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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-05-2021 NRB MinutesNATURAL RESOURCES BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 5, 2021 Chairman Stadelman called the Natural Resources Board to order at 6:00 p.m. II. Pledae of Alleaiance was recited by all. III. Roll Cali Present: Mr. Stadelman Mr. Carrano Ms. Ware Mr. Carrier (a) Mr. Powers (Zoom) Ms. Mosbiech (Zoom) Ms. Callaghan (Zoom) Ms. Lovell (Zoom) Mr. Bradley (a) (Zoom) Also Present: Ms. Kim Haigler, Environmental Planner Mr. Robert Loring, Senior Planner Ms. Barbara Brooke -Reese, MIS Manager Ms. Janet Graham, Technical Writer (Zoom) IV. ADDroval of Minutes -- December 1, 2020 All Board members having had a chance to review the Minutes, Mr. Stadelman called for a Motion. A motion to approve the Minutes of December 1, 2020 as presented was made by Mr. Carrano, seconded by Mr. Carrier, and approved unanimously via voice vote. V. Announcements A. Sustainable Sebastian promotional merchandise has arrivedl Ms. Haigler displayed a sample of the tote bags which will be available for handing out at the Earth Day event, which the Board members got along with this evening's agenda packet. She asked the Board members to also think about what other items might be added. She stated that she will be making the bags also available to the Board members who are attending this meeting via Zoom. She added that next week at the City Council meeting she will be presenting this merchandise and the promotional materials as well as NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2021 seed packets and a one -page flyer. She called for a volunteer to assist, and Mr. Stadelman volunteered to help. B. Tree City Award Ms. Haigler announced that Sebastian has just received notice that the City has received the "Tree City USA" award. This will be the 19th consecutive year the City has received this award. The City also received its second year "Growth Award." This award requires that a city put extra work, extra projects, and extra budgeting towards the protection and enhancement of the tree canopy. Sebastian has been working on providing protection for the trees at Riverview Park. The sidewalks have also been improved at the Park in a manner which will protect the trees. Ms. Callaghan asked if there is any way that the NRB can spread this news by providing announcements about it in local press coverage, coverage on the website, and any other outlets. Ms. Haigler stated she will see that it goes up on the web page, it can put on Facebook, and she will do a press release. Mr. Stadelman thanked the City staff for the work that they have done in obtaining those awards. Hearing no further discussion, Mr. Stadelman moved to the next item on the agenda. VI. Public Input Seeing no one from the audience who wished to speak, and hearing no one on Zoom who wished to speak, Mr. Stadelman moved to the next item on the agenda. VII. New Business A. Sustainable Sebastian Discussion Completed tasks Ms. Haigler stated that it was previously decided that after the New Year the Board would decide in what direction they should go. She reviewed that this plan was just approved last month. So there are already eight tasks completed. The Comp Plan items, 7(a) through (c) on the Action Plan are mostly finished. The last item, (c), she expects to finalize in March, so there will be another opportunity for review at a Planning & Zoning meeting again. Item 12(b), the TV channel and website for the recycling information, is done. On the website there is a link to Florida Landscaping, which directs people to all NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2021 the WAS information and provides links to further information on the IFAS website. The Lagoon Friendly Lawns program has its own page. Goals 10 and 11 were the water refill stations at the parks as well as bike racks. They were both approved in the budget. She hopes both those items will be installed at least in Riverview Park before Earth Day. Mr. Loring stated that it is his understanding that the items themselves were on back order. Ms. Haigler said completion of the installation of those Items city wide should be completed before October this year. It was the general feeling of the Board members that the new website contains a wealth of information that is very helpful and thanked the MIS Department for their help. Tasks to focus on immediately Ms. Haigler stated she reviewed the entire action plan and selected items that will be needed for Earth Day, and those are things that should be focused on. They are things that will be promoted heavily at Earth Day or things that involve materials that should be available at the Earth Day event. She has done the cost comparison sheet, which is a cost comparison of products that are currently being used versus environmentally friendly products. She stated there are many places where these items are available, and the prices seem to be going down. She needs a volunteer to champion it, and she will give that person all the information she has in order to start building on that. She will print out a copy of all the information on Litter Quitter for the next meeting. The NRB needs to decide if it wants to do what Keep Brevard Beautiful is doing or does it want to do something different, and then she can look into the costs involved. There should be some packets available for some of the businesses that will be at the Earth Day