Citizens' Environmental Commission

MINUTES CITY OF DEKALB CITIZENS’ ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION November 2, 2017 The Citizens’ Environmental Commission held a regular business meeting on November 2, 2017, in Council Chambers at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 South Fourth Street, DeKalb, Illinois, 60115. Chairman Kenney called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. A. ROLL CALL The following members of the Citizens' Environmental Commission were present (indicated by x): _ Mark Hein X Dan Kenney (Chair) X Ken Koch X Clare Kron _ Michael Lundgren X Bill Oleckno X Sharon Skala X Ann Shult The following ex-officio members were present (indicated by x): X Amy Doll, DeKalb Park District X Mike Holland, Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District X Melissa Burlingame X Michelle Gibson B. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION - To approve the agenda. Chair Kenney requested the addition of 4. under Old Business – Mayors climate agreement Ms. Kron moved to approve the motion, seconded by Ms. Skala Agenda was approved unanimously by voice vote. C. PUBLIC COMMENT Nancy Proessel would like the mayor to sign on with the climate agreement. One plus is it could be appealing to businesses that want to relocate. Paul Stoddard lives at 824 Shipman Place, DeKalb. He is a teacher at NIU. Shared a couple graphs with the commission. Talked about the case for global changes. This has been happening in course of over the last century. CO2 levels have raised dramatically. Impacts the temperature. Is it emissions or agricultural practices that impact the worst? Permafrost melting is from the temps rising. Harry talked about the sustainability plan, he is a student from NIU. He recommended to add a recommendations section to the plan. Citizen Environmental Commission November 2, 2017 Page 2 of 4 Meryl Greer Domina is resident of DeKalb and member of 350Kishwaukee. She provided information on “A Local Agenda for Climate Action”. Current NASA webpage states “Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver”. Ron Cress had 3 points on weed ordinance. (1) He is against setbacks. Encourages recommendations that do not include setbacks. (2) Plant heights, what are you going to do about grass 8” tall? (3) He is against neutrality. He would like CEC to strongly advocate for native plants. Anna Marie from the Illinois State Historical Society. The state is offering a seedling from the Johnny Appleseed tree. She would like to see DeKalb get one. A distant relative from Johnny Appleseed lives here in DeKalb. December 3, 2018 is the Bi-Centennial year. D. APPROVAL of MINUTES from October 5, 2017 MOTION to accept minutes of the October 5, 2017 Regular Meeting Tim would like to condense the minutes so asked if it could be tabled until December. E. COMMISSION REPORTS 1. DeKalb County Health Department: Michelle Gibson Thanked everyone for the support letter for her position. There are budget shortfalls and they want to pull funding from solid waste. Waiting for final decision. There were suggestions to either leave it how it is, cut $75,000 or get rid of program. Had the final county electronics collections. For this program 2019 laws will change, 2018 will be a transition year. It has been suggest to have the local manufacturers sponsor it instead of the county. In September there were approximately 400 cars, there were 360 cars last weekend. Still a great need. Collected around 30-40,000 pounds of electronics. Light collections will begin soon, City Hall will be one collection sight. Pumpkin recycling will be at landscape dumpsters. Paul Stoddard said last night the finance committee passed the $75,000 cut. 2. DeKalb Park District: Amy Doll Cleanup Nov 11th from 9-11:00, meet by golf course. Cleaning up woods by new trail & river. Planning for capital budget items for next fiscal year. No mow areas is one item. She got an e- mail from a private landscape company having a webinar, she will pass that information on. 3. Kishwaukee Water Reclamation District: Michael Holland Bike Path by Sycamore road has dead grass. It was caused by them and is intentional. Recently decided to add an electrical vehicle charging station in their parking lot. Ms. Gibson suggested to add it to their website. 