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Orange County
Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
April 11, 2016
Richard Whitted Meeting Facility, Hillsborough
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PRESENT: Lydia W egman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Thomas Eisenhart, Lynne
Gronback, Loren Hintz, Bill Kaiser, Bill Newby, Rebecca Ray, Sheila Thomas-
Ambat
ABSENT: Jeanette O’Connor, David Welch
STAFF: Rich Shaw, Brennan Bouma GUEST: Kathleen Smith
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I. Call to Order – Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – Shaw handed out a gift (flashlight) to CFE
members from the Board of County Commissioners’ office as a gesture of appreciation
for the citizen volunteers who serve on this and other advisory boards.
III. Minutes – Wegman asked for comments on the February 8 and March 14 meeting
summaries. Kaiser noted that he should have been listed as present. Hintz motioned
approval with that correction; seconded by Cada. Motion approved unanimously.
IV. CFE Outreach Opportunities / News Articles – Shaw reviewed CFE’s March meeting
discussion of potential news articles for 2016, including articles on climate change,
hydrilla, new parks, and the effects of poverty on the environment. Cada and Kaiser
discussed ways of summarizing information from other sources rather than writing new
content. CFE members agreed to change the frequency of news articles to quarterly.
Bouma reminded CFE members there are other outreach opportunities, such as the Last
Friday events in Hillsborough, the upcoming Earth Evening event (April 29), and radio
spots on WCHL radio and the new WHUP radio station in Hillsborough. Gronback,
Kaiser, and Hintz agreed to help out at the Earth Evening event in Hillsborough.
CFE members discussed ways of engaging the public using social media, such as
Facebook and Twitter. Ray and Cada described how these outlets can be used to
provide news, photos, and links to more detailed information. Gronback noted how social
media can be much more effective at reaching people than the newspaper. Hintz
suggesting including content from some of the update items on CFE meeting agendas.
CFE members recalled that former CFE member Steve Niezgoda developed a CFE
Facebook page, but it has not been used since May 2015. Gronback offered to contact
Jeanette O’Connor to learn who has access to the Facebook account for providing new
content. She noted that the CFE ought to develop some code of conduct for the use of
this site. Hintz offered to post information about the Earth Evening event.
Kaiser asked for introductory information on the use of these and other forms of social
media. Wegman asked Gronback and Cada to help lead a discussion on the use of
social media at the May meeting. Cada will look into whether his source of summaries of
peer-reviewed articles on various topics would be suitable for use by the CFE.
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V. Clean Power Plan – Bouma briefed the CFE on efforts to persuade state legislatures to
follow through on the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan put forward by the
USEPA. He noted the Town of Chapel Hill is among 50 or so cities and counties taking
a stance on this issue. Bouma offered to contact John Richardson (Town of Chapel Hill)
for more details on what the Town and other local governments intend to do about this
and will monitor activities to consider whether Orange County ought to join the coalition.
VI. Committee Meetings – Wegman asked if CFE members wished to break out into the
standing committees to review the revised list of priorities provided by the staff. The
CFE chose to review the list individually and the members of each committee to confer
with one another about the list and to consider next steps.
VII. Updates and Information Items – Information on the following subjects was provided in
the meeting package; selected items were discussed: a) CFE membership roster, b) Eno
River hydrilla management project, c) Jordan Lake water allocation, d) tour of forest
management activities at OWASA Mitigation Tract, e) wind farmer testimonial, f) the
need to modernize water data, g) February’s record heat, h) record low Arctic Sea ice,
and i) “The Nature of Orange” photo contest 2016.
VIII. Adjournment – Wegman adjourned the meeting at 9:00 pm.
Summary by Rich Shaw, DEAPR Staff