Advisory Taskforce on Energy & Environment

The Mayor’s Energy & Environment Task Force February 25, 2015 Room 231, City Hall Meeting called to order at 7:07 Present: Mr. John Kydes Ms. Diane Lauricella Ms. Kerry O’Neill Mr. Eric Gribin Public: Bob Wagman, Rebecca Oresman, Ken D’Arinzo – all from West Norwalk Neighborhood Association Old Business Minutes from Last Meeting – Ms. Lauricella asked for the minutes to be tabled so she could provide edits and they will be recirculated for acceptance at next meeting. Item A – Recycling. Ms. Lauricella gave a report on progress since last meeting. She recommends assessing status of schools: including current resources, policies. She did find the Board of Education (BOE) policy from 2012. Mr. Kydes mentioned researching the union custodian contract and the privatized custodial service provider regarding items related to recycling, trash, etc. Ms. Lauricella also researched structural and institutional issues facing a recycling effort, including the various BOE committees. Three committees, the Policy, Facilities, and Finance committees, could be where the Task Force would coordinate. The BOE policy puts the onus on principals to design and implement a school- based recycling policy. Ms. Lauricella recommended suggesting improvements to the BOE policy, and furthermore coordinating with recycling staff in the Department of Public Works, who have resources that could be leveraged, particular for program design. Mr. Kydes noted that the new BOD budget includes a new FTE in BOE’s Facilities department and that there could be an opportunity to influence that job description/responsibilities to include school-based recycling/waste streams. Ms. Lauricella also mentioned other areas to focus on include competitions, procurement policies, signage/labeling, metrics on performance, and outside organizations that could be partners (e.g. Keep America Beautiful, CT Green Leaf Schools, etc.). Ms. Lauricella recommends establishing a timeline for next steps and will follow up with Mr. Kydes regarding prior efforts. Ms. Lauricella also cited several other policies relating to energy, green cleaning, etc. that could be places to further coordinate with BOE on a variety of initiatives that overlap with Task Force areas of interest. New Business Item A – Presentation on Five Mile River Flooding Issues. Mr. Wagman, Mr. D’Arinzo and Ms. Oresman presented persistent issues with flooding surrounding the Five Mile River. Several visual case studies were presented; a history of flooding events going back to 2006 were presented; a review of homeowner based repairs were shared; a review of causes of flooding, including not just weather events, but increased development and impervious surfaces; other issues in the river including pollutants, lack of fish, etc. Over 20% of land is considered to be seriously impacted and Norwalk sections are 25% of this. Recommendations include cleaning storm drains (by homeowners) and adding filters to storm drains that flow into river (but they are more expensive); changes to lawn treatments; use of rain buckets or roof gardens; periodic septic cleaning; alternatives to asphalt (e.g. permeable asphalt); selective dredging for contaminant removal; detailed river study by City of Norwalk; most importantly City of Norwalk must be involved in this issue and all of these recommendations – West Norwalk can’t do it alone. A history of previous government support was reviewed, but this has dropped off. A discussion among the presenters and the Task Force ensued, including which parts of the City would need to be focused on this in a coordinated way. See attached presentation and report for detailed information. Meeting was adjourned at 8:20.