##VIDEO ID:yhFR6x7L-1U## [Music] um all right the meeting will come to order this is a sorry Pa first we'll get there excited you you can lead us all right there this is a regular meeting of the environmental Commission of the buau of Fair Haven in accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings ACT public meetings may be held in person or by means of communication equip including streaming services and other online meeting platforms this meeting is being held in person and through the zoom meeting platform being broadcast from burrow Hall 748 River Road be Haven New Jersey public participation for this meeting on November 13 2024 is available available by call in phone number or through Zoom members of the public will be on mute until it is time for question comments which will be announced at that time the public has the opportunity to question comment by phone or through Zoom by the raise hand button and will be called upon at appropriate time notice of this meeting was sent to the Asbury Park Press the two rivers time and the Star Ledger on June 27th posted on the burough website the bullettin board in the municipal building and has remained continuously posted as required under the statute with adequate notice having been given the environment environmental commission secretary is directed to include this statement in the minutes of this meeting you're no you're up I pledge alleg of the United States of America to the stands indivisible liy and Justice chrisy could you do a roll call for us please John Bailey here Jesse Murray said she would be absent Anin here William dner here Kelly Flanigan here glas said she would be abent Gary Patterson here John Peters here also pres CC and B secretary CHR L you have a quum great thank you uh first item on the agenda is the approval of our October 9th meeting minutes those were circulated by chrisy are there any questions questions or comments no can I get a motion to approve a motion I get a second thank you um just a quick Voice vote all those in favor I I thank you uh moving into current business um first item up is the ER revision and you have any updates so Jesse and Susan are out we've all still been working on it quite a bit um from the last month we've gotten it to a good place Jesse weigh in a little bit on some of the revisions that Susan did um it's a it's a beast so you know we don't really want to terribly rush it we were hoping to have it done by the end of this year which is quickly approaching um I would say we can touch base on it this month at some point before the holidays and then see where we stand before the next meeting from my last conversation with Susan and um a little bit of Jesse Susan is kind of thinking this would be better off being presented and finalized in the new year just so that we have more time to to Really um make it so that it's a little more digestible for just the common folk so that's really what it do I think we can circulate to this group something to read by December and then finalize it early beginning of 25 from there we can decide fully where it lives how it lives what it looks like and then we can kind of just what should be in this report what are you looking for specifically well it's all of the it's an inventory of everything in town so right when we started it it was pretty it was pretty um Jesse wrote it it's phenomenally written um it was just an incredible amount of information with Susan and I think that what the group has done is really kind of narrowed it to make sure that it without losing a lot of the important you know resource inventory is making it a little more digestible for people to just be able to pick up and see and read and and some changes have happened since started in 17 so it's just kind of getting it to a place where we can feel good about it living on our website I would say so we just need a little bit more time to do that to make it so that it's there okay cool so some of the things from last month um I know Christy raised her hand to offer to help to get it out to the Natural Area and shade tree and others um yeah it was sent yep all of that it was circulated so I think the kind of are you getting feedback though or is it just kind of gone out it just goes out I think that that's kind of the consensus with the way that it's been for the the entire time that it's been being worked on it's it's gone out and you know feedback is recommended or you know it would be nice but I think for the most part it's just going to be three people that really kind of work on it a handful I think you guys have a good handle on it yeah I mean Susan's done a phen Jesse's obviously done a phenomenal job Susan's really coming you know the background person just a few things that we've updated just to make it a little more relevant to the today's time in so um I would say that we can probably not take any more feedback I think we had kind of come to that consensus as a group and just said let's shut it down and just work on it as it is so also from last month you were with John on the phone you were trying to get U maps from him yeah um any of the updated tree Maps John happy to work on them um does anyone have data for me I'd be happy to work on them um we haven't looked at the actual collection of data but um that was one of the questions is there data out there yes well I don't de kind of data the shade Tre commission has um all right 3,000 trees counted or something location well if they got they got the data I can map it for you that's no problem so I'll reach out to them I guess Brian I'll talk to you okay Christie has ity has it okay if you send it along I'll take a look at it and I'll tell you give you a quick update on it shouldn't take long actually teaching at this semester so I'm up on game great we'll incorporate that okay Susan yes uh I have some cor Corrections for SU is he going to be the one maintaining the document going forward yes so I I'll just take them over to her and yeah great perfect thank you thank you for doing that um all right I think still with you Anna any update on the sanctuary committee I'll be honest with you I haven't made I know they were planning on meeting last Thursday I didn't make the meeting so I they haven't met yet that was supposed to be the first one I just reached out to Betsy to see if there was anything um I if I hear from everybody end the meeting I'll jump in but nothing nothing came through after that moving along um so I was going to provide an update to the mcarter pond committee um so introduced it last month as far as what we had done in our first conversation amongst the committee October we held two public forums so one was held and hosted by uh the friends of marter kind of based over there right on the pond so kind of like a backyard Gathering nice weather nice evening um a second one was here um more of your traditional slides material that material Bill You' got it on on the desk there um was was used to kind of host a dialogue um with the public and and engage them in what's going on on and get some get some input um so I think that was really helpful to to start that process with the with the public involvement a small group of us including Kelly um met with Dr Stephen Souza so he's the a pond guy like the pond doctor and he works he's kind of like an independent contractor but he has worked with a number of different companies in the in the state he teaches at Ruckers and Rowan and other places um we had some feedback from him based on his visit to the pond in June most recently um but he has a history of of being involved with with us um for a number of years so we continue to engage him as we engage the public and and you know understand what options are recommended and what would be would make sense um he continues to be a a resource we use uh we have trying to meet with another for this coming week also with a you know a smaller company that does ponder remediation type work to get you know another set of eyes on it another point of view um so that's really where we've we've been next steps with the committee is to get back together at the end of this month as a group um had try to digest and and synthesize a lot of that user feedback that we got over the first meetings try to create you know put that into a format that's digestible I can share it with you guys once it's ready to go um and then use that is kind of like a sounding board so as we start to work through the different elements of of what we need to do to to remedy and also to maintain going forward we have that that public input that's the idea is there like a time frame you'd have this like have a dump by so I think kind of what we're trying to work towards is having a a a draft that we could talk to and share you know informally as a draft right with with the the council with you know our partner organizations like the Natural Area and Green Team and and others um where we start to flesh out like here are the top priorities here are the first steps here's what we do in the first six to 12 months here's what we do in 18 months that sort of thing right um I'd like to have that ready to go you know for early January and to start feedback on that my question would next be would be how does that impact FAL funding if projects like that are involved does that have to be in a budget we then move forward we're starting in 2025 depends on what type of project that's what I'm just saying is so I don't know so capital projects would be a separate process than operating right sounds more Capital to me right so that that can be off cycle if it's operating it has to be in the budget cycle if it's if it's a capital at this point mostly everything's going to be a capital yeah so I think what we're working against is there are several different avenues for funding some of it is our own budget and there are others and so uh Council women um Hoy and and Michael have also um been looking at some of those funding sources that aren't ours not our Pur um to your point and tell me if I'm speaking out of line there is capital un unarm marked set aside every year and you know there's a process we can go through at any point in 2025 and say hey we think the right investment is X here's why and go from there yes um I did meet with our CFO this week to try to better understand the capital process so I'll tell you what I learned subject to may have some of it the detail mixed up I'm still working on it but anytime we do a Capal project there's a bunch of rules about what's defined as a capital project it needs to be approved by the governing body and then separate from that you identify the funding sources and it can be a mix of external money it could be some of our own money it could be bonded money um and then there's a process of all the bidding and the the engineering work and all that um but that's that's the process and we have I would guess 15 to 20 projects that are in various stages of um of being done right you know those are sort of just always ongoing but that's now that the three is done that's my next Focus that whole process so we're moving forward basically I'm not I don't see the I I I'm I'm cognizant of of your question and that seam of moving from 2024 to 2025 that was the urgency to try to spend some of our operating dollars well I'm not talking about the operating I just want to make sure if we have a great plan in place that Council