Conservation Commission - Regular Meeting

how to do this I'm messed up got C cuddle up with you this is Kathy can you hear hear me will you're muted oh okay um um can you hear me now yes I can hear you can you hear me this is Kathy the recording secretary hi Kathy yep I can hear you just fine okay very good did you get sworn in by the town clerk yet I did oh okay very good yep it's on file all you may have to go on yours so this is a member of the public Peggy Loro and um we're not getting any audio I mean video we hear your audio oh that's weird wait a minute okay there we are I've actually pressed a button this is Peggy Loro talking and next to me hi Lee Shaw hi Lee this is Kathy I don't put my video on but you'll see Betsy mazada that's me we have two um Zoom Accounts at work and so one is Town of grany and one is Betsy and uh there's another meeting tonight and they use the town of grany account so you see Betsy but that is Kathy and the reality is okay I don't know what we're doing Ron in the public and it um I got you seeing us but I don't see you

so well my that's because my video is not on so you're saying I should have a blank screen well do you see Betsy mazada do you see that no oh that's OD yeah yeah you won't see me I see it yeah yeah well oh there you go now I got man with glasses that's well that's me in intermittent I'm not I'm very low tick so we'll get by that's okay we can see you and hear you we have a few minutes I don't know why I couldn't email this to her I I don't know had a figure in the screen that's going now I don't know what's going on [Music] [Music] for

Kent you're muted yes I am okay no you're not no one got in touch with me saying they weren't coming yeah okay let's give people a few minutes yeah f hello Betsy mazara hello David deserado here AKA Kathy Kane that's right what is wrong with my ah working on the video ah well we can hear you come there's a video a camera that comes

with the computer that's so bad uh and so we got this new one there sort of there you are but it doesn't set up automatically ah hi Jim hi Will how hi Peggy's iPad hi Kat hi Zach evening hello so do we expect uh Hara Hara to join you think I was just assuming so because I didn't hear otherwise from anyone I'll I'll text her I think I have her number what about Zach he's on I'm oh I don't see you anywhere I'm hiding okay there's Cara she's joining evening good evening yay thanks for your Pati uh you know it was one of those evenings where you open up zoom and it needed to reinstall those are my favorite awesome so am I am I calling the Mee meeting to order you can all right

um good evening um thank you for joining the Conservation Commission um I think should we take a moment and do uh introductions um because I know we have a couple of new members on the committee or the commission um so I'm Cara Marshall uh I've been a member of the commission since 2022 uh my day job I work for eversource in the Energy Efficiency group um moved to Granby in 2020 and uh I'm really glad to be able to contribute um I think uh will would you like to go next sure I'd be happy to um well uh I am uh newly appointed to this commission I'm um pleased to be able to uh serve on the commission um I'm an attorney that's my day job um I live in North Granby um four kids um I've been um you know very sort of involved and active in conservation um matters and organizations um for many years um and I you know I'm my my focus as a lawyer is really in labor and employment matters but I've actually uh handled a couple of uh zoning matters over the course but I'm no by no means an expert in this field um I did I did review the um the statute and the ordinance establ establishing the um the commission so I have a general idea of of what you folks do uh and um you know I think I'm I'm here to uh to really listen and

observe um you know at least in my initial in this initial meeting but I'm very pleased to meet all of you thank you um Kent do you want to go next sure good evening uh K mord uh my dog is making a lot of noise you probably can't hear it but it's bothering me um I've been on the commission quite a number of years I don't know when it started before Carol uh I've been in town since 97 and um I'm an engineer I work for Fuel Cell Energy I'm very much in the I'm like an energy engineer you might say so I kind of know that stuff pretty well that's me uh Jim sure can you hear me okay yes y yeah um Jim csky um obviously newly appointed to uh to the commission um my wife Diane and I have been in West for a little over four years that was a retirement move for us um our adult kids are in Cambridge Mass and New York and our youngest goes to tough's vet so this was a location that was kind of in the middle without being on top of them so U uh enjoying being here um I volunteer 100 plus hours a year at hul Farm trail Steward um number of activities uh um uh uh spent an awful lot of time uh working on our project or our our home new home here uh 25-year-old home and uh my wife and I the two mechanical engineers we uh we did geothermal and solar and lots of lots of projects um um again retired this retirement move so retired four years um and I guess uh yeah similar to uh I guess kind of what

will said here here to listen uh certainly want to contribute Um passion for uh responsibly preserving our open space and our agricultural land and and uh but want to listen and look forward to working with the group and contributing um David who I've volunteered with a bit before was kind enough to kind of give me an overview of some of the focus areas so sounds great David do you want to go next sure I'm I'm glad the stuff I described Jim didn't change your mind about joining the commission um I've been uh in town um about 20 plus years and been on the Conservation Commission I think Kent I think you're the OG and I'm somewhat after you um so I've been on since 20 uh um 20 18 or 19 and my focus is invasive plants and native plants and I've been running the uh invasive action not wanted campaign uh for the commission with the commission uh since shortly after you know six or eight months after I got here remain amazed that people are actually uh as enthusiastic and crazy as I am about getting rid of invasive plants um and uh glad to be uh glad to have some new blood and I think we're missing one person but that's still pretty good for us because we got a lot to do great and Zach good evening all uh Zach Don I've been in Granby since uh the first of the year 2020 was when we moved to West grany um see I have a two-year-old son

