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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE minutes 121117Attachment 1 Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary December 11, 2017 Richard Whitted Building, 300 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Present: Lynne Gronback (Chair), Bill Kaiser (Vice Chair), Bill Ward, Matt Crook, May Becker, Jeremy Marzoula, Bradley Saul, Will Stanley, Marshall Gray, Kim Piracci, Sheila Thomas-Ambat, Alan Parry Absent: Peter Cada, Bill Newby Staff: Tom Davis, Kim Livingston I. Call to Order – Gronback called the meeting to order at 7:29. II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – The order of the agenda was changed to accommodate Marzoula who was late to the meeting. Davis made an administrative addition to the agenda and added the 2018 calendar. Saul asked if the SOE was on the agenda. Gronback agreed to revisit it early next year. Saul suggested the Facebook page be made public. III. Approval of Draft Minutes from November 13, 2017. Kaiser made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Thomas-Ambat seconded. Approved unanimously. IV. Annual CFE Election – Kaiser nominated Saul for Chair. Parry moved his nomination. Approved unanimously. Kaiser offered to continue as Vice Chair. Stanley moved his nomination. Approved unanimously. V. Orange County Roadside Wildflower Conservation – Livingston led discussion of the letter sent to the CFE from staff at the NC Botanical Gardens concerning the protection of native wildflowers along Orange County roadsides. After considerable discussion, consensus was made to ask Johnny Randall to attend an upcoming CFE meeting to discuss his request. The main questions that arose where as follows:  Is the data collection effort complete and is there a map displaying the areas with significant wildflower populations?  What are the Botanical Garden’s objectives?  What would be the CFEs role in this? What is the NC Botanical Garden’s role in this?  What is the timeframe for getting the request completed?  Should the CFE take the role of educating the citizens on this matter? Attachment 1 Thomas-Ambat asked staff to find out who in Orange County does the utility easement acquisitions. VI. Draft DOLT Article – Marzoula gave a summary of the DOLT article that he wrote. He suggested it be put on the CFE Facebook page. Revisions to the article were discussed and it was agreed that comments were to be sent to Marzoula by Friday, December 15th and the final draft would be sent back the committee on December 18th. Consensus was reached to have the article put on the CFE Facebook page after the January meeting. VII. Planning for 2018 – Davis led discussion on planning for 2018. The activities the CFE expects to carry out in 2018 were edited as follows:  Plan and develop SOE 2019.  Continue to write news articles on environmental issues of importance to Orange County, including climate change, energy conservation, and other important topics o Saul suggested the CFE write a monthly “green” tip and add it to the Orange County monthly email.  Recommend ways to reduce the County’s “carbon footprint” and implement the County’s Environmental Responsibility Goal (BOCC Priority #10) o Advocate for update of Green House Gas inventory  Continue to help with public outreach and management efforts related to hydrilla in the Eno River invasive species  Participate in a County effort through the Lands Legacy Program to identify and preserve important landscape corridors that connect significant natural areas and open space (BOCC Priority #1) The concerns or emerging issues the CFE has identified for 2018 were edited as follows:  The CFE remains interested in developing incentives for increasing energy efficiency in new construction, maintenance, and improvements o Crook suggested that the CFE could educate people about existing programs for up-fits VIII. Updates and Information Items – information on the following items was provided:  North Carolina Clean Path 2025- A discussion started after Davis brought this to the CFEs attention. The conversation was tabled because it was not on the agenda as a discussion item. IX. Adjournment – Kaiser motioned to adjourn, and Gray seconded. Meeting adjourned at 9:15.