HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-14 Climate Advisory Committee MinutesFR
Town of Reading
Meeting Minutes
i�ECEIVED
i OWN CLERK
; %DING. MASS.
Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Climate Advisory Committee
Date: 2015 -01 -14
Building: Reading Town Hall
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Bi- monthly meeting
Attendees: Members - Present:
N15 MAR I b P 4: 25-
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Conference Room
Joan Boegel, member; David Williams, Chair and member; Ron D'Addario,
member; Laurie Ann Sylvia, member, Gina Snyder, associate member
Members - Not Present:
Ray Porter, member; Michele Benson, associate member
Others Present:
n/a
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Joan Boegel
Topics of Discussion:
• Review and approve minutes of recent meeting. The committee voted to
approve minutes of the 12/28/2014 meeting as written by Gina Snyder.
• Temporary Chair. David Williams will be traveling to Florida next week and will be
returning to Reading in April. The committee voted unanimously to appoint Ron
D'Addario as temporary Chair during David's absence.
• Library Building Project. Gina reported that there is a Library Building Project
update meeting scheduled for next Thursday evening, January 22. Joan agreed to
attend and Ron volunteered to contact Mike Scola to encourage him to attend as
well. Perhaps there will be an opportunity to discuss the proposal for LED lighting in
the library parking lot.
Business cardboard recycling. Ron completed the survey of Reading downtown
businesses. Laurie Ann summarized the responses in a nicely formatted
spreadsheet. Of 14 businesses surveyed, 12 have responded so far. Most indicated
a willingness to recycle cardboard if a bin were available in the parking lot and
willingness to give up one parking space for the bin. CVS requested that the survey
questions be directed to their corporate office. Gina drafted and Ron edited a letter
to CVS corporate office and this was reviewed and approved by the committee with
one suggested edit - to give a deadline for response. Ron will sign the letter as
Acting Chair of the committee and will mail it. Ron also drafted a letter to Town
Manager Bob Lelacheur to inform him that the businesses responded favorably and
to request that Bob work with us to designate a spot for the recycling bin.
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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes
Electric Car Charging Station. The committee discussed the possibility of getting
an electric car charging station on Vine Street near the railroad station and our
Adopt -an- Island site. Gina stated that the parking spaces there are owned by the
Town and are rarely full. Laurie Ann agreed to ask Tirzah Shakespeare at RMLD to
look into grants available to the Town for this purpose. She will also research how
payment works with Chargepoint stations.
Earth Day. Laurie Ann reported that the date we had tentatively chosen for our
Earth Day event, April 11, will not work because the RMLD cafeteria is already
booked for another purpose. The Committee discussed alternative dates and agreed
to hold the event on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. Laurie Ann brought
up a potential problem with the parking situation. Gina volunteered to contact the
owner of the warehouse next to the RMLD parking lot to notify him of our Earth Day
plans and request his cooperation.
Laurie Ann requested that committee members send names of potential vendors to
her. We will have room to accommodate twelve display tables. At the next
committee meeting, we will discuss and assign members to contact these vendors
about participating.
Energy Efficiency financing. Gina was not able to re- connect with her contact at
Reading Council on Aging to discuss ideas on how to set up a program, and who
would be best to handle funding since he said he had ideas on funding the program.
• Adopt -an- Island. David stated that we may need to check with Reading Police if
we wanted to install a bench at the island. Ron will fill out and submit the Adopt -an-
Island sign form. The committee agreed that the sign should read "Sponsored by
Reading Climate Advisory Committee ".
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