and my day job I work for the Department of energy Environmental Protection within the pesticide Management program um I kind of have passions all over the place um like David I'm passionate about invasive species and we'll touch on on that a little bit later in our agenda and um some other things that hopefully we'll get working on um like everyone else said glad to have some new blood to fill our vacancies and uh yeah okay and um now I is Danielle or Carolyn a member of the commission now I'm sorry we're you know brand new here are you members of the Public Public sorry I didn't know you were talking to me I thought there was a Danielle missing I'm Peggy loo from Reed Hill Road and yep just a member of the public participating excellent great and then um Carolyn or Danielle well I too I'm just um a member of the public have been in Granby for you know teen years and have plans to stay here as long as I can excellent thank you for joining us and then uh Danielle are you also a member of the public yes I also live on uh barnor Hills so most interested in hearing that portion of the meeting okay um so we will come to the barnor hills um in a few minutes but are there any other uh open comments you guys would like to make this is the the time in the meeting that we have for that I don't think Leah's introduced herself yet and she may some stuff I have something kind of minor after her okay yeah Lee shaah from barar Hills

Road um I was visited by um a de investigator that Zach had suggested should want to talk to us and I believe he's writing a report Adam is the Young man's name um he kind of gave me a followup a bit about what was going on that he was writing but I don't have his final report yet great thank you um and then Carolyn or Danielle do do you have any other comments you'd like to make at this time just that I'm very interested in in U barnor Hills Road since I live there and I also live very close to uh the West Branch of S Brook so that's another passion of mine excellent thank you I'm on uh Bushy Hill myself so we're okay down that way often um um yeah and I would just add that um yeah we're just you know we have two young kids who like to play in the brook and we our house backs up right to the brook and we are directly um across from the Farmland property that we're discussing um so we're just really concerned about the impact of the herbicides that are being used um our kids being exposed to chemicals I mean us being exposed to chemicals especially with you know them being sprayed and then drifting over to us while we're outside or have our windows open getting it into our water supply um it's just all really concerning to us and just it worried about the environment in general obviously for that reason if I could just speak up um Peggy L again um I live up the road a piece but still active user of this property over the years and I already spoke up at

one of your meetings with concerns that I'm following through but just procedurally I will probably just repeat and keep repeating I think the setup where you do not have a room I can walk into and here anybody in person is a problem and the zoom problems last time in this time demonstrate the frustrations because we didn't have a link and it took us a while to get one fortunately one of your members was very helpful so that's it thank you for uh for sharing that um okay then I think the next item on our agenda is uh review and approval of the December 10th um meeting uh minute meeting minutes uh does anyone have any comments on that uh hearing no comments do we have a motion to approve so moved okay and a second I'll second okay uh all in favor hi hi hi so uh any opposed all right we'll call that unanimous thank you um so election of a chairman and a vice chairman um as I understand it it's mostly functional in you know kind of running the meeting also helping work with um Kathy to get the agenda set so do we have any nominations AR

David I have a motion that's in the chat um to elect Cara Rogers chairwoman and Zack Don Vice chairman of the Conservation Commission thank you any Cara I didn't ever ask you if you'd rather be Cara Rogers Cara Marshall Cara Marshall Rogers Cara Rogers Marshall um it's Cara Rogers Marshall is my full name but you just Cara Marshall for is the shorter version and I apologize I've um my email is still has my maiden name on it so I know I confuse people and I haven't been able to fix Google so should the um the motion say Cara Cara Marshall sure yes and I'm I'm happy to serve as chair of the group unless anybody else wants to do it all right any Zach are you um willing to be Vice chair yes I'm I'm happy happy to do that um unless someone else uh has a strong desire desire to do that all right any discussion do we have a second to the motion I'll second it sure okay um all in favor hi anybody opposed all right um thank you all and I will do my best to keep these me meetings moving and um Peggy I I hear comment we will

um discuss uh whether or not we can move any of these uh we'll discuss that later as as to what the future opportunities for meeting in person will be um so go ahead um should we talk about that in the like final comments from Commissioners or something yeah when we talk about meeting you know items for next meeting and comments from Commissioners we can discuss than um so barnor Hills Farmland we've heard from Leah that we've had a visit from Deep um do we have any other information in front of us or or any other next steps with this so can can I ask a question so I'm GNA try to keep um my job separate and my being a public um member of the public on this commission separate here as much as I can um what do you guys ideally what what would you guys like to see happen um my understanding is this land just got leased this past year to um Mr baggot and he has a fiveyear lease I think with the town um Perfect Situation what what do you guys want to see happen and correct me if any of that information is wrong can I can I speak then yes please okay um well we ideally we think we would like the town to review the lease and decide whether or not it was appropriate to to lease this with you know so few constraints on what he was spraying there um previously it was corn and there was really nothing much sprayed on it because it was field corn so there

