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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20130128CRCMinutes.doc COMMUNITY RESOURCE COMMITTEE AND GOALS WORKSHOP Minutes: January 28, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill O’Brien, Shelly Krueger, Freda Rutherford, Chantel Morton, and Brad Sherman MEMBERS ABSENT: Sandy Major, Frank Kelly, Rusty Fleetwood, Mallory Pearce, Jim Burke, Karen Kelly, Tommy Linstroth, Pat Locklear, Paul Wolff VISITORS: Mayor Jason Buelterman, Katherine Propbst, and Eric Curl CALL TO ORDER: Bill called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm. MINUTES FROM THE OCTOBER MEETING: Deferred ANNOUNCEMENTS: Lisa Callahan and Libby Bacon resigned from the CRC. Please send all documents and pictures to the CRC secretary, Shelly, to file in the Dropbox folder. MAYOR’S REMARKS: Mayor Buelterman was present to speak and offer suggestions for how the CRC can continue to advocate on behalf of its mission statement and produce tangible results. There are many upcoming opportunities that the CRC is able to offer recommendations to the City, especially regarding the new public safety facility. The contract for the design of the new public safety building was approved and the CRC could offer recommendations. The Mayor will talk with Diane Schleicher to arrange a meeting with the CRC and the contractors. MAYOR’S DISCUSSION: The Mayor was asked how often the CRC should present to Council and he said that it is helpful, and quarterly would likely be appropriate, and best when there is not a full agenda on the docket. The CRC would like to free up City resources, we are wondering how to be proactive to have people save energy, etc., such as changing to low flow showerheads and toilets. Tybee currently has no incentives for new construction, and that is something the CRC could look into. Discussion ensued about changing the way the water bill describes water usage, instead of a number (e.g., “3”) to actually list the approximate number of gallons and make the current graph more user-friendly and descriptive. It can be a good thing to identify the “low hanging fruit” to retain CRC members and establish our reputation for supporting the City. July 1st begins the new year and CRC can help to guide the City perhaps to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles, etc. The Mayor was asked what he thought CRC should report upon at the quarterly City Council meetings. The Mayor suggested energy savings reports, recommendations, and reporting on the trash and recycling mix by quarter and over time. Regarding recommendations for the future, would be helpful to show baseline and then determine a goal, e.g. reduce energy use 25% in two years. Bill suggested we start inviting Council members to attend CRC meetings one at a time in order to introduce them to the committee and they can find out more about us and vice versa in order educate them about our mission and generate support to better serve the City’s needs. Council is given the CRC minutes to read. Brad made a motion to invite each of the City Council members who have not already attended a CRC meeting to attend the next five meetings by invitation. Freda seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. GREEN ISLAND AND ECOTOURISM: Promotion of Tybee tourism is done by the Tybee Tourism Council and funded by the hotel/motel tax. The community garden has been contributing food from the garden to the Food Bank and it has been appreciated. They will be planting fruit trees in Memorial Park. Chantel suggested CRC produce a video on Channel 7, working with Mike Modine, perhaps about the community garden or turning lawns into gardens. The CRC is able to do press releases through Michael. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Solid Waste – Recycling cardboard is a great way to reduce waste and save the City money. Pratt Industry will provide an 8-yard container and haul it away free. The City has gone with single stream, so the cardboard is able to be recycled, but it is combined with other recyclables and must be sorted out; in the meantime, it can become covered in food wastes and grease, or rainwater, which adds additional weight and diminishes its value. Apparently, the City would like to see the single steam numbers before it decides for separate bins for cardboard, especially since space is an issue. The Mayor said he would email City Management to see where they are with the cardboard recycling issue. Discussion ensued about condominiums and recycling. Many owners would like to see recycling but it is up to the condominium associations whether they purchase it from the private garbage collectors. Currently, the trash is picked up two days a week and recycling every 2 weeks. The CRC can make a motion and share the minutes, and then Council can discuss it. 2014 Birding Festival – Shelly Shelly reported she would not be pursuing the birding grant for 2013 due to a personnel change; however, ecotourism will likely be a NOAA Coastal Incentive Grant theme for 2014 and plans to continue her work on the grant either under the UGA aegis or for the CRC. Katherine has grant writing experience and it would be a great event for Tybee Island to get the grant for 2-years and then perhaps have the Tybee Tourism council or another entity to take it over. Green Team – Chantel The team is rebranding and holding a goals workshop to work on the logo, fine-tuning the mission statement to be environmentally conscious and have open discussion. November 23rd is “America Recycles Day.” ACTION ITEMS Bill will invite Council members to CRC meeting and Brad will help to educate them about the geothermal unit. CRC members should think about the recommendations they should be making to City Management and City Council, including proposal of how to help with the new public safety building. What is the process for community involvement? Meet with the Mayor and the design contractor to find out how to engage in conversation about energy efficiency for the new building and meet with Green Line architects. The Mayor will contact City Management to see how to move forward with the design contractor for public safety building. Bill will send Brad an invite to Dropbox Bill will talk with Brad about the next meeting when a Council member shall be invited to learn about the geothermal units NEW BUSINESS: N/A OLD BUSINESS: N/A ADJOURN: Bill made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:24 pm. Freda seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously slk