Sustainability Committee Public Meeting

Meeting discussion items:

1. February meeting minutes approval

2. Bird City designation – committee and application

3. Green Lecture series with library – first one will be May 18th with a talk by Deb Portney about birds and World Migratory Bird Day; Green Talks will be held the third Saturday of the month at 1:00pm.

4. Green Expo – Saturday, April 20that Memorial Park; we have some new exhibitors that I contacted from the Climate Summit, but we also have a lot of past participants that are unable to attend this year which is concerning.

5. Outreach sub-committee report – looking into signage for Green Expo

6. Pollinator demonstration gardens – Memorial Park garden maintenance volunteer sign-up; Village of Foxfield eyebrow and circle planting – plants look great; thistle is still an issue at the circle, and Cindy talked to the Public Works crew about removing the liriope on the eyebrow this spring.

7. Compost project – two more compost bins available for purchase at municipal center; we have one for this year’s Green Expo. Community compost bin is still getting great use with 911 pounds for February.

8. Tree plantings – tree planting maintenance/inventory schedule (see below); letter of support sent for SilvoCulture grant request – haven’t heard anything yet?; Healthy Forests, Healthy Waters tree planting will take place this soon; McClintock Distillery employees planted 60 trees at Remsberg Park on March 8th; Arbor Day tree planting will be Friday, April 26th at Remsberg Park where we will plant 50 trees; we are doing the free tree give away again this year as well with dogwoods, redbuds, sweetbay magnolias, river birch, pin oaks and serviceberries.

9. Chesapeake Bay Trust grant – we were awarded $2,000 for a plaque and educational materials in relation to the Wye Oak tree planted on East Green Street! We will plan to do the plaque unveiling on Arbor Day and also need to do an educational effort at the Green Expo.

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. Cindy will try to revive this effort later this spring.

11. Tree City USA – State coordinator review has been completed for Tree City and Growth award applications; next is Arbor Day Foundation review.

12. Gift Tree Program – Adam Stanzione might be submitting an application, and there is potential for another application being submitted.

13. Recycling event – despite the rain it was a successful event with even more cars than we had in October

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 is very committed; he is also planning some battery drives at the high school.

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. Frederick County Sustainability Commission green forum follow-up

19. Bee City – annual report due at the end of February was submitted on the 21st.

20. Middletown Health and Wellness Expo was a great success and Main Street plans for it to be an annual event.

21. April meeting date – third Tuesday – April 16th – First Day of Spring!