wasn't this chemical issue um in the very least if we continue to lease this land to the farmer I think that the town should be more aware of what he's spraying and when he's spraying it um because we only found out after the fact that he what he sprayed and that he did it inappropriately so we don't really know what he does and we know that he continuously sprays this property because it he was spraying all throughout the growing season so it had been sprayed again and again again with we don't know what actually after the first spraying that we found the the one that was the problematic one the other issue that we're running into is the fact that um apparently it's the thing that Adam had found the investigator when he spoke to me giving me a bit of an update on what was going on was that there wasn't a requirement for notification to the public of when he sprays because he's not a commercial business such as landscaper so the problem we're running into also is the fact that when he is spraying something we don't know that he did it and if there's something that's supposed to be not sprayed with the public in mind you know so many hours later or you know public can't enter the area or so many hours after it's sprayed we have no idea when he sprayed something so we could be there an hour after he sprayed it and we don't know that because there's no notification so I think that that would be a consideration and also we we are concerned about the fact that this this the field is the two Fields two of the three fields are and located on Wetland and we have a lot of um flooding

in that area you know when we have lots of rain and that type of thing and we're really concerned about the fact that the chemicals he's putting on this land are going to wind end up in the brook and also the Poss the problem of the fact that if he's over multiple years spraying all these different chemicals on the Farmland it's going to degrade the soil I'd like to just add a point and I'm sure the other people present made too um I would like to see the town tell the uh individual who's leasing it that there's a decent argument that that person broke the lease and therefore use that to prompt in a letter of like an addendum to the lease or letter of agreement that they will provide notice to the town when they are spraying what they're spraying town will know what the protocols were so they can make a decision about how to proceed yeah I think they should be something posted there because there's an Express Proviso in the lease that people can enter it and the last thing is um I think that going forward the town should put in a provisor like this in any other their land about notice and certainly in this one even if it's done as an addendum so that's it another question for you guys um you guys are accessing the property because it abuts like hiking trail or access to hiking trails or um what's the the reasoning uh yeah it it definitely

connects hiking trails um we PE there are people that hike across it uh it's adjacent to McQueen game refuge and it's also you know adjacent to another property that that the owner lets us ride the horses through so there's a lot of horseback riding traffic that goes through there and Hiking uh people just taking walks um other neighbors my daughter lets people uh is is okay with people hiking across her property the other neighbor the Nicholas family has also let people ride across their property so and it that also a but to McAn game Refuge so that's it's a very busy place um and it's a very active place where people are you know really using it for recreation and enjoyment and I think there's a Proviso in the lease that it has to be open to the public now I don't have that in front of me and I could be wrong but I seem to recall that gotcha yeah I haven't read through the lease so I need to take a look I need to personally take a look at it and um kind of see where we go um I know I think one of the chemicals of concern was a product called command if I'm correct um and I want to say um due to the restrictions and like how close your daughter's property I believe is to that that um I believe the farmer has agreed not to use that specific product next year and use something else um beyond that I think I don't know who

writes the leases if it's the town thems um if Mike Walsh the town manager has a hand in it or if they come from the um ad commission Kathy do you have any information on who actually writes the leases for these pieces of property to be farmed I believe that the town does write them but I will double check and get back to yeah so you know personally I'd certainly be up to um taking a look at the lease and making some suggestions and uh appending the current leases if if we possibly can do that as a commission and you know suggest things like um integrated management needs to be practiced on these pieces of property if my other Commissioners agree and what that would mean would be um pesticides are kind of used as a last last result and they are used um as sparingly as possible and only one needed so you have to monitor for pests and you have to meet the economic threshold in order to apply pesticides um that would be something I would suggest I I don't want to take over this conversation so if anyone any of other Commissioners have suggestions or thoughts uh feel free to jump in well well hey Zach I'd love to kind of answer your uh initial question my name's Mike Johnston I live on Far 42 barnor Hills Road um so if I could wave a magic wand my ideal resolution would be um you know what other people have said like I want to identify if the if this farmer did break the terms of the lease and if he did honestly I would like to bring in a different farmer who is more in line with the you know kind of the neighborhood the towns um philosophies and so it's

