September 9, 2009 SAB Meeting Minutes
| MEMBERS PRESENT: |
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| MEMBERS ABSENT: |
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| STAFF PRESENT: |
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| GUESTS PRESENT: |
Barbara Clark |
| PUBLIC PRESENT: |
Jeff Joseph, Bo |
Call Meeting to Order (Daniel Poull, Chairperson)
Take Roll Call to Determine Quorum of Members
ANY PRESSING ITEMS
None.
APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
Motion and second to approve the August 12, 2009 minutes (Heckler/Hill-Nelson).
Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.
Discussion on Preservation of Class 1 and Class 2 Soils in Douglas County and the Establishment of a Local Food Network
Barbara Clark presented information regarding Class 1 and Class 2 soils. She mentioned that the largest contiguous section in Douglas County is in Grant Township and she is bringing this issue to the attention of SAB now because the Northeast Sector Plan is under way and this plan will be determining the land use for a portion of Grant Township. Barbara Clark announced that there will be a public meeting on Thursday, September 17th at 6:30 pm at the Grant School to begin discussion on the future use of the soils in the county. She also informed SAB that Commissioner Nancy Thellman is going to ask the County Commission tonight to put through an initiative for a local food policy coalition.
Barbara Clark stated that she would like to have the support and recognition from SAB that the preservation of Class 1 and Class 2 soils is a significant land use planning consideration. There was discussion about writing a SAB memo to the County and City Commissioners as well as the Planning Commissioners and Dan Warner, the long ranger planner who will draft the Northeast Sector Plan. The board agreed to write a memo. There was also discussion on whether or not to include options and ways to use the soil to be preserved and offering a solution oriented memo.
Motion and second to have Simran Sethi draft the memo in support of the preservation of Class 1 and Class 2 soils in Douglas County (Heckler/Routh).
Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.
SAB agreed to continue the discussion of Class 1 and Class 2 soils preservation at the next board meeting.
SAB Nomination of Three Lawrence Residents for Consideration by the City Commission for a Seat on the Public Incentive Review Committee
Motion and second to nominate Boog Highberger, Laura Routh and Charles Jones for the Public Incentive Committee consideration (Heckler/Cobb).
Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.
Nomination of SAB Member to Fill the Term on the Peak Oil Task Force
Motion and second to nominate Daniel Poull for the term on the Peak Oil Task Force (Routh/Hill-Nelson).
Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.
SAB Feedback on Relationship and Interaction with the City/County Sustainability Coordinator
Tammy Bennett informed SAB that the City Manager requested SAB's feedback on what they would like the relationship between the board and the new City/County Sustainability Coordinator to be. SAB would like the Sustainability Coordinator to be a regular and accessible resource for the board. This would include attendance and participation at the SAB monthly meetings as well as adding the Sustainability Coordinator to the sab@ci.lawrence.ks.us email. SAB asked if their board could expand to be a County advisory board, not just a City board. This would require the By-Laws to change. It was agreed that SAB would discuss this further at a future SAB meeting.
Receive Staff Presentation and Report on the Recycling Pilot Program
Tammy Bennett discussed the development of the staff memo on a pilot program for curbside recycling in Lawrence to address the following City Commission goal statement from July 2007:
Facilitate public discussion and review of possible city sponsored curbside recycling program, including explore feasibility of a pilot program and in-depth review of possible program costs and benefits.
The City Manager's office tasked Public Works staff to develop a number of alternatives for consideration. The memo outlines several options (see attached). The memo and matrix will be on the City Manager report as an update to progress on the Commission's goal.
The pilot program outlined could be implemented in 2010 with the least impact to existing businesses. It is a subscription service operated by the City of Lawrence and offered at pricing that is set not to compete with existing providers. Advantages and disadvantages were discussed.
There were several private curbside companies in attendance. The private companies had a lot of comments and questions about the need for the city to enter the curbside recycling business. They are already providing this service, have each made significant investments fairly recently, and are poised for expansion.
SAB discussed developing a recommendation that would be a public / private partnership to support the existing curbside providers. The following components would be included:
- Licensure of curbside providers and recycling centers by the city of Lawrence.
- City provide a uniform recycling bin that would have the city logo on one side and the recyclers would put their info sticker on the other (goal is to heighten public awareness, consistent visual message).
- City would conduct a comprehensive education, outreach, and advertising campaign, something along the lines of "Lawrence DOES have curbside recycling" and promote all licensed recycling business. Outreach would include formal media advertising, utility billing inserts and website information.
- Data would be collected from the recyclers on number of households and estimated business prior to the outreach campaign. Data would be collected throughout to see if the number of households participating in subscription-based curbside recycling had increased significantly. The City would also continue to monitor total landfill tonnage (understanding that many issues will affect an increase / decrease in tonnage, such as new businesses or overall economic changes).
Next steps:
- The recycling matrix will be expanded to include the SAB recommendation, along with all the alternatives considered. The updated matrix will be reviewed by SAB at their October 14th meeting.
Review and Approve SAB's Waste and Recycling Recommendations Memo to the City Commission
SAB discussed and edited the Waste and Recycling Recommendations memo which Laura Routh drafted and emailed to SAB. The board questioned item #3, "We support the creation of a Citywide, City-sponsored residential curbside recycling program."
Motion and second to reword item #3 and include the licensure language in the memo. (Routh/Heckler).
Vote: Motion was passed unanimously.
Action: Laura Routh will edit the memo to include the board's suggested changes and will email the memo to SAB prior to the next meeting.
SAB will review and approve the updated memo at the next board meeting.
SAB Brochure Update
Sarah Hill-Nelson reminded SAB that at the August meeting the board decided to create a bookmark instead of a brochure. SAB reviewed the new bookmark design and provided feedback.
Action: Sarah Hill-Nelson will incorporate the board's suggested changes and bring the final design of the bookmark to the October board meeting.
Lawrence Energy Conservation Fair Update
Kathy Richardson emailed SAB the Lawrence Energy Conservation Fair update including sponsor and exhibitor list, exhibit hall layout and event posters (see WRR report).
Waste Reduction & Recycling Report
Kathy Richardson emailed the WRR August report to SAB (see attached).
Guest comments and miscellaneous
At the October meeting, SAB will discuss board member recommendations for the three SAB positions that will be vacant in January 2010.
Meeting adjourned 7:55 p.m.
Next meeting: October 14th, 2009 at 5:30 pm.
Attachments:
