- I usually talk pretty fast. So if I zip over anything that doesn't make sense, feel free to raise your
- hand. But I know last month you got an introduction to a lot of things. But depending on what we talk
- about, I feel free to ask questions. Well, OK. Well, speaking of last month's meeting, we're going to
- go into the approval of minutes and agenda. So first, we're going to assess this month's agenda. Does
- that have anybody?
- Thank you, Heidi. Thank you, Shannon. Thank you, Heidi. Thank you, Shannon.
- And thanks to everybody who was at last month's meeting. It was a real nail-biter. We've got minutes
- from last month to approve. I move we approve large minutes. Thank you, Matt. Bye, Matt. Thank you,
- Maggie. Matt Hawley. Yes. Peter Fairfax. Yes. Shannon Guy. Yes. Mitchell Owens. Yes. Carl Weiser. Yes.
- Justin Master. Yes. Harry Albright. Yes. Sidey Brown. Yes. Motion passes. Wonderful. OK. I'm going to
- put anyone else in their room.
- If there's anyone in the hallway, I encourage you to pop in if you'd like. If you have anyone online.
- Great. Just the family tonight. Love it. The first thing on the list is working group re-organization
- discussion, which I suspect was nominated by Dr. Matt Baldy. Okay. Based on some of the recent questions
- we had for legal, one of these was,
- was actually read verbatim at a previous meeting, but I essentially get organized, I'm sorry. Read last
- week, we're having a lot of trouble with being able to communicate with one another primarily because
- a working group could be two members, whereas lots of boards and commissions are able to work
- on things together or communicate with a couple of each other as long as it is not a quorum or it is
- not like a serial meeting where they reach out to a couple of people and say, you reach out to a couple
- of people and anything that's talking, open door laws would also not be allowed. But the reason that
- they can do those communications and we can't is because of our tiny working groups. So what I was going
- to propose as
- I didn't get the asterisk next to it up there at the potential voting battle here. No, it's okay. I
- didn't specifically mention it to you, so that's on me. What I was planning to propose today was actually
- removing all the working groups except for ECPC. It sounds like the city was headed in this direction
- going into next year anyway, which they could be brought back with administration approval that processes
- are all changing.
- But with our eco heroes pretty much wrapped up in the presentation this weekend, that one as well could
- be removed this way. If a couple of people found a flyer that they wanted to get included in tabling
- or outreach and education, they could email it to each other without being in violation of the quorum
- because at this point, it's not a working group meeting. It's just two people and currently I believe
- nine, but up to 12,
- person's body communicating. So part of the reason that we had working groups being so formally broken
- out is because we had really specific initiatives, like a report, or we had documents, or eco-heroes
- was the planet of its own responsibility. So having that formal working group made it easier for us
- to stay on top of it. But then we had to put in language about foreign and things like that, which made
- sense when we were very small to take two, but then it immediately turns into what kind of exchanges
- can we have without violating open door laws.
- This moving forward, Matthew, an idea of how we would communicate if there's a water quality report
- that people want to work on. That's one of the language surrounding that is one of the biggest hurdles
- to me because it is so nice with the working groups have point person. It's like if you want to do water,
- talk to Mitchell. I guess we can still just say that if you're going to work on water.
- email Mitchell, but as long as the group that is communicating does not reach the quorum of five, this
- is okay. And this is what other groups do. If people want to, I have watched other boards and commissions,
- if they want to work on a resolution or an ordinance, I can't do an ordinance, a resolution that they're
- going to bring before their whole body the following month, people can work on it at the same time,
- just not a majority of the commission. And so by formally ending working groups,
- We would put ourselves in that, but we're like, we're allowed to communicate about things as long as
- it isn't a quorum of the body. Um, we still, if anything's being approved, it would have to come before
- the commission for above, but, um, it would be, be the formal ending of all, all working groups,
- but he CPC, um, specifically in name, because again, functionally,
- could still be people who care about this thing, who are working on this thing. The ECPC is,
- I would say, maybe the best one to keep because we meet as a group with our liaison, and then when we
- meet separately to write up a memo, the process is a collaborative, we're writing this memo as a group,
- so there isn't that need for like, we're going to email him, whatever it's meant to be. Part of the
- in-person experience is creating the thing that we need to do.
- which the water quality group may not need to have that face-to-face time emailing would be just as
- easy. So moving out of working group structure would make sense. So basically because open door laws
- define an email as a meeting, if they're a quorum of the body and discuss official business, this would
- make it not a quorum of the body. So the email will not constitute a meeting, so we would not be violating
- open door laws. This will not. No, that's not what's in the business.
- This was 10 ground approved a month ago. Yeah. So, today we met as an education. And then we were productive
- in 30 minutes. Is there a way that we could work in like, our group or what we typically talk about
- in groups into our regular in person meetings of any non.
- forum group of the body is something that I would still need guidance on, but I did specifically from
- Lee Willearn that the emails would be okay. However though, if we have the meeting today, when we go
- through our working, when we go through what would be formerly working groups, our primary objectives,
- we could organize, finally organize so that we can just brief the section of what we might be covering
- in working groups. I think it would be under things like,
- active topics, like something that's just like, we're just going to talk about this stuff. And if there's
- a group that had a conversation about it and you want to bring something to it, perfect timing. But
- it would be like, more group updates. Right. The reason why it works is because that collection of people,
- not a working group anymore, but those individuals wouldn't be able to prove anything without the commission
- as a whole. So there's no harm to be done for that small amount of co-work with a minority of the group.
- And what's the de minimis? At this point, the de minimis is five. So we would have to have, yeah, you
- wouldn't be able to email five people. Most of our work is done. Which, yeah, they have to be, yeah.
- This isn't coming from nowhere. This has been something that I've been kind of painstakingly working
- with emails to legal and one with
- for a little while now, and it just seems like, especially the people here, is wrapping up this as good
- of a time as I need to close the book on the working groups that are not at ECPC. What about the PORC?
- How does this sound? I was just going to ask, in terms of ECPC, how is that going to work with the Quorum
- stuff? Like, if people are on ECPC together, does that still make emails between them for voting?
- Or is it like... It does. My understanding is that if the four of us are on the ECPC, the four of us
- can't talk about the half-technical plan because we're all in the same working group and that working
- group has a plan of two. We can make the quorum four for the ECPC, but then we can't meet without a
- quorum. So it's kind of... Yeah, there's a little bit of a balancing act to be done on what would be
- the remaining
- working group on the way I've proposed it. I also don't know if collaboration on documents is still
- technically allowed or not through this process. I'm always looking back and thinking they're all from
- that ecosystem set in 2024 that was passed along to me and they were told no collaboration documents.
- I think they got the ball rolling a while ago when I had a Google Doc. Things could actively be covered.
- on but I know that since you know resolutions have been brought forward by two individuals so seemingly
- they can email each other back and forth until they have their before their commission so I mean it's
- when we were originally instructed that basically you know you can work in parallel but you can't work
- together at all outside as a meeting from other boards of commissions I am watching there's no way that
- that that is the reality of some of these situations. And from my own question to Lee Will about this,
- I got a direct answer from Taylor regarding emails that as long as it's not a quorum, it'll be okay.
- The council body also works on joint memos and letters together as well, so it must also be memos and
- stuff like that. They have their own, you know,
- So they have to love sleep of attorney. We are under the executive assurance. So here are your different
- balance. That's my original impression. How are you all different? They still also have specific things
- like they have to be careful that I have serial meetings. Like, even within this, they're able to go
- work, but they still have. Open door laws that they have open door law doesn't differentiate doesn't
- between legislative intersecting branches and in terms of.
- Yeah, so if you've seen one, the legal background should be the same. I understand it's not real, but
- it's kind of relatively the same. The statutes are the same, but they are to be interpreted by any given
- body's legal department or individuals. Yeah, and that's part of it, too. The ones with the guidance
- that were provided. I wanted to add to that before for a bit.
- This is not a voting item, but a handbook that special leader off is, so we still have an opportunity
- to vote on this. Is there any, so, I mean, I think we could just like go on about this, but is there
- anything specific people need to hear, share, while we're in the second about dissolving the working
- group spending? I think I want to make sure we don't lose the activities of the working group spending.
- And I think that's, in my opinion, is probably the scariest thing is because when we say you're the
- lead on this working group, at least that person has that sense of responsibility of like,
- what are we doing? What are we doing? What's the plan? I know I get real nosy about that stuff,
- but like, I think that that's my biggest fear is that all this stuff is just kind of kind of their whole
- way. That's not so, if it's not important to us, it's not important to us. If we can build it into our
- agenda, I mean, what if we just, do we think we're fit best in the,
- I mean, we won't have working group updates. It would be that if people want to put it on the agenda,
- when Rachel does her call or something, you would just say, hey, I've got something I want to talk about
- about diversity. It'd be a lot of fun. Yeah, so individuals every month still have the opportunity to
- get things out of the agenda as long as it's 10 days before the meeting. Yep, individuals could still
- bring that forward. I mean, I'm as uncomfortable with change as anybody.
- But it does seem just kind of like a new chapter, I guess. I mean, we've had working groups as long
- before I was on this commission, and through the whole time I was on the commission. But it sounds like
- we're going in the direction of what's going away. Anyway, in this instance, it should make our lives
- more functional when it comes to work of the body. So instead of waiting until January, I was trying
- to get a nervous start. Yeah, I think that's a good one, I think.
- Any other thoughts from anybody before we continue? I think this is a great idea only because the winged
- episode of now is going to make it impossible to get things done. The point of the commission is to
- be able to get stuff done in my view. I'm trying to think of potential downsides. The only thing I can
- think of is top
- And then I guess you keep it informal as to who's tech and what working group, non-working group. Yeah.
- Yeah, so in the meeting, we could see who expresses interest in a thing so that Mitchell knows who the
- email. But outside the meeting, you could put out a feeler to everyone and say, hey, who wants to do
- water? Because that would be to a quorum of the body about commission business. But you could say, I
- would like to talk about creating a water quality report.
- If you're interested in joining me, we can schedule something. We can talk about that. We can talk about
- schedule and administrative things by email as a forum. We'll just have to be careful about how we phrase
- that. Yeah. Yeah. It's been really, really, really intentional, but we're not so exceptional. The other
- thing that's great, as I see it, is that if this somehow breaks our ability to function in an unforeseen way,
- We're going to the next meeting. Yeah, that's better. Right. You do another amendment. Last year, we
- were working really strongly on it. Again, with all apologies, especially to the new members. I am looking
- forward to this commission being less legal and more environmental, but I think that this is one of
- the big steps in that direction to make. I think it was next year, all in groups first. Yeah, it sounds
- like they were going to remove them all and then you could
- could shoot for having them again or just be on pending approval. The department then is okay with this.
- That was the understanding because I could also see a situation where what we're effectively doing is
- creating these working groups that are really working groups and like somebody could just say, hey,
- you're kind of business anyway. But if they've approved that, then that's fine by me. They're not working
- groups. They're informal gatherings of like-minded people.
- on a topic that we'll all see to talk about. This has been a year of learning, very focused attention
- to what is legal, what language we can use, how we can do, it's been very, very, very attentive to that.
- So I think the goal of this is to figure out what are ways that we can use what we've learned about
- the process that we have to function in a way that
- views this towards the both of the houses of commission in line with what other commissions and boards
- are doing that is perfectly legal. And then it's also being aware of changes that are still coming down
- the road. So it is- Yeah, I proposed this directly to legal, or I mean, I sent it to Rachel and she
- passed it back and forth for me and I got an affirmative answer. And then I don't think it was last
- month, but the previous month. So while Tater was here for us, I read a lot of the question and answer
- and he suggested nothing had changed.
- So I have confidence that this is about the word. I mean, enthusiastic, yes. Any other thoughts that
- people want to share before we move on to the next item? All right. Well then, before we move on, since
- Adam isn't here, do we have a secretary taking notes?
- Can you even imagine that? We do not. Do we have a volunteer who would like to be the one responsible
- for having notes that we share at the end? You can also watch the recording to make sure your notes
- are reflective of this conversation. It's good to say in the times that I've done that, I've done it
- by re-watching the meeting and taking notes. We just need to be involved here. I can do it. When do
- you read the notes? By 10 days before the next meeting. Earlier and better, but based on the next meeting.
- I mean, obviously you can see on the packet what the minutes look like. So the process would be, I send
- the skeleton minutes to our office manager and she will reach out to you and you can supplement those
- minutes with other discussions. Yeah, I agree with that. Awesome. Thank you for bringing that up, Rachel.
- Thank you, Carl, for doing that. Speaking of Carl, we have a tree commission application where you serve as the EC
- seat. So I know that there was a lively exchange last month about what that might look like. And so,
- yeah, this is on the agenda because we need to vote to decide anybody who's going to sit in this position.
- And you can all see that, actually, Farah's application is up here. So for discussion amongst the group,
- in the past, the person that we were voting on
- chose to leave. I don't think we asked them to leave. I think it was like, you can leave if you want,
- but you don't have to because this is all public and recorded anyway. But so I'm just repeating the
- same thing. Yeah. Even if that's what we want to do. I just have a point of clarification. Is the previous
- applicant still interested in serving on the tree commission? No. No. About the tree commission, she's
- not applying to the environmental commission. Okay.
- There's no clear whether she was asking to draw up her application for the environmental commission
- seat. I don't think she's interested in being a quantifier in the environmental commission. Let's get
- to you, Carl. Would you guys prefer to leave? You're welcome to stay. You would need to be here for
- the vote, but you're welcome to abstain or vote yes or no. I will abstain. No. I'm going to quit. I'm
- going to quit.
- Any talking points that people would like to work through? Does everyone already know this? I can't
- see it for everyone, but I have. You want to summarize it for anyone who has a pie? Yeah. One of my
- goals in Surveillance Commission, which I hope
- And I think the tree commission is a great way to do that. Um, I actually like, I'm an environmentalist
- as a, as all you are.
- I would love to be a part of the city's strategy and implementation for putting trees around Wilmington.
- And I would have a very ambitious goal of sticking with Hatchville after the second day shift development,
- like just, you know, putting trees everywhere in Wilmington. And I think that we really need to be a
- part of that. So, and I'm happy to kind of communicate that to you guys. We'd be delighted to.
- I can make the time, that's a big plus. I'm not talking about the best reason. In my own life, I don't
- have an education in horticulture or trees, but I know some things about trees, I know some things about
- landscaping, and more importantly, I think I'm willing to learn more about it as well. That's how I
- might be listed.
- Any discussion points with those? What's your favorite tune? That's a hard one. If you have to point
- me based on that, it's going to be tough. I really like droplets, water droplets. It's a native tree.
- They're pretty on campus. I love the color of the flowers. That would be my pick. Yeah, twist of an
- arrow. Well, one thing that I, one reason that I have had the idea of having a commissioner as our
- seat on the Tree Commission is because for years and years and years, we're always saying, how do we
- collaborate better with other boards and commissions? And obviously we keep really busy. There's a lot
- going on. Communication is difficult, all that. But I do really appreciate your motivation for helping
- bridge those conversations and go onto the Tree Commission and being able to say, this is one thing
- that the EC has been talking about lately. I want to share it with you all. And also coming down to
- saying, this is something I'm hearing from the Tree Commission. I really like the idea of being eager
- to make those connections and see what can go with them.
- And that's the end of this section. I also want to bring what we're doing here to other commissions.
- I think there's a lot of lost opportunity when when commissions don't work together or they
- work independently. Um, but anyway. Yeah, I was gonna say to me, this this seat. Is it about qualifications?
- Anyone who cares enough to be on the EC that wanted this seat are in support. So I support your nomination
- in this one. I appreciate being able to make those meetings and your desire to attend.
- Any other thoughts or comments from folks? Well, it is a voting item, so we'll not move that we will
- point Carl Geiser to our treat commission seat. Oh, nice, Michelle. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Abstain. Yes. Yes. Yes.
- Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
- I think, Matt, you emailed me about just getting a clearer answer as to whether public comment and public
- positions have to be approved by Office of the Mayor to things like VCA, Common Council, as well as
- external sources to the State of the Union. The answer is yes, they have to be approved. So a letter
- to the VCA, for example, would need to be approved by Office of the Mayor. Then ECPC memos or something separate?
- Well, the ECPC memo gets approved by the Environmental Commission, right? The ECPC memo gets approved
- by the Environmental Commission. Yeah. So then that would be sent to BZA, but that would need to be
- sent to BZA formally to be included in the BZA packet. It would have to be approved by opposite of the
- mayor. Does that change our timeline for things? Yeah, makes it tighter. Whenever I'm talking, I talked with
- The development services manager, Eric, we looked about it pretty informally yesterday, just because
- I wanted to see what everyone's thoughts were about it before I spent too much of his time, is that
- we get these bigger developments that have these environmental implications. Usually it takes a couple
- months to get everything sorted out. Usually, you know, it's not, we receive something and then it's
- getting approved to the first EZ8 goes to. Usually it's continued or we're working on it for a little bit.