concerning to me like what I don't really understand is the town this isn't like a profit center for the town I believe the town's making $5,000 a year on this and this property is located right between Salmon Brook Park and the mlan game refuge and we're trying to keep those two areas pristine but we're allowing somebody to spray chemicals in this small area that separates them so it it just is very confusing to me um and and so I feel like you know this guy had his chance I I I can't believe that he didn't break the terms of the lease and if he did I feel like we should be looking at options and replacing him that would be my perfect solution again I'm sure that there's going to be challenges with that but I want to throw it out there so I took a look at the lease back in uh December I'm not a lawyer um it seemed pretty broad uh that the but um I I definitely think that we should take a look at the lease um Kathy do is there a town lawyer like we can talk to as well maybe we should also bring this up with the town manager yeah I would start with the town manager yeah so we can we can bring that up with them um certainly you so shortterm what are options for engaging this particular particular farmer um longer term I definitely think adding stronger language to our request for proposal for pieces of property like this and um I really like the suggestion of integrated Pest Management and maybe even um other um best practices we might recommend there should yeah so we can bring this up to the town manager I I I know many of the folks um who are on this call this evening uh

brought this to the board of Selectmen including one of your um young children who who did a great job in front of the board of Selectmen that was that was like back in early November if I recall correctly so so have have meetings occurred with the farmer yet the town committed to it okay we don't know it sounds like I don't think anything's happened with that okay the Town kind of dropped it okay so um okay so so following up immediately yeah with the town manager sounds prudent um and um overdue um do we and and from what everyone said that evening I happened to be there uh at the board of selectman meeting it it it it it a logical person would certainly conclude that the it seems as if this farmer has broken the lease I don't know that for sure but uh boy that that that seems to be the first question one of the first questions to answer um and then if that's the case then then I think all bets are off um in terms of of any future business with this farmer like we would I I would hope and expect that that we could um kind of start start a new especially given the very modest sum of money that this is generating uh against potential health risk and damage um so modification of a lease sure but uh I don't know that I'd even go to that until we can I conclusively say what what terms of the lease were perhaps broken um at that meeting in November some of you also talked about the physical nature of the field being modified quite quite a bit by the farmer in addition to the pesticide usage is that I I I don't mean to make up a new

line of questioning I just thought I remember that from the November meeting I think it was the road access was widened some small trees cut down was there regrading or something yeah he pretty much made a new entrance to the field and he he did it right over the bank of the brook that was okay that was the comment and again like okay this is a wild and Scenic official National Park Service wild and scenic Brook so therefore does that constitute a breach of of the agreement as well um I don't know if it's appropriate for me to butt in again but Inland Wetlands was involved Inland Wetlands officer went to the site has come up with a plan so they've not just been sitting around doing nothing um I think there's been a conscientious attempt to address some things whether they're ideal or I don't know but I don't want them left out of the loop well I I believe the widening of the road and correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it was sort of an ask for forgiveness situation where he just he just did it and then um was kind of caught I guess and then asked for forgiveness from the wetlands committee and then they sort of allowed him to do it after the fact and then earlier someone mentioned that a deep officer has been out and we're awaiting a report is that correct and do we know when we're going to see that uh I spoke to him on January 15th and he was given me an update but he had not yet comput completed his report then so I have not heard back from him and and what does what will the report say I mean not not the conclusions but the kind of things well let's say you know the pesti here here are the pesticides

that were used and you know know some are okay and some are not or or or what I'm yeah I'm not sure um one of the things we were concerned about was the fact that there was no notification given about the spraying um and that's when he mentioned that there wasn't a requirement for this farmer to notify that he was being it was being sprayed um yeah it it I'm I'm unclear about what he's going to conclude is that Zach do you have any knowledge about what that you know kinds of questions that that would uh report would answer yeah so um the state of Connecticut has preemption on all pesticide um laws within the state so um he would be checking to make sure any pesticide application requirements are followed so the pesticide label is the law so I mentioned that specific command product I think the label was not followed uh I want to say that there's a 1,200 foot buffer or something that's required between um where that specific product is used and other people's properties so that was a violation you would have also followed up on the worker protection standards so any of the Farm Workers using that property have uh there's certain requirements that they need to meet for people to to be able to work on that property he um as mentioned there is no requirement for notification um it's just a lot of times just not feasible for a farmer um to notify of every single property I'm pretty sure this individual has multiple lease land all over the place so him having to notify Bunches of different properties

on a regular basis that's why that's not required in the state um but he should be posting the application so if anyone was using that uh property to access there's a big sign that's required if there's a pesticide application that's taken place within 24 hours it's a big uh skull and crossbone sign um that's white and red and it says danger in multiple languages and um that would be have to be posted at the entrance to the fields that were treated um and remain in place for at least 24 hours um so he would follow up on that um other things if um if moving forward this farmer or another form farmer does um make an application and it drifts onto um one of your properties um that would be a misapplication and off off Target application um so I believe it is thought that it drifted onto um is it was it Danielle's straw field or Hayfield no it's Stephanie's Stephanie Stephan Stephanie gotcha gotcha so to Stephanie's uh field so um I believe Adam didn't take any samples because of the time that had laps since we got that but if if that happens moving forward um I would suggest contacting myself or someone else at the pesticide Management program as soon as that happens we'll take samples and we can prove that drift occurred um and it just further strengthens our case to have uh violations against the farmer and I know that doesn't doesn't fix anything that has happened um as was mentioned by a couple of our

