Tree Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

Do you guys think it's being recorded?

Okay. Today is Wednesday, December 17. It is 06:30PM, and I'm calling to order the sustainability advisory board December meeting rescheduled. Welcome. Roll call and verification of quorum.

Present, we have Mackenzie and Rick and Kathleen and Karen and Erica and Anil, and we have a quorum. Approval of the agenda. So this is kind of a scaled back agenda from what it was supposed to be when we were supposed to meet earlier. I tabled some of the things that were on it until January, and I which will actually give us more time to think about some of the things that we were gonna talk about tonight. So do I have a motion to approve the agenda?

No motion. Yeah.

Motioned? Second? Alright. Motion passes. Approval of previous meeting minutes. So it seemed yes. Help yourself to cookies. Those are Italian wedding cookies, and they are very, like, cake like. So they're not super sweet, and they have, like, orangy and orangy taste to them. So they're kinda like a tea cake. Oh, they're so cute. Out of it.

Like a stone.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Mhmm. Exactly.

So when people offered me sweets, I'm like, I'm already sweet.

That's a bit

Erica's doing

Now you get sweeter. It seems like a very long time since the meeting. But do we have a motion to approve the previous meetings from November? Kathleen, motions to approve. Second.

Hear that I read.

Mhmm. Motion to approve. Mhmm. Alright. Public comments. There's no public. General business. Council member updates.

It's Okay. Probably.

That was No. Speak.

We had a long day yesterday, so I'm tired of speeches. It's emotional. Right? Not speech. So

Alright. Item b, staff liaison update. Okay. So we have been awarded the Denver Regional Coalition of Governance grant, the building policy collaborative piece of the EPA grant that that doctor Cott was awarded, and that is for $600,000. We Just for Just for Erie. Oh my god. Yeah. And we were allocated that amount up to that amount Okay. For how this pocket of the grant funding was awarded. So it's very specific requirements to use that funding.

And so most of our neighbors are using it for staff, and internally, there was just a lot of hesitation with that because it's temporary funding even though it's from '26 to '29. But we it's really awkward to have somebody on board and then their funding runs out. Right? And so we were able to pivot to in house consultant. So, basically, we'll hire staff through an outside consulting agency, and they'll be with us for forty hours a week for that term.

Okay. And their focus is really on building code. And what we applied for was that they would explore a net zero building code by 2030 for the town of Erie. We don't have to adopt that. There's nothing that sets us on that trajectory other than just exploring it, and it's something we're already doing. So we're part of a metro code cohort. This is the third round that Yuri's participated in the front range, and that code cohort has a net zero code as the goal for 2030. So it's nothing you know, it it can sound kind of interesting on its own. Like, oh, where's that coming from? Do we have to adopt this?

But it's really something that's already in these conversations that we're we've been a part of, and it's already something that's on the code update horizon already as well. So the codes are updated. The inter international energy conservation code is updated every three years. The goal right now is that the town of Erie would update to the 2024 international energy conservation code or IECC in the spring of this year. And so we're we're on, like, an every three year trajectory, which is what was established in the 2019 sustainability plan.

And then, for example, right now, we're on the 2021 version, but we have a a handful of strengthening amendments that were recommended by the code cohort that we were part of a few years ago. So that includes some more aggressive EV adoption goals, solar ready, electric preferred, some of the things that go beyond code. Then every three years, code is being updated as well. So really cool process, and I think it's this person will really support our building division and our on our planning team as well as our sustainability division and our work in the code space. And they'll be housed really in the sustainability division.

So exciting stuff. Mhmm. We also put in some funding request for certifications and training, which is also gonna be really helpful. So lead certifications, going to building code conferences, you know, passive solar certifications, things like that. And then also we'll support council members that to pursue training like that too. Exciting stuff.

Where is that grant from?

It is from the EPA.

Federal super Mhmm. You're not worried about it being pulled and stuff like that?

There is con there has been concern for that. To date, it's it's been protected. It was awarded prior to the Trump administration, and it was one of the 25 CPRG or climate pollution reduction grants that were awarded through the Biden era. The state was unique to get two of those grants. I don't think there was another state that it was awarded to, but the energy office and doctor Cog were both awarded in state of Colorado.

And so it's at this point, it's it's business as usual. There are some things to think about, like, where you won't be able to necessarily go in and change things that were awarded in the initial grant application. You know, there's just different things that they're keeping in mind so that it doesn't there isn't anything that's vulnerable that doesn't need to be.

Great. Mhmm.

Good question.

Code.

So there's been a lot of code discussions and specifically energy conservation code, building code. I just pulled together a synthesis of the differences between the 2021 international energy conservation code and 2024. There's also some interesting things that are happening at the state. So we're gonna have a more sense of conversation about code with council, and, really, it will be the building division kind of leading that. But the state has stepped in and developed its own modern low carbon code.

It's called the, I guess, LECC, low emissions and carbon code. And the way that this is now being facilitated in the state of Colorado is that if a municipality triggers a code update and they don't have a code that qualifies for the state, the state will actually come in and say, okay. You need to adopt our energy conservation code or this low carbon, low energy code that they've developed. So that's there's just a lot of moving parts, and I just wanted to share that a little bit. So if you're curious, wanna talk more about it, like, let's talk code.

I was able to kind of look at some of the additional costs and what that looks like. It really changes depending on the type of building that you're you're developing. Obviously, commercial and multifamily, a little bit more expensive upfront than residential. But when you remove gas from that equation, you know, all electric is by far the cheaper way to go. You're just not putting in a whole new infrastructure.

EV chargers, we have an additional charger here at the church lot, which is really exciting, and then one at Schofield. Those were plugged in and electrified, and then we're still working on the town hall chargers. There's gonna be a handful. I think there's six ports, seven ports that are going in on this property, and then laws is in process too. EPR, I'd love to have Rick talk a little bit about that, which is high level.

The the EPR plan was finalized in the last few weeks, which is really exciting. It's a few 100 pages. So if you want some light evening reading and hoping that Rick can kind of advise us a little bit more on that.

Sure.

But we have had conversations with Boulder County about support through them for education and outreach and some of the funding that will be earmarked to the town for that. We still have some questions about can that funding be split so we could potentially do percentage of Erie's funds to Boulder County to kind of have unified messaging, also, you know, be able to kind of copy and paste. They're so good at messaging already for Boulder County and EcoSingle. And then perhaps, like, use some of our own additional funding to get more for things that are specific to Erie. So stay tuned.

I got a request from Emma. We need some newsletter topics from SAP for 2026. So when you all have some ideas and, again, if you wanna do it month by month or if you wanna do it all all 12 at once, that's great. Send them her way. You were approved for a second capstone group. So site. Mhmm. So that's really exciting. We'll have two students for the twenty sixth project, and they will be focused on kind of what's next with resilience for the town of Erie. A lot of it's gonna depend on kind of what they wanna dive into, what they're more interested in, but it it'll be focused on implementation.

So

Great. Super exciting.

Yeah. It's

really exciting, as you know.

Yeah. Right? As a graduate. So exciting. Yeah.

And then just to let you know, you all know, think we already talked about it, but the environmental services department is moving from Pierce Street to Town Hall in February, most likely Mhmm. Which is bittersweet. We love our little spot. We still have some questions about storage, like the sab shed and things like that. So we'll should learn more about that soon.

