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Green Committee Minutes 2008 06-23-08 APPROVED United City of Yorkville Green Committee Meeting Eighth Meeting—June 23, 2008 Mission Statement: To advise the City Council of the United City of Yorkville, Illinois on ways to enhance the community environment and ways to equip and encourage citizens and businesses to participate in sustainable ecological practices. The meeting was called to order by Jill Fleishman at 7:10 pm Present: Jill Fleishman, Chair Marta Keane, Secretary Mariann Manthei, Member Cheryl Lee, Member Anne Engelhardt, Member Stephanie Brettcher, City of Yorkville liaison Robyn Sutcliff, Alderman Committee Members Absent: Al Green, Tony Graff, Chuck Roberts, Phil Stuepfert Guests: Gary Neyer, Richard Scheffrabn Minutes: Minutes from April 14 meeting were amended to reflect that Cheryl Lee is employed with C/L Design-Build, Inc,; that Laura Haake is the City Parks Designer; that Phil's last name is correctly spelled Stuepfert and that Eric's last name is Dhuse. The minutes were approved as amended, moved by Anne Engelhardt, seconded by Marianne Manthei, unanimous. Ms. Fleishman began by stating that in lieu of our monthly meeting in May, the Green Committee attended a joint City Council meeting in Oswego that included covering environmental topics. Tree Survey Recommendation Ms. Fleishman summarized Laura Haake's (City Park Designer) presentation in April, where she discussed the trees in Yorkville with the Committee. We spoke of the possibility of the a parkway tree survey, the tree canopy and the ability to inventory private trees, Alderman Sutcliff said that she discussed the Green Committee's recommendation and there was concern about the cost of an arborist to do this work, Ms. Fleishman directed Ms. Brettcher to follow-up with the Mayor on this item to keep it moving forward. Ms. Lee stated that she spoke to the High School teacher mentioned at the previous meeting and that he was interested in the concept of his students assisting with a tree survey/inventory but it needed to be cleared by his department head. Ms. Fleishman clarified that since the last meeting, the Mayor asked that none of the committee members speak to others about topics discussed until the Mayor approves the action. Ms. Boettcher stated that the Tree Survey is part of the City's Comprehensive Plan, which is currently being written and taken through the approval process. She believes that even if the cost is prohibitive, that the City will approve this program as part of the Comprehensive Plan and move forward with the study. Water Conservation Presentation Ms. Keane reported that the Public Works Committee scheduled for June 17 was canceled so AI Green did not present the Water Conservation recommendations from the Green Committee to the City. Alderman Sutcliff confirmed that the report was included in the Committee's packet, The next meeting is Tuesday, July 15 at 6pm and it should be on that Agenda. Ms. Keane confirmed that she will continue as Al's backup. E-Scrap Permanent Collection Program Ms. Engelhardt reported that she spoke to Bart Olson from the City's Public Works Department. He had received a copy of the Oswego Contract with Vintage Tech. Ms. Engelhardt expressed interest in staff putting together a fact sheet on what is needed and what the cost will be. Since the grant is not due until December, there is a fear that it will be unduly delayed. Ms. Keane stated that the completing the grant by September allows the State to give improvement notes and to get letters of support for the grant from State legislators. Ms. Fleishman asked that Ms. Engelhardt contact Bart Olson and take him up on his offer to update the Green Committee at next month's meeting. E-scrap as part of Environmental Fair Ms. Engelhardt reported that the Forest Preserve is not going to host an environmental fair on August 9 because Hoover is simply not ready. When Ms. Engelhardt heard this, she asked the County Health Department's Marlin Hartman if the County is planning on doing the e-scrap portion of the event. Mr. Hartman asked if Ms. Engelhardt`s church would consider hosting a third annual event but Ms. Engelhardt told him they had proven the need for such an event and now felt the event had grown beyond their abilities and budget. He then suggested the City of Yorkville and Ms. Engelhardt explained the City planned to submit a grant to start a permanent program but would not be ready until sometime next year. Mr. Hartman then said he would see if the County could pursue it. He called later and stated that the August 9 the County would host an event with Vintage Tech but needs volunteers. Ms. Engelhardt suggested that Mr. Hartman contact the schools to learn if their environmental clubs and service organizations might do the volunteer work. Ms. Lee suggested contacting all the Churches for additional volunteers, such as the CCD class at St. Patrick's. Ms. Fleishman also suggested Jim LaPorta, passing along his contact information as someone who called to volunteer for any collection programs done in Yorkville. Ms. Fleishman thanked Ms. Engelhardt for her personal interest and effort on this project. Ms. Fleishman expressed her pleasure with the Water Conservation seminar; the number of people and level of interest from the community. The Committee expressed thanks to Ms. Fleishman for her time on this program. Ms. Fleishman suggested that we could make this an annual event to continue to build on the interest of our