has funding in place via Capital or whatever I think even if we had a plan in July and we were working with Council I don't know that it would change their allocation necessarily right there's certain things that they've already they but if there's unfunded Capital that's available to you know move forward on this versus a new ordinance for more Capital etc etc because I don't know how that works as far as the 2025 budget if you to put some money aside no so this would be out the operating budget is my guess right but don't you have to put up like a certain percentage for capital projects out of operating we do but that's for small ticket items like if DPW needs a new lawn mow right so it it gets done sort of in bulk right um but that's separate from like a bigger project like $100,000 project yeah something like buying a new fire truck or whatever that would be done separately it can be done off cycle so next year's operating budget is starting now right um you know the department heads are submitting their their requests into the CFO um so it's being compiled a capital project is separate from all right separate plan it's not really a budget it's a it's a savings account yeah it's a savings account for a specific project okay did you guys learn anything new that you had um you know I think he I I would say he reaffirmed some things we were like almost like a hypothesis we have or like if we did this this would happen and he said you know so he can come in and say definitively yes okay so that's always helpful when you start changing questions to like facts um I would say it was interesting his and Kelly can can weigh in on this too but you know his his immediate recommendations were more around treating the look of the pond so the the the algae that's on top in the in the summer months U but when we pressed him on the root like when you kind of peel back the onion and it's the sediment and it's the that yeah the stuff growing through the the the top of the the surface layer of the water because of the sediment and because of the extra nutrients he's like yeah you know you got to address those two things so that's one of those examples of where you know we have this kind of thought about what we the way we need to go and it felt like he was kind of affirming yeah okay which is nice I'll anything you want to add Kelly um no I I I agree um I think um there's only so much band-aiding you can do and that's kind of what our the burough has been doing in the past years of this with chemical treatments and this idea of Hydra raking but if to get at the you know the underlying cause of this to actually you know um stop the progress of it turning into a wet land it it requires more and a more thorough plan so I think that's you know what was confirmed throughout but um he seemed very knowledgeable and it was a great meeting that we had with um members of the committee and DPW and the engineer and so it was um and the burrow administrator as well yeah just to wrap up the the last couple things we're working on going forward so I mentioned um the council that on on the committee they're really looking at funding streams um Brian's family was was instrumental in in capturing some Drone footage of the pond so we can really start to put quantify how much especially that southern end is become you know more filled in and then there's a bit of an island that's forming right off the edge of Buttonwood um so you know from looking at it from the top down it's a little bit easier to see you know where the boundaries are of of those areas so thank you Oliver for that that's very helpful um and then another member of the committee is doing a deeper dive into the specific area of dredging and because it's kind of an involved process because there's lots of U variables that change like how it can be done you know versus wet versus dry versus access versus no access things like that we kind of treated that as like a an area where we want someone to have a focus so one of our members is is doing a deep dive and working with some service providers that that have experience in the state just so we we can become that more knowledgeable about if we were going to do it how would we do it how would they recommend that we do it I noticed that in 2004 it was dredged do we have any of that information today so it it was never dredged we we received the permit it wasn't dredged we had a permit unfortunately we had ex men some out of push back from where we're going to dispose of the spoil which was going to be Fields we're going to dewater it Fair Haven Fields the Fair Haven Fields committee didn't like that was big push back I had I known at the time how difficult it would have been I would just gone forward and ignored all that um it would have been unpleasant at the time but it would have been done um and the reality is you had two different groups in town who wanted to one wanted to dredge and one didn't and at that point the non-d dredgers won thanks John yeah so so that's the short answer is we so we went through the process we we received the permit we had permission to put it as John said into into the edge there on on the Natural Area but that's where it stopped nice question sure just can you say again like what was the role of the Natural Area committee there and when was this for John can you repeat what you were saying about the natural areas yeah at the time we had received pering I believe we were going to get the mosquito commission to do the work for us um and they were going to dredged the spoils out of the pond and put them into the field area of the Natural Area and allowed them to deater at that point in time they're just considered top soil they would clean fill and they could take it away but there was push back from the Natural Area people a number of people in the Natural Area committee and others who didn't want us to quote spoil the uh the field area so since that was the case the Town Council at that time decided not to do it and again I was relatively new at that time if I had seen how long it was going to go on I probably would have tried to push it through but you know hindsight's 2020 right okay and just so you guys know when the hydro ring came up recently uh the Natural Area committee approved that they could take the spoil put it we had a place one thing in the report it didn't say much about the Hydra raking do we have a general decision that it would didn't work out that well or is I was just looking over the report that you passed out Sean I you didn't say much about yeah no it wasn't we weren't we weren't trying to pass judgment on it it it did what it was what it does it pulled up it pulled up the the grassy bits um you know the leafy bits but the the real challenge is the the depth of the pond you know we started with you know 100 years ago we started with a very not not deep Pond a very shallow three-foot Pond and over the years and with that area that whole Watershed becoming developed um you know and were between six and 18 inches and so dredging helps um sorry Hydro raking helps um there's been some you know some feedback to our group that the pond seem to do worse after the hydr raking um so we're asking that question to you know the experts that recommended and and the providers that that do the work and trying to understand is is there like a natural like quick growth cycle that happens right afterwards whatever just just trying to understand it better so we can um answer those questions and inform the public cool let's move on um Kelly do you want to give an update on the pollinator Garden extension project sure I would happily do that um so last month in October uh the last week in October um Alex aronik um had the Eagle Scout project doing the uh addition of the pollinator Garden it was a beautiful Sunday morning and it was so um inspirational to see I a dozen or more 8th grade kids joining him um helping out that pollinator project um there was a c handful of council members there as well and Brian and his daughter and a lot of green team members um e members it was just a wonderful Community event um and if you go and take a look by the pollinator Garden it has doubled in size um it looks amazing uh it really is improving the look of that uh the back of that brush area and just adding a lot more um habitat and biodiversity to that area so it's a fantastic project the fencing is up um just wish there was a little bit more rain we could count on and water great thanks Kelly oh and can I just say one more thing too please um thank you to Bonnie and Robin for purchasing um all the plants and the purchase you know um or helping Alex with the purchasing of all those plants and they delivered it there so I just want to you know uh shout out to them and shout out to Mark Olsen as well for um you know getting uh the eagle scout in touch with the the Green Team and the pollinator um the environmental commission as well um yes so cool sorry one more I cannot I I I have to say thank you to Michelle Decker um our the resident who is the uh water source and the water supplier um without her and her generosity none of those trees or plants would be um surviving and and thriving where they are now and um and think thank you to a lot of the community members I think Mark raised we raised over um ,000 uh for plants and and for water and everything so um it was just a wonderful Community um building getting together and you can actually like it's just uh really nice if you take a walk down there and see it now so thank you thanks uh next topic was just a a quick update on the dormandy Waterfront Park restoration um remember at the last meeting we we approved the use of funds if need be from this year uh to take the next step uh so we're we're doing that working with Chris York and burough administrator to Source the surveyor to come back and basically take the the plan and the report from prior um and just revise it with today's survey you know today's conditions um so that's where we are and and Chris and I spoke about it today so it's it's we're trying to do it as fast as we can to to use our funds this year if we can um what I am looking for though is I think it it warrants someone from the EC to kind of take a lead on it be be you know seeing it through and I'm I'm we have to decide it tonight but um give a thought if um it's something you're interested in in taking a lead on and um helping see it through uh I think that would really help if there was someone to to kind of Shepherd this this project specifically along so Sean what would you particularly do you need to have done for this as far as a survey or as far as is it do you need you need a you want a field survey of the shoreline or what do you want so it's included in the original design and the plan and so it's been seven years so the it just needs to be updated with where like the current you know like that slope of the of the embankment you know where the beach is things like that let me give you I I'll give you a write up I have a suggestion how we might be able to get some pretty accurate information I have some equipment that get us to about 22 inches which may be more than sufficient for what we're trying to do so we can look at the shoreline look at the bottom of the slope look at the top of the slope again you'll be within this much so that might be we can do a series of points along the upper line and then we could map that I'll I'll give you a write up okay yeah so what I'm thinking is it it needs to be a a document or a quality that you know someone can use it for bidding I would suggest the question is has it move significantly right if it hasn't moved significantly then the documents of seven are probably valid right yeah that's fair that's the question so we can at least validate that without any cost and if we can do that then we'll decide whether or not you need to have a real new new field survey right great let me send that to you and then share with everybody thanks John uh any questions all right final all um the next one I have on here deer mitigation strategy so because we dedicated so much time to it um previous month with the discussion one of the actions uh I just wanted to mention that there's a an update or an action that was taken one of the recommendations was to understand more specifically is there a problem right that was kind of the fundamental question um so the the buau has applied for and been awarded a grant um so it's a community I it's a lot of words Comm Comm Community Based deer management Grant and it's a called a forest survey um so it's money that has been given to us to pay to have an expert come in and basically assess the Natural Area um and part of that assessment will be to determine is you know our deer having a negative impact um on the growth and so if it is if it isn't at least we start to have some data points right going forward so that was a question an action coming out of it I just want to share that with everyone else do you do do you wna anything to add to that you're here right uh Sean when do you know when that survey will take place um I don't know that there's anything holding it up um so I I believe our tree expert is the one that's going to be doing the work um but I can I can certainly get an update from Chris this week as far as timing goes it's it's pretty fresh like I had to kind of pull the the scope of the workout from them this week just to so I could feel comfortable sharing it with the group so they're assessing the vegetation but not somebody like actually doing a survey of the amount of deer or that's not I don't think that Ser scope it's more the vegetation and so if if there's evidence that the deer are a problem for the health of the forest okay yeah I wasn't sure if the know if you want to know any there are than if you have mitigation a number that you are looking to increase I think that's another step yeah so if they're not doing damage then theoretically there's no reason to kill but damage that's I think maybe or it could just be one facet of the problem right so it's not a problem if the expert doesn't think it's impacting the Natural Area Natural Area there might be residents that feel like they're impacting their area and that's just a different way of looking at right only specific to like it's not going to Haron I mean like my understanding it's just the Natural Area but it's the first step step with that yeah yeah it's good Stu because there not everyone is convinced there's a problem right so this way you know definitively yes or no from there you can make your next decision it also gives us other information if not just deer related work to have generally cool thank you um and then final item on current business tree ordinance well Brian if you want to be provide a um after a long upill battle we passed a tree ordinance uh last night um the things that we got by passing it is we're now in compliance with storm water requirements uh funds are going to start flowing into the shade tree commission for plantings and they can also do maintenance at their discretion um the ordinance lowered the triggering threshold um which requires resident activity for taking down a tree it also increased the number of trees replaced versus the old ordinance um this ordinance does apply to the burrow so in the previous ordinance the burrow could take down any trade they wanted and not have to replace it um it does protect Street trees U but it's not perfect um sort of everyone acknowledges that um so it's it's not done this the shat Tre commission is going to continue to work on a few items um I also think that over the next say six months or so so we're going to get feedback on what's working and what's not working and also tweak that um so thank thank you to this committee um or commission for the feedback you gave me I tried to keep track of as much of it as possible it wasn't easy um I I would guess there were 50 fingerprints on it um so I did the best I could I could um but it's still continuing uh so if you have feedback um you'll continue to send that in um the mayor did send a letter out today um can you put that on the screen so first thing I would say is um I like that it was recognition to our volunteers um you know he he thanked the volunteers on the shade Tre commission has spent a lot of time some of them been working for seven years I've only had the privilege of doing it for 11 months um but he he thanked them uh talked about um how important the topic was to the town um you know lots of of very passionate and sincere um thoughts uh not everyone was in agreement he addressed that you know some people think it thinks some people think it went too far some people think it didn't go far enough uh and then the last paragraph talks about um you know it's it's something we're going to work on uh to try to improve uh where it needs to be improved he committed in there to putting it on the agenda uh if the Sha Tre commission does come to an agreement um you know on on a fix um so I'm happy that we got to second base and now we just have to you know keep keep moving great thanks Brian I think that's a good way to to S of summarize it it's like a one0 and twoos already got like a list of items of topics to be debated and discussed so yeah actually think that you know there's a chance for example that there may be things in there that we all think are great and everyone agrees and it turns out in practice it it's not quite right and we'll find out what data happens too so thank you again for for the feedback thanks Brian um cool so uh Switching gears into new business got three items on here um Kelly are you able to go on the Sustainable New Jersey application timeline yes I am and um if you um chrisy if I'm able I would happily share my screen great okay great um so for those of you that aren't familiar with sustainable Jersey I do recommend if you could take a little bit of time to familiarize yourself with what it is um it's a great website that has everything here it's a great program if you not if you don't know uh Fair Heaven our last uh we are currently certified as silver certification um in sustainable Jersey uh which is great aligns with our partners of Rumson Red Bank Long Branch U Middletown they're all silver certific certified as well through sustainable Jersey um on the website you'll find out a lot about what who they are what the actions are grants and technical assistance if you guys aren't familiar if you're new to the commission the pollinator Garden originally started from a $2,000 Grant through sustainable Jersey funded by the psng um company as well foundation um so we have received a handful of of money and grants um through them our dead our application currently and our status as silver certified is going to be expiring this year so we have to re certify a lot of our um our agenda items and our actions the first round of submissions is due February 23rd when you need to have at least as many actions completed that um award up to 150 points uh which is a bronze certification level now each actions have different points awarded to them depending on um how sustainable they are or um how thorough they are for example um some of them are required um and so you submit that and they give you back feedback by around early April you might or you might be missing something or you need to revise it and so you have time to to get that feedback from them second round is May 16th with the return date of mid June the third and final round is the end of July and then we receive whether um we have been certified in late September um there is also a certification webinar on um December 10th from 12: to 1:30 PM which will just help walk people through that if they're not familiar with it um and what to be um uh aware of um as I mentioned some of our actions are expired this year here and you can actually um get on here and see our um I think I have it uh our Municipal dashboard and you can see our application if it will let me get on here I don't know why it's not letting me but um I'm happy to walk through anybody who who is not familiar with this um you know the whole process as well so if anybody here we go and you can see um are there's different types of certification actions that are required that are priority and are different points um and how many that we've had completed or approved and you can see the different um things that like for instance our energy tracking and management has expired um and so we have to update that and that's worth 20 points all these different things are expired a lot of them are things that we already are doing it's just we have to submit the paperwork that says we're still doing those things and so Chris York Christy Larsson um you know nick uh they've all been critical too and helping us provide those details and um you know submit that in the information this is a very much a team effort um we ask that people help us uh shade tree did a lot of these actions as well you just write up a little um summary narrative and then you are required to submit um evidence um you know and documents that supporting documents for that action and then you get reviewer feedback and you can see how um so it's pretty pretty manageable it's just time it's time and it's uh you know really should fall on a lot more people than just two or three I mean this should be a very you know big Community um effort through the EC the shade tree um and and the administrators but um you know chrisy being the Secretary of many of these commissions has been very helpful with finding that information as well thanks christe any specific questions um obviously February is going to come up pretty soon um and I'm happy to you know help with somebody else kind of categorize a little bit and see what actions are expired um what actions that we were planning on you know or some other actions that maybe we doing that we didn't know and we can um because I know for instance a farmers market and you get points for having a farmers market like things that we didn't have three years ago when our last um application was due so I can help you with that obviously we can work together on it thank you Anna I appreciate that so maybe Kelly as a first step between and Christie let me know if this is reasonable can the can the two of you kind of look at all of it and just determine ownership like who could do you know whether it's like Chris has to do stuff or Nick or or rich or it's we need some volunteers from like our commission or green team or um you know in in the past um application cycle I did have we did have a spreadsheet and um we kind of shared we had a I had a link to every action we colorcoded them to what we know we're doing what's kind of Within Reach that we can get and then what's you know