And who is going into the Pierce Street house?

I believe facilities. Okay. Yep. Which is great because they were very much they led that Mhmm. Conversion.

So yep.

Yeah. That is kind Pierce

Street.

Mhmm. Yeah.

Yeah. I'd like that.

This is nice.

Yeah. It's a good spot. We'll be able we'll be in the garden level, aka the basement. So we gotta figure out how to keep the plants growing.

That was my literally my first thought when you said that.

Totally. It's the monstera. Right?

Had a grow facility down there. You know? Just some lights.

And this is the low light ones. Yeah. Yeah.

Have lights and green lights.

Yeah. New territory. That's all I got. That's all I got. Oh, yeah. Sure.

Alright. I can see advisory board ordinance repeal and reenact. So in November, we were told that the all of the advisory board ordinances were repealed. And then the whole thing was reenacted to make all advisory board ordinances standard across all of them. So with the reenactment, it basically took all the things that applied to every board, put them in the beginning, and then at the end of the ordinance, it goes into specifics for each advisory board.

I did include a copy of that in the meeting packet. So, hopefully, you had a chance to look at that. It came as a surprise. So went through it and just tried to pick out the things that changed because there were a few things that changed. And so not to delve too deep into the weeds on all of it, those things that have changed are advisory board terms for some of us currently, And then a few things about the I still need clarification on a couple of things.

But, basically, all terms going forward are gonna be four year terms that are staggered. Now the way it was worse depending on when you were added to the board, you either served a four year or a two year. Now they're all gonna be four years, which means in order to get that staggering, we've got those of us who were already coming up on needing to reapply in 2026. And so that will still be something that we need to do. So the

That's supposed to The camera hasn't been working. I tried pushing the button.

Oh. I guess it's capturing audio. Yeah. It's okay with audio.

For the record, we tried. Yes.

I like that.

Oh, it looks like it's, spinning. Yeah.

It's trying.

It's weird. Probably is the one.

Oh, the microphone's picking you up.

See, I'm purposely facing this way, so I don't have to be on camera. Those of us who are you are expiring in 2026 are myself, Kathleen, and Rick. So that hasn't changed. We were up for reapplying anyway. What changed is that Mackenzie, Ronaldo, Art, and Anne were supposed to serve until 2028.

Those have been shortened to 2027. So that that will allow the staggering, but then anyone who's appointed to the board in 2026, that they'll be appointed for four years. Anyone appointed in 2027, also four years. So it still has the staggering. It's just that they shortened the four year terms of those who were supposed to go until 2028.

So

keeping in that the vein of talking about terms, all current board members have to reapply just like if you were you know, can't really address this. So, you know, obviously, you can use your probably use your application from the one that you, you know, submitted previously and just add, you know, that your current board member and whatever, if there's anything else you wanna change. But all do Can you guys get it from me? So we all do to reapply. So Applications are gonna open in January,

and then they They're actually posted publicly too? Yeah.

Yeah. K. It's posted in public Yeah. It's posted So, yeah, we go we it's as if we are just the general public. And then I think that they are it's posted for four weeks because we must select the candidates to nominate for the open for any open positions at the March meeting.

So at that March meeting, that's when you would vote to recommend the candidates. And then it would go to town council, and they would actually vote at the next whenever the next meeting is for the regularly scheduled meetings. So and then something that I guess I didn't I didn't realize, and so I didn't go back to compare if this was new, But officer appointments are only for a year. So every year, we have to go through and appoint the officers. So that's something that, you know, that we'll also do.

And that those appointments for officers should be made when we have we have confirmed the board. So it would happen in conjunction with the town council approving our recommendations and then us having a full board. And then at that that meeting where that has been done by the town council, then we would select the officers.

You don't have the term limit, though. We can say we want you again. Right? Yeah.

I mean, it's you know?

Unless I don't. Unless I These cookies are

It's on all of you guys to remote us back in when we

Yeah. Absolutely. So

so those are the the any questions on that? So so, basically, Rick, Kathleen, and I, we're expiring in 2026. We'll reapply if we want to in January along with all the other any other public candidates or whatever? Then at the March meeting, we will have had a chance at the February to review those candidates, and then as a board, vote to recommend to Phil, and then it goes to council. And then Anne, Art, Ronaldo, Mackenzie, you guys will be up for your term in 2027.

Okay. There was something in the new ordinance that talked about bylaws. It says bylaws must be drafted and improve approved by town council, which I think Erica sort of commented that thought we were moving away from bylaws. So still trying to get clarification on what exactly we need to do as a board for bylaws because it it clearly states in there that all advisory boards are supposed to draft bylaws and then have them approved by town council. So don't have any idea what that means for us.

And then another change is that we will no longer do a biannual report to town council. It'll be once a year. No word on when that would be. If I mean, to me, it makes sense to report towards the end of the year if you're only gonna do it once, but I have no idea when that would be. But it's going from twice a year just to once a year.

Okay. I do. I like the tool

by any other one. So you have updates, like, frequently. One year is, like, okay.

Yeah.

Too long.

And I am I don't know where the I'm gonna assume that it was the clerk's office or the town that wanted to streamline all of this, and they made the chain like, the first I learned about this was when I received it and got the email that said this has been reenacted. So I didn't know it was coming. And then I did I did ask a few things because there's there are a lot of things that are not in the ordinance. Like, when do we meet and, you know, what does that schedule look like? And and I was told that all of those things that they call operational procedures, like meeting date and time, that's specifically not put in the ordinance because they would have you'd have to change the ordinance every time that would change.

So I'm trying to figure out, like, where do we get a documentation of what those operational procedures are? And one question that I had, and quite frankly, I'm just gonna be honest, is that nowhere in the ordinances did I see mention of the fact that meetings have to be in person.

Just gonna say that.

And I was expecting that to be in there because that seemed to me like that would be an across the board thing that would be in the ordinance because that is something that is not unique to each advisory board or each town board because this is supposed to cover, like, all boards. So, anyway, I I've yet to get clarification on some of these little finer points, but just I went over it several times, and then I asked Erica to go over it. And I was like, is it just not jumping out at me? But, and that could be that they consider that operational procedures and not something that they wanted in the ordinance. And those are the major differences between the original and the reenacted.

Might also be in bylaws too, but that wouldn't it wouldn't make sense with the understanding that they want this to be for all.

Yeah. I don't know. And I don't know what like, what would we have in bylaws that isn't already in the ordinance? Like, I just don't yeah.

That's like when we were first updating ordinance that started SAP, what was that? A year and a half ago? Mhmm. We started off with doing a bylaws creation because SAP didn't have any. Remember, we were told that, like, they didn't want boards to take bylaws. Right.

And that's why then it just was whatever the ordinance was, that's what we had. So now it looks like we're back to needing to draft bylaws, but I just don't I just don't know what would be I'd love to have an example of other board bylaws because I don't know what would be in it that isn't covered under the ordinance. Yeah. Under they were town procedural documents. So

So based on the conversations that I had, you know, before about my understanding my assumption will be that there's gonna be a template. Mhmm. And then there'll be unique edits per board Okay. Even for bylaws. Well, that would be great because I have

no idea how to even go about, you know, drafting up bylaws. And then all of our bylaws would be different if we're all supposed to draft our own. They would all you know, they wouldn't be consistent.

