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Green Committee Minutes 2008 03-24-08 APPROVED United City of Yorkville Green Committee Meeting Sixth Meeting -- March 24, 2008 The meeting was called to order at 7:08 p.m. Present: Jill Fleishman, Chair Anne Engelhardt, Member Chuck Roberts, Member Phil Stuephert, Member Tony Graff, Member Debbie Horaz, Member Mariann Manthei, Member Alan Green, Member Ralph Pfister, Member Stephanie Boettcher, City of Yorkville, liaison Valerie Brad, Mayor City of Yorkville Committee Members Absent: Marta Keane, Eric Schoeny Guests: Nancy Wagner, from ELPC (Environmental Law and Policy Center) Andrew Weithe from ELPC (Environmental Law and Policy Center) Citizens: Three representatives from Washington River LLC Approval of Minutes: Approved as presented. OLD BUSINESS: Water conservation Seminar Monday, April 28, 7 - 9 p.m., Yorkville Public Library. Nancy Wagner, with Andrew Weithe, both from ELPC, gave an overview of the program, along with highlights from her power point presentation. The theme, she explained, will be"how do we as a community prepare for and manage water resources with our anticipated growth." She answered several questions from the committee. The program will begin with welcome by Mayor Burd. Three speakers will be featured: Nancy Wagner will speak on ground water and water-saving actions. Phil Steuphert, from the Green Committee, will be talking about conservation design in landscaping. Megan Andrews, from the Soil and Water conservation District will talk about rain gardens and native plants. Two members of'The Giving Tree Band will play outdoors in front of the library from 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. as people arrive and register. The program will go to approximately 8:20, at which time people will be able to experience the exhibits. Orders will be available for rain barrels (Cost $50 if'30+ orders are made). Order forms for 3 different packages of native grasses from the Soil and Water Conservation District will be available. Several other exhibits will also be on display. Laura Haake, City Park Designer, will have a display showing what the City of Yorkville is doing in regard to water conservation. Handouts will be given to attendees. A self-survey for individuals to check "how green are you?" will be distributed. Food of fruit and cookies and soft drinks will be offered to attendees. A painted rain barrel will be raffled at the end of the evening. CFL,'s will also be distributed fiom the City of Yorkville to attendees It was confirmed that Ace Hardware is able to collect used (not broken) CFLs for another year. Ms. Boettcher will make corrections to the handout about CFLs, including the proper handling and disposal of them. Other items related to the seminar were discussed. Ms. Fleishman is working on handout listing items of water savings kits, indoor or outdoor, Mr, Graff suggested working with Ace and Home Depot for product/prices/ availability. Ms. Horaz suggested a table featuring eco- friendly cleaning products Ms. Engelhardt will give her name of local Shaklee distributors. Ms. Horaz will check into other earth-friendly cleaning products to display. Ms. Horaz asked Mr. Stuephert to bring samples of permeable pavers for attendees to examine. Mr. Roberts suggested that the Yorkville Garden Club be invited to feature a rain garden. Rain gardens will be covered by Megan Andrews. He also suggested that the Yorkville Garden Club consider that the next garden walls event feature a yard with a rain garden. Ms, Engelhardt will bring this suggestion to the next Garden Club meeting. She offered to distribute the news release about the April 28`1'Water Conservation Seminar to this group on April 3rd,. Ms. Fleishman suggested that presidents of local homeowners associations be invited. Members of the committee indicated that there is not a list of these people. Mr. Graff thought the Neighborhood Watch group may have a list of key people in various neighborhoods. Ms. Wagner agreed to generate a letter of invitation to be used. She will send it to Ms. Boettcher who will work with the City staff to send letters to publicly elected and appointed leaders in Yorkville and neighboring communities, Ms. Wagner will work with Glory Spies on press releases and other publicity. To encourage the attendance of the Yorkville City Council, members of the Green committee will call each of the aldermen by April 5"i. Ms. Engelhardt will contact Rose Spears and Joe Besco; Ms. Horaz will contact Gary Golinski, Ms. Fleishman will contact.Toe Plocher, Mr. Graff will contact Wally Werderich; Mr. Stuephert will contact Marty Munns. Robyn Sutcliff is expected to attend. OTHER BUSINESS: Process for working with City Council and City Committees Mayor Burd explained the process to work with City Council and Committees. (Refer to handout from Chr. Fleishman), The City Council has four standing committees of four aldermen on each committee. An item for consideration can be brought to the City council via a report/ recommendation from the Green Committee. At that point the City council may have a general discussion or general questions. The city council will then vote to send the item to the appropriate committee, which meets on a regular schedule. The committee will discuss the issue and determine next