members I I would I would uh like to at least send um Mike Our Town manager an email and maybe request a meeting for a couple of the people on our um commission to kind of see what's going on and see if we can't start having a conversation at on revising our um leased Farmland um what what is required of of the leases and uh we can certainly explore um if the lease was broken and what the what the town thinks about um possibly removing someone who has broken a lease um agreement if that did occur and and just looking at the lease I don't have a signed copy but the one that was uh referenced in the report that you all did it's item 20 at the end is the failure of the license SE to adhere to the conditions set out above shall operate automatically to terminate the per permission authorization and license here in granted so Town clearly has the authority to say what you did was wrong you know 30 days you're out of here or something like that if if that's found and it sounds like the the d report will be really important to uh to give us that information do we know um where that d uh report will be filed or or who it will be sent to um DP is a public agency so anyone can request it through Freedom of Information request it sounds like um it's already been requested by numerous people um so I would assume it as soon as it's available it will be sent out by email to the people who requested it I'm sure we can get a

copy uh will or Kent do you have either of you have a a comment um I I certainly you know if there's an electron iic version of the lease uh that can be circulated i' I'd be interested in taking a look at it I don't particularly have a comment carara I am very curious to know what the town is doing I mean as some of you may not know I mean we don't really have much Authority we're I'm glad that we would maybe help move this along but I'm very curious to know like there was a meeting in November like what's what's happening I mean there if there's nothing happening that's dis discouraging we can try to motivate things to happen I don't I don't think we can we can we can try to be influential but we don't really have any Authority just people want the public to sort of understand that unless I and my my Commissioners disagree all we can really do is try to try to uh speak up but we don't really have we can't make any decisions in this regard we can help others make decisions yeah we can no but I want be very clear with everybody it's it's we don't have the any Authority all we can do is try to try to influence understand so I'm really I'm really interested in like in the wetlands what are they doing like do they not you know and then if the the the Selectmen were there was a meeting that I wasn't not at that meeting so what are they doing what does the town manager know so I'm very curious about all that so I support I support the effort not I'm just I just want to be people to be clear this is not our jurisdiction Jim were you going to add something um yeah I guess just that um even without I guess

Authority we can easily I would imagine talk about um you know is a is a $5,000 a year payment for this land rental lease if that's indeed the case um you know men it with I think some of the risks that have been put on the the community um and and the land um so um I I'm I'm the new guy so I know no Authority but certainly that that feels like our purview and than even even suggesting asking I'd be glad to be part of the meeting with uh the town manager and ask about the criteria that was used in the bidding I I understand it was just Financial as opposed to a more life cycle of the land perspective in terms of what's farmed and what's not yeah I mean I think long term it might be really interesting conversation to as you put it look at the life cycle of the land what are some practices we could encourage um shortterm I think we do need to you know continue to make sure that um we are clear about what the town's preferences are um with how the land is managed and and what we can do but I think reviewing the lease uh reviewing the report from Deep would be um would be the next step setting up a meeting with the um Town manager and reviewing um I believe that I listened to one Inland Wetlands commission meeting where it was reviewed um I think that they found that vegetation management was uh consistent with agricultural use um but we'll have to see what else uh has been done in that area so

D it's interesting that the there is an item in the lease and and I'll I'll send it out or or Lee maybe you can send it because it was I think it was a link in the report that you sent that I followed um but it it says the use of the herbicide pesticide glyphosate is prohibited and it goes on to describe it and I I'll bet that's because you know four or five years ago the town was doing some wholesale spraying and there was a maybe six years ago seven uh and there was an uproar justifiably and um so that worked its way into probably the standard lease I'm I'm just guessing but I think that's one way we can have influences by um stoking the the the justifiable Flames as they come up yeah I think that's true that that the glyphosate was um not supposed to be applied and um the thing that really struck me was the fact that you know we're not using chemicals at s gr Park anymore and I believe that what we're looking at at hul Farm is to looking at the property that it was taken over with the church that that the chemical content of the soil was looked at and it's really kind of not following with the town plan about being careful about the soils when we're letting a farmer put whatever he wants on it because the lease says that he can spray anything that's legal in Connecticut so that's anything yeah I thought that was very Broad and they don't uh they don't they don't use any glyphosate on that property right just to be clear I don't believe so because the only thing that's not allowed but everything else apparently is thank

you um so David you said you could circulate the link uh for the lease oh you're on mute David yes I will do that okay thank you um Jim said he'd be interested in working to meet with the town manager is there anyone else who would be interested in um that discussion I would be okay we'll we'll Reach Out Kathy um I'll I'll start with an email uh and we'll talk it may make more sense to see if he can join us next month um okay and to have us schedule another time but we'll look into that um so yes and then I think um reviewing the Deep report is the the other Next Step so I think that go ahead um maybe we could ask that as soon as that's received that it be distributed also so that we're up to date yeah Le if that's or whoever it goes to uh sure the Deep report that'd be great thanks um all right anything else before we close out uh this item did the wetlands commission issue a report should that be gathered as well or or is that maybe just meeting note minutes yeah I think that's a good point think it would be just meeting whatever they didn't do a report on it yeah I think it would be the meeting minutes we'll take a look for

