January Meeting Notes

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The Bay Village Green Team's first meeting of the year was held on January 12th and attended by 16 members. Beginning with updates on current initiatives, a brief summary was given on each activity which included: BAYarts - Shades of Green Festival happening this August, rain barrels for residents, recycling bins in public places, BV Middle School LEED EB update and the community garden. The remainder of the meeting was dedicated to 2010 goals and how to maximize the BVGT's impact within the community. The team reviewed its mission statement and original high level goals from Oct. 2008 noting a number of accomplishments over the past 2 years. The group discussed ways to maximize its impact in 2010. Some of those suggestions were:

• focus on the few initiatives that have the biggest impact
• super charge the efforts to reduce waste while looking for ways to increase recycling in the community
• look at "Safe Routes to School" programs
• incorporate sustainability objectives in city policies and practices

One additional note... Don Landers, the Operations Manager of the Service Department, reported that a record amount of leaves were picked up this past Fall. Which in case you didn't know, gets composted and is diverted from the landfill - a BIG win for all of us.

The next Green Team meeting will be on February 9th at city hall with Dan Norris as our guest speaker. Dan is a member of the Westlake watershed group and will be speaking on organic gardening (a timely topic). All are welcome.

Make a difference, get involved!

Green Team December Meeting

The Bay Village Green Team monthly meeting was held December 1 at City Hall in the second floor conference room. It was attended by ten of our members with the community garden project being the main topic. The community garden committee, headed by Bob Shields, Laura Crabb and Ginger O'Brien, has been meeting for the past 6 weeks with a projected start date to be Spring 2010. The group has received permission to use the 5 acre plot at Forestview & Wolfe Road, owned by the School Board. They are in the process of organizing and finalizing its charter, including the mission and rules, projecting an estimated budget for start-up costs and ongoing operations. The group has been in contact with various potential partners throughout the community including schools, seniors businesses and restaurants. They have met with Mayor Sutherland and have a meeting scheduled with the Superintendent for later this month. This will truly be a cross-community collaboration utilizing sustainable gardening methods and provide educational opportunities along with a source of healthy & local foods for restaurants and families in need.
Other updates from the meeting were... asking the city to provide funding for the pilot of the recycle bins in public places. The plan is to get the bins purchased by Spring 2010. The group is also looking at possible grants or ways to create signage for the bins - including signs for trash bins that increase public awareness that the contents will be going to the landfill! The Mayor is also in the process of rolling out recycling in city buildings. Communications updates were our BVGT Facebook site that Pat McGannon has set-up (so what are you waiting for? Become a fan!). An EcoLakewood meeting attended by Brenda O'Reilly and Lori Sprosty, which we believe there will be some opportunities to share ideas and possible partner on activities with Lakewood in the future. There was also a kick-off meeting with BAYarts on their first ever Shades of Green event planned for next summer to promote sustainability and art. The Green Team will be very involve with this. Other things discussed were the Green Team's "Trash Oscar" award for Best Supporting Cast.
We will continue to meet monthly next year, on the second Tuesday of each month beginning at 6:30 in City Hall. The sub committee meetings will no longer occur monthly, rather the Green Team members will meet on an as needed basis to work on specific activities and events. One final note is that we would like to bring in Guest Speakers, at least every other month. If anyone has an idea for a speaker on a sustainable topic, please contact Lori Sprosty at bayvillagegreenteam@gmail.com.