ECC Minutes March 2013

Meeting Notes for March 14, 2013
Members Present:  Laura Finestone, Steve Rice, Joe Britt, Ethan Roland, Jorge Gomes
Guests: Larry DeWitt, Avery Carbone
  • Meeting called to order 7:03 PM
  • Welcome and Introductions
  • Old Business
  • Earth Day – Town Road Clean-up event to be held on April 20 and 27.
  • ECC will clean Mettacahonts RD on April 20 (April 27 rain date).
  • Jorge will purchase safety vests.
  • Need to get trash pickers out of storage.
  • ECC will support event with banner purchase,  press release and local paper listings.
Steve motions to approve $175 for banner and sign purchase.  Jorge seconds and unanimous approval is given.
  • October farm market event
  • Agreed to keep event on the Saturday of Columbus Day weekend, which falls on October 12 this year.
  • Event planning subcommittee should develop list of farmer and other local businesses to invite, add local sustainable energy businesses to presenter list this year and come up with new name for the event this year. “In Our Backyard” suggested by Laura – TBD
  • Reports
  •  Rail Trail – Steve is submitting a report to the county on the rail trail.  Ulster County is working to fill in the gaps in the trail.  The NYS Dept of Corrections plans to open the section of rail trail through their property previously inaccessible. The developer of the Nevelle Resort plans to provide access to the four mile section of rail trail on the hotel property.  Joe volunteered to work with Steve on measuring and estimating materials needed to repair a wet, stretch of rail trail behind Williams Lumber.
  • RCWC – No activity, no future reports anticipated due to future RCWC meetings being unlikely.  
  • Stream monitoring – Riverkeeper does not have grant funding for this year and are desperately seeking a funding source for continued stream sampling.  If sampling continues, Joe won’t be able to sample this summer, but will train replacement and be a fill in when necessary.  Joe informs group that shared results from previous seasons testing was “off the charts”.
  • EMC – No report, Jorge was unable to attend February 27 EMC meeting.
  • Meeting adjourned at 8:22 pm