Green Ridgewood-Green Team Joint Meeting Minutes 20191015

Green Ridgewood-Green Team Joint Meeting Minutes 20191015

Attendance:
Green Ridgewood: Bob Upton, George Wolfson, Ellie Gruber, Pam Perron, Christine Amundsen, Michael Sedon (Village Council Liaison), Jennie Smith Wilson (School Board Rep), Robert Kearney (Village Staff Rep).
Green Team: Justin Manger, George Wolfson, Ellie Gruber, Bob Upton, Serena Iacoviello, Michael Sedon (Village Council Liaison).
Other: Dianne Kidwell.
1. Introductions/Membership:
No introductions were necessary.
2. The June, July and September minutes were approved without comment.
3. Sustainable Jersey
 a. Plans for Silver recertification.
Once again Committee members are asked to work on their assigned SJ Actions. A couple of questions arose. It was suggested that the Anti Idling Resolution needs to be renewed. Mike will look into that. Also, while it is believed the Village’s current drug give-back program of two events per year meets the latest SJ requirements we are one of the few Bergen Co communities that does not have a permanent location. It was noted that Rite Aid in Ridgewood is now Walgreens, so Bob will approach them about establishing a permanent collection point.
 b. Green Business Program.
George & Pam will be using input from businesses to refine our requirements for this program, initially approaching Café 37, Oliver Twist and It’s Greek to Me. We will review the certifications of the 5 original businesses.
 c. Lead Education.
Rob reported that an event is planned with Ridgewood Moms and Bergen Co. & Ridgewood Health Depts early next year. Date & location to be fixed.
4. SJ Bergen Hub
 a. “Styrofoam” Program.
Glen Rock held a successful Styrofoam drive on Sept 21st. The next scheduled drive will be Dec 28th at Hackensack Yacht Club. The SJ Hub Styrofoam sub-committee will meet October 28th.  The agenda (available on Basecamp) will include proposals to reduce/ban XPS/plastic straws and recycle EPS, and plans to recycle plastic bags. Our committees felt it may be premature to propose an XPS ban for Ridgewood, but Bob received some examples from ANJEC and will share with the committees.
 b. Hub meetings.
Next meeting is expected to be in November, specifics to be determined.
5. Green Ridgewood Rebranding/By-Laws.
No progress from Justin, Bob & Mike drafting by-laws for Green Ridgewood/Green Team.
Bob & Justin made a presentation to the Village Council of the proposed Green Ridgewood website on Oct 2nd with no objections raised but some requirements to be met. Mike & Bob met with Village Manager & IT Manager and Justin will follow up to address their requirements including that we adopt a Village e-mail address. These requirements should avoid having to pay an annual fee for the site. Justin had spent about $200 to set up the prototype web site and a motion was passed unanimously to reimburse him.
6. Single Use Plastic Carry-Out Bags Ordinance – Education Program
Ellie circulated the draft of a “bookmark” to be printed on recycled card and designed to publicize the ordinance and provide a link to information. The design and expenditure for 500 items of $240 were proposed and approved unanimously. The design included the new Green Ridgewood logo adapted from the former REAC logo.
Ellie has obtained quotes for about 300 reusable bags to display the new logo. The quote, which included 2 colors, will be requoted in one color.
We will also send letters to the local grocery stores.
7. Events
a. Library event for grades 3 & up Oct 3rd 4.00pm.
Mike presented “Our Planet” using segments from “Schoolhouse Rock – Earth” DVD interspersed with lively dialogue and a craft activity to a capacity crowd of about 18 kids. Bravo Mike! Thanks to Ashley Loria and the library staff for their support.
 b. Movie “A Plastic Ocean” at Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, Nov 8th 7:00 pm.
Thanks to Dianne and colleagues at USR for creating the flyer, a draft was approved by all. Everyone is asked to assist in publicizing this event and at the event itself. Possibly publicize through the schools’ Chalk Talk?
8. Ridgewood Daffodil Festival & Earth Day Fair, April 19th 2020.
Various suggestions for our exhibit at the event were discussed including waste reduction and recycling, plastic bag ban, other plastic reduction, food waste/composting plus promoting Green Ridgewood and GreenTeam/SJ programs. George asked all to give suggestions for vendors who might exhibit especially those offering sustainable items.
9. Schools.
a. RHS & BFMS donation
No confirmation yet that the purchases we funded have been made.
 b. Middle School Sustainability Grant
In order to achieve quorum a vote to confirm the $1,000 allocation to this program was taken by e-mail Sept 23/24th and approved with 9 yes votes and no nays. This vote was reconfirmed unanimously in the meeting. The grant proposal was submitted to Dr Fishbein and forwarded to the middle schools, and Bob has followed up with individual staff members at the schools. We now await project proposals by the Oct 31st deadline after which a small group will review them before final selection by the committees.
 c. SJ for Schools, Sustainable Practices Workshop, Trenton, Sept 25th
Christine attended this event with the schools Business Administrator where the Sustainable Jersey for Schools program was reviewed in some detail. Christine later presented the program to a group including the school principals and is receiving support for the program.
10. Updates.
a. Food Waste Events
Bob attended the first NJ Composting Council Organics Waste Management Summit Oct 1st as did Ed and Johanna from Ridgewood Recycling. There still seem to be substantial obstacles at the state level to developing food waste programs but we are still hopeful that the Village can initiate a pilot program.
b. Energy Aggregation.
Pam has been in touch with Glen Rock EC and will try to schedule a short program update for our next meeting.
 c. Willard Girl Scouts.
We shared our thoughts from our last meeting and they will discuss and respond to us.
d. Master Plan/Visioning.
The Sept 21 & 28 Workshops were attended by some of our members. Watch the web site for updates.
f. Grants.
We became aware of the NJ Healthy Communities Network grant too late to respond and the application for the energy projects grant would have been too burdensome.
A new grant opportunity for Tree Plantings in Floodplains was referred to the Shade Tree Commission.
 g. Shade Tree Commission.
Requested meeting with green Ridgewood still to be scheduled. Rob reported he is assisting with Tree Inventory.
11. New business.
 a. Stormwater Education.
A question had been raised about annual requirements which we believe are met at the Earth Day event.
 b. Climate Emergency.
A question had been raised as to whether Ridgewood had or should consider recognizing the national/international climate situation as an emergency. It was felt this was unnecessary.
 c. Tour of Pollution Control Facility
Rob offered to schedule a tour in which some members had expressed interest.
17. Next Joint Meeting will be Tuesday November 19th at 7:00 PM.