Well, template would.

Yes. If you're

gonna put otherwise rationalize that standard.

Right. Yeah. Do you have you heard any grumblings about this?

I was surprised to hear why are we doing, like, bi biennial during New Year. And by law also, I I don't Yeah. So maybe will come to counsel after everything is finalized and all the discussions are done. They didn't approach us with any of this.

This will also be coming from legal too. From what? From legal. So it'd be good to know.

Yeah. I met someone this week with the town managers. I'll him to see where it started.

I mean, it totally makes sense. I think it's great that it's, you know, crafted in a way that it doesn't have to be redundant, and it just all captures all of them and then has room at the end of the document for board specific information. But it would be good to learn more about the whole bylaw thing and then okay. That's it on that topic. Next topic is sub terms in attendance.

So we already talked about the terms. I wanted to have a broader discussion about attendance. And and I'm not looking to make this be a one-sided conversation. I really would like input on how do we effectively navigate the challenges of being part of a board and also having a lot of other outside obligations. I'll just lead off by saying that there's the advantage to having all of us be when we can together is that it facilitates better discussions.

We get everyone's input instead of it just being the select people that made it. And I think there's a real benefit to not having it be the same voices all the time, especially my own because I tend to talk a lot and ramble on. So just throwing it out there to say, what does this look like? Like, we have to meet quorum. Quorum is four if we have seven member board.

When someone can't be there, is there something that we could do to more effectively precommunicate? One thing I'll throw out that kind of is in line with this sort of, and that might make it easier for us to do some precommunication and get a little more in-depth about what is going to be discussed on the agenda is that Michelle is gonna come in and present to us at the January meeting. The town council, they get a meeting packet. And that was kind of what I tried to do with this meeting was that meeting packet gives the council members everything that they're going to be talking about on the agenda upfront so that if there's documents that need to be discussed, they have it premeeting. They can look through it, read it.

They the town, I guess, recently, I don't know if it was I think it was Ostab. Was it OSTAB? Anyway, one of the advisory boards, they did it for maybe the November meeting or they've already done it for one of the advisory boards, and it was a big hit. And the town would actually help the clerk's office would actually help me with the process of getting that stuff together upfront so that we would be operating like the town council operates with getting a lot of that information upfront. I think that would help because then if people can't be present at the meeting, they have an opportunity to look through it and provide feedback that then could be read during the meeting just to kind of make sure that everybody is getting an an opportunity to provide that input.

And then if you miss a meeting, like, what does that look like? We've got the minutes. We've got where you could, I guess, watch because we're on camera again. You could watch the meetings. Like, what what would be a reasonable expectation when people miss meetings to make sure that everyone's still hearing and getting the information that was presented and that it's not just where, you know, you've got a a hole in your knowledge of what was discussed. So we'd like to open it up to you guys to kinda chime in.

Should we have an action item every month that's just is can anyone not come next month? And then if we realize there's no quorum, then we can

It would be helpful to get more advanced notice of

Or even, like, blood.

What's mean Like,

the quarterly

kind of thing.

Come up. Right? I mean, you know, obviously, if someone's sick or, you know, they've got something last minute, like, I don't want anybody coming here if they're coughing and

Or even

sneezing and hacking. But, like, when it's when as soon as you do know that you can't make the meeting, it would be advantageous to know that as soon as possible. Because as I get notified that people can't come, if it's too short and I realize that there's we're in danger of not having a quorum, then that's that's an issue. If we have on the agenda like, we can meet without a quorum. It's not ideal because then that would be more than half of us that are not there, can't really give input, don't really aren't part of the discussions, but we can't vote on things.

And, like, this this meeting was a little tricky because we do actually have something that we need to vote on. So and it really can't be tabled until January. So, you know, yes, I I think that that would be good to have as far in advance as you know. And, obviously, if you say, I I'm not gonna be able to make this meeting and your plans change and you can make it, the bet you know, the better. But I I do think we've we talked about Erica and I had talked about having a calendar, and that calendar would be not just for, like, SAB meetings and and maybe an advanced preview of when people cannot attend, but it would also have all of the things to keep in mind.

Like, when is when are the cleanup days scheduled? When is the annual presentation to town council scheduled? What are some of the other town events that we might want to have a presence at the event for sustainability and the sustainability advisory board? So having that upfront, I think, gives people an opportunity to say, you know, hey. I might be able to help out with this event now that I know. And some of that stuff is set pretty far in advance. I mean, we already know some dates, I think.

That would be super helpful.

So You just need to try to do it. Kind of.

Yeah. If I'm like, doesn't matter to me when I travel. But I know that there's something one of these meetings or a town event that we can join. Like, I can pick and choose. So we'll delve more into that was one of the

things I tabled for January just to kind of present to you a preliminary calendar and get your feedback on, you know, what we can include on that and how that might help us going forward. So

I think it would be a good idea if there are days like, I got a sense from you and your emails that you needed people here today. And so I thought, oh, shit. I better figure out how I'm gonna make this happen. And I committed. I went on that little monkey thing or whatever it is that you put your little boats in, and I did that. So I committed to that day, and I I I thought you went to the effort of putting out a request. I committed to a date. I'm gonna be there. So I I liked that because it gave me a sense of urgency

Mhmm.

That, you know, that there was a a reason to reschedule travel or reschedule something to be there to help you get a vote to have some.

Well, like, if you hadn't come, we wouldn't have had quorum because Anne also committed and but something came up with work, and she contacted me today and said, hate to do this to you, but I can't make it. And it's like, well, let's hope Ronaldo who didn't respond saying he wasn't gonna be here. But so it it puts us in a predicament. And, you know, I get that things come up, but I also I also feel like we have a set schedule. It doesn't rotate.

I mean, this did because of the whole snow thing. But, you know, we've got a defined day of the month that we meet. And I well, I don't wanna be, like, three strikes, you're out. We we do need to, I think, come together as a group and figure out how we ensure that we're committed to making these meetings. Not just for a quorum, but because, you know, like, it's just difficult when there's only three or four people out of seven who are, you know, part of the the board membership. So

Yeah. So, hopefully, in the bylaws, you can put a law in that says we can remote access, and then you'll get a lot more people that will join your meetings and be available. We may be in California or Aruba, but we'll make it on a call, and we'll be there.

I can say that that has been and it will continue to be an uphill battle. And, actually, the ordinance already specifies that it's terms for removal if you miss three consecutive meetings. No. So they It's

terms for removal if you miss three un Excused. Excused. So as long and what I interpreted as excused based on what was going on here was as long as I let you know I can't make it and you don't you accept that, it's accepted. There's no

That's not the interpretation I think that the town gives. So after we are allowed to and I'm not Rick, I'm not I'm not calling you out. Right. We've got three board members who have had three consecutive. I've never raised the issue.

Mhmm.

If every one of us did that, we would have an issue with attendance. We would not be an effective board. And I get I totally get that having a virtual option would be fabulous. I am not against that. We have talked repeatedly to the town, and they are not receptive to that. Except for the fact that I was at the the last meeting that I attended in person to support Dylan on his presentation, the mayor called in to that meeting.