citizens. Ms, Lee thought that this program will grow and will need room for more table-top displays. Ms. Lee thought it could even be held over a weekend. Ms. Manthei thought the bags given out by Thistle Stop were wonderful. Committtee Organization & Update Ms. Fleishman summarized some Committee structure and organization issues, She expressed appreciation for the surveys that were returned. She stated that Debbie Horaz resigned as a member of the committee and Cheryl Lee became a member. She regretfully announced that due to family commitments she will need to cease acting in Chairman capacity by the end of this month, She stated that Marta Keane will take over for an interim period but that anyone that is interested should submit their name to the Mayor. The Mayor will make this appointment and it needs to be someone that lives within the City. Ms. Fleishman also asked that an Education subcommittee be created with a designated chairman or joint chairmen to keep educational programs going without it being such a large portion on the Green Committee Chairman's list of responsibilities. Ms. Fleishman asked Ms. Keane and Ms. Engelhardt to consider being joint chairmen of this committee. Ms. Fleishman also asked that the City pursue gathering a list of homeowner associations to make education and information outreach easier. Ms. Fleishman suggested that due to the working nature of the Committee, that a rule be created, "If a member misses three meetings in a row without contacting the Chairman, they should lose voting privileges." She suggested the consideration of creation of non- voting memberships to increase the number of people involved in working on projects, malting suggestions but without hindering the Committee's ability to vote on subjects and keep projects moving. Ms. Lee asked if the City had Committee Guidelines. Ms. Fleishman thought it might be good to create a sheet of rules, protocol and expectations. Ms. Lee said that a committee she is on at the Yorkville Chamber has such a document and it makes it very clear that if you cannot make the commitment needed, that you will voluntarily resign, Ms. Boettcher said that she will pursue creating a draft of such guidelines. It was also agreed that our mission statement should appear on all documents related to the Committee, i.e. minutes, guidelines, etc. Ms. Fleishman asked that the mission statement be put on the City's website. Process of Committee Recommendations a) Ms. Fleishman stated that items are sent to Bonnie, the Mayor's Secretary. b) She will take the item from an e-mail or written document and show it to the Mayor; while copying it to Ms. Boettcher. c) The Mayor will e-mail it the appropriate City Committee, d) The Green Committee will have a member at that City Committee's meeting Ms. Engelhardt suggested that each item that is sent to the Mayor have the Green Committee member(s) assigned to the item be listed as contacts. In this way, anyone at the City with questions on the recommendation will know whom to contact. Ms. Lee suggested utilizing a City form to submit these recommendations in a uniform manner. It was stressed that Ms. Boettcher needs to tell the assigned Green Committee members when an item is assigned to a Sub-Committee at the City and when to attend that meeting. For those interested in ,joining the committee or in the Chairperson position — e-mail Bonnie at bolsemavorkville.il.us Rolling-On-the-River Ms. Fleishman received an extensive e-mail asking us to participate in the "Rolling-On- the-River Fair on August 16th at the County Fair Grounds, sponsored by Rush-Copley among others. There is an entrance fee for biking and canoeing and this could be a great venue for education, The Committee discussed using this event to get the remaining 1400 light bulbs out to the public, recognizing that this event includes people from throughout the area, beyond the City limits, possibly beyond the County. Ms. Lee volunteered to gather more information on this event and learn if there are any costs for us to participate. Kelly Stockman contact Ms. Fleishman and expressed interest in helping with this event where we could provide water conservation information. Mr. Scheffrahn stated that the City participated in this event last year. Ms. Boettcher stated that she will check with the Mayor to see if we can have a booth, give away light bulbs, do education and solicit volunteers. Brief Discussion of Joint Meeting in Oswego Both City Councils received an introduction to United States Green Buildings Council's LEED standards for new construction. This gave all elected officials some familiarity with the new approaches that builders may present as well as ideas on what they may want to see, Ms. Boettcher stated that Travis Miller and Bart Olson are to proceed on creating a policy on LEED with an action plan to be approved at the August City Council meeting. It is expected to be for public buildings first but it may evolve to include residential and commercial construction eventually. For the Committee's information, Ms. Boettcher reported that some painting work that is about to be done at a city building will be utilizing low-VOC paint. Ms. Englehardt asked that the City do some publicity to show that the City is doing things like painting environmentally. Future Ideas Apartment Recycling—can a contract be created for this service? Can more recycling being done for items not taken in the curbside program? How can construction recycling to be encouraged? Meeting adjourned at 9:05 pm