HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 111317Attachment 1
Orange County Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
November 13, 2017
Animal Services Building, Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill
Present: Bill Kaiser (Vice Chair), Bill Newby, Bill Ward, Matt Crook, May Becker,
Jeremy Marzoula, Bradley Saul, Will Stanley, Peter Cada
Absent: Alan Perry, Shiela Thomas-Ambat, Lynne Gronback (Chair), Marshall
Gray
Staff: Brennan Bouma, Tom Davis
I. Call to Order – Kaiser called the meeting to order at 7:30.
II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – Staff requested that the group conduct their
annual officer election as required by the Policies and Procedures. Kaiser
suggested delaying the election until December, given that the Chair and other
members were not present. Marzoula made a motion to delay the election which
was seconded by Newby and adopted unanimously.
III. Approval of Draft Minutes from October 9, 2017. Crook made a motion to
approve the minutes as written. Cada seconded. Approved unanimously.
IV. SOE 2019 – Bouma led extended discussion of the purpose and intended
audience for the planned State of the Environment (SOE) 2019 report. Brennan
asked the CFE to determine two main issues at this meeting: the purpose of the
SOE and the intended audience for the report. After consid erable discussion,
consensus seemed to be converging on the idea that the primary audience for
the SOE should be the Board of Orange County Commissioners, and that the
purpose was to make concise and actionable recommendations based on the
best information and science available. .Lama BouFajreldin, a Lecturer in the
Curriculum in Environment and Ecology at UNC Chapel Hill, was introduced and
the CFE discussed working with a group of UNC CH Capstone students (led by
Lama) to assist with the examination of the set of environmental indicators used
in previous SOE reports, and to consider alternative indicators and formats. The
students would work on this project from January until April 2018, at which point
they would make recommendations concerning indicators, and then the CFE
would have another 12 months or so to complete the 2019 SOE.
V. Annual Work Plan – Revisions intended to update the CFE Work Plan and
Annual Report were discussed. After a short review of the document, some
discussion ensued, with minor changes to one item offered. A motion was made
by Saul to approve the work plan as edited. Cada seconded this motion which
was then approved unanimously.
Attachment 1
VI. Updates and Information Items – information on the following items was
provided:
Climate Change Q&A article from the NY Times
VII. Adjournment – Marzoula motioned to adjourn, and Newby seconded. Meeting
adjourned at 9:20.