I was about to say that.

So He could

You know, the eyebrows raised, and I was like, you know? And and I I feel like didn't

mean anyone to come in.

So

I would not wanna see our boards go back to virtual. I really think that there's a benefit to in person. However, I would love to see an option for that to be, like, there was a last minute thing or there was an important thing. So whatever. My point being is that we don't have that option now. We've tried. We'll continue to keep trying. That's kind of why I wanted to get a copy of whatever the town is considering to be their procedural document because I wanna see where is that listed. Is it is it it's obvious. It's not in the ordinance, so it must be somewhere else, or it doesn't exist.

So I think we can put

it as a team and say, see, if I cannot make it, it's a different issue. But I can make it, but I'm not in Erie. Ah. I have the intent to contribute.

Yeah. But That's the very So

maybe limited to two times a year or

That was a idea.

Times a year.

I think could be crafted in a way where it's not where, you know

Not like

except to sit in the area and not come here is not a

option. Yeah.

You have

to be

But if you have COVID and you are still in the area, you you can be offline, like the winner.

Like, you don't have a babysitter. You know what I mean?

I'm gonna

bring my screen with you. Yeah.

There are so many, you know,

Marsalis, like,

I travel for work, and sometimes I'm sitting in a hotel in another in South Carolina, and I could be online, but I really have to be there for work. I'm like, that's that's why I wasn't getting here last

week. So Yeah.

But it does here and then we will continue.

I campaigning for that virtual option. I just don't we have there has not been I mean, it hasn't even been a well. It was like a hard no. So gotta get, like gotta figure out a way to hopefully come together on on a heavy medium.

Sure. Or or reflect on the rules of engagement. I probably won't be able to make that work. So I my term is up in April. I I probably won't be able to renew just because I won't be able to make that commitment, especially if it's just three out of twelve months that I'm allowed to be remote or out. I I can't do that. That's too much for me.

It was just a number I threw.

No. No. I got it. I got it. But they I'm sure they would want it to be something like that because you want It's

up to us. We can

Well, you know, I and that's why I wanted to have this conversation because you're right. It's up to us. Like, we we need to decide because each board is unique. Right? Some boards can operate. You know? They don't do a lot of voting. They don't whatever. But I I think it's unique, and that's why I wanted to have a conversation with anyone. What what do we think is reasonable? There are 12 meetings a year. What is reasonable to expect somebody who wants to be on this board to commit to being knowing that we don't have a virtual option yet? What is reasonable? If we if you can't make eight out of the 12 meetings, is that reasonable? Is five out of the 12 re like, I just wanted to have a conversation where everyone gets to say what they think is reasonable.

Yeah. I think these are all volunteer positions. People come to do this because out of passion and they want to contribute. I think the basic criteria should be the passion in that and not being in person. We I I work for Kaiser. We are, like, thousands of employees. We never go to office.

Mhmm.

We get so much work done. It's there's no need to be in this room. We are not doing any board designs. We're not doing any architecture diagrams. We are discussing there is some distraction if you are, like, remote. I see that with some teams in my office where they're cleaning dishes or whatever. I was just kidding. Right. There is some distraction.

Right.

But 95% of the time, we get it done, and that is a whole day. This is an hour. I think we can do it remote. And we

we did quite well when we were virtual. I mean, when I started, I we were virtual.

But killing this because of, you know, attendance and all this, you'll be losing one volunteers who have passion, and they're not easy to get. So

And, again, I'm not trying to dissuade anyone. I'm not my

point was That was my feedback or opinion. We can be better and still be productive.

Mhmm.

I mean, it's up to the and this info to Yeah.

I'm because I wish we had a virtual option. I really do. I think that it would allow, you know, people, especially with the travel schedules or, you know, Anne often has a lot of work commitments. And I think that that you have a baby at home and you have travel. So Yeah. I mean, I think that it

But the passion, like, I want to be here. Right. But hearing all this, I'm like, oh my god. Maybe I shouldn't be reapplying either. Like No. But that's here. My my

point was somebody that can be here is more effective for you than somebody that can't be. I wasn't trying to push back on them at all. I I think you have a very hard job. And Oh, yeah. And I think you could do this remotely because you are organized, structured. You're over the top. And and you could keep us all in line and keep us focused. I see if you keep got it. A package before What you were describing, I'm like, oh my god. That would be, like, awesome if

It would. And I know we talked about this, like, at the very beginning of when you got when you started, we had talked about doing that, and it it was I don't know why it was more difficult, but I think with the town's assistance, you know, that is a really great thing because a lot of times, Erica and I are the only ones who know, like, what what is coming up. I mean, you guys all get the agenda. I make sure that I, you know, send it to you guys so that you see it in advance when it goes to the town clerk, but that doesn't give you the what is the it's just a bullet item. It doesn't give you the nitty gritty.

So anything that can be put together ahead of time, you would get ahead of time. And that would make, I think, it a lot easier for you to precommunicate if you read through something and say, oh, well, I wanna chime in on this or, you know, I've got feedback on that. So

I'm

I'm looking forward to, you know, it it being something that we can preorganize. So

Even make it is it called interactive? Like, almost force people like me to go, oh, she wants me to do my homework.

I need to get some

I need to get

a response out to her so she can I have a voice at this meeting upcoming? So I'll send her a blurred blind EPR so she can go, well, Rick wasn't able to be here, but this is what he's going to. So those kind of things would tickle me to death. So Good.

And that's really I mean, that's the the point of this is how do we get as many voices? And then, you know, there's always that if we're voting on something being able to ensure as best we can that we're gonna have a quorum, but to not cut anybody out just because they can't they can't be here because, you know, things come up. If

we are looking for council member support, call me on that word.

Yeah. I wonder too. And I'm sure this has been debated with for years now. But with the whole, like, virtual option and stuff, I feel like it's or whatever the requirements they choose or we to choose their requirements to be of attendance. But, like, it's almost exclusive of so many groups of people, working people, parents, people. Like Mhmm. All of us have so many things going on. And Right. I feel like it almost, like, pushes so many people away from who might be really passionate and wanna be part of these things, but physically can't commit to it because of the requirements. Right. And they're, like, pigeonholing themselves into having a very certain demographic of people on the boards. You know?

So the the way I understood it was one of the obstacles to it was the tech piece. In that, because of the way the recording is done and the streaming is done, that it was not feasible for the town to have it hybrid, where they've got some people remote and some people and I I get that to a point. But if you're calling in and you're on a speaker, everyone can hear you. So even if the general public couldn't see you, as long as there are members here to run the meeting where it's being recorded and do all this, I'm not sure what the real obstacle is other than just them wanting it to be in person, and that and that could be it. It could be this they just I don't I don't know what it is.

Maybe nobody asked for the reasons. Like, the votes. Last one again.

It's interesting.

Yeah. Feel like you're watching this.

Yeah. State can use Zoom. And I'm on the state board, and they just sent out, oh, this should we get out

with Zoom.

I mean, if we survived grad school during COVID with Zoom, hybrid, half the rotating schedules of you're in person, you're at home, and then you alternate,

like Right.

And all the classes were recorded for this exact type of thing, like, it's gotta be doing right.

