HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-08-22 Cities for Climate Protection MinutesAugust 22, 2007 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program
Committee Notes for August 22, 2007 (Next Meeting - September 14t" at Town Hall)
Committee Meeting 7:00 PM, present were Michele Benson, Tracy Sopchak, Gina Snyder, Ray Porter, and
Stephanie Anderberg.
„Welcome- Chair Gina Snyder opened the meeting, welcoming all present.
Minutes - A motion was made to approve the meeting notes of July 25, 2007. The motion was seconded
and passed. Joan sent a request for modifications to the meeting notes of August 8, and a request was made to
clarify the proposed LID process. Stephanie will send a revised copy of the notes for approval at the next
meeting.
Grants - Mike Halloran is writing the recycling part of the grant. Gina will check in with Peter on it.
For a town to be eligible for grants, we need to have a recycling policy on file with DEP. It is not clear whether
this applies to any of the grant categories, or only if the town is applying for the recycling portion of the grant
money. Some committee members are meeting with Peter on Friday and will have a chance to ask about it.
Exisiting items and Prioritization of Action Plan - The discussion started out with a brief conversation
on the upcoming Change-A-Light campaign. We participated last year and took the lead, but Michele will
encourage RMLD to take the lead this year. There is also a "Public Power Week" in October. The committee
discussed the possibility of adding a very short poll to the light bills - as simple as check yes or no for "have you
changed any light bulbs to CFL?" and a space to enter the number of bulbs changed.
Actions for Peter - Tracy sent out an email to Peter, Carol & Paula with Action Plan item text as reviewed by the
subcommittee. Items sent in this communication included
• Low-Impact Development
• Resident water conservation
- • Community Shade Trees
• Municipal Shade Trees
• Green Building Code
• Green Professionals Recognition Program
• Green Yard Program
The committee discussed how to select which Action Items should be prioritized for implementation. Tracy led a
review of the ranking system, which weighs items based on whether they have a strong proponent, how great the
resulting environmental benefit would be, and the level of effort required of the ACCCP. Another possible
ranking criterion could be whether there is grant money awarded for some of the items. This would be hard to
know now, but we could mark those items with potential for grant funding, for now.
There was a question of how money (the need for funding, potential for funding, what is free, and what
saves significant amounts of money) and whether/how this should affect prioritization.
The committee will also need to consider the execution needs of items, when ranking and prioritizing them.