4. NIU: Melissa Burlingame – No Report 2 Citizen Environmental Commission November 2, 2017 Page 3 of 4 5. City Staff Liaison: Tim Holdeman The Kishwaukee Kiwanis bike path is almost completely asphalted now. Waiting for protection screen. This will not happen now until spring. Ribbon cutting should happen in the spring. There has been an inquiry by a company for a bike share program. We have reached out to the park district and NIU about this, we will be evaluating options. We have been approached by a vendor to go to LED lighting in the city yards & Water & Street Buildings. We have initiated that project. Cost would be $7,000 up front, with Comed’s rebate it would be a $500 total cost. F. NEW BUSINESS 1. DCCF Grant options and ideas. (Clare Kron) Ms. Kron spoke with others about 501(c)3 organizations. This would allow the commission to a table at Cornfest to raise money. Mr. Oleckno said we as a group could still apply for grants. Ms. Shult would like to see visually how this would work. Ms. Kron thought we would need legal advice about this from the city attorney. Mr. Holdeman will make an appointment with the city attorney. 2. Discuss & plan regarding City Council Request for recommendations Related to Smoking Regulations and Public Patios. Ch. 64 of City Code Everyone received links about this from Mr. Holdeman. There was work done in 2014 by this commission. Chair Kenney would like to discuss and plan for the recommendation to the city council, this commission is supposed to re-evaluate and look at the environmental aspect of it. Mr. Oleckno sent an article about being on a patio with smokers does affect people. There was extensive discussion. This commission should vote on the environment part of it, the Economic Development Commission can decide on if it’s impacting the businesses. Mr. Oleckno made a motion to make no changes to the smoking ordinance, recommend to stay in force. Seconded by Ms. Skala. Mr. Koch is opposed. G. OLD BUSINESS 1. Review latest draft of revisions for MC. Ch. 12; 22 weeds Ms. Kron thought the revisions were excellent. Cutting is more reasonable than mowing. Wording is good. Ms. Skala had more of an issue with the date to cut not the actual cutting. This would only be enforced if there was a complaint. Chair Kenney took out setback part. Left 2 feet for a point of discussion. Mr. Oleckno thought there should be some setback. Mr. Koch asked if we could add something about the height because of it being a hazard to the public. Doesn’t want it to be specific to natives. City staff can deal with right of ways etc. Mr. Holdeman said viewpoints, encouragement of native planting and consistency respect for properties. That would be deferred to the city attorney. Obstructions to public infrastructure. Mr Holdeman said to identify the regulation. Mr. Holdeman will make the suggested changes. Ms. Kron made a motion to submit this draft with the changes to the city, Ms. Shult seconded it. Name it “Managed Landscapes”. No one opposed. 3 Citizen Environmental Commission November 2, 2017 Page 4 of 4 2. PRIDE Award Nominations Discussion & Vote Chair Kenny would like to table the pride awards until December. Extended deadline to November 27th Mr. Oleckno made a motion, Ms. Shult seconded. 3. City Sustainability Plan Updates Chair Kenney asked if the commission is open to revisit this. He would like to check on it and come back with a proposal. Mayor sent this to everyone. Chair Kenney will send it again. H. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Kenney said Mr. Kuerschner has invited us to tour the DeKalb County Landfill. Everyone was interested in doing this. Ms. Gibson said it would be good to do it before the end of November. Chair Kenney will send out a doodle for a date. Compost day is Wednesday. Chair Kenney will contact Dan Christianson from DC Trash to attend our meeting in December. Ms. Kron announced Michael Lundgren wants to cleanup retention ponds. It will begin at Bio Life, this Sunday 10am, Kishwaukee is bringing bags, gloves and a canoe. A number of students will be helping. Ms. Kron said the Daily Chronicle is e-mailing newsletters. Stemfest was last Saturday, they had reusable bags. They gave her 200 bags for the share program. She will send a thank you on behalf of the commission and the Health Department. Looking into Tesla donating stations, closest one is in Rockford. It is free, Ms. Kron would like to recommend this to the Mayor. This is encouraging sustainability. Schnuck’s, Resource Bank or the hotel on Annie Glidden could be a possible location. The electric car will take off in 2018. Next Meeting: December 7, 2017, 4:00pm I. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Koch moved to adjourn the meeting, Ms. Schult seconded. Motion carried unanimously by voice vote. Chair Kenney declared the meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m. Respectfully Submitted: Linda Odom, Recording Secretary Approved December 7, 2017 4