- I think it's the opportunity to, ECPC might not see the finalized plan, but something like 4503 North
- Rogers, for example, I think I've sent it to ECPC several times at this point. So it would just be part
- of the conversation early on. And so we would just need that discussion to be had, I guess, early on
- so that we can work with the developer.
- as we move forward, you can still send informal thoughts to me, but a formal letter would have to be
- proof-of-signature. Does this also probably send our thoughts to council? Yes. Did in the informal
- conversation, is there a justification?
- for why even internally, I mean, because when Taylor was here with us the other month, he made it very
- clear that his reading of the test was that within cities, we're fine. And for external stuff, whether
- that was the state house or federally or state. He was just with a developed sort of standard about
- timeline. The response from legal was the department attorneys are in a Dina Casamini, who's came to
- the meeting before, as well as Dana Kerr. And I don't think you all have that data.
- that Dana and Nadina agreed that from a conservative viewpoint, the EC should obtain approvals including
- mayoral approval for any letter they want to send to PCA. I think that would apply to others. Sorry,
- Carrie. I don't know, the last time that we did not get approval from the Office of the Mayor, if that
- occurred, do we get the edits that are required to
- make it something we could, like, is it something where we're able to adjust it and resubmit it, or
- is this something where it's like, my fear is that we're gonna hear, I'm not interested in supporting
- this letter to the BCA, and that the ECPC is going to deal with it. Right. The deadline for the packet's
- the deadline for the packet for something like BCA or Plan Commission. So as far as like an extension
- of like being included, I guess we're gonna be included in the packet,
- That would be no. I know that there was issues like with the February council meeting. If you all want
- to speak at a board of zoning if it was meeting, there's opportunity to run outside. So I did express
- that. They acknowledged that. The advice is to work at the time.
- If we submit something to the Office of the Mayor and it comes back, will we, do we get context why
- it's not approved? No idea, just it's a brand new, and I would still be your liaison, so you would be
- sending it to me. I would also, my vision, I would let Planning Development Services know that, hey,
- we're going through this process, we're waiting on mayoral approval. What the understanding like, I
- know the packet has to go out when it goes out.
- that I think just for them to know to expect something would be helpful. Yeah, I know the February council
- meeting was the exception of the rule. There was remissness that that one got pushed to there. And that
- it was made abundantly clear that the best time for us to be involved is at these earlier stages. But
- now this will make it harder to be involved at this step that we were told we had
- to get involved at. I also find it to be very empowering as a commission. I watch Bloomington politics
- very closely and I repeatedly see the administration say that they want constituents to join and help
- out and board some commissions to make your voice heard and these things. And so I have all sorts of
- feelings about the
- their decision to be able to veto literally anything, even internally. So on the Bloomington website,
- it says that the Environmental Commission serves as a voluntary advisory board composed of citizens
- appointed by a mayor in common council. So why are we, why is the mayor viewing our documents
- Yeah, that's totally fair question. From my understanding, commissions are under the executive branch.
- Can you explain that to me a little bit? Because in the VMC, permissions are a subsection heading.
- I mean, can you tell me where that authority is survived that we're under control right now? That's just.
- The legalist said that commissions are underneath. My issue is that I'm appointed by council. I gave
- my authority from council. I'm accountable to council. But as you describe it here, I can't actually
- function in a way that represents council's desire because I can be blocked by the office of the mayor.
- I find that very problematic. It's neither here nor there, but at the moment.
- twice as many of us were appointed by council as by the office of the mayor. While nested under the
- mayoral administration, I suppose, I'm sure they will be able to provide the how and the where that
- lets us know that at the moment, our current makeup is less executive. I don't know how the office of
- the mayor is going to be reviewing this, if it's just for, if they're reviewing the actual
- assessment constant and whether that is supportive of an opinion or whether they're just approving something
- to ensure that it doesn't make the city be shut in a poor fight or something. So I think there's a spectrum
- of how they could review something. I have not received guidance on how they're going to review it.
- At this point, we have not had anything not approved. We've had to go through the opposite of the mayor
- for communication things for six months, something like that. And we've not, as far as I know, had anything
- I think there might be a different scheme that would be approving it. I'm not entirely sure. The people
- who are approving it, things like for EPCOS, for example, that's the communication scheme. He does the
- press releases, kind of like what does, like not necessarily what design, but the city branding. So
- I'm not sure if this would be a different scheme or not. So we don't know who's reviewing it. It could
- be opposite in there yet. I believe you're right that nothing we've done so far would have, like has
- been shut down. But I also strongly suspect given the way February played out that,
- I don't know that I tried to read before counseling and I wouldn't have made it. And I think that that
- would be some, I mean, we can talk about this as long as we all want to, but I think that at the end
- of the day, we have yet to see what's going to happen. And I think that as soon as something happens
- that feels like we are being cycled, I think there is a conversation we can have about exactly how to
- deal with that and maybe get visibility to that or navigate that in a way that feels effective for us
- as a group. I think right now,
- We don't have any answers to almost any of the questions. So it is a little bit. Yeah, we shouldn't
- be panicking now. My concern is I think everybody in the room can see where the issue lies and that
- if the mayor does not agree with the recommendation, but some of the city's action that has come to
- us, he can just block it. Does the city council give any feedback on this? It would be interesting to
- know how they feel about this.
- Yeah, so I don't meet with the council attorneys. I meet with the city corporation council. So I don't
- know how council people would feel about this and I don't have that kind of communication with council
- members who talked about that since I'm under the executive branch. I mean, it's in there.
- Looking down on road, there's therefore problematic implications of things, were they to go in a certain
- direction. It's hard because I think it's important that we are prepared for whatever we encounter.
- And my hope is that we continue to be supported and empowered by those that put us in these seats.
- But yeah, there's a lot we don't know. And I don't know if this will be an issue with this
- mayoral administration, but all this changes, you know, it's the same issue with other
- power structures in the city, you know, the flop debacle is one of them, you know, the administration
- might be fine now, but that might not always be the case. We should have our system set up in such a
- way that there should be no chance for abuse. You know, that's kind of the whole point of the open door
- off. I can go on. But. Other thoughts from commissioners who haven't had a chance to share you? I think
- it would be interesting to know.
- get feedback from the city council on this, if they're, if this is happening with other commissions.
- Yeah. Do other commissions have to route their communications through the governor or through the mayor
- now? From my understanding, city legal is reviewing law commission bylaws, make them more cohesive across
- the board, so. The, so this is,
- This update was kind of in response to, I assume, some of the conversation about MOs being approved
- or voted on. Is that what the origin? We have a voting item on the list, so I'd be open to transitioning
- into the switch of this topic. Yeah. I guess I'd just like to put on record, I understand that legal
- has to approve things, and we're not always going to agree. But my general displeasure that we can vote
- as a body to change something in our handbook and then have it just not stick because at the end of
- the day, it isn't our decision. We had a representative of legal sitting here and tell us the way that
- he understood this text in the handbook. And we're now learning that actually legal as a whole does
- not see it that way. Again, any position from the commission as a whole, regardless of audience, must
- be voted on and approved by a majority of the commission
- and the office of the mayor was the sentence that had me bring this back to our agenda. Given what we
- had been told the previous month, I said, hey, that sign, it's way near the end. It's fine with me if
- the intent of the language is just for external stuff. Let's just make the language reflect the intent.
- you know, no representative needed at the meeting. We can just propose the change. But now that I've
- learned that that isn't actually possible, I suppose I will use the sorting item on something else.
- Was there also talk about doing
- the ECPC memo will be approved. Does that need to be discussed as far as I know about this? I think
- it's the language in the handbook should already be sufficient. We got informed last time that there
- would be no reason that we couldn't. We didn't need to change everything. At this point, since this
- language is going to change and the other language doesn't need to be changed, I'm not exactly sure
- how much working group
- I think it's pretty specific, but I don't know if it names the working groups and if there's any benefit
- to saying specifically, we only have one working group for now. It's about the names of the working
- group. I think we voted on whatever the response at the time. I think some were just like,
- not with anymore. I don't see anything that's a problem so far.
- They might be such as eco-heroes. Yeah, seeing no language that I disagree with, I'm going to move to
- formally dissolve all working groups except for ECPC. I guess I'll have the language clear. How would
- you like the language, I guess? I don't actually see why any of it in the handbook would
- Need to be changed to exist for any future working group that appears like we can always, since we have
- the names taken off in the past, we can always add and remove as we see fit, but the rules seem totally
- fine as written. Okay, so it's less of a handbook movement and more of a. So, yeah, I got my idea about
- the agenda and then about to.
