4/14/04
Members Present: Laura Routh, Celeste Fish, Tracy Candelaria, Dickie Heckler, Heather Muth, Lew. Phillips, Chris Cobb
Absent: Shannon Criss, Steve Hughes, Jeff Abbott
Staff: Mollie Mangerich, Diana Sjogren
Minutes from the last meeting were approved with the following changes:
Laura's last name is mis-spelled. Committee assignments should be updated to reflect new members appointed at the last meeting.
EARTH DAY UPDATE:
Diana Sjogren updated the Board on the Earth Day events on Saturday, April 17th. We have a variety of food donations. Heather Muth is heading up the soy BBQ (Central Soy) and rolls from Great Harvest. Pizza Shuttle will also be there. Diana reviewed tasks and asked the committee to volunteer for specific jobs. Joe Morgan from KU Environs is heading up the bands; Heather and Celeste Fish will share kid supervision in the play area; Dickie will drive the hybrid vehicle in the parade; Laura will carry the flag and help with recycling of beverage containers at the Park. Board members interested in helping should meet at South Park at 8AM Saturday to get things set up. Parade starts at 11 at Watson Park.
Mollie and the Committee extended their THANKS to Diana for all her work!
POST OFFICE LETTER:
Laura Routh received approval from the Advisory Board to send the letter requesting recycling of junk mail to the Lawrence USPS postmaster.
Laura explained that she had been approached by a Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH) staff person interested in starting a waste reduction/recycling program at their facility. Laura planted the seed of Energy Conservation work, and Lew indicated that he knew Gene Meyers (the CEO of LMH) and would be glad to speak to him regarding this process. Laura agreed to report back to the group what her contact at LMH learned from initial discussions with Gene Meyers.
COMMITTEE WORK:
Lew Phillips suggested that we should consider soliciting the assistance of graduate departments and students to perform research that committees may recommend as necessary for the committee work at hand. The following KU professors were suggested by the group as potential sources of support:
Terry Shistar
Carl Burns
Stacy White
Kelly Kindscher
Jeff Wineburg (administration contact of Lew's)
Jane Gibson
Energy Conservation Committee: Mollie will contact Steve Hughes to ascertain his ability to schedule a meeting of this committee. The group agreed that this was a tremendous opportunity, and that we had much work to do, and should begin meeting very soon.
Eco-footprint Committee: Celeste offered that there was a lot of info gathered that might be useful to the Sustainability group. Mollie will contact Shannon to close the file on this committee with her approval.
Sustainability Committee: This group will meet Monday, May 10th at 7 pm at Mass Street Deli.
WRR Staff Report:
Mollie passed out the 2003 Compost Program report and indicated the Solid Waste Division will be recommending to the City Commissioners that plastic bags be restricted to use for trash only – eliminating them as use for curbside yard waste containers, effective 2005.
New ONP and OCC collection containers have been installed at the Dillon's Food Store Parking lot on W. 6th Street.
Laura R. was interested in finding out if Checkers would host an OCC recycling container as well as the existing ONP recycling container. Mollie suggested she contact the story manager directly as a representative of the Advisory Board to ascertain their interest.
OTHER NEWS
Cary Maynard-Moody, of the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club contacted Mollie Mangerich and indicated they were meeting with Commissioner Dunfield to encourage and promote energy conservation within the City of Lawrence. Cary wanted to find out what the City was doing currently, if anything.
Michelle Crank (WRR staff person) will chair the Energy Fair and Sustainable Home Tour Committee
Chris C. said that Michael Almon is a possible contact for the Sustainable Homes Tour. He is Dickie's neighbor, and Dickie will talk to him about have his home be part of the tour.
Dickie H. the Advisory Board consider sponsoring a “Wildscape Tour” in the future. This tour would highlight homes emphasizing sustainable garden/lawns and landscaping. Mollie said that WRR staff workload was already very full and at this point is reluctant to add additional Board activities to staff duties. She suggested that this idea be brought to the Master Gardeners or others to pursue.
Meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.