steps, such as continuing research and discussion, taking back to council for a vote, sending it to a grant writer. The issue must be supported by 3 or more committee members for it to be brought back to council as an agenda item. Mayor Bard also suggested that if the Green Committee wants a recommendation to be considered by a committee, someone from our committee should talk to the chair or member of the standing committee to which it will be sent. This will alert the chair prior to hearing about it at the City council meeting. The Mayor encouraged the Green Committee to use this approach because the report/ recommendation will be heard by the public and will usually also gain some newspaper publicity. Another method is to bring the issue to the direct attention of a standing committee member who can take it directly to committee. Contact any alderman on that committee to ask to be on their Committee meeting agenda, This expedites the process, but leaves out the possibility for publicity. Also, to communicate with any City staff member, members of the Green Committee should go to Chr. Fleishman who will go through Stephanie Boettcher, the liaison from the City to the Green Committee, Mayor Burd also encouraged the Green Committee to attend City council meetings and to get to know the aldermen and their committees.. E-Waste recommendation Mr. Green took the recommendation for an electronic waste site to City Council. It was referred to the Public Works Committee, which met and asked the city's grant writer to begin work on an Illinois grant application. Because Ms. Keane and Ms. Engelhardt researched this issue and have gathered detailed information regarding an E -waste site, Ms. Boettcher will set up a meeting with them and the grant writer, Water Conservation Recommendation Ms. Fleishman presented the Green Committee a draft of a recommendation for water conservation. (See attachment.) One part of the recommendation requests that the City Council use the Algonquin, Illinois plan as a model water conservation plan. Mr.. Graff asked the committee to get legal direction on ordinances, particularly to interpret property right of covenants of homeowners' associations. Mayor Burd explained that was unnecessary because the City of Yorkville has legal council available, The Green Committee can make the recommendations; the City's legal council will evaluate it. Mr'. Green expressed concern that parts of the Algonquin plan may not be appropriate for Yorkville. Ms. Engelhardt suggested that a two-person subcommittee review both the Algonquin Plan and Everett, Washington plan and compare them with the current Yorkville city ordinance on water conservation. The sub-committee will have the task of selecting new/ different items that will enhance and strengthen Yorkville's current ordinance. Ms. Fleishman asked Mr. Green and Mr. Roberts to be the subcommittee for this task, which needs to be ready for the Green Committee by our,next meeting on April 14. Other Ms. Engelhardt announced that the Yorkville Congregational Church Green Group will be hosting a free movie night for the community on Sunday, April 20, 6:30 p.m. In conjunction with Earth Day, the movies will be one episode from Planet Earth and An Inconvenient Truth. Ms. Engelhardt will email the flyers, which can be shared, copied, or posted, Ms. Horaz reported on hearing a speaker, Edward L. Laurent, who gave a very brief presentation on gasification to the Kendall County Board on Wed. March 19. She summarized the main points of a power point (handout, but was not actually presented to the County Board) "The Perfect Solution" on gasification to deal with solid waste as an alternative to landfills. Ms. Engelhardt suggested that the Green Committee invite Mr'. Laurent to speak at a future meeting simply for teaming about another alternative to deal with waste, create jobs, and harness energy. Ms. Fleishman asked Ms. Engelhardt to contact him to find a possible date to attend a meeting, perhaps June or.July. Ms. Fleishman showed a copy of a book Earth - The Sequel, She has already asked the Yorkville Public Library to order one. Mrs. Fleishman asked Mr. Roberts to present a brief report to the City Council at their meeting on Tuesday, April 8, 7. pan. He will highlight the Water Conservation Seminar along with other topics being addressed by the Green Committee. Ms. Engelhardt will email a bullet point list based on meeting notes which can be used by Mr. Roberts. FUTURE MEETINGS April 14, 7 p.m. - Focus on Tree ordinance. Guest, Laura Haake, City Park Designer to explain what Yorkville is doing and what may be needed in the future. GREEN COMMITTEE - COMPLETE. THE TREE SURVEY BEFORE THIS MEETING. April 28, 7 - 9 p.m. - Water conservation Seminar. GREEN COMMITTEE - COME EARLY, 6 P.M., TO HELP WITH SET UP, GREETING GUESTS, ETC. May 19, 7 p.m. - What is LEED and USGBC? What can Yorkville do to encourage Green Building? A representative from USGBC (United States Green Building Council) will present information about the USGBC LEED program. Ms Boettcher will send invitations to City council and Plan Commission to encourage their attendance. Green Committee follow-up will include discussion and recommendation to City Council. GREEN COMMITTEE - BEFORE THE MEETING, TO BE PREPARED, READ "CHICAGO STANDARD FOR PUBLIC BUILDINGS"..