HomeMy WebLinkAboutCFE Meeting Summary 10142024 Orange County Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
October 14t'', 2024; 7:00 pm
Hybrid Meeting
Present: Kristie Mather, Mark Randall, Jane Harris (via Teams), John Bucher, Matthew
Ferguson, Regina Baratta, Lily Schacht, Aimee Vandemark, Patrick Fn'Piere
Absent: Reade Oakley(excused), Ian Morse (excused), Veronica Penn Beattie (excused)
Staff: Chris Himi, Wesley Poole, Amy Eckberg, Kalani Allen, Karina Nabors, Melony
Gilles, Madison Buschek(Intern)
I. Call to Order
Chair Regina Baratta called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm.
II. Additions or Changes to Agenda
None.
III. Approval of DRAFT Meeting Summary—September 9t", 2024
Motion to approve by Matthew Ferguson; seconded by Mark Randall; all in favor; none
opposed; motion passed.
IV. Community Climate Action Grant Round 4—Ranking
CFE members were asked to rank the 25 applications they received for the Community
Climate Action Grant on their own since the last meeting and enter scores into the
scoring spreadsheet. Reade Oakley, Ian Morse and Veronica Penn Beattie were all asked
to excuse themselves from the meeting due to their having directly turned in an
application or being associated with one. There is only $262,500 available and
$1,151,873 of requests, so the group decided to remove the lowest scoring applications
from consideration and focus on funding those that ranked the highest. The group
worked through the ones being considered and decided to fully fund some and partially
fund others,providing reasons for their decisions in the comments section. At the end of
the allotted time for discussion, the CFE was not finished the ranking process, so they
decided to finish up at the next meeting in November.
V. Updates and Information Items
• Wesley Poole notified the CFE that(4)members had terms expiring on 12/31/24 and
would need to be re-appointed if they wanted to remain on the board. Those were
Regina Baratta, Aimee Vandemark, Patrick Fn'Piere and Jane Harris. All (4)
members wanted to remain on, so Wesley Poole will prepare paperwork for Chair
Regina Baratta to sign and send to the Clerk to the BOCC.
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Orange County Commission for the Environment
Meeting Summary
October 14t'', 2024; 7:00 pm
Hybrid Meeting
• Chris Hirni and Kalani Allen reminded the CFE of the upcoming ERCD—Lands
Legacy 25th Anniversary Celebration. It will be held on October 19th at Blackwood
Farm Park and will feature a BYOP (Bring Your Own Picnic).
• Karina Nabors, Melony Gilles and Madison Buschek gave the CFE a recap of
National Drive Electric Week. They hosted two events, one in Chapel Hill and one in
Hillsborough, and both were successful.
• Karina Nabors and Melony Gilles notified the CFE that they had been awarded the
Duke Energy Foundation Grant of$25,000.
• Melony Gilles notified the CFE of the upcoming Repair Cafe volunteer opportunity
on November 16th from 1-5PM in the BOCC meeting room at Whitted.
• Regina Baratta notified the CFE of the upcoming Green Burial presentation by
Endswell on October 19th from 2-3:30PM at the Orange County Public Library.
• Regina Baratta reminded the CFE that they would start discussing the State of the
Environment Report at the next meeting in November.
VI. Adjournment
Mark Randall motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9:03 pm; seconded by Matthew
Ferguson; all in favor; none opposed; motion passed.
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