higher higher um effort you know actions um and then people kind of assigned to it you know and I think um if we do something similar to that and pass it off to um Christy or Chris or Nick you know you can kind of be like okay yeah we got this you know we can help kind of divvy that up a little bit through the entire thing and did whatever I could and just got whatever I could from whatever I needed to so Kelly does that does that spreadsheet exist somewhere we could dust it off and bring it back to life and refresh it for 2025 that does it does and I'm happy to you know um share that and I with chrisy and with Anna and then maybe um next meeting we can kind of uh you know just share it with the EC too as well because you know just need to kind of take people if everybody could take two or three actions that they're that they're going to own and be responsible for finding that information and being the point person to write it up a lot of the stuff is already in there you just have to change dates you know know like the cut it and leave it for the grass program you just have to take you know um evidence of that from the burrow signs that bettyanne already puts up or the burrow buzz and just kind of re you know repopulate that with current up-to-date stuff um but if everyone would take a couple it really won't be that much of a burden yeah I think if so if you could take a first cut of what all those actions are and then present it in December I'm sure people will raise their hand and do their share yeah okay I'll lean in I'll do a couple things great okay yeah I think that would help us get the ball rolling on this for for February yes okay sounds good thank you guys any questions before we move on all right um so next item on new business so I called it strategic plan areas of focus coordination um a lot of a lot of words there a couple months ago there was maybe Bill maybe brought it up Gary you know this idea that you know what are we what are we working on like what's our priorities where are we putting our effort and you know I agreed it's it's a bit of a it's kind of missing um Susan raised her hand at one meeting to say I'm I'm happy to help um you know so we haven't been able to get together before November but we are getting together this month um in the meantime what I've been doing is meeting with our our kind of our our partner organizations national area Green Team shade tree commission um Third Street with Mark um and trying to get a sense of their priorities for the year um and what I'd like to do is be able to bring not necessarily another level of bureaucracy to it but just a complete you so we can sit here and talk about it a little bit more holistically as far as with our inventory refreshed it gives us like a great like it's almost like if you look at our current business this is this is a lot of our inventory Harding marter pollinator guard Normandy it's grow it's also growing at the current business it's like we we're adding we're adding right before our meeting tonight was 21 fair heing so we are adding property to the the role so I'd like to I guess I would feel more comfortable in this position having a view of all you I don't say all but you know the major priorities that are that are out there and how we are advocating for them I'd rather have a single voice you know working in unison working in collaboration rather than you know all these different bodies kind of working on their own I think there's there's power and numbers um but the first step is to get get on the same page and get some of that alignment going and so that's kind of what I've been doing in the background I plan to work with Susan when she's back and starting to put that into more of a strategy kind of what our overarching priorities when we sit up here on the Das and we're looking at topics yes we're residents of Fair Haven but we're also stewards of this what are we stewards of right are we focused on the land the air the water the trees everything it's it's a large scope um so I feel like if we could start to put that into something more t um it helps focus our efforts it helps us direct the question about funding do we have the right funding do we have a sustainable source of funding for all the properties that we have going forward um things like that so not a major update but just to let you know that that's what we're working on um and I hope to present something in December with the season so if there's any input or questions or things you'd like to see on it you know please don't hesitate to know I think it's a good idea you get everybody involved you know Thousand Mile view down and just find everybody's on the same page and so you have an issue like you know brought up earlier about mcarter Pond you know what is the common goal of the uh Community you know so everybody's on the same page yeah great all right um and then last one I put this on because I think you brought up last month about or just this idea I feel like I call it Civic action and Community awareness so I feel like the the Natural Area cleanup is coming on uh is coming up this weekend um you brought it up the Christmas trees on to Normandy um you know it's it's leaf collection season pretty soon if we get any snow or any precipitation this winter it'll be salt um I just feel like there's there's an opportunity for us to be a little bit more proactive with a voice in the community um you know with the green team with others um sorry the energy the energy program that's um you know next week as well um I just I feel like we don't I don't feel like there's a central calendar yeah I don't think there's like a central point of contact but I I think that that's missing in the town in general I think it's a hard thing from a technological standpoint to stay on top of but right now like what's on Vogue is likely Instagram and we don't have a bur Instagram I think that that would be a really important way to get information out there a lot of people are on it Facebook is kind of whatever you know you have your opinions about these things but there's the buzz there's just like it's kind of disjoint it's disjointed in my opinion this is a a bigger issue it's not just specific to us but I do feel like there are things that we could there are things that could be put out to the community in a way that the town should be more responsible about and that way we can all give them what we are prioritizing so that they can if if we do a Christmas tree drop at the end of dormandy for the shoreline like rson does at Victory Park how would we get that information out there it's just like it's missing so it's something that I've kind of just been thinking about for a while now I me we're just missing a demographic that's not on Facebook and that doesn't subscribe to the buzz right and that's the kind of it's a big chunk of people in town these days that would be willing to help the way that they you know they don't have this info so there's a few different places where it lives it needs to be Consolidated into one it's I'm not going to run it like I I don't want the responsibility but I think that it begs a bigger question to Fair Haven bur like why are we missing on that platform which I believe we I don't even know I so we we have um shat Tre commission has a Instagram account and I'm get my notes 2011 followers but it's done by one member of the shade tree commission I think it's just like could be a recommendation for all of the Committees to have one Fair Heaven burrow Instagram because it's it shouldn't be on the responsibility of like the elast cases of the world or the shade tree commission which is it it kind of that can um you know that you can cycle in and out of that I think that the town should put one out there information can live there we can announce events there are so many different things that I'm a part of that you're just kind of reaching out to your own base to be like can you come to this instead of one one secret has one Secrets is it's not a heavy lift it's a low lift it's Graphics but it's informative it talks about I mean they're on the water so they talk about water temperature and just like in real time what's happening in the community the buzz lags it's every two weeks you know or once once a week once a week yeah so I mean it's also an and I agree with you I think um the real time and the buzz is a great you know it's great but not everybody there's more and more people that are not connected or not on to that and then you have to scroll and you keep scrolling and so if it's not right up there you're not going to get to the bottom um I just want to say we do have an Instagram for Green Team and we have 463 followers and one up but it is volunteer base right and so it's really hard to come up with that content it's it's very it adds an extra layer to volunteers and their busy lives and everything else that they're doing um but I do think that a general spot that could highlight you know from the burrow that could be like hey check out this new energy thing happening next week or you know what's happening here and just in real time I I totally think that that is something that's a little bit more um you know faster easier just you know quicker to get more I'm not saying like don't do Tik Tock dances like we don't need that level of like you know relatability at this point but Instagram does seem to be a really good way to get the word out so as a general if this is something that we could go back I mean Brian if you could go back and as AR Lea's on and say like maybe it's time that the buau considers doing it those are two those are two volunteer run organizations the burrow could potentially streamline all of the information that comes to it and and get the word out there in their own in our own way correct me for wrong but doesn't the burrow Council have a Le off communication yes I was going to say that that there's two things so we we have a Michael are you on the communication do you want to talk about sure I mean I definely hear what saying the B does have an a Facebook account that people follow so I'm just kind of I wrote it down but what do you I agree that there's more ways to be reaching people and I think there's a lot of information that's not necessarily getting people from the Green Team and the shade tree but kind of figuring out what you're envisioning so would are you thinking from the burrow like this would be an Instagram account from the bur Instagram it's it's burrow run it's burrow you know we can we can consolidate the information that we think relevant which would be no shortage of it we could send it to whoever is in charge of it I think it would be less work than managing a Facebook page which gets a little contentious sometimes it's more just a quick graphic in your face here's what's coming up there's a nature trail cleanup there's a Christmas tree dump it's not like it doesn't need to be like a um a forum it's just so that people see what is actually buzzing in in the in the area do you think that there's too much information that's happening besides like some back talk but like on Facebook I just think that you're missing people I just think that like I really I started going on Facebook I started going on Facebook so that I could see the stuff and I like hate Facebook so I just think that you guys as a group as like a we just need to hit every demographic yeah and