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Orange County
Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
August 11, 2014
Orange County Solid Waste Management Office Building, Chapel Hill
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PRESENT: Jan Sassaman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Loren Hintz, Donna Lee Jones,
Cliff Leath, David Neal, Jeanette O’Connor, Rebecca Ray, David Welch
ABSENT: Judy Miller, William Newby, Steve Niezgoda, Gary Saunders, Lydia Wegman
STAFF: Tom Davis
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I. Call to Order – Sassaman called the meeting to order at 7:33 pm.
II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – There were no changes or additions.
III. Approval of Minutes – Sassaman asked for comments on the June 9 meeting minutes.
Neal motioned to approve as written; Hintz seconded. Approved unanimously.
IV. Introduction of New Members – Sassaman welcomed Leath to the CFE. Leath
introduced himself to the group. Judy Miller was not in attendance.
V. Environmental Summit Planning – Davis showed members a revised draft of the flier
and program for the Environmental Summit, which is scheduled for October 11 at the
Maple View Agricultural Education Center. CFE members then reviewed a list of
potential speakers, including Norm Christensen (Duke/climate change), Don Francisco
(UNC Chapel Hill/water issues), Avner Vengosh (Duke/fracking), Mike Kunz (NC
Botanical Garden/invasive plant species), and Judd Edeburn (Duke/forest management).
CFE members decided to limit the program to three speakers: Christensen (keynote)
possibly speaking on climate change, and two others—one to present on invasive
species and Don Francisco to speak about a water-related issue, with the topics for both
speakers of local relevance that citizens would be able do something about. CFE
members discussed having one Question and Answer session following the keynote
address, and a second following the other two speakers. The program will begin with
refreshments and mingling from 9:30 – 10:00, and then the keynote address beginning
around 10:00 am.
Leath asked about ways to publicize the event and suggested Orange County Voice and
Preserve Rural Orange as possible outlets. He also suggested contacting The
Independent for additional publicity.
VI. State of the Environment 2014 – Sassaman and Davis reviewed the status of the
report. Leath asked about target audience and how rural, elderly residents might access
the document. He suggested using churches to help publicize the report, as well as the
Orange County Department of Aging and the Senior Times publication.
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CFE members expressed interest in developing a “What You Can Do” summary similar
to what was included in the 2009 edition of the report. Hard copies of this summary
should be available at the Environmental Summit as well as afterwards.
CFE members discussed the need to check the numbers used on the demographics
page of the Introduction. Staff will review and update the language as needed.
It was decided that CFE members would provide final comments to staff by the morning
of August 18th. Staff will incorporate those changes by noon on Friday, August 22nd.
An updated draft SOE will be sent out by Friday at noon to CFE members.
VII. Committee Meetings – The committees met from 8:15 until 9:20 to continue working on
the State of the Environment report.
VIII. Adjournment – Sassaman adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm.
Summary by Tom Davis and Rich Shaw, DEAPR Staff