- Do that is the salvation. Yeah. Okay, so we need to. And I move to amend the agenda to add. As a voting
- item, uh, dissolving the working groups.
- neither voice note before someone can we save the other option. Sorry, I'm. No, it's okay. You can.
- I'm definitely not trying to arrest you. I know. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Yes. Oh, yes. Just a master. Yes.
- Kerry Albright. Yes. Patty Brown. Yes. Matt Baldy. Yes. Adam Budifer. Yes. Motion passes. Great. So
- we're ready to vote on if we want to dissolve the working groups now that we have approved now that
- it's on the agenda. I move that we dissolve the working groups with the exception of ECPC. Oh, just in case.
- Mitchell Owens. Yes. Paul Weiser. Yes. Just semester. Yes. Harriet Albright. Yes. Heidi Brown. Yes.
- Matt Falby. Yes. Adam Budethorpe. Shannon Guy. Yes. Ocean Passes. Great. Good job. So moving forward,
- we will not use the words working groups, subcommittees, anything formal. We will talk about topics
- of interest.
- to the EC, which Rachel, just for the newer folks, Rachel is the one that is reviewing all these different
- development proposals and just the ECPC's conversation points come from Rachel. So that would be not
- formally announced as it's relevant. But for any other topic that you want to discuss, feel free to
- throw it out to the group in our meetings. If you want to talk about it in the meeting on the agenda,
- please make sure to reach out to Rachel before our
- And then if you want to get people together to chit chat, you can send out just an email to see if people
- would like to gather. And you can schedule that way. But again, the forum laws still apply to what we're
- sending electronically to a group of five or more, if that anything stops them to. Great. Wonderful. OK.
- Before we move on to the next item of business, I want to thank everyone for coming along on that journey.
- Rachel Thornton for writing it. Hopefully most of our legal and handbook work is now behind us.
- I do have one, and this might have to get redirected to a lawyer, but while we're still on the handbook.
- I know this applies to like
- PC memos and stuff like that. No, this also apply to like, if somebody from the community comes in as
- like, would you as a commission support this thing going on or like, uh, because comes in as like, would
- you sign in, sign on this with us or any of those kinds of like things where we're asked to give our
- voices support. Uh, does the mayor have to approve that? Signing on the existing thing might not because
- that thing would already have to have been approved.
- from the other commission. I suspect everything else. When Haskell comes in and says, I'm trying to
- get a grant for more trees, we'd have to make sure the city is okay with us approving of Haskell. If
- it's considered a public comment, there is a section in here that they also added about receiving the
- food bill.
- If there are questions about that, please send them at a legal meeting on Thursdays. So I think I was
- asked that. Thursdays are the days to get the legal questions. And thank you, Rachel, in advance for
- all of the emails. Great. Oh, my friends, I think we are on to topic B on our whole business, which
- means we are just buzzing along. And I swear our meetings are filled with all sorts of things besides
- legal details. But I really appreciate everyone's patience as we navigate
- changes to how we operate. The M&B is the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability and Resilience's
- capstone update. So, okay, we're gonna get a little bit more into like the nitty gritty of what we're
- allowed to do and not allowed to do, but I think that the idea is to invite folks, but also to confirm
- we're not gonna have something of a honest group. Yes, so if we do have a forum, which I guess there
- are no more working groups except for easy to see. So if we do reach a forum, then they have to,
- jointly notice it. And if they jointly notice it, I would appreciate if everybody actually came because
- I don't know what the cancellation process for a joint meeting is like. I don't want to put the whole
- meeting at risk if one person doesn't come. So Matt, I know you said you were coming. Heidi, you were
- kind of toying around whether you wanted to come. I haven't heard from anybody else. I can confirm I
- will not be in attendance for that. Yeah, that would encourage anyone.
- who's interested in it to attend. I mean, like, I don't think publicly noticing is a burden, and we
- wouldn't be conducting any commission business just by being there anyway. And even if we had tried
- to, it obviously has to be approved by the commission as a whole anyway. So this is just learning about
- the work that the Capstone students did, trying to figure out the viability of, like, a renewable electric
- utility for Wilmington. So just be watching the presentation. That's to stay, right?
- Yeah, it should be. Okay. So Matt is the only one attending. We will not point you notice, but that
- changes is on now. Thank you. All right. Well, not to be.
- updates at this specific naming convention, and maybe just we'll talk about themes and topics that are
- of interest to the group in the future. But since we're in this position, the biodiversity working group...
- Biodiversity working group did not meet in the last month, though one of our major initiatives at the
- moment, the habitat connectivity plan, did get some attention at the garden fair this last weekend,
- and so I found that heartening. But no, no updates. Awesome.
- Committee is meeting, I think, in a couple weeks. They met, then they meet once a quarter, or we meet
- once a quarter. There are two of us that represent the EC on the City Committee. And there are a couple
- of events that are happening, I think, primarily in June. There's going to be a screening of a film.
- There's going to be, I think, a couple different events that they're hoping to kind of host with, that
- are using a lot of resources that we have in the services society.
- Yeah, there'll be more to come on that. But yeah, it's just nicely plotting along and there's a bunch
- of new members from the hub and stuff like that. So good representation of the city and community. Anything
- else about our city? ECO heroes. Well, the ECO heroes, our contest is going to have its
- Pointing event on Saturday. Thank you for those of you who are able to come and be part of it. Tabling
- or helping with the events. There's a lot of stuff that we could talk about, but this is we're gaining
- momentum in our meeting. So I will just say I have a couple quick questions about the. Going to do a
- little demo for you, but OK. The logistics of things do we? Is there anybody from the city that will
- be representing?
- some form of official capacity that will be shaking hands. Personally, I've reached out to Office of
- the Mayor, Bernie's staff. I've reached out to a couple of council members. You're going to be our celebrity
- then. I feel like I'm really going to have to bring the game, but still. There is a photographer. So in the
- When I sent out an email to get a schedule down, and I think after kind of just figuring out what we
- can do, it looks like if we can have, I think what will happen is we'll have the event and we'll get
- the EC table set up. We'll have two tables with all the different winners on them and the entire event
- start button.
- or before we start to get ready for the Eco Hero ceremony. It's like a birthday event, so there's lots
- of people, lots of things going on. And then in Wacaw, we'll kind of start encouraging the winners to
- get nearer the stages. On the 15th, I'm gonna go up there and just say thanks to the city and the folks
- who participated and our sponsors, the donors, and really excited to announce the winners and recognize
- their contributions with a certificate and a little gift bag, or prize bag. At that point,
- I would love, Matt, if you could come up to the podium and read the list of the different winners. And
- then I think Heidi, you have volunteered to hand out the gift and certificates. That's the one for you?
- OK. And now we all organize. I'm going to have to make things as simple as possible as far as where
- things are so you get the right person to read the thing. And then I still want to get them the certificate
- in the back. I think what we'll do is, great question.
- You read the name, they walk over, I shake their hand, and I'm so happy with it. Actually,
- you know what? Yeah, that's probably the best way to do it. And then they'll walk over to you and get
- their stuff. And then they take their stuff away. I think it's, I, it's- Can I take a picture? Yeah,
- a picture is typically with, like, the shaky hands, but I feel like having, like, your stuff with you,
- like, all of a sudden makes it, like, a lot, a lot to manage. We can also give them a certificate when
- we name them.
- Then it's shaking out and they get a prize. What about names? I think that makes sense. So they can
- hold the shirt. So they can get during the picture. Yeah. Excuse me, I'm afraid of mispronouncing everyone's
- names, but I'll do my best. Okay. So Matt, do you have a certificate? When do they get the prize? From
- whom do they get the prize? I'm handing it out. I'm reading it in, handing it out.
- They're taking a picture with you and then they're hitting the press. I love it. This is why we need
- to talk about this. Great. Thank you. Is that 1.15? 1.15 is when I will start talking. If you want to
- talk to people hoping to have them later. There are two classrooms that are being recognized. There
- may or may not be kids from those classrooms. Matt, I'll encourage you to just take your time because
- it's fine if we need to just
- have a second for folks to shuffle around. And then there'll be a photographer, but I do have Carl or
- Justin being able to take photos of the winners. Rachel, do you know for sure that we'll have somebody
- who's taking pictures of each of those? That's what I was told. Do you know who it is?
- Either way though, when it comes to our annual report before council and stuff, it's just nice to have
- photos. It's really nice to have photos. Even if there will be professional ones of the handshake moments,
- still just taking some photos of the event, of the table and whatever is the win for us. Yeah, yeah,
- that's totally it. That's, we're using, do you think we're using a personal phone for that or? That
- might be on the path and I just email everything to Rachel and I just click that.