not the content the contact would be comparable because we havean does work with a lot of the different committees and we've talked about this having people send more information so that is a piece like if there's more information that you guys want to send I know the green team does a good job of sending stuff um in natural Fields but there's always more that can be Shar there's always more and I don't think that you you would have a problem with oversharing on Instagram as opposed to trying to squeeze it all within a newsletter putting it all on Facebook like I just think it's a better platform for a burough to navigate so my recommendation would be to consider it um I've thought about just going rogue and and making one so that people can follow it and just see what's because there are in the next month there's a handful of things that aren't on the buzz that haven't made it out there that need attention and this could be the place to do it to that point though if there are any things that aren't on the buzz Mak into the buzz let like let us know CHR and I are both the Liaisons um but I can I don't know any hisory behind Expressions on Instagram I'll bring it up for the first time it definitely hasn't come up yeah no I just think it would be a good spot for the shade tree the Green Team reposting rehar like they're already on there kind of go off of them it this would be a really nice it would be a good place for a lot of this information to live if we want to get really in the Weeds on things it we're going to get every demographic and we do weekly faxes for my we're going to mail you things when I first started work I hours and hours on Mach so yeah you're welcome um so it kind of got a little bit a rabbit hold day with just so I think of that as like distribution I I think I was even thinking further up the the the chain of leaves in the fall like a lot you know there's different you know people want to get them out their lawn and have a clean lawn some people are like Advocates of like leave it um putting it in their Gardens things like that like do we want to be more of an advocacy group that has those kind of like every season you know it's like the the Garden Club for example I think you guys did a great seminar in the spring or earlier I don't I forget exactly when it was but what to plant when and what's you know making choices for plantings I think that's great right to your point there's a whole demographic that you've identified we know the demographics of Fair Haven are younger there's always new families moving in they have a we know they have a lot of kids if if you read McNeil's most recent um you know budget memo so we got a lot of lot of f a lot of young families a lot of kids so they don't have a lot of time and they're scrolling Instagram at night yeah so I get the whole distribution thing but they're also looking for oh I my garden needs to get planted like I can go to Home Depot I can go here I can go I grab stuff quick but if there was something telling me hey if you're going to plant this weekend here are some things to consider oh my go I'm your girl I so your girl but I mean I I just throw that out there that's just one right and you know leaves is a Hot Topic and and so I'm I'm actually more just putting it out there for the group to discuss do we want to be like that and if we do great then then we start talking about how do we distribute it well um I think that you could just give inform like just give information around it you know do do we have to be the ones that make the decision on like the leaf pickup and stuff like that is that what your are I'm saying there are known kind of like topics out there right so do you leave your leaves on your lawn or do you not right and there's different schools of thought you know does the environmental commission want to have a point of view that hey if you want to leave your leaves this is how you do it this is why you do it y if you never thought of it before we're going to help you understand there's an alternative to blowing them out onto the sidewalk yeah I mean I don't I don't think that that's going know on this sorry is okay I know the green team has had a lot of discussions about this type of information as well so I would maybe recommend also trying to loot them in as a piece of the environmental commission y um but my question is would then in your vision of this would that be you like here like weekly post from the Green from the environmental commission hot tip like are you saying it's kind of coming from you like recommendation from the from the environmental Commission or you're just serving this information and then the Burrow's sending it out yeah it could be it could be either one I I'm I'm not hung up on the distribution yet I'm more asking the Commissioners up here like do we want to get into that game of being more proactive about making recommendations and you know Caroline had a great post this week about just informing the public what is Fair Haven Fields you put the graphic out there you had the red lines around there sparked a little bit of debate I didn't know that oh it's the history of this like to me that's informative you could send that out if you want to get some engagement you can send something like that out on a regular basis I'm thinking more that there are topics that will help improve the environment in Fair Haven because 90% of the environment is privately owned so if we can start moving the needle on certain things with homeowners on certain topics I think just getting information out there um I was just going to say yeah the green team has always kind of filled in that role a bit more with like the boots on the ground and the Grassroots and education we've done you know workshops on composting and films and speakers on native plants and pollinator Gardens um we also utilize our social media for that thing too and so one of our most recent posts that actually was the most popular one was just another reason to leave the leaves and talking about how the leaves are critical for fireflies and where have all the fireflies gone um and that's just another um reason and I know in the years past I think it was three or four years ago um burrow asked us to put together um there was so much garbage that was also in the leaves and so take making sure to clean up the garbage from the leaves and what to do with the leaves and composting and um so we've always kind of played that role I we've always talked about too that the the EC and our website should be where people come to find this information and the big thing is if you take a look rums and E they do it well they do it very good their EC has their own page off the burrow where they have incredible resources that they've designed they put up it's more userfriendly it's more easy accessible um and we've always you know and I know John and Gary people who've been here before we've always kind of talked about what should and how should our platform and and a way for the the EC's page to be more accessible to people people and to be as like a you know to have a lot of this information what is storm water what are some green infrastructure what can you do and here's a place where you can get it it's just um the way it's kind of set up now there used to be at a green team page and an EC page now they're merged there's like not a lot of real time changes happening it it just isn't um isn't as effective but I I would suggest if you take a look at the Rumson e page that is very um you know it it's just something to think about maybe our website if we have our own we or like a place where we kind of provide this information maybe a link Tree on Instagram where people could say hey what was you know why are I thinking or people are saying leave the leaves and then you can go there and actually find some stuff or you know what is a rain Garden or why native plants where can I buy them and you can actually find resources there yeah and and and the that's great I would say the clar I'll clarify and I'm not saying the EC has to own it I think we are we can be a platform for the Natural Area for the Green Team for the Garden Club they can use us as a way to like to advertise and to share their information I just for me I'm kind of looking at coming back to the strategy our what's our what's our annual calendar look like every twice a year we know there's probably going to be a a natural area clean up cool like let's let's make sure we know that like we shouldn't be the last like not that we're the last people to know but we should be informed SE so much of what you're saying is so new and so refreshing and so inspirational thank you the EC should be an umbrella because the environment is in so it has so many tentacles and we have really been asking for this for a long long time okay and as as you being our Advocate we're out there as workers okay so question on distribution how do we get the right that's a bigger question I'm I'm totally I'm not ignoring it I'm just I'm ahead of it I'm like C before the horse right like well I just think what do you want to say my kneer was like we need to do something I think we of the new business B is going to inform that b is going to inform see when when you two sit down and look at this and say what are what is our strategy for the how are we planning then I think that would take shape into what this group looks like I don't think that I mean I think that the Green Team and the shade tree do a really good job with getting their information out how can we help them how can we be the one who have AAS on say can you go back to burrow to Council on our behalf and say we think that this is a good idea I think that's a good spot to start in as well we're seeing a disconnect of information there's no continuity there's very little platform there's very little support at this demographic could you go and say maybe it's time to think about one umbrella for the burrow that everything rolls up into it yeah I think what I'm hearing is lots of agreement about what to do it's probably a bandwidth question Do It um so question for Christie how long do you think it takes to put together the burough buzz like how many hours a week and maybe maintain the Facebook page I mean benan does all of that and she's as a director of communications and I mean people will call her like every other hour like oh can you add this can you add this oh can you put this up for me um whether it's the chief whether it's DJ whether it's Recreation she's getting pulled in content from everybody in every commission so if I had to guess um and if he's doing the website too so so do yeah a ly process like 20 hours a week or 10 hours a week gu why don't we we'll ask her why don't we on the spot well cuz where I'm going with it is um I'll just throw this out as a trial balloon it's probably a bad idea um but what if we shifted and didn't do a bur buzz and use those resources to sort of refresh and do Instagram instead and get rid of Facebook um you know the buzz feels to me like something that was cutting edge you know when email was first coming out it was probably what we think of Instagram today that's where everyone was and that's changing the risk of course as we lose the people that didn't that have it migrated away from email so something to think about but that's where I was going with you know if we if it's a band you need to be