Sustainability Committee Public Meeting

Meeting discussion items:

1. October meeting minutes approval

2. Green Schools – Laurie Jenkins will speak about Green Schools efforts at FCPS

3. Bird City designation – Deb Portney will speak about the Bird City Maryland initiative, and also about protecting chimney swifts.

4. Green Lecture series with library – October talk on Saturday the 28th with Karen Whitehair talking about monarch butterflies was well attended; discuss potential topics for 2024 Green Talks. Nancy Lawson? Sam Droege, bee expert? Birding for beginner’s speaker?

5. Outreach sub-committee report – lots of interest in mosquito control and sustainable-minded laundry detergent products at the Heritage Festival; thoughts going forward for 2024 Green Expo and more?

6. Pollinator demonstration gardens – Memorial Park garden – proposed list of plants to install this fall in space previously filled up with Rattlesnake Master seedlings; Village of Foxfield eyebrow and circle planting – Cindy met with one of Edamarie’s employees to look at the spring plantings; considering the drought year, the plants look great; thistle is still an issue at the circle, and Cindy will talk to the Public Works crew about removing the liriope on the eyebrow next spring.

7. Mayor’s Monarch Pledge – report was due December 1st and approved on November 15th.

8. Compost project – two more compost bins available for purchase at municipal center; one was raffled off at the Heritage Festival and we have one for next year’s Green Expo. Community compost numbers are still looking good and seem to be up from last year; October was 814 pounds and November was 704 pounds.

9. Tree plantings – tree planting maintenance/inventory schedule (see below); letter of support sent for SilvoCulture grant request; Healthy Forests, Healthy Waters tree planting will take place next spring; McClintock Distillery employees will be planting 60+ trees at Remsberg Park on March 8th.

10. Tree trails – Jim Roessler is working on text for Cone Branch tree trail. New trees to add to Wiles Branch tree trail – white ash and black willow.

11. Tree City USA Growth Award potential projects– Cindy and Bill completed tree inventories of past plantings this fall and completed the one-year review of the County Park plantings which look good. Cindy started inventorying the trees on town-owned properties this fall with Memorial Park and the North Pointe tot lot being completed.

12. Gift Tree Program – red bud was planted for gift tree application that came in earlier this year; Adam Stanzione might be submitting an application.

13. Recycling event – fall event held on Saturday, October 21st went well with student volunteers and girl scouts helping out that we hadn’t counted on; next year’s dates are March 9thand October 19th.

14. Trex plastic bag collection – we can still take plastic bags to MES.

15. Battery recycling at the Municipal building – we have one high school student helping out that seems very committed!

16. Solar panel study for property adjacent to water tank off Layla has been approved.

17. Water conservation and resiliency plans for major town users (Mark)

18. Wildlife Habitat Advisors program – Karen is interested in being involved in this program.

19. Frederick County Sustainability Commission meeting – municipal green team forum set for February 21st.

20. Bee City – annual report is due in February

21. Middletown Health and Wellness Expo – March 2 from 10am – 2pm at the Middletown Firehall Activities Center

22. January meeting date – third Tuesday – January 21st