2009-12-16 Cities for Climate Protection Minutes

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December 16, 2009 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program Committee Notes for December 16, 2009. 7PM (Next Meeting - January 13 at Town Hall) Present were Ray Porter, Michele Benson, Tracy Sopchak, Dave Williams, Bing X1a;,Ron T '14 (visitor) and Stephanie Anderberg. Meeting opening -Chair Tracy Sopchak opened the meeting. Minutes - The minutes of the December 2 meeting were approved:[ _ 3 P 1° 2 Other Business to add to agenda - a committee review added to the agenda, for our visitor. MMA seminar review - We believe that the seminars were limited to one per town and it is unlikely we could get another session scheduled for Reading. The evaluations were mostly positive, with a suggestion that we should have had a break in the middle of the long presentation. MMA considered our turnout to be excellent, as we had approximately 30 attendees. We might be able to schedule a second date outside of Reading, in another RMLD town, or connect with others to put together our own presentation. Possibly Jared could be a presenter if we had our own program. A large portion of our audience was senior citizens, so this could indicate potential interest in hosting a HEET project after we do all of the EMARC homes. Committee Synopsis Document Review & CCPAC - Our visitor was able to provide feedback from a user perspective and found it to be clear and helpful. There was a suggestion to change our name from Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection, to Cities. for Climate Protection Advisory Committee, which is more in-line with other town committee names. A motion was made and passed. Another motion to accept the synopsis document was also made and passed. Grants: NEGEF, EPA, EJ, Other - The NEGEF discussion was tabled until Joan can join us. Tracy completed a class on grant writing and learned about databases for available grants. Possibly a grant could fund a Reading HEET group if we could get one up and running. Actions items yearly goals progress update - HEET - tabled as Joan was not available. Public outreach (RCTV): Tracy borrowed a laptop from RCTV and can use it again from time to time for editing. She had some initial video, clips for an episode of our show. Public outreach/Earth Day fair - we're starting to think about it and Reading Cares is interested in doing the bike swap again. Tracy has the electronic files for previous years' contacts and templates. There will be more discussion at the next meeting, including date selection. The Committee took a break from the agenda at this point to give our visitor an overview before he had to leave for his next appointment. City no-idling - Gina sent another email to Peter but is waiting on a reply. We need a policy or resolution from the selectmen to give us some backing. CCP benchmark update: ICLEI sent Michele a reply saying that they hope to work more with communities. Tracy contacted ICLEI again to get help with data from gas utilities. We now have gas data through CY 2007 or FY 2008 (June 08). We do have electric data and vehicle counts. School climate change education: Dave has heard from Mary DeLai and met with her this morning and also met with DJ Cacciapouti. They talked mostly about facilities but Mary said she would get a Jist of contacts at each school. Dave will check with Mike O'Halloran to get answers to some of their recycling questions. They would like to think about composting or some other solutions for food waste. Business 1-2-3 Pledge: Started to add potential measures, using the Chelmsford program as `a template.