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Environmental Commission 09-26-11 Meeting MinutesGOLDEN VALLEY ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION Regular Meeting Minutes September 26, 2011 Present: Commissioners, Anderson, Baker, Gitelis, Hill, Stremel, Sunde; Jeannine Clancy, Director of Public Works; Joe Hogeboom, City Planner; Mark Ray, Public Works Engineering Technician; and Lisa Nesbitt, Administrative Assistant Guest: Kim Donat, Assistant City Attorney 1. Call to Order Baker called the meeting to order at 7 pm. 2. Approval of Regular Meeting Minutes – July 25, 2011 MOVED by Stremel, seconded by Anderson, and the motion carried unanimously to approve the minutes of the July 25, 2011 meeting. 3. Residential Solid Waste and Recycling Study Hogeboom reported that three cities have actively begun a study to organize solid waste collection. The City of Maplewood is review six responses to their RFP. The City or Roseville is just beginning the study and the City of Brooklyn Park is gathering data and holding open houses in an effort to hear from the citizens. He will keep the Commission updated. Kim Donat discussed her concerns about the Commissioners’ desire to require solid waste haulers to offer a discounted group rate as part of the licensing requirements. There isn’t a specific statute prohibiting this requirement therefore a motion to bring the draft ordinance to the Council workshop the second Wednesday of November was made by Hill, seconded by Gitelis and unanimously approved. The Commission requested a representative from the City Attorney’s office be present at the meeting. Staff will submit the request for approval. Ray reported that the City Council approved a recycling contract with Allied Waste, at the Sept. 6th meeting. In January, residents will be given recycling carts which will be picked up every other week. In addition to the single sort program through Allied, the amount of accepted products will be increasing (e.g. plastic bags, plastics #1-7, yogurt cups). Staff is working on the communication plan. Anderson requested that the communication plan include a reminder of the ordinance regarding acceptable places to store garbage and recycling carts. Clancy spoke to Heidi Hamilton the Deputy Director of Minneapolis Public Works and asked how their ordinance, regarding mandatory recycling at commercial entities, came about. Heidi said it was a direct result of their City Council’s desire to increase the recycling rates in the City. Minutes of the Environmental Commission September 26, 2011 Page 2 of 2 4. Program/Project Updates Summary on-file 5. Commission Member Council Reports Hill attended the City Council meeting in September when the new recycling contract was discussed. She noted that the Council thanked the Environmental Commission for their work on this project. Hill also attended the part three of the “Projecting Our Water Resources” forum. 6. Other Business Sunde introduced a concept called Minnesota GreenStep Cities. It is a voluntary challenge to help cities achieve sustainable goals by implementing best management practices. She will forward the website to the rest of the commission (via staff). She will ask a member of the MPCA to speak at the next meeting regarding this initiative. Baker again requested that Pawluk’s vacancy be filled as soon as possible. Clancy will pass along his request. 7. Adjourn MOVED by Sunde, seconded by Hill, and the motion carried to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm. The next scheduled meeting will be October 24, 2011 at 7 pm.