event. There has also been discussion about the vendor information sheet for events, not Just for Earth Day. She would like for it to be something that can be handed out to the vendors at all City events, as this is a goal —reducing single -use plastics and waste at the events. There are also some tree -protection elements that need to be included. Cost -comparison sheets would also be helpful to hand out. Information can also be given for quick and easy things to do to reduce their single -use plastics. We cannot make it a rule with events yet, but we can certainly give them the information to help them make better choices. Ms. Haigler reviewed the items that will be included In the tote bags that she has obtained. The Florida Friendly folder that comes from WAS office was displayed, which will contain a wealth of information. These folders are put in the new houses at final inspection. That is presently the only way they are disseminated. She plans to put them, along with the seed packets, in the tote bags to be handed out at Earth Day. The scavenger hunt is the last item on the Action Plan for Earth Day. Those are the five main tasks to focus on as NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 4 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2021 Earth Day is being planned, and she asked for volunteers. Ms. Ware, Mr. Carrier, and Ms. Lovell volunteered. Mr. Carrier stated he has spent quite a bit of time reviewing the website, and he states it is incredible. It has become an educational site as well as an Informative site. He suggested somehow promoting that site as an inclusion in this packet in order to get people to go to the website. Ms. Haigler explained the one -page flyer that she included in the packet which identifies and defines what Sustainable Sebastian is. She has created a QR code to be put on the NRB materials. Any smart phone can read it, and it sends you right to the website. She suggested using a note -size card on which there are different QR codes that will take people to different pages such as Florida Landscaping, Litter Quitter, etc. That will mean that only one card will need to be handed out instead of all the other material. Ms. Mosblech stated this will be a big help, because if all the information is on the NRB website, they can easily be directed there, and then they can be directed to the Litter Quitter website. It will also cut down on a lot of paperwork for staff. She also asked if Keep Indian River Beautiful (KIRB) has any Litter Quitter materials that the NRB could use. Ms. Haigler stated KIRB usually hosts the volunteer registrations and the business certifications. She has not gotten a reply from them, but they lost their storefront, and they are still active but are in transition presently. She does not know exactly what they want to do, but the NRB wants to focus on the plastic alternatives. Even if KIRB is going to promote Litter Quitter, the NRB is still going to talk about those alternative products. Mr. Stadelman asked regarding Litter Quitter if there is any way for the local businesses in Sebastian to advertise on the NRB website. Ms. Haigler stated they will get the window stickers. Other items that she recommended discussing are table tents and drink coasters to see if those are some merchandising items the NRB would like to provide as promotional items. She stated that we should be able to promote them on the site now, but she will check on this. She suggested that at the Earth Day event Litter Quitter should be a big part of the promotion.. Mr. Stadelman also inquired if there should be more discussion on what Sustainable Sebastian Is. Ms. Haigler read from the Mission Statement that defines what the program is, and that is on the flyer that will be included in the tote bag handouts. Ms. Ware stated she would like to see some wording that could be added so that younger kids could relate to it. Ms. Haigler reviewed that was one of the elements in the Sustainable Sebastian Action Plan, and she pushed that forward to be discussed during the summer so that it can be ready to present in the fall. NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 5 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2021 Ms. Ware stated she needs to know the contact at the Charter School, as she would like to be able to give them some of this material so that they can think about what the posters will be. Ms. Haigler stated she has a note to get that information for Ms. Ware. Ms. Ware also asked if it would be okay for her to go to one of the Litter Quitter participants and ask them for a prize for the poster contest. Ms. Haigler stated that would be fine. Ms. Callaghan stated that she has volunteered for the scavenger hunt, and in reviewing her material she found some questions that that had come up a year ago for the scavenger hunt. Some of them center on sustainability and asking the participants, whom she suspects will be children, to go and talk to a vendor and specifically inquire of the vendor what they are doing for sustainabiliry. She suggested that may help for the children get a clue of what the program is all about. Ms. Haigler agreed that would be a good idea. There being nothing further from the Board members, Mr. Stadelman moved to the next item on the agenda. Vill. Old Business A. Stormwater IPM Update Ms. Haigler reviewed that all of the PowerPoint presentations and other information that has been handed out at the meetings is posted on the website. At the