- Okay, the photographer's name, I believe, is Lisa. I don't have her last name. No, Lisa Wilson.
- Lisa Wilson. And there is on the to-do list of all the planners. It says photographers hired a general
- capture the event but can go to the stage specifically to capture eco-heroes. Yes. Thank you. Okay,
- great. And then after the ceremony is over, there will be continued tabling
- by, so Carl will be there to set it all up and just kind of get things rolling. We have some stuff that
- we can share on the table and do on the table and stuff, so that'll be available. And then Carl and
- Matt will be behind the table until two o'clock. And then Justin and Heidi have offered to help from
- two to like 3.30 and then whatever the time is. And I'll be there the whole day, so yeah. Anybody else
- who wants to come just for fun, high five, any of us if you are more than welcome.
- Check out other people's tables, too. There's a lot that happens at their day celebrations, so there
- really is a lot to do. Yeah, anybody have any questions? I have a couple of updates. So the booth will
- be inside, so art will not be flying away. There's still CBA on whether they're going to be using the
- outdoor stage or not. It looks like it's going to be cooler, but windy, but no rain. So if I go tomorrow
- before I leave, I will
- then you can email Ferry just so you know if you accept. So the art tables are inside no matter what
- the ECS table is also inside or? Inside. Okay. And they're adjacent to each other. Okay. Just the actual
- stage and presentation of the ceremony. And then I wanted to ask when should, sorry,
- uh, for increase. Um, when is our, when are the art pieces going to be brought back to City Hall? When
- is the art going to be brought back? Yes, for anything not picked up at the Earth Day event. So people
- can have a couple weeks to help them out. Um, I will have the tote and stuff too, so I can kind of have
- whatever day works for us. It can be Monday or Thursday or whatever. Okay. Uh, so, I don't know, I'll
- post on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but, um, somebody else, if Monday is better for you,
- we can have stuff brought in on Monday at our Labor's staff and just bring it back. Do we say in our
- email when they should pick it up? I think that whenever the draft Adam sent out or sent to me, I sent
- it out for Tuesday. They can start picking it up on Tuesday. So then there would be on Monday,
- all day Monday, maybe Tuesday morning. OK. I'll make a note to bring it on Monday if possible. But if
- nothing else, the first thing on Tuesday. Good question. Anything else?
- Uh, no, that's all for me. Anything else from any of you else? Did you all get to see? Did you all judge
- the stuff? It's all funny and so cute. Look at these adorable community members. Love it. I need some.
- I need a little song for an option. I'm trying to find my moment. I love it. Um, Rachel, do you know
- if we are allowed to play the songs? I mean, Sydney technically owns them, so.
- I love the question about what happens with the ownership. I don't think the city is going to go after
- any royalties. Well, thanks for everybody who's built in many different ways. It's been quite the process,
- but I'm super excited to have us strap up to see.
- Next thing is the PC, which I'll have a question. Oh, this process. You've already met to that district.
- Yeah. Yeah. We work on basically, we got a bunch of donations and then we also have a budget that we
- use to kind of supplement if there are certain age groups that aren't covered very well by like a bunch
- of copyists or something like that for the school. But yeah, so we've got and we've got, yeah,
- Little kiddos, we've got lots of grown-ups. We've got a nice, tighter head-printing group, so. There
- are at least two people that weren't able to make it. We've had a couple people not RSVP, so if they
- are unable to come and pick up those prizes, just put a post-it note or something for me to know who
- to give those prizes to whenever we've got those offers. I'm not sure. Can you share with me at some
- point the ones we've been making? I think I'm good. Well, I think it would be possible.
- Okay, perfect. I am really eager to hear what the group wants to do. This year has been a lot of change
- for us and a change in commissioners, change in processes, so many processes. We have a planning meeting
- in November where we decide what we want to do for the year to come. I'd be really eager to hear what
- people think would be the best use of our time next year. I think ours is like maybe 14 years in or
- something.
- And all the different ways that we've done it, it's looked different, you know, many of those years.
- So yeah, I don't know. Do you know how many answers you've gotten over the 15 years? I mean, do you
- speak to that or not? I have no idea, because I know that when COVID hit, the numbers dropped significantly.
- I mean, the first few years, like 2003 or whatever it was,
- No, we're in 2010, actually. But the early years, we had tons, like 50 or something like that,
- like separate, separate entries. And a couple years ago, we had probably 50, like it's a lot of like
- ones and things. Somewhere in the late 20 teens, I remember like two full tables of 4th to 5th graders.
- Yeah. And sometimes it's, you know, a dozen, like it really depends.
- I think it also depends on the outreach that goes into it. I think it depends on how we position it
- to community members, to educators, to different organizations in town. I think it depends on the theme
- to be totally honest, because nature at night versus, I think storm water is really important, but like
- storm water, it's like people really getting signed by different things, and so. This year, we have
- heard last year more
- Yeah, not really interesting. Like I think that's really fun just to see how different submissions are.
- I think that the average piece of it and. I think that's a big part of it and this year I think we were
- really, really hard to overcome some of the possible that we had last year. We just like weren't ready
- for them. So this year a little more clear, but it was very fine. There was a lot of like just split
- staff turnover with me starting my position and then how much
- The department, my position changed whenever they, for my predecessors, whenever I was hired, they just
- threw your position. So just the amount of time allocated for something like Eco-Heroes changed. And
- then the intern time was also changed. So, oh, we do have another one next year though. So, but her
- kind has been focused on more department rather than environmental commission activities. So that was
- a big change.
- So, here's, you're very. No, but so that was a big change. I think, like, if this was, if you guys all
- want to be yours next year. Working with, sorry, bring them up again. We go, they going through the
- sponsor process. They really wanted to see something like by January or February even so.
- just starting early in the year. And I know everyone's kind of really busy that time of year anyway,
- so personal obligations. So I'd be out there though. Yeah, I think some of the changes, even like the
- type of financial space you can have with the city has changed. And so we can't just ask lots of people
- because there might be limits on what people can go in. Just like the little things that we either didn't
- have in place, that weren't in place before, or that we just
- weren't having to work through or didn't know about it or whatever. So yeah, I'm ready just to follow
- in the community. Like that's it. Yeah. But again, I'm super excited. I mean, I'm excited for all these
- new or newer faces to be open plan we want to do next year. Because it really is like, this is just
- volunteering. So whatever you want to do, whatever you've got time for and are willing to put your own
- personal time into is super exciting for me.
- If it's equal here, it's awesome. If it's not, I mean, you're gonna hear what we do. Any questions?
- I was wondering, well, what are the prices? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
- I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm
- not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
- I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not
- Okay. The next couple of meetings are May 7 at 1130 a.m. and May 12th at 530 p.m. I will be on the 7th,
- the May 7th meeting, not the May 12th meeting.
- I wanted to ask, since these memos have to be created, would there be a volunteer who, we can also do
- ad hoc, whoever needs to sit, whoever is attending the meetings, is there a volunteer who generally
- wants to do those memos? I'm usually helping present, so then it's hard to do both at the same time.
- So are there folks who know that they'd be interested in going to the
- The CCPC meeting, the one that's at 1130, that is the introduction to whatever the experiences or whatever.
- And so that would be whoever wants to learn the information live, ask questions live, engage with typically
- either the developer or whoever the planner is, something like that. And then the 530 one, the next
- week is where we write a memo that has any, and if we want to write a memo, we can decide we don't want
- to. But if we do want to write a memo, it would be where we
- together ideas about what are the things that we want to articulate on behalf of the ECPC and the EC,
- what are the specific things that we are suggesting or recommending, and presuming it's going to the
- developer, not to, like, I think that maybe clarifying, like, who it's going to. I think it would be
- the same thing, like, if you, or like the meeting you're in the day with me, it's expressing thoughts
- during that meeting, like verbal thoughts, I can definitely pass that along.
- the planner signed for that case manager. If you had written a letter of any kind, I guess, even if
- that was passed directly to the developer, I think that's still kind of a public position. So that would
- still need to be approved, I think, from the way I'm understanding it. OK. And so then if we have that
- 530 meeting, it would be constructing whatever and then having to go through the process of submitting
- it. So the 1130 meeting is good because it's
- The goal is to get this information or recommendations and concerns to the developers so that they can
- alter whatever they're doing so that we don't have to write a memo because they've already sort of fixed
- it or adapted to it or accommodated it in some way. That's the dream. So the May 7th, when the meeting
- is to listen to the developer talk about the site plan? But if they want to come to the meeting,
- at minimum, I invite the, and the memo will be me, but I invite the planner assigned to that case.
