Sustainable Belmont
December 6, 2006 meeting minutes
Attending: Heather Tuttle, Priscilla Cobb, Tim Richardson (BMLD), Joan Teebagy, Paul Solomon, Ian Todreas, Jan Kruse, Jen Dewey, Hank Thidemann, Deb Lockett, Nancy Forbes, Giovanni Aurilio, Irmgard Aurilio, John McAlpin, Anne Stuart, Joanna Jerison, Jeri Weiss
The meeting commenced at 7:05 pm.
1) MCAN conference recap
Several people at the meeting had attended the MCAN conference on November 19. They all said the conference left them feeling energized and were impressed by the number of people who showed up, which demonstrates the growing interest in climate action in the area. The group expressed thanks to Rose Cherneff and Rebecca Siegel, who worked on the anti-idling poster for the conference. It received a lot of praise from conference attendees and generated good comments and questions from out-of-towners.
2) Special meeting
The group discussed various ways in which SB could engage with the public on global warming issues. People first discussed the option of having a weekend afternoon meeting on February 3 for town officials that would serve to educate them on the issue and get their input on climate solutions, and people covered a variety of different formats, topics, take-aways, etc. The discussion then shifted to emphasize the need for SB to set its own strategies on these issues and decide how to organizationally convey these issues to the public. The group decided to focus on an internal strategic meeting, and thought a meeting should be held earlier than February 3 (1/20 and 1/27 were given as suggested dates). [update: the meeting is set to be held at Belmont Hill School, January 27, from 1-4 pm. Room location at Belmont Hill is TBD.]
3) Climate kit
Ian gave a recap of the efforts done to date on the climate "kits" that provide information and solutions on reducing emissions in sectors outlined in the climate action plan. The goal is to have the kits ready by mid-January and then select committee members' neighbors to "beta test" the kits. The next meeting of the group was set for December 18 at Suzanne Siner's house.
4) Leafblower committee
Jan informed the group that a subcommittee had formed out of public interest in reducing leafblower use. Ian had agreed to chair the committee, and Nancy Forbes, Joanna Jerison, and Rebecca Siegel offered to serve on the committee as well. Others are encouraged to participate if interested. The next steps of the committee are to research costs, pollution data, and policies related to leafblower use.
5) CAP update
Ian, Jen Dewey, and Deb met in November to discuss loose ends in the CAP (including transportation data, oil heating data, municipal operations emissions, commercial waste) and next steps to tie up those loose ends and proceed with writing the draft. The CAP committee has explored the possibility of two interns to help with data collection. People suggested the possibility of soliciting oil companies to provide data for SB or drafting a survey for residents to fill out describing heating use and vehicle use. Specific next steps had not been identified beyond needing to set a next meeting date and find an intern coordinator.
6) MCAN grant
The MCAN grant is essentially finished-we fulfilled the requirement of having a set of public forums and Jennifer bought some easels and sandwich boards to use up the remaining grant money (as specified in the grant terms). The next step is to write the grant report. People also discussed other grant opportunities, including ICLEI (for part-time CAP coordinator), MCAN (meeting materials), DEP (paid personnel to help with our work), and other opportunities to pay for April meeting refreshments and takeaways such as light bulbs.
7) Energy Resource policy
Jan talked about the Energy Resource Savings committee (of which she is a member) and how the committee drafted a policy for the board of selectmen that outlines how the town can save energy. The board passed the policy on November 27; the next step is for the school committee to pass the policy, and then after it has passed, to discuss implementation strategies.
8) Anti-idling updates
Jeri presented the poster that Rose and Rebecca made for the MCAN conference and noted that the poster was also presented at a recent Greater Boston Breathes Better (GB3) meeting. She noted that the anti-idling committee discussed outreach strategies to the faith community (Temple Beth El, First Church, and Payson Park are already represented in the group). Hang tags were included in all town employee pay stubs and vinyl decals have been distributed. Karen Parmett is organizing a spring walk at Wellington; and Priscilla suggested a "walk to church" day. Jan noted that the committee should try and get Anne Paulsen involved as she is very interested in walk-to-school efforts.
9) Other updates and announcements
Tim Richardson noted that the new BMLD billing system will allow better reporting on electricity consumption in town and could allow for maps showing consumption in different areas of town. Nancy Forbes informed attendees of a tour of Waltham's Stanley School (a LEED-certified building) December 13 at 3:15 pm. Jan told attendees that a representative of the solid waste committee informed us that town residents can now recycle corrugated cardboard.
The meeting ended at 9:00 pm.
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