last meeting, the chemicals and adjuvants involved were introduced. She explained what adjuvants are and how they are used. At the next meeting, the Applied Aquatics data will be discussed, of which there are three years' worth. She has created tables and graphs relating to them. She reviewed that the City has a new contract with Aquatic Vegetation Control, who is helping the City get the aquatic vegetation under control at this point. There will also be the first month of their treatment sheets to evaluate as well. Mr. Carrano stated that this is very different from the Parks and Properties IPM Plan. Ms. Haigler agreed and stated there also is much more public input involved. Seeing no one from the public who wished to speak, and hearing no one on Zoom, Mr. Stadelman moved to the next item on the agenda. B. Earth Day & Arbor Day Celebration planning for April 24, 2021 i. Entertainment schedule ii. Vendor notice and online applications iii. Board member updates NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2021 Ms. Haigler stated the Board had touched on much of this in the last discussion. What she has highlighted in the agenda packet is the Litter Quitter packets and the cross - comparison sheet as well as a vendor information sheet. She asked Ms. Mosblech if she would give some input on the vendor information sheet, which would suggest things that the vendors could do to reduce single -use plastics. Ms. Mosblech said she would be happy to work on that. Ms. Haigler stated she will need help on folding and putting the informational sheets in the folders, and she will need help on getting the seed packets done. As soon as she gets the folders from IFAS, she will let the Board members know, and she will recruit for some volunteers to help with that. That can be done at the volunteers' leisure. Ms. Haigler asked Mr. Bradley if he would reach out to the Boy Scouts for help in installing the living dock. He stated he will contact the cub master of the pack who is affiliated with the Sebastian Boy Scouts group as well. Ms. Haigler stated there is safe access to this area, and the younger ones could work in the shallow water and the older ones in the less shallow water. Ms. Haigler stated she will prepare a summary of the activity and will email that to Mr. Bradley. Mr. Bradley stated that he would disseminate the information to the Boy Scout groups in the area. Ms. Haigler slated Ms. Ware will contact the Charter Middle School regarding the poster art contest. Ms. Haigler stated she usually reaches out to the same environmental organizations, but there are several others out there. She encouraged the Board members to invite any organizations that they are familiar with to attend the event. She would like to see more organizations with informative booths attending. She stated that Ms. Mosblech sent out the "Save the Dates" sheets over the holidays to all the existing vendors who attended in the past. She encouraged each Board member to encourage potential groups to participate. The PDF form of the application is on line, and she asked Ms. Brooke -Reese about that. Ms. Brooke -Reese said that the new software was just installed last week, and she is currently designing the form and is hoping to have it ready probably in the next week. Ms. Haigler will send all Board members a link as soon as it is available so they can start sending it out to potential vendors to have it filled out. Also, at the next meeting she will have the flyers ready. She pointed to the last page of the agenda packet where the entertainment schedule is listed. Brian O'Neill is handling the entertainment, and she thanked him for his help. She added that Chaos Sound is doing the sound again this year, and they are doing it complimentarily this year. The Master of Ceremonies will be Mr. Stadelman. She stated that this date also coincides with International Tai Chi Day, and Ms. Haigler stated she will reach out to the head of this group to invite them to NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD PAGE 7 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2021 participate. Hearing nothing further on this matter, Mr. Stadelman moved to the next item on the agenda. IX. Member Matters Mr. Stadelman addressed the garbage that is always present along the river. He inquired about obtaining different garbage containers that might do a better job. It was the consensus of the Board members that garbage is a continuous problem. Ms. Haigler opined that the most successful idea is the "Leave No Trace" idea, which means if someone brings it in, they should take it back with them. She stated as long as there is a garbage can present, people will use it until it is full, and then they will start leaving bags next to it. Ms. Stadelman asked if the can could be removed. Ms. Haigler stated the cans are cemented in, so they cannot be taken out and then put back. X. Staff Matters — None XI. Items for Next Aaenda A. Earth Day & Arbor Day Celebration Planning Ms. Haigler stated that this would be a good time to reach out to the Edward Don representative to see if the NRB could have someone visit us, as they give a 10% discount to Litter Quitter members. She will reach out to him. XII. Adioumment There being no further business, Mr. Stadelman railed for a motion to adjourn. A motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Carrano, seconded by Ms. Ware, and approved unanimously via voice vote. Meeting adjourned at 6:53 p.m. Date: -vl , rv. "@) jg