HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnvironmental Commission Meeting Minutes_December2018
Falcon Heights Environment Commission
December 10th, 2018
6:30 p.m.
Meeting Minutes
Present: Chair Wassenberg, Vice Chair Meah, Secretary Olson, Staff Liaison Markon, Mayor Lindstrom,
and Commissioners: Holmes, Mathwig, McCleery, and Mohan.
1) Approval of Minutes
Tabled
2) News and Announcements
• Chair Wassenberg and Alexis T. (CERT) presented to the City Council on the efficacy of the Watts
and Drops Initiative that provided ~800 LED lightbulbs to Falcon Heights residents. One lessons
learned was the importance of contact time in getting feedback from residents.
• A questions was asked by McCleery about the efficacy of the “Tag Program” that was recently
initiated by City. Liaison Markon shared that the tags have been used a few times for uncleared
sidewalks (e.g. no shoveling or overgrown vegetation).
• This is Patti’s last Commission Meeting. She has completed two 3-year terms. The Environment
Commission thanked her for service and dedication to helping the City achieves its environmental
goals.
• The Planning Commission did not have the required quorum to vote on the proposed changes to
the 2040 Comprehensive Plan at the previous meeting. However, changes are anticipated to be
included and sent to Met Council for next step of planning process.
3) Recycling Discussion with Tennis Sanitation
Willie and Angela from Tennis Sanitation sat down with the Environment Commission members for an
informal question and answer session. Some of the highlights from the discussion include:
• 2017 there were 30 homes that never participated in recycling. Overall, Falcon Heights has very
high participation rates. Tennis can provide a list of homes not participating.
• There was a lot of discussion about plastics recycling and recent news stories about China refusing
plastic wastes. Tennis stated that they have very low residuals because they have a lot of
partnerships and end market opportunities that can use majority of plastics received.
• Plastic bags are no longer accepted. Tennis was exploring a diesel fuel end market for the bags,
but that did not work out. Some grocery stores are accepting plastics bags, which tend to be less
contaminated upon reception.
• Tennis felt like the flyers distributed have been helpful, but that they now also have magnet
available. City could choose to subsidize or use grant funds towards purchasing (~$1.5/magnet)
4) 2019 Work Plan and Goals
Chair Wassenberg submitted a list of ideas for the Environment Commission for 2019. There is a desire
amongst several of the members to take a more actionable role than the previous year, which was mostly
focused on discussion and edits to 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
It was recommend that at the next meeting the members pick or present some alternative the ideas to
carry forward.
Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:23 PM.
Next Meeting: January 14th, 2019 at 7 pm