- to come present a pretty holistic concept of whatever plan is being proposed. We've had a developer
- come in the past to help supplement that, and they were interested in hearing what the commission had
- to say. Some developers aren't local, so it's harder for them to attend. But sometimes it's just me,
- sometimes it's another staff member, sometimes it's a developer. And then you invite someone from the EC
- So right now, I have on, Matt, I did see your name, or is that you? I've not heard about you.
- Right now, the ECPC members are Sherry, Matt, Adam Martinez, Mitch, and Heidi. So it would be the working
- group that we still have, the one working group we still have. We're not always like any other working
- group expected to go to this meeting today. We can't all attend it because it's tough. Yeah.
- But it would be. But that way, if someone's unavailable, there's nothing special.
- You want to? That's where my question is. Are there any new projects or petitioners or anything? Is
- there a reason to do the mail-in? I think the filing deadline is made first. I have not heard of anything
- yet. At this point, since I haven't heard anything, it's likely to get canceled. However, there's some
- things I don't always know about where things are popping up.
- Logistical question for you as well, given that will we have to make it a monthly regular meeting ritual
- of approving whatever memo we may choose to write is? Because we won't know until May 1st, potentially,
- if there's anything we even want to speak on, then it would be before our next regular meeting that
- we would have to wrap it up. I guess what I'm saying is as much as working group updates won't have
- to be a regular
- Agenda item anymore. ECPC and approval of a memo will have to be a voting item every month, right? Yeah.
- And I think, if my memory serves me correctly, which it doesn't always. And I think Taylor said that
- as long as the instance of the memo was stated during, and that's what the instant was voted on, the
- actual letter formation could occur at the meeting.
- So that would be hard to do if we didn't. So presuming that we do have them, I mean, if we don't have
- the meeting. That's not like Heidi is interested. Matt's interested. Is anybody else feeling pretty
- committed to going to the meeting on the 7th at 1130? Yes.
- Yeah, I mean, for what it's worth, I expect it to be canceled. But if it isn't, I'm sorry. Yeah,
- thank you. And it comes through as an announcement, like a meeting. Yes. It's in McCloskey, so it will
- be downstairs. But yeah, also, if there's a better time, like I said, in office on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
- so that's the best time.
- said or something. I tried to make it around lunchtime so people weren't hopefully taking off work.
- But if there is a better time throughout the day that works. Right. And when did you say it was the
- major larger letter? That would be May 12th. 5.30? Yeah, 5.30. Also, I think it must be. If we have it.
- Yeah, it's only if we have the seventh meeting, then we'll have to swap one. And speaking of working
- groups, and since I'm talking of a meeting that I will not be at, I did pass along the ITS concern of
- the HDMI cords sometimes hopping in the room. I haven't heard anything back that I didn't want to sit
- on in a long session. You know, like three minutes, I'm like, oh, you're going to be a doctor for it.
- So thank you for sharing. OK, anything else from ECPC? No. OK, light pollution working group.
- Then Martinez is typically the one that speaks to this, but Matt, do you have anything you want to share?
- Did we read them? I don't think we have an update at this time. Okay. No update. Sounds good. I'd like
- to mention something on this topic. The ECOPS permission on sustainability, I don't think they got to
- it in the last reading, but they're actually
- Proposing a resolution to adopt to the city of Wilmington to adopt dark sky certification. I mean, the
- whole mayor approval thing is very complicated. I would like to suggest that perhaps we think about
- doing together with them, joining them, talking with them, just suit the thought. I know this isn't
- exactly on the agenda, but it would be a bit more helpful to have another permission that is kind of
- And especially like the system that should be on this topic. It's just saying that they're doing that
- because I know that a group has been talking about it for like a year now, but it's interesting that
- because like leads with resolution versus having a working group that's talking about it or, you know,
- leads thinking through, it's really, that's something to think about. Yeah. I mean, that's something
- to think about like is, are there things that would be more assertive that makes sense for us? Are there
- things that are more of a process that we think are more
- important to move through before gently do it. That's really interesting. I personally prefer a slow
- and a thoughtful approach. I think that's more scientific. But at the same time, I appreciate that they
- care about this stuff. I think it would be helpful if we, I don't know what the mechanism would be,
- but if we had one of our representatives, we chart them and maybe we could work on joint resolution
- if that's possible.
- you know, maybe we could add some of the information. I know we're still pretty preliminary in our research,
- but it would be, if we did talk about resolution, I just think as we're both advisory boards, it would
- be very helpful or be more persuasive if we have joint permission composed of how many people, the city
- council, the mayor, you know, given our recommendations versus us acting individually. That's just something
- I was thinking, because I actually,
- watch their meeting for a different reason, which maybe I'll address in the next working version update.
- But yeah, I don't know if we want to reach out to them, if we want to motion to that effect, if we just
- support what they want. Yeah, I don't think we need to. And I know how to get in touch with them. Or
- I would be even there if they're doing that at all. Yeah, I mean, I think if they, I mean, given their
- agendas lately, I would be surprised if they get to it even next month.
- So we've got some time, but I'm happy to reach out and say, hey, we're also looking into dark sky. Maybe
- we can do a joint message. And then, Matt, you could email Adam and the other Adam, because they're
- on our fingers. And Carl, if you- Maybe we could do a range in light pollution, or use it again. Yeah,
- I think that would be good. The odds are on her email with virtual interests, and she turned on email.
- I went to one meeting, but then it wasn't technically on mine.
- I'm during a meeting and then we're involved and I'm not working with you. But yeah, there is something
- I'm very interested in. People in my neighborhood have talked about the dark or the lights, and it's
- something that I would be interested in pushing forward. Sweet. Well, yeah. We'll continue the conversation
- and let us know where you was going. Awesome. Well, okay. Well, then great. Thank you. Light pollution.
- folks. Okay, so our final meeting of the Outreach and Education Working Group officially. Kim, do you
- want to do anything on that? Sure, you can start. We met just before this meeting and we're still in
- sort of the stages. This working group really just started in the last four months. So right now we're
- focusing on getting the materials updated, getting the
- website cleaned up a little bit. And so Carrie raised the sort of show that sets the brochures. Factors
- and facts on our website. All the resources have been taken off as part of the accessibility updating.
- And this is a good opportunity for us to re-evaluate what we actually have up there to create some new
- brochures for the tabling that we do. So we talked a little bit about how we're going to push that,
- what we're going to
- I think we're going to reach out to working groups and ask them for resources. Hopefully, we can have
- a couple of brochures, but we can also have some hyperlinks on the website to reputable sources
- on biodiversity, water, things like that. We talked about that, and then we briefly mentioned maybe
- doing some sort of, what is it called?
- press release for the eagle hairs contest. Sorry, I remember in the shot. Yeah, so that was basically
- it. And is it possible for us to have, do you know if the press had Fiona's presentation or document
- that she had worked on for the natural landscaping stuff?
- Can we put that on the website for now, since there aren't any brochures or statutes? Sorry. I have
- not had time to fully check that it's 100% accessible. Once I do, I don't want to make a deadline. We
- drink that. I'm not going to make the next Friday deadline of it. But once I do, I can put it on the
- website. I might bring it to the next commission meeting just to vote on it officially, I guess. Yeah.
- OK, that's perfect. Yeah. We're just thinking like, oh, we've already got a digital thing. Yeah,
- so it's fine. Awesome.
- I'm speaking of press releases. Do you take pictures of the winners artwork and can we put that in the
- press release or did you not talk about that? We didn't, but I think it would be great if we did have
- some images. I don't know. Again, we tried to do the same. Yeah, I don't know if we've put photos with
- press releases. I know we've put images on the website of the winners or we put in our Facebook posts
- or whatever. I'm like, yeah, I typically take pictures of the art and stuff. I can ask a press release.
- Yeah, I can ask.
- And I'll draft that or one of us will draft that and then send it to you and then you'll go to the city
- or the city will draft it. I think I was going to check with the comms team and see if there's anything
- super city specific in the press release guidance that staff has. I'm going to send that out and you
- all could write it and then I'll send it to you. And it should be people talking about ideas for things.
- Okay, that sounds great. Is there anything else for the outreach education? Cool. Special projects working
- group. Well, I haven't done anything with that. We're going to keep moving along because April and it's
- eco heroes month. The last thing then though is the water quality. It was going to be that I had a meeting
- schedule finally for us to get the main people up to date.
- But now I can just email a guest and like, you know, what I've been thinking about and talk about it
- if you want to help us. So yes. Before I move on from working groups as a whole, I will double check
- that without working groups that you all can still use city rooms if you want. Oh, that's good enough.
