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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-08-2019 NRB MinutesCITY OF SEBASTIAN NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 8, 2019 Ms. Mosblech called the Natural Resources Board to order at 6:00 p.m. If. Pledoe of Alleciance was recited by all. III. Roll Call Present: Ms. Mosblech Mr. Wolfe Mr. O'Neill Mr. Moga (a) Mr. Stadelman — Late Arrival Absent: Ms. Olson — Excused Ms. Callaghan (a) — Excused Also Present: Kim Haigler, Environmental Technician Janet Graham, Technical Writer Ms. Mosblech introduced Mr. Moga and welcomed him to the Board. IV. AOOroval of Minutes — December 4, 2018 Meeting Minutes A motion to approve the December 4, 2018 Minutes as presented was made by Mr. O'Neill, seconded by Ms. Mosblech, and passed unanimously by voice vote. Announcements A. Board Member Position Available Ms. Haigler announced that Jason Van Hoffman and Gil Gordian have resigned, so there are two full-time positions available. The alternates have the choice of nominating to go to full-time positions. There are other applicants as well. The City Clerk is accepting applications for full-time positions until January 12' , and at the City Council meeting on the 230 a decision will be made. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 2 MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 8, 2019 B. City Hall Demonstration Garden workday scheduled for Saturday, January IV. Ms. Haigler announced there will be another workday in the Demonstration Garden. There are several more plants to be installed, and some of the beds around the trees need to be cleared. She thanked the Board members, the Indian River County Master Gardeners, and the Sebastian Garden Club for their help at the previous workday. Ms. Mosblech and Mr. Wolfe stated they would be there to help on the 12' . VI. Public Input Tracy Starling, a member of the Sebastian Garden Club, stated the Club has participated in the City Hall Demonstration Garden project and plans to help In the future. They look forward to participating with the City in future projects as well. VII. New Business — None Vill Old Business A. NRB Earth Day/Arbor Day Celebration on April 27, 2019 Need Board member to serve as primary champion Ms. Haigler stated there will be an organizational meeting with a representative of the City, and she will notify the Board of the date. She will be at the meeting, and she needs a Board member to also be there. Mr. O'Neill volunteered to be the primary champion. A voice vote was unanimous to have Mr. O'Neill serve. Each task -point person needs to arrange a meeting with the liaison as soon as possible. Ms. Haigler stated she will send out the information to each member setting forth what they volunteered for, and each member will need to arrange a meeting with her as soon as possible after the organizational meeting in order to get all the information they will need. She will notify Mr. Moga as to what tasks are available that he might take on. B. Community Oyster Garden Deliverable 6 Submitted NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 3 MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 8, 2019 Ms. Haigler stated that that Deliverable 6 has just been submitted. A copy is in each Board members packet for his/her review. Ms. Mosblech stated she wants to make sure that volunteers are available so that the work doesn't fall to City employees. Ms. Haigler stated more volunteers are needed. 2. Requested no -cost extension until December 31, 2019. Ms. Haigler reported that, since the City is below budget, staff has asked for a no -cost extension until December 31, 2019. She feels sure the extension will be granted but has not received finalization on that as of yet. She expects to hear before the next Board meeting. C. Sustainable Business Initiative 1. Partnership and progress update Mr. O'Neill stated that Ms. Haigler and he went to Brevard County and met with the Keep Brevard Beautiful group. The original thought was to partner with Litter Quitters and the Surfrider group, but Surfrider is a more expensive program from the business point of view, so that may be a problem with getting businesses involved. The Litter Quitters, working with the Clean Waters program and Trash -Free Lagoons, want to model this program here in Indian River County and other counties, as well as all around the country, through Keep American Beautiful. At this point, the Board needs to decide whether it wants to pursue getting involved with them. Keep America Beautiful is seeking another grant to expand this program into Indian River County and hopefully beyond in the future. The grant is going in at the end of this month, so there is a time constraint involved. He recommends pursuing partnering with Litter Quitters in order to benefit from their program, associated groups, etc. Ms. Mosblech inquired as to whether the NRB here will be partnering with Litter Quitter as well as Keep America Beautiful, Keep Brevard Beautiful, and Keep Indian River Beautiful. Ms. Haigler stated that Keep Indian River Beautiful is going to be working with Keep Brevard Beautiful to bring it here. It will be a collaboration grant, but the NRB will not be a grant -writing partner. We asked to write a letter of support and the giving of our time, and staff is in favor of getting involved. Mr. O'Neill stated there will be a training class at noon on January 23f° at the Zoo Lodge for anyone who is interested in seeing how they train people to present this program. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 4 MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 8, 2019 Ms. Mosblech asked for a voice vote in favor or opposed to the NRB writing a letter of support to the Trash -Free Indian River Lagoon Initiative. Voice vote in favor was unanimous. Ms. Mosblech will draft the letter and will forward it to Ms. Haigler for her input. IX. Member Matters Mr. Stadelman brought up the subject of invasive species and non-native trees. He described the experience he had with trying to remove a Brazilian pepper bee and how cumbersome it was. He suggested the Board recommend to City Council trying to get a claw truck from Waste Management to pick up large bee debits. Ms. Haigler stated she would follow up on that. Mr. Stadelman brought up the plaque along Route 1 in memory of William Bertram, an explorer from Philadelphia who came to this area to investigate our native species. He suggested the NRB might want to contact the Bartram Museum in Philadelphia to see if they would want to participate in Earth Day. He volunteered to contact the Bartram Museum. Ms. Haigler suggested also contacting the Sebastian Historical Society to see if they have any interest in participating in Earth Day. X. Items for Next Acenda A. NRB Earth Day/Arbor Day Celebration 2019 Board Member Planning Updates Ms. Mosblech asked all Board members to outline the progress they have made on the specific tasks they have chosen. B. Sustainable Business Initiative plan for City Council presentation. Ms. Haigler stated the Board should wait until the grant has been filed, and then the groups involved will all get together and bring it to City Council. She will know more after the grant has been filed. X. Adioumment There being no further business, a motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Mr. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 8, 2019 PAGE 5 Stadelman, seconded by Mr. O'Neill, and passed unanimously by voice vote. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. By: 0Chial Chai erson Nicole Mosblech 19 Date: tH ) M