careful and not lose them yeah I agree yeah there just some ideas out well yeah I think yeah I mean and or you know Green Team and um between shade tree and green team they have you know a little bit of effort does it make sense to have like environment at Fair Haven like you know and have one Consolidated piece that we all can contribute to I I think there's a lot of different ideas we could kick around sure um but like I said it's it actually and and you remember from the the shade tree commission meeting from last week right her biggest C her biggest issue is creating the content time to create the content so I will say like if the direction that we want to go in is we would like to be this group would like to consolidate take Green Team take shade tree and say Here's the information that we want to here's the Cadence here's the information that we want to send out to the town in whatever format it would be very easy for me and I don't have a like a graphic background but I can I have a program I can make a quick little thing we can pull in a we could bundle these things up and send them to the town to make it easier I'm I'm happy to do that I think that it's important that this group and those other groups get this information out because it's lacking and it's it's very important to the town to remain environmentally on top of things so I I would be more than happy to do that sort of it's canva like I can throw a canva graphic out there and send it to you know if we've got an an Instagram that's that's zero work truly on my part so if that's the direction that this the strategy and planning if we want to be the ones that kind of control that and and put some advice out you know I'm happy to work with all of the other entities to make sure that everybody feels like they're on the main stage for I think Council it what does that look like is it Instagram is it Buzz is it Facebook I think the problem is is you're pulling lovers like you take away something you're going to alienate people you know naturally so um it's hard work but it's it's important like that we need to figure out what it looks like but it would be important work to make sure that all of the demographics especially the young new families that are moving to town they need this information qu would this be just environmental or would it be other departments like Public Safety fire Etc the whole in other words the b m this is off topic to the EC but my this would be EC Instagram I think that there should be a bur Instagram that we all feed them the information that we think is Rel so other departments like police fire and such such would be part of that so DJ would call up the person for his Instagram versus yeah go to Seager go online secret bur has a wonderful Instagram it's active they post all the time it's nothing I've never used Instagram so this is we get you on there you'll survive I'll order you survive without it yeah you'll be fine but I think it's just like it's a bigger question of how do we want this all to look and feel and and that would be and I would be happy if if it goes to that I would even start on a basis yeah it it feels very communication committee to me sure all right you know when you talk about the Departments and things I just sent a note not cool I yeah I think at the end of the process it does like the beginning of the process is where we're talking with our partner organizations about right what do we want to say and and that's sorry sorry Sean um and I agree and I think this has always been a another topic that we've always kind of had is that there is so much overlapping issues between the shade tree the Natural Area the EC um that we all should be a unified front and we can almost help each other out in this and um minimize amount of volunteer hours if we're kind of all coming at it and on the same page and we can have this great educational Campaign together and I didn't know that was the intent of getting these organizations all to come together and the meetings that we've had in the previous years which was a place where even wreck came and historic associ you know there all these different that had a connection right one of what Robin said the tentacles of what the environment was and so we all came and talked about common issues and common threads and shared our resources and collaborated on these events and I think um you know to open those meetings again or to open up the that dialogue is critical and I and it makes our job easier and it just the this message that you're trying to that we're trying to proce you know show and and education out to the the community it's it registers a larger audience as well I just real quick um we've definitely had this and conversation at the Natural Area I think even if we just got together a group of us to talk about what's the most efficient way to do this I think there's ideas that haven't come up yet um but like because one of the real issues is like building an audience right like each group is building their own audience but together we could have a much bigger audience even the burrow like Their audience is not very big so that's part of what makes it not a super effective way to communicate um and I think you know I think I asked Michael the other day even what the policy is on like if these groups make their own content can the borrow just reshare it instead of them building from scratch the the same content that we just published you know so I really think there's a lot of opportunities and that a group of people sat down and talked about what the possibilities are uh what What's broken what can be fixed um I'd like to get the paper calendar in the mix um you know like is I if feel like that gets out of date right away as soon it's published and is almost problematic because people have old information so um but anyway I think it would be a great idea for people sit down and see what we come up with thank you thank you you know what I think I have to speak now there's so much going on here um so um Mark um you know asked me nervously about the water at some point in August September and he said Robin we really need to get a serious volunteer effort because there's such a skeleton crew that really takes care of the Third Street Trail I'm involved with uh reluctantly but was amazingly uh introduced to the book club in the library and you all are missing out on a good time because it is a fabulous group of 15 women and led by two librarians and when I bring up volunteer opportunities to them now of course they're all you know they're seniors like I am it's not all young people that live here but seniors can really volunteer and they can be a backbone for them the Garden Club of Fair Haven they are I reluctant I was a member of the rson Garden Club before I came here reluctantly came here thinking if would really you would old people oh my goodness they are workers they say yes to everything they want to volunteer the volunteers at the Natural Area are amazing people and they have such knowledge of history of this town and um I haven't I you know I'm prejudiced about going to the senior center but you know I've been told that they you know there's something that could be tapped there also um I'm just saying so I said to Mark I was involved um when I was in Pennsylvania in a group at an arboretum and every week there was just a volunteer like you were going to do something and I said we could you know people can volunteer to go to Third Street Trail they can go to the bird sanctuary they can go to the Natural field they but they need to count on it every week and you provide a little coffee and you provide a homemade banana bread and people would come to talk to get together I know that we need information I know that that you know a collective communication is important but I think what Carolyn is suggesting that we get together and talk like this is going to be a fabulous time on Saturday and Sunday at the natural Fields volunteer um you know we all are are determined to make it that way um we're providing a meal we're providing refreshment you know and um you know Bonnie and I got together after the garden party and we decided that we were going to be plant doctors I went to um a family and I brought 10 native plants and you know um it read their kids a book in their backyard and then we planted a native plant garden right there the parents were like unbelievably impressed and connected they want more information and they know my face they know we all need to know your faces meet us at Boost fordo like you know reach out you know and get to know one another I really think that it's out there waiting to happen because we did at the last communications committee we did talk about how to let the community know all of the volunteer opportuni so having some kind of landing page or one spot where everything is listed I just made a note to follow up and see where we are with that but that would rely on everyone getting this information but having a real true like volunteer spot well I think it's over in front of the bookstore you know just hang out there and and talk about these things and the needs definitely but I also think it would be good virtually to have somewhere like that people can just re definitely that's needed yeah great all right thank you for the input I think we're good on that for now so I'm not hearing any dissension the idea great idea continue to move it forward all right we got two more items um before we open it up to the public even though we've already broken that seal Christie do you can we just flip the two can we do the meeting dates first maybe just um do you have something to flash up or uh so typically the environmental Commission holds the second Wednesday of the month spot at 7:30 so in the production of the calendar that's going that's being formed that needs uh the environmental commission needs to decide if they want to keep that slot so we can print the calendar um typically there's been in August recess and if you were to abide by that same schedule the only one that would be affected is February um given the school holiday council's meeting the second Wednesday so AC would meet the third Wednesday of febrary anyone not like getting together the second Wednesday of the month all right we'll continue with that can we change the time to 7 o'clock that's a good question how about five during the winter yeah such a long day 30 at night it's and in the win 7:30 it feels like midnight Midnight we'll get used to it it's it's it's it's just just Swit yeah but you do the council meetings at 7 yeah maybe 700 p.m. let's do them after the council meetings yeah three in the morning most C meetings are rough you're in the audience it's it's rough um so I think the day is fine so we switch February um do we want to continue to have an August recess I'm find it away you have a strong I think that's a good idea yeah take take lot of people are on the road in August um and then s versus 7:30 um is there a strong feeling for moving it other than the darkness you know I it's just my personal opinion I like 7 o'clock Council 7 o'clock it's just I know I mean I don't have I don't know other committees or commissions do theirs but you board 7:30 zoning is so I know seven for me can be tough some nights Brian I know you struggle um with your schedule so 730 is fine right you okay with that I'm okay you come half hour