- Yeah. Because I'm not sure how that works. And like, I assume I don't need a public loanist and non-working
- group, but I don't know how.
- I guess I'm sure this was already on your radar. You can cancel all of the outreach working group meetings
- before the regular meetings. Unless you'd like to use the room here. It may be that there's a recurring
- casual conversation.
- But I think moving forward, we have a lot of flexibility with how we communicate, which is kind of what
- that really means. And that was everything from me and Mitchell. Great. Okay. We're on Susan's board.
- So pre-commission. So I have every intention of attending the meeting. The meeting doesn't happen to us.
- These are two meetings since the tree commission last met. So tell me now, I think on the 20th. Yeah,
- I'll go with that. I'll update them then as well. Perfect. That's great. Thank you for doing that. Have
- you been able to learn something else? I was not able to learn anything. No worries at all. Friends
- of Lake Monroe, I don't know.
- Rachel, do you have any insight from that? Do we have any emails? I was in the last meeting. They had
- a couple of their grants that they approved. They missed one of them. One of them was they were redoing
- a concrete path for a water tank on Brown County.
- Oh, and I also had a, they've been working with a nine-year-old student in the professor's lab, and
- has been doing some work with data from the Salt Creek shrinkage. The data has been collected out there,
- and it shows that the Indian Lake meeting happened a month or two ago. We're hoping to get that
- Booster. Salt Creek coming out of a lake or in front of branches. North Fork, Salt Creek. We're sorry,
- South Fork. Oh, thanks for being here, Donna. Beacons and beacons
- That we call it now? B plus R? It was for our princess B plus C or B plus R in an email today. So that
- R is kind of the acronym. In not this month, but last month's meeting, they discussed exactly that,
- but didn't formally land anywhere. So they're there, but for the moment, I feel okay still saying B
- plus. Still until they know exactly how they're identifying. Due to last month's meeting here being
- what it was, I think I
- We skipped reports. So last month, they talked about how they're tabling at Earth Day. They did their
- elections, and they adopted their resolution against flock cameras. Then they kind of introduced and
- advanced to a second reading, a resolution about pedestrianization of Kirkwood and sustainable
- transportation, and also one to restrict or dissipate use
- So both on to their second reading so that they would officially be able to take action on those. However,
- this month's meeting, the resolution on Glyphosate was the entire meeting. They had a couple of subject
- area experts in, a representative from Parks, Mary, I can't remember her last name, and an L and J card
- from MCIRIS were there, and they had question and answer.
- That was a robust conversation for a while and basically postponed the resolution there. May meeting
- kind of anticipating some kind of amendment. So yeah, they had a very productive meeting just two days
- ago, but didn't actually go through any of the resolutions. So that's not what I wanted to talk about
- because that's not what we thought we needed virtually anyway.
- I've had a surprising number of people come up to talk to me about the environmental conditions that
- we should investigate. And I'm wondering if we would want to pick up on that topic at all, either,
- you know, or if you just want to let it kind of do their thing. I just, I bring it up because the, like,
- I don't want people to be confused to thinking that we're the one pushing this resolution.
- But at the same time, I know everybody's busy and I don't really want to pick up the topic, but maybe
- if it would, I don't know, I feel like our thinking is different than theirs, although I will say that
- the last meeting, they kind of got more nuanced in their approach, it seemed like. Right, so
- while environmental quality indicators and our environmental expertise does certainly fall under the
- sustainability umbrella, they also, so do a whole bunch of other things, which is why, you know, most people
- are generally opposed to the merger that was proposed way back when. On this resolution, I have no personal
- interest in joining them on it. I'm satisfied the city's use of pesticides. I know that they are herbicides
- that they minimize their use. I know they're all definitely about to update their integrated pest management
- plan because Bee City resources can make it even better.
- And joining them, I was just in making our position clear, which is likely a rebuild from the people
- I talked to on this. So, you know, because actually has a proposed opposition to the because amazing.
- I mean, yeah, for the reasons you might expect in a city for dealing with invasive species that are
- in the way that they apply it.
- Yeah, I very much didn't care for it as written, but it sounds pretty evident that a very new version
- of it is probably what's going to come up next month. So I'm in no hurry to weigh in because they're
- going through their process. Sorry. No, no, no. I was just going to say, I appreciate you updating us
- on it and promptly bringing it up just to say, is this something that we want to have in more concentrated
- conversations?
- opening it to the group to say, do we want to, how do people feel about, do we want to say anything
- in any one direction? And if we do want to do something more formalized and just talk amongst ourselves,
- like I think that's, I think that's a really valuable talking point is people ever want to have those
- kinds of discussions, especially with because being very good at their resolution, uh, creations. I
- would say that, I mean, this is definitely something that probably would benefit from like having, you know,
- making sure that we all know where to find their draft of their resolution so we can read it or research
- if we need to ask questions. Like, get some understanding because bring it up at the, you know,
- the top. It's a little hard to wrap our brains around. How do I feel about it? What is our role?
- Is there, on the city's website, a statement about the approximate increase in use? I think in the integrated
- best management field, is it the best way, best resource? I don't know. Go ahead. I was just wondering,
- you know, thinking about updating your
- that our website and people are going to come to us to inform that information that might be used at
- the rest time. If we want to sort of take a stand. Yeah. And if nothing else, it's like, here are the
- resources. Yeah. That's a really good idea, Shannon, to put that on the list of your website adjustments.
- Well, MCIers must deal with that issue.
- Yes, I believe they have some guidance. They have a calendar of control of how to treat certain invasives
- at certain times of the year and what you should be treating them with. And I imagine Blackness State
- is on there. I've been told by MCIRIS to use that last, as I've been saying, in my area. So that whole
- meeting was the Q&A with MCIRIS members controlling itself. I mean, they're master learners,
- aren't they? And they're possibly good at the means on it.
- Is there a certified Master Gardener? Is that because there are bigger groups? I don't know what that
- is, but. Dr. Andrews-Gardner, her research has been invasive species and biodiversity and treating invasive
- species. I have it here, if anyone at some point wants to look at it. There are just two main points.
- Resolution 202604 states that what widespread use of glucose
- glyphosate may lead to the development of herbicide-resistant weeds. However, I'm not aware of any studies
- that show this in areas where glyphosate is used to manage invasive species. It's only been reported
- in agricultural fields where glyphosate is sprayed regularly throughout the year on glyphosate-resistant
- crop plants.
- they there there there's an argument to each of the concerns so to I haven't read the because this letter
- but it sounds like the two main concerns are about the overuse of it and the argument is that we don't
- overuse it the way that we apply it is no how what what the concern is usually for um and then um then
- they also mentioned and all the
- BCOS mentioned using alternative methods for pest and weed control. However, in some situations, methods
- such as manual removal cause more harm than benefit, and some manifestations are simply too large. And
- then also that they can cause direct, manual removal can cause direct harm to human health. For example,
- poison hemlock and poison ointment. So they've done in their label, like they've made themselves the
- main arguments that BCOS thinks.
- Thanks for sharing me. Any other thoughts that people want to share about this before we move on to
- the next update report? Cool. Thanks for the discussion on that. Oh, I know. MC Iris, which is Rachel.
- I was not able to attend the meeting this month, so I don't have an update. Whenever I skim to minutes,
- it was mostly about preparing for the plant sale in October or September and running their replacement
- program of removing evasive and
- receiving a voucher to that reason of the data. Yeah. Cool. All right. Mitchell, anything from that
- home community program? Still not resolved yet? Okay, so yeah. A bunch of things to the list that I
- haven't taken a chance to look from this yet, because every time I remember, I'm on a work computer
- and I can't get on Google Drive. That's where they happen.
- Are you familiar with the Clean Community Program? It would be helpful to get a recap. Yeah, I would
- appreciate a recap. It is a program through IDEM for basically encouraging cities, counties, mostly
- cities and counties, I think, to partake in various environmental initiatives and things. And if you
- do enough of them, you get recognition.
- Currently three tiers, bronze is you've signed up. And you've shown a commitment to doing this.
- Silver is, and there's like a list of like currently prescribed activities you can do that would get
- you credit for moving up the tiers of like having a greenhouse gas, what's the word? Inventory. Inventory,
- yes. Or like things similar to that or just like
- Updating practices doing more being like a certified trees. What's the trees and trees? Yeah, like getting
- that certification or anything. That's what I want. Yeah. Thank you. That's part of sorry. That's almost
- part of the problem, but part of why we haven't reached silver yet because we can do a lot of these
- initiatives.