those I'll I'll go ahead and look for them as well okay um thank you thank you for bringing this up uh and being vigilant about it um so with that I think we'll move on to composting so Mindy gold the former Vice chair was very passionate uh advocating for composting um I believe we got a pilot in one of the town schools um she was trying to get a pilot established with blue Earth uh trying to find 50 households who would be willing to sign up um we weren't able to get to that level uh at this point um there was some interest in exploring this as part of um you know potentially reducing the amount of solid waste in town in the future um to help manage our waste you know help uh reduce the amount of landfill we have leaving um the town and the state and uh you know hopefully have beneficial Financial impacts for future contracts um I think since Mindy's left it has uh languished a little bit um and is in need of a champion um so I don't know if will or Jim is interested in um taking a lead on this or if it's something or yeah so we'll ask that question first um yeah actually uh one thing I I neglected to mention when I uh introduced myself is that I'm something of a mad scientist when it

comes to composting and um I've got a uh a fairly elaborate composting system in my yard um you know with the with barrels and what have you so uh I I actually have a more than a passing interest in composting i' I'd be happy to um you know throw some heft behind this and uh research it um um you know I I did know you know I know something about Blue Earth um I know that um they do provide services to Simsbury an adjoining Town um and um yeah I guess their threshold is they have to have uh 50 uh families that are willing to participate before they'll uh you know run a route up here um so I I suspect that that would you know be um you know I think it's a very good thing uh to do um you know some some states like Vermont are very Progressive uh when it comes to composting they actually require it um and so um yeah I'd be happy to um research it um and um see what what resources out are out there and possibly make you know some recommendations in terms of uh Community Education um to see if we can um you know Garner some enthus enthusiasm and support uh for you know a more you know broad-based composting initiative excellent um that's great will just to say it briefly we as a family we lived outside of Toronto for four years and uh the green bin the composting bin was mandatory it was actually kind of H interesting composting was weekly the recyclables were weekly and the garbage pickup was once every two weeks um but no Take Take the Lead well but

okay yeah and I I know there's also uh you know I think there's a lot of misinformation and concern that it would attract bears and what have you but I I hear that often as uh as one of the reasons why you know people should not be doing the composting uh because it in invites uh the Bears to come out of the woods and wreak havoc um but um you know I think if if composting is done right that doesn't happen um in my experience you know so you keep animal products out of the the uh the compost among other things great so yes I'm happy to so who would I coordinate with on that you know to understand what's been done and um you know how I can assist going forward I think connecting you to Mindy would make sense so David go ahead I was just gonna to throw two two other pieces in um that uh we talked about um Regional drop offs like four one at the transfer station maybe one at hul Farm couple of the sites where it'd be easy for people to bring their compost every week and just kind of get in the habit uh like a a dumpster basically that blue Earth would pick up as one strategy and another is um oh just that sustainable Connecticut has matching grants and we had a pretty good brief about how that works uh for pilot projects to help municipalities uh you know set up programs like this that work um but and I do think it'd be good for there to be a committee or somebody you know a grouping outside of the regular commission maybe a report back next month on um you know several people having gotten together gotten up to speed where we've gotten so far and uh you know suggesting where we go next might be a good way to move forward Okay

so maybe I can connect with you offline and uh get some of that information and contact information I'd be happy to be part of that but probably okay all right super thank you and uh David please keep me in the loop on that too because I I think it would be a good thing to bring to the town any other questions or comments on composting so so just is this a committee of two at at this point anybody else want to join in or Committee of three okay so I mean I'll join in too yeah great makes it four so will you'll get us together at some point yeah great thank you invasives any uh any updates I'll talk on this one first I guess um so we presented um the previous meeting at the pnz um my Cara was there in person so thank you for for that support and I uh joined virtually we uh pushed again to have regulations added into uh the zoning Rags of the Town um it I don't know it went back and forth I it was received better I feel like than last time I think where we ended up leaving it was um that the um they're going to add the regulations or parts of them into the guidelines so they're not official regulations I kind of stumbled a bit I think by using um Bernie Bush or Wing yanus as the example since that is on the invasive list but it is not banned