And I gave testimony, like, couple of times the state runs bills. It was on Zoom. They did they did take your

challenges to a call in, right, with the meeting I attended, you know, that since May or Moore couldn't see what the dynamics were of the people there, you know, he had to be stopped a couple of times to, you know, be redirected to say because he can't he can't see the facial expressions, can't see the whatever. But I I don't think that those obstacles are unworkable. Right.

And it's a disadvantage to be virtual. So it's it incentivizes people to be in person, but it still allows for meetings to happen. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So I

will keep trying to wage the uphill battle against, you know, why why it's so impossible to do.

I think another piece that I heard initially was that there was so much financial investment going into this building too. Mhmm. And so they wanted to be able to to say that it was being used, right, like, bringing boards back in. So that that was also another reasoning that I heard, which makes sense.

It does. You walk into the Boulder County some of the Boulder County offices, and it's like a there's nobody there. It's just very eerie. Wish they would bring people the that's I think well, I get it. It's Tiffany.

Saying it's eerie in Boulder County?

It's eerie.

You walk in and go, anybody here?

But, you know, I still think that you would get like, I'm gonna be here Yeah. Because I I prefer you know?

We get it.

So, you know, I I think I'm talking

to him. You keep

bringing those so that that

you can't lead people to be having an option of Yeah. Well, I'll I want to be there, but I can't be there.

Or, like, when I had a sick baby and the bus broke down on the way home from Denver, I couldn't be here. Would've been great to sit at home and call in. Yeah.

So like I said, I I I'll keep fighting the good fight. You know? And maybe we'll get that option, but I as it stands right now, I've not been

So I wish you'd be optimistic.

Yeah. What I would say once a quarter should be the expectation that you you shouldn't be be not in in here, but you should only be able to make miss one meeting a quarter.

Miss or be virtual?

Well, or not. Just one. Be here most of time. You think that's too much?

No. I think that's what you're saying.

Makes sense to me. So you have to attend eight out of 12 in a year?

Yes.

Like, that's okay. But I don't know.

Unless there's some babysitter and you can't. Right. There has to be some body that rationalizes it.

Well and, actually, I think eight out of 12 might be too restrictive. Like, you know, I don't I don't wanna I wouldn't wanna say, like, okay. Once a quarter or what I just I guess my whole point was, as a group, we should try to get consensus as to what our commitment is to being able to be here and how to effectively communicate in advance when we're not gonna be here and how to still provide input. And then also follow-up with, well, what what happened? You know?

And that could be as simple as going through the minute meeting meeting minutes as soon as Mackenzie sends them out and submitting questions to me about you know, or getting with another you know, two people from this board can get together and whether that be on a phone call or whatever and chat. You just can't do more than two people from the Sunshine Laws. But, you know, if you wanna connect with another board member, whether that's me or or somebody else, just say, hey. Like, what you know, I've got the minutes, but the minutes don't always capture everything. And, you know, you could watch meeting, but sometimes it might just be easier to connect with someone and say, hey.

I noticed this. Give me the scoop on, like, everything that was discussed or what. So

What do you there are two two things you brought up. One one is you want some clarity on what is a reasonable time to give you notice. So why don't we talk about that for a second? What do you think? I think what what has it been? Just know there has been no time. The expectation was to get you be an hour before the meeting was okay.

Well, I mean, some people have told me in advance. Some people, you know, had said last minute. You know, on a trip where I have friends who are coming into town and, you know, and and and, again, I'm not you know, it is it is what it is. It's just that when possible, it would be great. And then next meeting in January, you know, we can talk about that calendar.

I mean, Mackenzie's already said I can't make February. Well, you know, that could go on the calendar to say, if there it looks like there's going to be a lot of people who can't make February, then then we sort of talk about, well, what do we wanna do? Do we wanna reschedule the meeting? Do we wanna just have it because there's nothing that needs to be voted on? And, you know, with the expectation that those that couldn't meet and be there will read the minutes and watch the meeting and then, you know, be prepared to have that knowledge going into the next meeting that we have.

So we you know, we've got we've got options there. But I think I think having the upfront things that we know, like, we've got vacations planned, if we've got travel plan that we can't work around or whatever, to get those on the calendar. And that doesn't mean that we're there aren't gonna be the last minute I'm sick or I got stranded in Milwaukee or you know? There's always gonna be that. But just trying to get trying to get an advanced idea of what the monthly meeting is gonna look like would be great, I

think. I think we should give you a week's notice if we can. We should give you we should give you every quarter, we should give you a calendar look forward of what we think because I can tell you all my vacations now, and I can block them out, and I can tell you where I'm gonna have problems.

And that would be great. We could include that on this master calendar that we're gonna put with the all the meeting dates and

Business ones, I can't. So those would be I I think a courtesy would be I should try to get you notification a week before at best.

Yeah. Because I

I plan my work travel, like, two weeks in advance usually. Yeah.

You can at least call out to people going, hey. Rick just bailed. Anybody can come in, please, that kind of stuff. Right?

Right. Yeah. I mean, I and, hopefully, you don't find it annoying. I try to wait until at least 08:30 in the morning. But, you know, sending out the text to say just to give you a heads up on what it's looking like up, you know, a day or two prior just to kind of, you know, give you that. Hopefully, that's helpful. Yeah.

I like your text better than your emails. Because your text, I get. Like, oh oh, better again.

Is there a survey or something you want to send for people who are not here before January 7 so they can have those options in? Like, whatever questions we have.

I kinda like to see what Michelle presents Oh. In January just to I don't wanna, like I don't wanna craft my own ship and then find out that, you know, we need to do some things. They've already pressed certain away.

Okay. I'm sorry. One, what is Michelle doing again?

Michelle is a deputy town clerk.

She's What's a deputy she doing? Town

Oh, she's gonna come in and talk about the process for generating the meeting packets

Oh.

In advance. And probably I mean, I can't I I don't I think she's only gonna be here for, like, ten minutes. It's not it's not an in-depth thing, but I I think she's going into each of the board meetings to talk about what they did for Ostab and how they can help support the advisory boards with putting these things together so that they have that in advance of each meeting.

That's a different topic. Right? That's what we were saying is, like, what options do you want? Like, remote, give advance, one week, two weeks, three weeks. Like

Oh, like a survey?

Survey for the team there who are not able to attend. You don't need to wait until seven to ask them again and waste time. Not waste time. But

Or we can also use a January meeting with

With all the surveys you got, and then you can say, hey. I think most people are saying.

If it's if we're not.

And have you guys been suggesting that we, like, enact something come January? I just you know, this is a good opportunity going into the next year, like, just to have a conversation about about what that looks like. You know? And and like I said, you know, I've we've got we've got plenty of three consecutive meetings missed. We've got plenty of, you know, where it's they're not consecutive, but there's maybe, like, five absences or what.

Like, I'm not clearly, if if it was to the point where I thought it was problematic and that we couldn't function as a board, but I don't want I'm not there, and I don't think I'll get there. I just I wanna have some consensus on what can we do to make it more cohesive knowing that we're not gonna be able to make every single month except for Mackenzie and I.

Except Yeah.

Report card might be good too. I was thinking, so have I missed three in a row? Have I missed three in a row?

You got that deepness.

I've got it

written down. I if don't it matters.

It doesn't yeah. I mean, it it I don't even

remember, so it it kinda looks

No. And it could be that years weren't three in a row. I don't think Yeah.

That I know of.

I know. I'm sitting here wondering the same thing, but I believe I think, like, if I have total since I just joined. But but I might need a reminder.

So I really appreciate the perspective of, like, it's the passion. Right? Like, you are here because you care so much about sustainability. And Erie is a better place because of that.

Mhmm.

And I think being kind of slingshot it into fully in person meetings was tough. You know? And if we looked at attendance from last year when it was or the year before and it was virtual versus now solely in person, like, that's a big shift. And there wasn't a lot of warning that was given on that. It was like, next month. It was like, oh. Okay. You're gonna present yourself. Know?

Yeah. So I

think that the important part is, like, the expectations piece, like, Karen's trying to reiterate. Like, what do what do you all want as a board for expectations to set everyone up for success? And I think I've heard some really good questions and just some consolidation of what those expectations are just in the last hour of this discussion, you know, which is really healthy as a board to go back to that. So

Yeah. Because I don't have any preconceived ideas. I just I think it's really important to have everybody's input because everyone comes with a a different perspective and a lot of different experience. And, you know, how can we how can we make that be something that is not dependent on us necessarily being in the room. And right now, since we don't have a virtual option, it would it would come down more to, like you said, like, homework. Like, you know, being able to think about input and feedback offline that you could be submitted. So

k.

Alright. Remaining twenty twenty five expenditures. So this this was the thing that we have to vote on, and I'm gonna ask for forgiveness because I could not get permission ahead of time. We were supposed to vote on how we were gonna spend our $899 that are left over.

Cookies are really good. Thank you. I'm so from setting

the table. Very good. I have I have, like, two dozen at home, so I'm glad. Please please eat as many as you like because where is that?

Is it working? Mm-mm.

Oh, well, they changed the meeting ID on me.

So I did see that the resource conservation advisory board or RCAB, which is a group that advises Boulder County on waste initiatives, and there's representatives. So I believe it's Mortalero that is our rep in Hoback for Erie Council, but then there's also, you know, representatives at large with business community, just waste champions, and then also municipalities. And they have a circular fund that they do in the fall. It was initially called, like, zero waste grant. Now it's changed to more of, like, circularity focus.

And they awarded a handful of grants recently, and I noticed that community fruit rescue received the largest grant amount from Warren County because it's a it's a total of 50,000. It's been cut going a year. It's just smaller amount. Some really cool projects.

And your audio off.

The audio is off. I mean, the Zoom.

Yeah. It's not taking your audio. Projecting the audio audio.

Would that still keep the audio? Like, will that that'll take up audio. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. You should be okay. Thank you.

Alright. Let me share

a little presentation. I have stuff to show when you're done.

Alright. So we ended with oh my god. This bar has to be so large. Alright. So we ended the year with $899.57 left in our budget.

And we had talked about using that for swag because we're all out of it, and it's nice to be able to go into the New Year with our purchases for Arbor and Earth Day at least covered with budget from the previous year. The challenge this month is that I learned that and and this is in the business world, this is not how it works. So it was a little bit shocking that we have to have items delivered before December 31, not just paid for, but actually take possession of them. So that threw me into a little bit of a panic because, a lot of the stuff that I plan to talk about and get input from you guys is what items we wanted to order. And in order to not lose that close to $900

You gotta go to Amazon.

I went well, yes. Yes. Which table hold that thought. One thing that was really super popular this year, which not just was a cool giveaway, but it really sought to change people's behavior was the, dishwasher tabs that are completely plastic free, and they are actually, I mean, you can get them anywhere. You can get them on Amazon.

You can get them what? Bridge refill market here in Erie Carries them. And we were able to get pretty good per unit pricing on that. And all totaled, that is actually a very inexpensive swag item that was hugely popular. Knowing that it was so popular and knowing that we needed to kind of jump on it, we already bought Right. Units of that. So I I did not 2,400

units?

One 1,200 units at 38¢ a piece. So I have spent with and to lower the cost even more, we this year, we put them in little drawstring bags, which actually, the little drawstring bags, while they were super cute, were as much, if not more, as the tabs. So found some really inexpensive little recyclable cardboard sleeves that can have the town of Erie stamp be applied to them and was able to get the same amount for last year for about two thirds of the price. So of that $899, I have spent 416 of it. You know, your math isn't adding up.

Anything else? Because your tabs were updated. I think that was

for the 900 tabs.

Oh. So you spent See how I said approximate total?

$5.30 67. Okay.

You didn't get these pillow bag boxes. You've got the one above. Right?

I think no. Both.

Oh,

yeah. And the pillow

The pillow boxes are just to put the tabs.

Mhmm. Yep. And did you already pick up the tabs from Branch Street?

They come in yet, but they're purchased. Like, they haven't been purchased, but they're ordered.

Nice. Okay.

And they we've been assured that they will be in before.

And if you guys haven't used the Green Loma dishwasher tabs, they're awesome. They don't leave any residue.

Like, I've scrubbed them. Definitely, like, leave your dishes nasty.

Yeah. These do Yeah. They're not so great. They work really well.

Everything at her stores.

I was using Blue Planet before, but these, I think, are better. They clean better. Alright. So another thing so so some of the budget has been spent.

Sorry. With the disclaimer that if you all decide you do not want those, sustainability division can pick up the tab. So that was the reason why we felt comfortable with that was, like, if you all do not agree.

That sounds like a really good way for us to take advantage of you. Mhmm. Well, I I don't like these. You should buy them.

Yeah. Think those are great. Get more.

Well, what are you what do you use you are these used for putting jam and stuff? Is that is real mason jars, or are they just called mason jars and you drink out of those things?

I use them for literally everything in my house.

Yeah. What? I use them for everything. They're all my glasses and then leftover food every day. Like, after dinner goes in them, my baby's food goes to daycare and everything.

I use them for, I mean, salads. My pantry is full of Mason jars.

Oh, yeah. My cheese nails, flaxies, they're all in a jar.

So this was one idea that because, again, we're we're trying to look for items that are hoping hoping to change people's behavior, get away from disposable, get away from plastic. And this was just an idea that we had on something that would be reusable, recyclable, and not super expensive. Now this would be a limited quantity, though. One thing that I learned with the stasher bags that we have, which are hugely popular and quite expensive, is that people need to work for some of the swag. You know, it's nice to have just, like, come see us, chat with us, hear some, you know, giveaway.

But for the Stasher bags, because they are so expensive, I didn't give them out unless people signed up for the newsletter. So if you wanted a stasher bag, which a lot of people wanted stasher bags, you had to you had

to

either participate in the survey because at the time, we were also we had the the sustainability master plan and the resiliency plan. And so this would be one of those options where, again, they wouldn't just pick it up from the table and take it. They would have to do something, either sign up for a newsletter or participate some way in order to get that. So that was another idea. Then just throwing it out there.

Like So those weren't purchased yet?

