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MILTON GROWS GREEN COMMITTEE
AUGUST 9, 2011 MINUTES [APPROVED]
' Date: August 9, 2011, 6:30-8:10 pm
Place: Birmingham Fire Station 43, 750 Hickory Flat Road, Milton, GA 30004
Attendees: Jack Lindon, Francia Lindon, Cindy Eade, Bruce Langston and Charles Slade.
Agenda: It was posted on the City's web site.
I. Approval of Minutes: October 13, 2010 and January 20, 2011 were approved. December 8, 2010
were approved with a change. July 12, 2011 were approved electronically.
II. Announcements & Updates:
Environmental Resources Fair - to be held September 7' at the Chattahoochee Nature Center 4 -
6 pm, includes about 20 vendors and nonprofits interested in the environment are participating
as part of the first Evergreen Schools Program in North Fulton.
Recycling- Charles Slade announced that his company CWS has gotten a permit to build a new
34,000 sq. ft. materials recovery facility near Milton. It will be able to handle about 6 tons of
material per hour. It will be open to other haulers and he hopes it will be a big boost to
recycling in this area. Currently most of the "single stream" materials are taken to Southeastern
Paper, Forest Park. The demand for mixed paper has increased dramatically. This includes all
kinds of paper such as newspaper and office paper. The demand for cardboard has always been
good. CWS tries to stress service with electronics pickup, composting yard wastes to keep it out
of landfills and occasional shredding events for neighborhoods.
Charles also talked about how "scout trucks" worked and didn't work. This system is better for
rural areas but requires a premium fee. It requires two trucks, a scout truck and a mother truck to
dump into. He would need to do a whole neighborhood and have the HOA behind it, to make it
cost effective. The advantage in having CWS as a hauler is all of the value added services such as
recycling, electronics disposal and shredding. CWS charges $15 / month for curbside service.
Ultimately he would like to see a price break for those who recycle, a volume based program,
because it limits the amount of trash. This pricing system would also encourage recycling. But the
City has to be behind the program and enforce it.
The question was asked as to whether or not Milton was collecting all of its franchise fees from
haulers. Charles said it was easy to get a handle on the amount that should come in. Haulers here
are supposed to pay the City 57o' of everything they bill. The range haulers charge customers is
between $12 - $26/month. Multiply the average monthly cost x 5% x the number of households in
the City and you should come in close to what the City should be collecting.
Milton's charging a percentage is different from most other cities. Sandy Springs just charges a
flat rate of $1/house and this is easy to calculate and keep track of. Milton also has to have an
answer as to how the fees are going to be spent. Charles said haulers don't have a problem
collecting the fees but the fees need to be universally collected by the City. Gwinnett County has
central billing and has collected two years ahead of time. They've done a great job with their
program. The contracts are long enough that haulers are able to make the capital expenditures
necessary to implement a recycling program. We know that recycling isn't being offered by some
of the haulers despite the City ordinance. Jack talked about the need to do a base -line study to
Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, August 9, 2011 [APPROVED]
ALL MILTON GROWS GREEN DOCUMENTS ARE PRIIJTED ON RECYCLED PAPER WITH AT LEAST 357o' POST - CONSUMER CONTENT.
determine where Milton is on this before MGG can make recommendations on how to achieve
higher recycling numbers.
North Fulton Evergreen Schools Program - Cindy, Jack & Kathy Johnson met with Cliff Jones,
principal of Milton H.S. to present the MGG grant to him. He also talked about the need for
some landscaping in one of the four courtyard areas. They're about 35 x 100 feet. Although the
Principal has been working with some of the school groups, it's really out of the area of interest
of most. After this meeting Cindy got a call from Tracy Eller, Milton H.S. PTA Grounds and
Landscaping committee, asking if Milton Grows Green would be interested in adopting one of
the areas. Cindy said that MGG really wasn't set up to undertake these types of projects. We
didn't have the man power to do the ongoing maintenance it would require but MGG would
try to find a group that was better suited and looking for a project. Tracy also asked about a
section of Birmingham Hwy. by Mayfield Rd. being identified for Adopt -A -Road. Cindy
explained that because it was a state highway, the state had its own procedure and rules outside
of our program. This had to be done through the state's program but again we would try to find
a group that might be interested in adopting that mile. Cindy was going to supply a picture of
one of the courtyard areas. Jack was going to send the picture to some of the Scouts that have
asked for a list of projects.
Charles asked about the H.S. recycling program. He just set up a program at Johns Creek H.S.,
which is going well. It would be nice if the two H.S. would talk back and forth with each other.
CWS is also doing Crabapple Elementary. Charles was willing to put a program in place donating
the classroom collection and 96 gal. bins and doing weekly pickup. Waste Pro is currently
contracted with Fulton Schools but they are having problems recycling because the paper is often
contaminated with food. Cindy was going to try to set up a meeting between Cliff Jones, Charles
Slade, her and Jack to discuss this.
III. Old Business
Storm Drain Marking - Colin Liberatore, a Boy Scout from Walter Deans Troup 3000, and his
brother have been marking drains. Jack gave a list of the streets they've completed to Cindy to
pass on to Carter Lucas.
Bulky Trash - Janet Lieberman is bidding this out within the next week for two dates, one in the
fall and one March 2e. It will only be Milton and Roswell this year because Alpharetta offers
curbside pickup. Turning Alpharetta residents away with loaded cars will be tricky particularly
since Milton drivers' licenses often list Alpharetta as their residential address. You'd have to have
an alphabetical list of streets. Alpharetta should provide a handout giving the information on the
service available to their residents. Milton had 120 cars that took advantage of this at the last
event.
Rain Barrel Workshop - Cindy wants to hold one at the Bethwell Community Center sometime
in September.
MGG Governing Board - The board is to establish broad policy rather then decide specific
projects. Jack is going to talk to all currently members for their opinions on the direction or
purpose, an appropriate number and how often to meet. The trick is to keep the committee non-
political with members whose primary interest is in preserving the environment. Charles thought
that executive meetings should occur once a quarter.
Rivers Alive (Oct. 22, 2011) - The suggestion was made to look at last year's October minutes for
details on how the event was organized. Cindy has registered MGG with the state and we need to
be thinking about sites.
Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, August 9, 2011 [APPROVED] 2
Milton Roundup (Oct. 15,2011) — We'll have two booths, Clean Air Campaign booth and the
MGG booth with a focus on clean water initiatives.
Keep Georgia Beautiful — It requires 6 to 7 people to go through the training so the consensus is
that we need more volunteers before we can take this on. Cindy suggested a meeting with Sarah
Visser, Executive Director, to see if there is a way to move us forward.
Hazardous Waste Collection — This is an expensive event. Charles suggested doing a limited
event to gauge the response. There was some discussion about finding a hauler who is disposing
of the material responsibly. Latex paint can be hardened with various hardeners commercially
available. Waste haulers can then pick it up without problems. Education is part of the problem.
Clean Harbors was a mentioned vendor. Some groups are using events such as this as fund-
raisers. The Boy Scouts would love to be a sponsor.
Better World Books — The bins placed at Northwestern and Crabapple Crossing were placed in
obvious places and the question was raised as to whether or not we should ask them to move
them to a less obvious place. The question is whether or not they meet the requirements of the
sign ordinance. We can encourage them to move them but legally they are on Fulton County
property where we don't have jurisdiction.
Meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM.
ATTEST:
Jon B. McPhail, Co-chair Francia Lindon, Secretary
Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, August 9, 2011 [APPROVED] 3