climate
plan and advise TB. That should be their “homework,” not that of the Town Administrator. Some felt declaration
should be much shorter. The TB said the outreach and education to the community should come from the
Collaborative. Collab members felt it would be helpful to speak to other committees to get “buy in.”
Update: On November 17, the Town adopted the Climate Emergency Declaration.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM
The next meeting will be held at the Senior Center “yellow room” location (our new spot) on Tuesday,
December 7, 2021.
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