Those were not purchased. Those are Amazon, so we felt pretty certain that we could talk about them and still get them in pay for them and get them in time. And then just wanna talk a little bit about the another thing that was really popular were the growables planters. They would not have arrived in time. So whether that be our budget, sustainability's budget, they just wouldn't have gotten here in time even with expedited shipping. And their non expedited shipping was outrageous. So Wow. It was that's wild. Yeah. A $128 per shipping. I wanted 250 growables. So I

Wonder how many the sales

I think

you just made that. I know. Last minute order. So, anyway, that so that I would not recommend that we I'm not even sure I would recommend it with our budget going into 2026 unless we can find some place that is not charging a $128 for shipping.

We can make that ourselves. Yeah.

Yeah. And then Anne provided me with this today. She has been looking into she does laser engraving where you set it up with the software, and then you have a machine print out the laser cut shapes. And these were just an example of some of these the things that she could do. Don't know much more about that.

She said it's it's really pretty easy to pump out. As long as quantities were less than a 100, it would not be too difficult for her to to make these, but we didn't talk about materials pricing or anything like that. And but that's something that she said that she could actually do. And then, you know, these were some things that we didn't order for this current year. These are really these are really great.

I this is another product that I think really is sustainable and I absolutely love, but I felt they were too expensive given the other options. You know? And then these canvas zipper bags, which were really, really popular, I can't find them anywhere. They're no longer carried by Promolief, and I could not find any equivalent for anything that was that inexpensive.

So What is it? A purse?

It's a it's a cotton zipper bag. So you could use it for, like, whatever. We we got them initially because there seemed to be a lot of giveaway fatigue with the grocery bags. Everybody gives out grocery bags, which I have I have since learned that peep there are a handful of people that are like, where are the grocery bags? I'm looking. So you can everybody's. But, anyway, I think the and these turned out to be pretty popular, and they were reasonably priced, and they no longer exist anywhere on the Internet that I could find. So that was kinda off the table. So Well,

I don't know if price wise, I have no idea how much they cost. You know the reusable grocery bags, but they're the net ones? She sells them at Bridge, the refill store. Shoe ones? Yeah. They're, like, loose crochet, but they're like, I wonder how much you could get a bunch of those for because that would just promote it's a different type of, like, bag to give away, but it would promote not from using plastic bags or not that they have

them in the stores here, but paper bags and

just, just, like,

brief For the vegetables, you

True. Install that. Or even vegetable bags. That's a yeah.

I think

I'm trying to think about, like, what would promote people to, like, be like, oh, shoot. I could bring this instead of a plastic bag.

My wife brings those in.

Or straws. I like the reusable straws too. Yeah. We use those.

Yeah. The reusable straws. Now sustainability did purchase some bags. We purchased bags. Yep.

We purchased a lot of bags.

We have But maybe we don't do that.

Totes just like we did. The same tote that we had last year in our birthday, but they're black, and then they have the same logo, Earth Day every day.

Mhmm. So if we are tabling with you guys, which we almost always do I hope so. Then different stuff. Then we don't real I mean, for our purposes, we should probably look at not duplicating that particular type of swag.

I see the bag says, like, you're all specs. You know? Like, we work together and Right. Share them with the community. For sure.

So the challenge this evening is we need to purchase something because I don't wanna lose close to $500 or close to $400, I guess. Right?

I have more swag items to propose.

Good. Alright. Mackenzie, take it away. So one is the

the toilet leak tablets. We can get a big package of them, and they come out to I didn't put it in my graph. They come out to about 25¢ each. No. 12¢ each.

But if we put two in a packet, like, I can make more of these little packets that I made for the the seed mixes. Mhmm. I found a way that I don't have to glue things, which is gonna save a lot of time. We put two of those little toilet leak tablets in here, and it has, like, the instructions on, like, if you see color in fifteen to twenty minutes, then buy a new flapper for the toilet because it can save you 10,000 to 30,000 gallons of water per year. NFCs oh, yeah. I was gonna share this. I do you guys know what vibe coding is?

What?

Only from you. Okay.

Vibe coding is where you work with an AI, and you just tell it what you want, and then it does all the coding. So I had it vibe code this trash disposal tracker, which I actually filled with all of the data that I have accumulated over the year of the trash that we make. And the idea is we hand out these either as little tokens that people just ate next to their trash bins, or you can actually get them as stickers. But when I take my unlocked phone and it senses it

where is it? This one. There we go.

Live demos. This will update in real time once it loads the page.

To what? I mean What

are you doing? 99 total trash disposal. So I use this to keep track of how many times I took a small plastic free bag out to my bin so that I knew what my volume of trash was throughout the year. Interesting. That's super cool. It also gave me enough data to know that I could just cancel my trash Just save it for the free trash days. But, anyway, we could hand out these, and, you know, people could use this to track their trash. And I'll have to go through and, like, actually delete that data because because I didn't throw away trash today. So that was one of them.

How much is the the?

They're, like, 25¢ each. Less if you buy them in more bulk.

But

you could track anything. I mean, you could it wouldn't just have to be trash. Right?

Yeah. You could anything, like, with the white code she wrote it for

trash. Mhmm.

They can write it for anything that they want to track. It's like every time you scan, whatever data you want to send it to your website is what it is.

Mhmm. Like, we could hand out one for plastic water bottle, plastic bag. And then if someone is like, oh, I wanna make sure that I see a reduction in how many plastic bags I use, like, Ziploc bags or something, and I wanna start using the Mason jars that we're handing out instead, like, we have them track it with that too. It doesn't need to be trash. Right. It'd be recycling. It'd be whatever they determine.

Interesting. What are they what are they doing with the dot? Where what is am I getting my keep on it and then you go and okay. Every time I throw a pee to the bottle down, I I touch this thing and it

With my phone. Phone. It's the same technology that the tap to pages is.

So it doesn't No. It'd be,

like, the same concept as, like, having, like, a piece of paper by your trash can and, like, putting a check mark every time you take out trash and then adding

And near field communication. So Yeah. The bottle doesn't have anything. This is like a transformative

Do you think that's one step too much for people?

Like, will they be like,

oh, I don't have my phone handy. I'll like, you know, I'm taking out trash. I don't know. I'm just wondering. Like I think it's such a Just an idea. I wanna do this in my house for all kinds of things.

There are plenty of things you can do with sale of these. Wanna go crazy.

And it might mean, the thing is it might appeal to certain people. Yeah. Like, you know, I'm not sure I would do it, but I you know?

Think I try

to pick up my phone as little as possible Yeah.

I don't think throughout the day, but I

could see that appealing to other people.

Yeah. There are people who go everywhere with the phone.

So all the zero waste freaks in in Boulder, and they go crazy with that. Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm sure Chandra could or the zero waste lady would turn in now.

Oh, yeah. Because she loves

She would love those things to give to the offices because they're always tracking the little trash cans and trying to And

then they could have competitions between Yeah. I agree. Buy it. Right. Yeah.

Mean, you know, I think it's a novel idea.

Yeah. So I don't know

if a

one evening vibe coded app is gonna, you know, be what we do, but something to keep in mind. Mhmm. These native milkweed seed balms, the cost is basically the seeds. I have a bunch of compost or potting soil that is just available for use if we want to do that. And then I just I get the pure bentonite clay kitty litter, and I grind it down into, like, a clay powder, and then I make these out of them. So these are very cheap. So they're not soil based? They have a little bit of soil in them, but they're mostly clay

and seeds.