- Do you need me already? It's like three years statute of limitations was, I think, like the person who
- runs the program set in the original meetings. And you have to do so many of these activities depending
- on the size of your city. Bloomington, I think we got in at a slightly smaller tier because of the permanent
- population of the city versus the college adjusted population of the city.
- So we have to get six things to get to the silver tier. We've been sitting on five for a while. So I
- think it's, again, just a matter of figuring out the proper paperwork or whenever something moves and
- comes back up again, then we'll get to that point. And then gold will be another six. And when we have
- the original meetings, I know. I'm forgetting her name, city council. Is it Wizzetoff?
- Yes. She was really gung-ho about stuff that a lot of other communities hadn't even gotten into yet,
- like a lot of kind of agronomic studies and things like that. And we're like, oh, can we go above gold?
- Because I think we can get to gold pretty easily. Yeah, maybe we can call them platinum. So let's see.
- But we're still making good progress. It's an accounting process at this point, I think. Thanks for
- the breakdown of that. It was a newer program, so it's exciting.
- that you can figure out. Great, welcome to staff report. We've got a couple of items listed here. Yeah,
- so you see this email, and I use it a lot. It often emails me a few times a year about if the EC wants
- to promote something on Facebook. I don't know if you all had a chance to review this email, but they
- basically are asking if they provided some social media content to put this on Facebook. So I just wanted to check
- to see if you all were interested in having this. Does that pass accessibility? That's for the 25th.
- This requires about, doesn't it? I move that we approve this graphic for our social media. Thank you.
- It's not the only place I don't receive an issue, but yeah, it's a fair question. I haven't tested all
- of that. Okay, so we had a need to vote.
- Okay. Mitchell. Yeah. Provider. Yes. That's the master. Carry. All right. Yes. Heidi Brown. Yes. Yes.
- Motion passes. Settle.
- I'm just going to move from school next week. Congratulations. Great. Well then, we're at the part evening
- where we go through commissioner announcements. This is where you can share whatever you want. We're
- still in our meeting. So typically, it is environmentally related or somehow adjacent to EC. But honestly,
- it is an open floor. I had a couple of things that I was going to share, including two things to put
- on our agenda for next month, which are social media posts,
- votes around the garden fair. We have a photo of our lovely commissioners at the table. It'd be great
- to be able to share that and say something positive about the impact of, you know, the community gathering,
- and then also another one for the Earth Day's eco-hero stuff, which we'll want to share about too. So
- that'll be on the list. Additionally, on the agenda, I'll try and remember to say something, Rachel,
- but the annual report
- or last year is something that I will present to council at some point, but I need y'all's input and
- also your vote to approve that. So that would be something that I bring. It's basically a recap of what
- we did last year. It's also a short comment on what we're doing this year and we're going with it and
- it can be whatever we want it to be. So we've gone through a lot of different stuff just in 2026 already,
- which is great and we can share about or talk about. Does that mean they are all approval?
- Uh, it's presented to council. I mean, I guess so. It's a thing we'd have to approve as a commission.
- So, it's really good because it's baked into our rules, but okay. I don't understand why the council
- also doesn't have to approve. Don't ask for more, please. I think it's just because of the flow chart
- of legislative, executive, judicial commissions around your executive.
- So yeah, so next month we'll talk about the annual report and hold on hopefully. But the thing that's
- actually really important is that we will be naming new officers in June, which means we will be needing
- people to self-nominate or to suggest others to be in the role of chair, vice chair, secretary,
- and treasurer. Right now our vice chair and treasurer is the same role because last year someone we did
- every now and again, but the treasure is an important one to have. And you all are welcome to raise
- your hand expressing interest in any of these roles. This role could be yours. I'm so down to let somebody
- else try their hand. They're all really different. We're allowed to individually email each other. So
- if any of these three officers, you'd like to know what the actual burden of that job is, you can ask them.
- and they would be happy to share with you. Yeah, I was going to make, as a commissioner announcement,
- the fact that I'm looking to no longer be an officer. I'm not planning to step off of the commission,
- but I have some other possible very challenging time constraints heading into the new year. So I would
- like to not be an officer on this commission. So if anyone wants to know anything about how it's gone,
- I'm happy to chat with them.
- Yeah, just putting that out there. And then lastly, I'm gonna bring snacks to our next meeting.
- I love snacks. And so I'm super excited to have something that kind of like keeps us going as we're
- moving into the summer months where, you know, it's nice to have a little thing to lower sense. So if
- you wanna bring group snacks, feel free. I'm gonna bring snacks to share. I know we're in the
- like semi-dinner hour, so who knows what they'll be, but that's my advice. Yeah, I have an event and
- I'm done, so I have my father here. So David George Haskell, who,
- is an environmental writer. His newest book just came out, How Flowers Made the World. We're bringing
- him next week. He's in a finalist of the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction twice. He has a book called The
- Forest Unseen, which I love, which is all about forest ecology. So he'll be doing a reading and talk
- on campus next Friday afternoon, then a book signing and conversation with Jen Liao in biology.
- 6 o'clock at Morgan's Towers. He's also doing some other stuff. And then the next morning, on Saturday
- morning, fingers crossed I can get Ross to commit. But he's going to walk, do a walk and talk to Ross
- Gatti. That's close to the buildings and community orchard and the Linslow Nature Trail about flowers
- and evolution. He's funny and delightful. So come to something or other. It should be really great.
- His books are great. He had them read.
- The invitation for this year's Indiana Academy of Sciences Biohits event came out recently. I coordinate
- but I wanted to pass along the information to all of you as well, because it's a really fun event. These
- bioblitzes are basically once a year, a bunch of people will just go and descend onto one location and
- sample, just sample the hell out of it, for every kind of taxon you can imagine, just trying to find
- everything within an area that you can in a day, basically.
- This year's event will be taking place at Harmony State Park, which is about 20 minutes west of Evansville
- along the Val Vash River. Seems like a really cool spot. They have, you don't need to have any kind
- of expertise or training or knowledge you're doing at all. There are plenty of people who shepherd you
- through that process if you're interested.
- There are people sampling every kind of taxidermy group if you want to do some birding, or just go to
- plants, or traps, or mammals, or herbs, or if you want to do aquatic insects with me, I'll give you
- a dad. I want you to work. It'll be fun, I promise. If you want to know more about it, I can forward
- you the registration link and information. Just send me an e-mail and send all the cool details. What's
- the date on that again? Oh yeah, I didn't say that. June 4th.
- Saturday, June. If June 20th isn't a Saturday, just go to the closest Saturday. That's great. That'll
- be very useful. So much data. It is a long way of saying, oh, I need to do insights that try to out-sample
- and they're not. So much data. Cool. That's great. Any other announcements from folks?
- If you haven't been to the IU Museum, they have a very cool exhibit now, Fire Ecosystems. It's a portal
- piece, the life cycle in human impact on a portal, and it's all made out of fiber. It's a really cool
- exhibit. And then part of that on May 12th, or Tuesday in the evening,
- If you have kids, they're doing a coordinated event with the City of Utilities where we're doing a little
- bit of a Hootra River Watch stream lesson in partnership with the bioligal depot systems. And then in
- their arts classroom, they're doing some kind of building, you know, fibrous things that kind of match
- the example itself.
- Which means the utilities that you're designed with, where is that happening? So there's a, we're using
- one of the streams. And it's kind of in partnership, we do some river watch stream ecosystem and stream
- health gauging.
- Part of it is to go through the exhibit and then we walk outside through the stream right there and
- kids can look for different bugs and kind of read some chemistry and like chemistry stuff, VHS and stuff.
- And then they get to either, you know, draw a correct math or build something similar to the.
- As I'm not sure if the signups are live, I checked last week, it wasn't up yet, but I think they're
- capping them 30 to 40 children. And then parents will just be there with them. I think it was about
- 30. If people want to keep an eye out for where to register for that. I will have to go back and maybe
- don't find that link. I think it's on the...
- different exhibits. I think it's under the exhibit for one that are outreach programs. Well, good job.
- Other folks? We've got 16 minutes. Nothing? Nothing? Yeah. I mean, I don't have 40 minutes to go. You
- know that, right? It's been a long time. It's been a while. It's been a long time. It's been a long time.
- Okay, well then we can confirm that we've got the upcoming events, as you know, we're doing the Earth
- Day event. We've got everybody figured out in their spots. If you have any change in your plan or any
- questions, please please reach out to me. I will have my device nearby. And then next month our meeting
- is on May 21, right here in the other room.
- All right, I think it is 744. Nice job, team. Oh, two seconds.