you're wearing dark just to be like fly no actually it's my winner a TI I'm feeling black today all right good thank you um and then the other administrative item was our 2025 environmental commission budget um I really don't know that we it's is there something to ask for I think it's kind of predetermined is it so most of the EC's budget is like subscriptions conferences fees membership dues that kind of thing if there's a project that EC does that goes go through um well depends on it would go through another department like the DPW it's operating or a capital budget well coming into this this year we had I think green team had like a $4,000 budget yeah so for events and whatnot you know if if I were to offer advice I would say you know sort of go through the line items um and find out what's changed if there if membership dues have changed or something and then communicate that up to Nancy she I think she's collecting all the information now from department heads okay yeah I mean we we were underfunded for it this year so we'll need to revise it for 2025 for sure U but that's that's relatively small I guess my question is is there with everything else Under the Umbrella of the budget you know the cost going up for trash Recycling and that's other things is is there the 4,000 or a number to come toward Ward the environmental for operating uh I don't know I haven't seen light items yet but I I'm under the impression that this year's budget will be less pressure than last year last year we had to absorb the Garbage Contract and that's what killed us oh okay um and that's now in so we have a limit on growth and so once it's in um it's not going to grow you know that that chunk of the budget of course there's other things you know pension payments and and things healthare cost and stuff that can change but I'm under the impression that this year is is less stressful than last year you know subject to the CH but that that's my impression at this point Kelly is there anything from the green team that you're aware of as far as events or initiatives that you'd want to make sure there was some funding set aside for um yeah uh our annual love where you live day um I think setting aside you know at least like $500 for kind of miscellaneous printing fees or you know hiring or other kind of things that we might need for that um you know the the idea that when we talk about dissemination of information like we've had speakers in the past we've um Sarah Galloway who was a filmer um who came and spoke at at B stiny Hall one time we had to pay her a fee is this something that we would like to you know put into our budget as a way to kind of um you know we're doing an energy talk next week with people from residents from Fair Haven but you know if we wanted to do kind of these seminar series um that I know little silver is doing rums you know they've do if that would be something that we would want to put aside some monies for that um also at the in June there's a fantastic um sustainable Jersey has an incredible Summit that they H host at Bell Works in Hell which is fabulous um but you have to pay people to go to that so usually we send about one or two people but I wonder if you know having um if there's more interest from the environmental commission or from Green Team or from other shade tree or um Natural Area other areas as well that might find benefit you know be benefit from that and then of course since this is our application year um and if we are awarded there is a a lunch in that's or annual lunch in that's down in November um last time it was in Atlantic City where you have again more speakers more opportunities for education and learning hearing what other towns are doing as well so I'm you know those are just things that you know apart from the anjac um subscription fee we've also talked about we could have anjac come into our and do workshops for us with for a couple hundred doll um you know site plan reading or other things and we can obviously have a shared service with Rumson or little silver other different ECS and split that cost but if that's something that we want to do we can look into that so I would say compile the list with the dollar amounts and i' recommend putting them in priority at the top you know put them in order um so then it's easy for the finance committee to we have to trim back there's information in the list to know what's most important to you right justification for each line item yeah all right Kelly why don't well I'll catch up with you after you know this week next week and we'll we'll start to put that into a format that we can share with Brian and Nancy sure thank you any other thoughts on budget questions concerns all right that is the agenda can now open it for public comments if there's any left I don't see any okay try to make this thanks Robin Rob um the first question that I had is we're talking about the end Normy are we working with liberal Society on that uh yeah so we did in the past and we we haven't spun up the conversation with them again just yet they ready for us we're still in in communication with them correct I don't know when the last time we were in communication with them about the specific project but when we're to go we will our and I I don't I just want to reinforce the um Sustainable New Jersey that our motivation last time was really about attaining grants because we were really frustrated with you know the money that we might get that was preventing us from doing some of our projects from the Green Team so I just want to you know emphasize that maybe you know the effort to to goats uh silver again or gold hopefully that that would um give us access to more GM definitely y yeah okay you and um this is really the reason I came um this it's about uh the rain Garden outside here Fair Haven burrow yes um I there are some people here that you know know the history of the rain Garden that was established there that have been on the uh envir enironmental commission for a while I know that you know who I'm talking about um I just want to read the sign says this rain G Garden intercepts and filters storm water the plants are native plants and they help to retain contaminant before they um before they reach the waterways rain Gardens assist in recharging the aquifer and they are beautiful and they are easy to maintain a month ago in here when I was here at the E meeting um I was told that accidentally it was moved as you all know and um but that being brought to my attention I wasn't nervous about it because native plants can be mowed down a meadow can be mowed down and it's not but what I missed was that um the council approved a a outside talented Gardener to come in and I was actually in my hall costume as a witch going to my grandkids in Brooklyn and I saw the whole thing being uplifting so most of those native plants have two to five feet of root in the in what was established way back when and that was The Mastermind of the EC under Ralph um windram and Brian Rice and presently um Jesse Murray and they worked with ruers and they worked you know it was um with Sustainable New Jersey and we were one of the 32 municipalities in the state that were granted this rain garden and not just that it was granted but it was a demonstration it was supposed to educate it has a drain in the middle of the garden so that you know the water gets cleaned it has a chance of getting cleaned before it goes to the n so um I I did have the opportunity to speak with this very intelligent you know landscaper but she was put half of the the plants were not native and they were small they were shallow rooted so um I agreed with her that I would rush to a native plant garden and then I plant nursery and I would come back and I would plant these asers and this these cone flowers which you know grow larger Roots um but most of what was established um was taken out so um my recommendation on really hoping to have Jesse hear this because it will be meaningful to Jesse because she was involved in the the selection of the Native plans and I also think that um moving forward maybe the DPW or we could manage that and the recommendation to use guard a green team because many of us in Sustainable New Jersey work were recommended to take the Ruckers um you know very thorough yearlong course on and we're certified to construct and edit uh rain Gardens so I just want to all of you to know because I'm like such a nervous recck about it so maybe if you rewind a little bit you said the burough hired a gardener to I think it was a volunte it happened at the council meeting she volunteered to donate plants and when I looked her up she was closing her business so I think she had all these extra plant left over so she was just unloading them yeah so the council approved accepting them not realizing what the impact was going to be so just to clarify was she was she adding oral Gage saying you can plan anything you want but you can't put it in the demonstration r Garden that is you know supposed to be talk to people about how Native New Jersey plants love native New Jersey soil and are going to help you I mean it you know native New native plants you know I enjoy in 20 during Co I went and I mapped it because I was very interested in what the content of that was being new in this town so I had the map of the original Plants but I delighted in the flowers and I delighted in the seeds and thought isn't this wonderful that the pollinators are coming but really the workforce of that those plants are something that fair needs because it is such a frag Community being right next to the NIS okay so just to clarify did when she was planting these other plants that were it sounds like they were accepted as a donation in kind donation was she also removing the native plants that there yeah and when I went to plant the asers they grow you know 3 to 5 ft in in Roots um I didn't I just found soil I didn't find any of the old stuff so anyway native plants broke F I mean I don't have no reflection so I think you weren't at the I think that was the meeting you weren't at um she so my reflection was she said rain garden and I thought this was just going to be like an addition some additional PL so I feel like I should ask more questions but I get it I just heard ringard I didn't know that that meant taking out what we have yeah so I'm not sure where that kind of got lost and that's a great question Happ until you de so so I did I did go back and I removed the you know the neod from Brazil and and these other showers Marina and I put them in in the burrow like you know cleaned out the dandelions and put them in the bur but um you know it it just wasn't doing you know it can't be called a demonstration work I think that sort of leads to like a bigger point of with the DPW and the work that is done in general that we like are things looked at through this sustainability corre lens for making that effort well I guess I look at it differently it's there's so many channels to come into government right there's you guys there's this there's several forums there's I mean the green team is one Garden Club now like there's so many entrances and for someone to get an approval from one without corresponding with another is problematic right it's problematic when we say hey we should do something we don't correspond with with Council um if something happens in the Natural Area that the administration