- Town of Rochester Environmental Conservation Commission Meeting 10/11/12
Present: Laura Finestone, Bob Dandrew, Joe Britt, Jorge Gomes
- Welcome and Intros
- Review September minutes – Laura motions to approve Joe seconds
- Review of October Farm Market & Ecological Showcase event
- Laura, Steve, Bob and Jorge staffed event, all felt it went extremely well
- Kudos to Laura for leading organization of event & soliciting vendors
- Vendors: 4 local organic farmers, 2 natural health and beauty products vendors, grass fed beef farmer, free range chicken and eggs, Diana’s Cats bake sale, ceramic art
- Bike club serviced several bikes and provided info
- Handouts seemed insufficient as ecological component and will need to work on that aspect of event next year
- Wood fired pizza vendor was very popular and band provided a nice background for the day
- ECC agrees to continue event on 1st Saturday of October 2013
Farmers were very excited by the turnout for event and would like to explore other potential events, ranging from adding a second annual event in spring with the ECC to exploring securing a location to have a regular farm market somewhere in the town of Rochester.
- Review of Creek Week
- 10-12 attendees, some campers joined last minute
- Advertising didn’t pay off, most attendees had not heard of event via ads
- John M. has photos
- Martha Cheo stated streams sampled were healthy (Mombaccus and Rochester creeks)
- Winter Event?
- Film Screen possible, Bob will inquire with film contact to see if something new available
- ECC and direction for group moving forward
- Revamp mission statement?
- Who are we/Where are we going?
- Is our primary function to reach out to and engage town residents?
- What about the possibility of formalizing the positions within ECC?
- Plan calendar for 2013
- Take time over next few meetings to work on goals/direction
- John to facilitate Nov. meeting
- RCWC on hiatus
- No Rail Trail report – Steve not at meeting
- Stream monitoring – Joe went out to sample in October
- No EMC report – Hank out of town attending state EMC conference in Syracuse
Minutes respectfully submitted 1/23/13 by Jorge Gomes