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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - MGG - 02-12-2015U MILTON GROWS GREEN COMMITTEE OI'IGINAL FEBRUARY 12, 2015 MINUTES [APPROVED] Date. February 12, 2015, 6:30 PM-8:15 PM Place: Executive Conference Room, Milton City Hall,13000 Deerfield Parkway, Milton GA .30004 Attendees. Michelle McIntosh Ross, Mark Law, Jack Lindon Chair, Teresa Stickels, Vice -chair, Francia Lindon, Barbara Peck, Jennifer Griffiths, Margaret Lamb, Kathy Johnson, Bruce Langston, Margaret Lootens, Laura Rencher and Todd Broussard, Agenda: It was posted on the City's web site. L Minutes: January 8, 2015 minutes were approved. II. Updates & Old Business. • Request. Jason Wright wants to do a short video on MGG to post on the City's web site — the Citizens Government Academy, our history, why we are passionate about what we do, events and mission. Over time we can add to this library. Earth Day was suggested as a good event to cover. Have lots of still photos but no video. Jack volunteered to do the history piece. • Shredding Event: Michelle asked whether or not we were planning on doing one. Will be handled by Boy Scout Troop 3000. Recommended to people that they signup to be on the City's email list because that's where all these types of announcements were made. Adopt -A -Stream: No new news. Jennifer is looking for someone to take it over managing it. Can now go on line to reserve a test kit, pick it up and do the monitoring. Data is reported on line on a state site (GA EPD Watershed Protection Branch). Todd was interested in whether or not his kids, who are 12, could do it. Absolutely, but need to go through training. Sharon Smith does training session. Class takes about 3 hours. Birmingham Falls is in the program. It would be a great science lesson for people who home school. One group found a car wash that was polluting a stream. It is recommended that the monitoring be done once a month or at least once a quarter. Kids brought the information to the City and stopped the pollution. Two schools that were suggested as likely candidates were Fulton Science Academy and Mill Springs Academy. Calls for volunteers to do stream monitoring could also go out to the public. An onsite stream monitoring would be a good subject for one of Jason's videos. Hopewell M.S. was very active in the past but, unfortunately, no one there has stepped up to lead the program since Tom Sewell retired. The school does have a number of kits available. And there is grant money available for other schools in the EverGreen Schools program to buy kits or replace some of the chemicals needed. Margaret would be available to help with the grant application. Todd said he would put Margaret Lamb in touch with his kids' science teachers to start a program. Kara Hibbard from Cambridge H.S. is interested. • MGG Volunteer Log: Any email sent to MGG is supposed to automatically go to Jack but he will check with Jason on this. Household Hazardous Waste & Paint Collection: March 7th is the event date. Eco Flow has been given the contract and it will be held at Cambridge H.S. parking lot. Have to preregister on line because there is a limit as to how much we can spend on this and it is expensive. The first day 100 signed on. Jotform is the online form being used. So far 228 people have Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, February 12, 2015 [APPROVED] ALL MiLroN GROWS GREEN DocumENis ARE PANTED ON RECYCLED PAPER wmi AT LEAST 35% PosT- CONSUMER CONTENT. registered. Only problem with the form is that there is no way to collect money with it at this time although it can be done. The city needs to set this up. Todd said he'd notify his HOA about this opportunity. YMSL has volunteered to help man it. But need extra for setup and take down. Adopt -A -Road: Barbara reported 43 roads are in the program. Of those 26 are assigned and 17 are outstanding. She's going to work with Angie to get more businesses and HOAs involved. Most are out Freemanville way and are smaller roads. So far no HOAs are involved. Before she left, Cindy was going through list of adoptees to identify which groups were active in conjunction with the group getting new signs. Some on the list had been eliminated because the weren't fulfilling the agreement to clean at least once a quarter. We should contact Carter Lucas, director of public works, when we see a road that is particularly littered. He will put in a work order to Optech to clean it up. • EverGreen Schools Partnership: Margaret has contacted the person who handled Milton and gave her contact information. They have new signs to identify EverGREEN Schools and Milton still has grant money available. Are going to try to contact Michael Plets to get name of contact for Cambridge EcoBears. • Recycling. MGG will be providing recycling bins at the opening ceremony for the Broadwell Pavilion, Feb 21, 4-7 pm. Food trucks will provide food and there will be entertainment. MGG Meeting with Chris Lagerbloom: Discussion focused on where the holes are now that Cindy is gone and who on City staff will be our point person for various projects. We got the name of a staff person for each. These names are recorded as part of the minutes from the meeting. Teresa talked about giving the MGG Board's opinion for filling Cindy's position and also said that MGG supported hiring a full-time conservation expert. The City needs conservation/land preservation planning, a person who will coordinate efforts among City staff on land conservation initiatives and is an expert in the procedures used to accomplish this goal. MGG needs a liaison with City staff on other unrelated projects. Two different skill sets would be essential. The discussion continued among MGG members about our getting more involved in an advisory capacity for City Council on preservation and environmental issues. In our initial founding we wanted to be considered as a resource for environmental information. Earth Day Festival: Pinned down that it will be at Friendship Park this year because of the shortness of time and the need for access by MDAC. Brimingham Park is still in the mix for the future. We may get a sponsor ship from Kohls. Vendors from last year have been notified and 17 are returning. New vendors will be solicited next week. Jack went to the Green Expo and passed out Earth Day flyers and information and Teresa, Cindy, Jack and Francia went to the Gwinnett Home Show soliciting possible vendors. There we touched base with Rhino Shield. Would like to get a beekeeper. It was suggested that we contact Milton Fields, the organic land clearer and look for green builders. Adjourned ay 8:05 PM ATTEST: Francia Lindon, Secretary Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, February 12, 2015 [APPROVED)