HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 081417Meeting Summary
Orange County Commission for the Environment
August 14, 2017
7:30 p.m.
Whitted Building, 300 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough
Present: Bill Kaiser (Vice Chair), Bill Newby, Marshall Gray, Sheila Thomas-
Ambat, Matt Crook, Alan Parry, Jeremy Marzuola
Absent: May Becker, Peter Cada, Jeanette O’Connor, Lynne Gronback
Staff: Tom Davis
I. Call to Order – Kaiser called the meeting to order at 7:30.
II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – No additions or changes were proposed to
the agenda.
III. Approval of Draft Minutes from June 12, 2017. No changes were requested.
Parry made a motion to approve the draft minutes. Gray seconded the motion
and it was approved unanimously.
IV. Discussion of CFE Member Recruitment – Kaiser led a discussion of efforts to
recruit applicants for the four vacancies that currently exist, as well as additional
upcoming vacancies.
V. 2017 DEAPR Photography Contest Results – Davis provided a short
presentation of the winning photographs from the recently completed DEAPR
Photography Contest.
VI. CFE Committee Meetings – Since only seven members were present, including
only one member of the Land Resources Committee, individual Committees did
not have breakout meetings but instead the members present discussed the
upcoming State of the Environment (SOE) report. Questions regarding the
format and past usage of the report were raised. Considerable discussion of
indicators used in past reports, and their value, also took place. Apparent
purpose of the SOE report might include trying to influence the behavior of
county citizens as well as informing people of the status of certain environmental
benchmarks in the county. Interest in producing a “living document or
documents” instead of a single large static report exists, as well as producing a
more readily accessible, usable, and “digestible” on-line document(s). Additional
comments regarding condensing the report and trying to eliminate somewhat
redundant indicators were expressed. Shorter more focused information, similar
to newspaper articles previously created by the CFE, could be posted on the
CFE Facebook page. The need to produce a two-page Executive Summary was
also discussed. Some members expressed desire to include concepts of
environmental justice, potential climate change impacts in the county, and
possibly the planned Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit project, in addition to a
prospective focus rather than strictly a retrospective document. Interest in
obtaining feedback from the BOCC concerning what they might like to see
included in the SOE as well as their past use of the SOE was expressed. Kaiser
suggested that members review the indicators that were used in the 2014 SOE
before the next meeting and think about whether some of the indicators could be
eliminated, replaced or combined in the next report. He also reminded members
that each Committee needs to decide which sections of the report they are going
to work on.
VII. Updates and Information Items – concerning the following items was provided:
x Continuing Action Items from previous CFE meetings:
x SOE 2019 Planning
x Safe Water Editorial from The News and Observer
x Lands Legacy Press Release
x Cape Fear River Assembly Event
x Impacts of Climate Change on Southern US
x City of Durham Sustainability Report
x Coop. Ext. Community Economic Profile
VIII. Adjournment – Parry motioned to adjourn, and Newby seconded. Meeting
adjourned at 9:10.