just goes and does of course they can because they own the property it's their property but if they don't at least consult then Natural Area group that's the stewards of the space um it doesn't seem quite right so I I think there's an operating yeah an improve an opportunity to just improve how we operate and how we inform each other I think on the council like okay so we improve but what is what does this mean like what's the next steps kind of like should we inform the green team that was the one that invested in in having that rainu and should we inform them doing our job to be as educated and and and give you everything that's out there that can you know improve air and water and the health of the community from our aspect like you were saying so yes um definitely um we the green team is a great place to go for a consultation so that this sign can be true now I can bring people from the garden like I just advertised it in The Gardens of the faery and Edon and we and now you know well thanks for beinging attention thank you that was little B ey not eye open kind makes me think yeah so can I go go ahead um so you and I have talked about and other people have talked about too there's not a good list of the Open Spaces right like anybody who comes on to this committee or the B counsel like you don't even know what you kind of own and like I think so Sean had a short list that had been started by Dick Fuller from our committee I added to it you know just a list of what are the Open Spaces that the borrow owns and like this rain Garden should be added onto it and I think there should be some sort of handbook like for the natural committee we have like a two-page handbook when you join the committee this is where we store our documents this is uh things we worry about like just very short and sweet but just a little bit of information so have some context um and I think something like that for the pro Council would be helpful um you know when you join a committee what is it that you're overseeing you know um and like if you had that as a b council member maybe and you knew that the rain Garden was something the burrow owned and that maybe there's a group that oversees it or is tied into it then maybe that would be enough of a clue to kind of ask some more questions or put it on hold for a month or you know um but I think you know I think this really goes to this idea of having a list um yeah we've often asked our cancel people you know when you come to be a new Bor council person do you get yeah a list of Open Spaces do you get a list of open issues that are being worked right now you know the answer look no but um it feels like that wouldn't be that hard to do and that it would help people have the information they need to do a good job of this Carn oh would that would that fall into the ER or would it be separately because I also think that the ER would be such a great thing for every council member for every commission you know to and that could have that but maybe something that we want to put in the ER is who are the stewards of that open space right and so maybe that can also be something worthwhile to put in there um into that list yeah in this day and age we should all sh Shar some story borrow handbook that any of us could bring up during the meeting or anything and maybe we have a map the General open space facilities we can add some of these additional ones if you want I mean obviously some of them are very small but you know you can make a point position but I know we know all the bigger parts and stuff um on a map from the county yeah if you so maybe some of us newer to the group don't have visibility with that map is um so John if you've got your hand on it or know where to find it that'd be helpful yeah I have to row data what we'll do is I'll pop you out a version of it and then you guys can uh we can talk about additions if we think we have things we haven't got on the map like the rain guards might not be there they're newer and smaller and they might not qualify as qu a park but are you know obviously assets you want to maintain but I'll I'll give you a copy take a look at all yeah it was because I think we to your point we did start the well we started the process when we looked at the ER and said is there a way to kind of put a more kind of tangible list at the beginning you know marter Park and and so on um just so it that's kind of the inventory that I think the average reader would would look for Natural Area you know things like that and then you know like you said Caroline you brought to my attention a couple of other ones um that may be like less not at the top of the list um and if I go to the master plan and I look at you know the the N know the percentage of land acreage that's dedicated to the burrow and how it cross references with certain like the Natural Area acreage and Martin mcarter Pond for example it actually doesn't actually hang together so um I think it's you know two of us are in in the planning board so we're looking at the master plan um what's it called the revisitation revitalization um no it has a different word anyway we're looking at the master plan's getting updated the ER is getting updated so I think it's a good opportunity you know with this effort you know working closer together and just you know sharing that information so it in 2025 it gets updated and it continues to be you know a living document that people can reference because it's it's fresh yeah and it leads me to another kind of side issue which V related to the social but I wonder where committees store their documents like we all maps and stuff but we tend to pass them around and like the natural a committee we started a Google Drive in its own account so that when we leave we can give the password to the next guy and we scanned all that we got you know we started with a pile of documents people gave us we scan them they're all in there but I've always kind of wondered you know at different points the burrow has asked me like do you have the report that mon County gave us on the Natural Area I was like I do but don't you um and um you like said the maps the mention of the maps you know I feel like we have millions of maps and yet not enough Freight like we don't have a map that shows the cell tower location in the Natural Area um and we would love that you know but um it feels like there's a lot of information that we could be sharing and that kind of given technology these days like that's easily done by keeping stuff in central place and giving people share permissions well actually that would be Alison as the B Court should have all every yeah and I'm really wondering like but committees right committees are doing a lot of work and a lot of documents and information like kind of in the same way like how do committees manage social media well it's interesting like this group is everything I get stand email the planning board will given email addresses so that isn't like those are and two different this is all personal personally exchanged information that I have now on my personal right Google account I have a I have a planning board prescribed email address as well like why is that the case yeah broader question I think planning board and Zoning Board but I think because they're like official decision making boards there might be some difference there that might be it's it's up to you like so you'd be subject to your email being reviewed if there was ever an issue that's so some people opt to have a separate correspondence for for Town related stuff cool yeah I thanks Carol good good points appreciate the update and the points um I see Bonnie let's go hi Bonnie am I unmuted yes okay um so I I love this discussion tonight I feel like um the environment is finally getting a little bit of respect and uh the commissions that are in charge of it are are really getting their you know energy um together um I love the idea that the EC is going to help the green team with the sustainable Jersey effort we've kind of been out there on our own um I think it's really important I mean every time I attend one of those conferences I mean they have the mayors of the towns are speaking and so proud of what is going on in their towns sustainability and just just all the good Community efforts um so it's really great if we could possibly get some um Town officials to attend just to show that Fair Haven is actually cares about this um and the the whole talk about you know we all these Community or these environmental groups uh really should be in closer contact with each other I mean that that was kind of the point of the environmental Round Table it was more just I think formed because we realized that nobody really even knew who the other committee members chairs were and they were all trying to do similar projects and getting volunteers and and it was a it had I don't know why it was raised at a at a council meeting as kind of a I don't know underground activity it really wasn't it was always above board and and very innocent and just trying to collaborate um so I think the idea behind that was really good and I love the idea of the social media coming together because you know we all have a good message to share and we all want to help each other um so I just hope I'm I'm excited Sean that you're you know talking about land air and water and and you know and leaves yes keep the leaves on your property help the fireflies I mean you know nothing bad is going to happen if you keep the leaves on your property only good is going to happen so you'll have better soil and everything else anyway thank you so much I glad you know for the conversation and what I was hearing so thanks thanks Bonnie anyone else use the raise hand feature please that NOP there are no other public comments online oh yes last but not least we touched on a little earlier but just to lay it out and it's full Natural Area that's having our volunteer weekend Saturday and Sunday two days both days from 10: to 1:00 uh Saturday I think we're going to start at the community garden entrance and Sunday at da pond so come out pull some Vines maybe do some other things have some sandwiches and some refreshments thank you else all right media JS wait can I just say can I just give a plug real quick um just to reminder everybody please from the environmental commission the Green Team everyone else is invited to come next Wednesday November 20th 7 to 8:30 at church and Nativity Paris Hall The Fair Haven green team is having an event on home clean energy journey journey hearing from Sarah felle and her husband David about their own successes what they found that's worked and what haven't worked with EV um heat pumps rooftop solar induction cooking it's going to be Refreshments um a great Community event so please if you can be there we'd love to have the EC um since it is a joint collab we'd love to have a lot of people from both the EC and the the Green Team there also The Franciscan earthcare Ministry from the Nativity but anybody from the community is welcome and we've also expended it to um other environmental um commissions um from the peninsula and from the nearby towns as well so it should be a great event if you can please come and and know Sarah brought some flyers for everyone if they need uh to take home as well so just little plug thank you thank thank you still thanks John thanks Kelly y good night [Music]