by the state of Connecticut you're still allowed to purchase and sell it um so that that kind of made a stumbling block where um they didn't want us to have language saying we're Banning this and then it gave them zero flexibility um so there I I'm gonna push to have these guidelines included in their um zoning guidelines I guess to not allow the planting of invasive species encourage the planting of native species and encourage the planting of of wild flowers and unmanaged areas so I think that's kind of the landing point for this right now and um I mean it's not 100% of the goal but I guess personally I'm I'm satisfied with that for the time being I think it was a um I think it you Advanced the goals and I think it'll be beneficial to the town so thank you for for leading that Zach Zack do those guidelines encourage removal of existing invasives or just is it just about planting so to try to make it more palatable um it was the regulations that we were writing um were just for plots of new plots of land that um required a landscaping plan so it was really the only places that require Landscaping plans or big developments or big things like the Station 280 in the center of town required a landscaping plan um yeah he's requiring people to remove things that maybe they didn't plant or well because they're invasive they planted themselves on their property uh I don't think that's going to fly very far in the town unfortunately um but uh as as

you're probably aware we do have groups of people Led Led by David like you mentioned that go out and do remove invasives so yeah thanks y uh David do you want to add anything on invasives uh just that we canceled the last two invasive action second Saturdays because of uh really severe weather and um it's just too cold to work uh but we'll our next invasive action day is March 8th and also I'm trying to remember to repeat this every every time I run into someone we're changing the starting time from 9:00 to 10:00 so it's 10 to noon on second Saturdays U and maybe people want to stay longer whatever but um uh just make it a little easier for people to attend and not feel like they've failed if they don't get there by 9:15 or we've mainly been working at Hulk this is for the benefit of the people who haven't heard this before we've mainly been working at hul Farm but we've also worked a few other locations and we're always open to suggestion for places where there are you know visible public spaces that have uh you know a tree being taken over by Bittersweet or or an infestation of Barberry or uh or somebody's front yard with um burning bush just kidding just kidding I wouldn't dream of it only if they invite you in absolutely if they invite us and uh people may have noticed the um not wanted column in this month's drummer is sort of the final farewell to the tree of Heaven at hul farm that was a pretty you know uh notable tree 50 plus years old goes very fast but very wide and that and a bunch of other trees of Heaven were taken down

and there's a dual reason it's not just invasive in itself but it's also the host for the rapacious spotted Lantern fly which has only been around about 10 years but is really you know eating up Vineyards and Orchards everywhere um so uh there there's more of the uh tree of Heaven to take down uh in addition to what the contractor did there are two other spots or at least one one of Main Spot uh so we'll we'll be returning to that uh and uh other places as well so very just just spread the word we're very open to suggestion about where to work thank you I think everyone here is on the mailing list uh who gets everyone who'd like to be on the mailing list just let me know all right do we have any updates on Pace prop um is it it's that's this one isn't property assessed clean energy no no this is people's action clean energy something like that um well D David and I spoke about this about six weeks ago and I haven't taken my action yet David but I'm I'm going to I'm going to start here okay so what David and I thought we should do we had a nice meeting with a town manager about three months ago where he talked about a number of energy initiatives that he would be interested in which was pretty exciting um and I think um Dave Roberts met with the town manager on this topic Dave gave me a one day notice and I had a meeting at the time so I couldn't attend and I don't know if what what Dave Roberts learned from from him but I I'd like to redo

that meeting basically um and so Kathy I need I keep looking at this Betsy Betsy I need your help um like I I was just going to write to to to him I don't have his email and I'm on our website so there's a form if I type that in it probably goes to you so can I just write an email to you that you could forward and um asking for a meeting where we could review um some of these topics and see what his priorities are yeah absolutely so he had mentioned uh we had we had no particular order you know solar for Town buildings and Jim you might if you're interested to get involved I'm curious like that might be a good fit but you talked about solar for Town buildings he's you know he's he's had experience working with Bridge energy who is a consulting firm that I know pretty well that I would support I mean getting involved talked about LED lighting although we have some LED lighting um he talked what else did he talk about oh buying probably buying um maybe buying green energy electricity on Supply I'm not sure if he talked he talked about a number of things um we had talked to Pace about gez wouldn't it be great to start with an energy master plan and Pace like offers that sort of as a service like they could they could help you build an energy they've done that for a number of times maybe even Simsbury I think forget the exact example but I I feel that like the there's a lot of opportunity but what whatever he wants to do is probably the most uh it it it'd probably be most successful if he can get his his staff behind it so I thought that would be a good start so I'd like to I'll send you an email Kathy asking for a meeting and I'll just you know

kind of review present some of the topics we'd like to talk about and see if he'd have time in the next few weeks okay that sounds good okay and Kent yeah i' be glad to participate and uh yeah retired professional engineer so uh delighted to I've had a couple of discussions with Kirk evance about his his aging two-pipe system for for uh as opposed a four pipe system for for for you know the hbac needs for the whole town complex so I I can imagine that Mike now being in the job I guess less than a year still but now getting his his feet under him I I bet he's got a long list of uh of of you know aging equipment and Energy Efficiency ideas so yeah glad to I can also connect connect you to the Energy Efficiency programs that ever source so sure keep me in the loop too please okay oh and Ken I know um I know Mark Scully pretty well I guess he's uh he's he's the pace guy isn't he yeah he spoke to us like I don't know October maybe yeah um so I think there's other things that we could do with Pace including you know some public you helping us with maybe some may we talked about there's a lot of benchmarking right there's a lot of me measure metrics that we can we can leverage but um you know helping with uh we could do whether it's you know sessions about heat pumps or whatever you know and various incentives and things like that so we could leverage them but I'm I'm most I don't know I'd like to make talk to Mike about what the town can do directly about the town's footprint um I think that's particularly interesting but I mean obviously motivating resid is good good as well um so I'm I'm all I'm all open and with more kind of uh people on the committee

