Town of Rochester ECC meeting, February 12, 2015

Attendance: Chris, Stu, Ben, Barbara, Tim, Angela, Laura

Guests: Greg Kenney, Melissa McDonough, Colin McDonough, Larry DeWitt

 

I. Call to order

 

II. Business and logistics

a.       minutes review and approval from January meeting

 

III. Reports

a.       Water quality (Angela)

b.      EMC report (Tim)

-Ulster County government is now carbon neutral

-Since pharmaceuticals don’t leave our waters, we discussed ways that people can get rid of them without dumping them.

-town and county electric cars, with charging station potential

c.  Rail Trail report (Stu)

-no new updates

d. Open Space Inventory (Chris/Larry)

-They met with Carl Chipman in early February. Larry is finalizing the grant application with DEC’s Jill Shaw. Once we receive the funds we will send out RFPs and will check on where Wawarsing sent theirs to, e.g. local papers, trade websites, and the DEC suggested list.

e. UCRRA (Barbara)

-no update at this point

f. Save the Rondout (Angela)

-this is a spinoff from our Creek Week work. The proposed new name is the Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance. There’s an intermunicipal creek walk where the towns (Rochester, Rosendale, Wawarsing) will focus on an event that highlights data collection.

g. Watershed grant through New York Rising (Laura)

-quick update on potential funding

-quick mention of the $5,000 grant that Ben shared with the group. Due in April. Toyota is providing the money. Larry will review the details and will report to the group in the future.

h. Niagara Bottling (Angela)

-not much to report, aside from them being denied in the first round of tax breaks.

 

IV. New Business

a. March 22 event

-Ben showed us info brochures about protecting our water edges. He will try to get enough to share with the attendees of our event. Chris will look into the county agency that provides free printing in case Ben can’t get enough from his agency.

-Some items that will be covered at the event: Pollinator friendly towns, recycling, GMOs. There was an idea to give out native plants from the CCE, but that happens in April. Laura suggested that we can still give out plants, but in April when people come to pick up Earth Day bags. P.S. Pollinators don’t have political boundaries.

-Angela may not be able to make it, so we had a discussion about whether or not the March 22 date is still good. Discussed early April instead, closer to Earth Day. But there was a lot of interest in making it on Earth Day, as an after-cleanup event. We could see if there’s a chance to collaborate with the Youth Department cleanup and pizza. We cold do a separate cleanup day though so there’s two strong cleanings that happen. Stu recommended that we try to recycle recyclables this year (which will require rubber gloves and other sanitary measures).

-Having the one speaker (butterfly woman, Maraleen Manos-Jones, this time) with the handouts inside seemed to work really well, with food afterward. Angela is going to ask for an outline of her presentation so we can all agree that we like it. Or we go see her presentation on February 22 at the Marbletown Community Center, 9:30-11am.

-Promotions: Equinox Rocks the Rondout: A community event discussion on backyard pollinators. Or, The Birds and the Bees. Discussed the word “Rocks”, which is a Rosendale thing. Brainstormed new ideas. Spring Fest: Birds and the Bees with the Butterfly Lady, or just the Birds and the Bees. A change to Earth Day means we can change the name to Earth Day Celebration. Looks like it will be Saturday, April 28. Cleanup will be on April 21. We’ll do flyers and banners in early April and press publicity in mid-to-late March.

 

Adjourn: 7:06pm