You make the bag?

Mhmm. Makes the whole thing.

I made the bag and the and the seeds in them.

That is

a lot of work. Reading printing. She does make them little bombs with bees.

I can't find this. I

can barely keep my life in order.

Yeah. But you made that.

Yeah. I bet. Origami. Just bowl of it just like I did this.

No. You didn't make the paper, though. Right?

No. Okay.

And she may pay for it. I wanna make a fan. No.

You should have said yes and no.

You're safe.

You are totally slacking. Oh my gosh. I want the same thing.

I mean, we

I was gonna go, you're over the top.

Seed paper. If we wanted to do that route. It's already over the top.

She doesn't need to make paper to be

not too sure.

I said, would have jumped out if you heard that. Oh, this is real.

You made the paper. It looks like

Oh, exactly. Oh, thanks. With mills now.

And then these reusable water balloon sets were really popular at Mhmm. Earth Day.

Yeah.

They take me about an hour to make, ten minutes each, and then it's just the yarn. If you just buy me the yarn, I will make as many as the yarn will make.

What the heck is that?

How do you give a waterfall in? It's basically a sponge.

Oh, okay. It doesn't fill up with water. No. Absorbs water, and then you just pack some throw it. Upside the head.

Yeah. Good lord. No. You don't get it

in the pocket. Right? And then you

just smacks up and upside. Okay.

I did I did donate some of these at a work charity event, and people were buying them. And I was like, I'm gonna rebrand these as you can also use these as stress balls and throw them

at your coworkers Right.

When you get upset. So interesting. If we do like the rainbow, which is by far the only color variance that ever gets sold at Bridge Refill, then we'd need to buy one of each color, and then we can make 13 sets if we just have one ball of yarn for each one of those. Do you have

a price estimate for that? I

I can also help you make those. Are they crocheted? Mhmm.

I can do that.

You can do one in ten minutes. I got you.

I crocheted very fast.

One in ten minutes.

Yeah. So it's $90 for 13 sets. So $90 for the yarn, and then we get 13 of these. Do you give them out as a set or individual?

I like them as set.

Really? Yeah. Because especially if it's a rainbow, but I also like this color because it kinda looks like a little earth.

I really like that color.

So we could just do the individual water balloons. But then guaranteed, people will be like, can I take five? Like

No.

And they're they're roughly $7 each for the set.

Oh, for the set.

So these are whole set. Yeah. These are about two dollars, which I know a dollar 88 was deemed too expensive for something. Swedish disregs, I think. But that was also because you had to add in the setup cost, the cost for shipping. I mean, like, you know,

so it's a little bit so I kinda like the set, and I kinda like it went in the same vein where it's like, they they can't just get that. You know?

Like You could also make the set smaller. Like, how many are in that? Six? Yeah. You could do, like, four.

I don't know.

Print that smart. Rainbow. And you add up how many if you keep it as that? 13? Mhmm.

Each ball of yarn makes 13.

It's $90? Yeah. Thinking about a couple

of see this on eBay or something, or did you come up with this idea?

Etsy. I bought my first set, and then I gave it to my nieces and nephews to make sure it was a good idea, and they had a blast. So then I decided I would make sense. It's actually so smart because they don't,

like, break on a kid,

and that sometimes scares little kids.

Right. They actually stop when they're tired and don't Or they more rather than, like, we've run out of balloons and the adults won't make us anymore.

I like that.

I don't like it.

And then you don't need to have a a hose. You can just take a bucket of water to the brain and Oh. Just little ham.

And on a hot day, that'd be so fun. I'll help you make him. I think we should do that.

There it is. Eerie's first reusable water balloon fight. Yeah. I just like invite

If it's really hot at one of the town events this summer, we could just, like, sit there and take people. Oh.

Or you'd

be like, hey. You you sweaty?

Yeah. Like, some of those farmers markets that we were at or what what other event that we did we go to that was in the summer? It was it was the first of its kind.

May day?

No. It was in the it

was It wasn't that hot. I remember that. I don't think it was that hot. I can't remember.

No. This was

anyway. Okay. So what supplies would you need, and could they be delivered before the December?

I'm not sure. Let me see.

Because what I'd like to propose

the supplies or the actual balloons?

I mean, the supplies to make the balloons. Okay. Yeah.

Because that

would be a lot

of frustrating. Like, so No. No.

This is one app.

It's all about the money.

It's all about tracking the money.

So as long as we have

the As long as we've got everything delivered. Yeah. It's specifically brunette blanket brights.

That's my favorite yarn to knit with too. It's so nice and soft.

So could you do, like, some sets and then of the rainbow and then it some individual ones? So Mhmm.

Yeah. If I mean, because I can make 13 of these. So it's, like, two sets plus a random loaner

Mhmm.

Of a different color if we want it to be minimalist. I also bought a lot of colors because I was like, these colors are gonna be really popular, just as popular as the rainbow, and nobody buys them.

So I could just donate those ones to the cause.

Do you sell them on Etsy? No. I buy them at Bridge.

Oh, those are yours there? Mhmm.

I didn't know that. Yeah.

That's so crazy.

If I just pretend to buy this.

I can buy 2,000 dye tablets for toilet tabs, pre individually wrapped two per pack for $280. What are they wrapped? No.

That's not bad.

It's That come out to 21¢ each, because I

think I found the same thing

from conservationmar.com. No.

I think that that's something, like, sustainability division could purchase if that helps. And then Yeah. Because that would fit under our water conservation goals so clearly, and then we'd have it for all the events next year.

Yeah. Do these fit under your water conservation goals?

Warm stretch. I I It does. Think they do. Wildlife and

They do it or no plastic.

Yeah.

So how many, like if we did the balloons, how many sets would we want if it's $90

to make 13 of them? I think

it depends on how much we wanna spend. Yeah. You said there's, like

because if we wanna buy other things. Like, the sea bombs were very popular when we had those at the airfare. Mhmm. And now that they're in a nicer container than just, like, hold them in your hand. Goodbye. That would be more popular,

I think.

You you know what it looks like? It looks like that gong beetle.

Just rolling it down. Get a bowl of them on it, and people were like

Yeah. At

work, I'm

trying to eat the garden.

We had to tell, yeah, we had to tell little kids, like, don't eat it. It's not like I

I made some of these at my office gardening club, and we put it in a cereal dispenser so you can just get as little as you want. But it does I do wonder if we should don't eat these. But other ideas I had were, like, for things to encourage different transportation. So, like, bike lights or reflective snap bracelets that people could wear when it gets dark and then you're more visible. The outlet insulators, those are kinda interesting. They're, like, 17¢ each. You can find them on Amazon.

Yeah. Is that? Actually, I think you can there's something I think you can get them from the utility company. Oh, maybe we should look at that. And don't and just also keep in mind too that we can buy swag next Next year and year. It's just maximized. Just trying to maximize and get you know, spend the rest of that money because I do not want to lose that money. So

So do we wanna pick, like, one

or two?

I feel like last year, you spent down to, like I did. I was, 12p or something. Or It's amazing.

Yeah.

Well, I, you know, I feel like use it or lose it. And