we can get more done and you had gotten all of the buildings benchmarked through Energy Star portfolio manager right so that that data is still should be flowing it's well it's there but I don't think I don't nobody's been feeding it so it's it's a couple years old right okay so uh really we just check the check the box on the um sustainable CT and really never leverage that yeah balance benefit I mean there are uh ways to set up automatic web sharing data with through eversource so like it should if we set it up it could keep feeding with automatically but yeah I that maybe some of it is maybe some of it is you know obviously the the oil bills are not a lot of the building oil you know but maybe the gas and electric is so I haven't checked yeah that that might be another just place to start but yeah okay it' be great to know if um you know we've taken advantage of all the auditing possibilities for our larger buildings and you know and have we followed through on you know the most cost-effective recommendations that kind of thing yep well I I know my colleagues in the municipal program are getting ready to send letters to all of the people they can find so I think there's there's going to be some ramping up um so we got to get in first before they do that be happy to help with that um okay so Kent You're Gonna Take the Lead and contacting Mike Walsh go through Kathy yep great okay um sustainable Connecticut database so what was it was it last year that we got uh uh no it was 2023 we got

bronze um certification through the sustainable Connecticut program um it was a fair amount of work uh but it was good to be recognized um I think they have uh a number of areas of um you know Focus for a town um and it's a way to kind of organize some of uh the opportunity in the town to look for um ways to improve the quality of life environment Etc um I think we're good for three years we'd have to go through recertification um what is it 2026 if we want to sustain it um in order to be recertified or to get a higher certification we'd have to complete a number of act actions uh I think we've been somewhat um you know uncertain what the cost benefit will be on some of those actions but um I think certainly things like including the invasives in the regulations and um you know continuing an energy master plan would count for points in the scheme um so I think will and Jim I'd encourage you to take a look at the overall program um we can I can uh send a link around for the energized Connecticut area um was Dave our official person do we need to have that transferred to someone else thought so yeah I believe Dave was saying he's the contact and I think someone at town

is also has um Power like admin status on the account also I'll follow up with him about that um but yeah Jim and will I encourage you to take a look sorry it should be our chair right has the yeah that should be transferred to you yeah so I'll follow up on that um Kent Zack or David anything you want to add at this point so yeah let me say that I did look at the whole energy section and some of the updates that they made and sort of there's a lot of opportunity for us to get points but you need to get we need to get started fairly soon um we have you have to do that uh energy benchmarking which isn't hard so that's fine um but there's there's things we can do do but like you know energy projects take some time right so so like if we really wanted to get some of those points we we need to start and so as we I think what I'd like to do is we'll talk to Mike and see just generally what his he's interested in I'm sure we can fit any of those things into sustainable CT and sort of derive points from them if not then I maybe would come back and say you know maybe maybe we prioritize this I we can have a discussion but um I want to start with it's better to start with what what's important to to him so yeah I think that's a good point okay and I mean I still think it's a good program it's it's got some head um

some red tape and overhead associated with it um I still think it it is something to motivate us perhaps so I'm generally yeah I think it keeps 60% in favor I get there's there's some downsides to it as well no um yeah I think keeping it uh Keeps Us motivated organized recognized for the progress we're making um um so more on that um so meeting topics for March 11th um I think barnor Hills Farmland composting and Pace definitely should be on it uh should we keep invasives on as well um and then maybe you know again check in on sustainable Connecticut see where we're going um is there anything else we should add David I have a uh question if we can rename if it makes sense to rename the pace one uh something broader like energy or yeah it's not organization as much as yeah um I don't know what energy initiatives energy reservation initiatives or something rather than drill baby drill struck oil behind Town Hall like yeah I think that makes a lot of

sense any other comments or I topics for next month um final comments from [Music] Commissioners go ahead uh one is the question of whether we should meet in person I'd love it but there are conveniences to meeting V virtually so maybe open that and my other question is do we know anything about Andrew Young Who was appointed also is he able to make it tonight any communication or Andrew is it Andrew small oh I got the name wrong thank you um I will double check I left a message with him to get in touch with me um via phone I got in touch with them um to call me with his contact info and I have not heard from him yet okay and I I since I think um if I remember the minutes from the select person's meeting it was Advanced by um the Democratic town committee okay so um uh our our select woman whose name is escaping me at the moment we probably have his contact information all right P Chapel yeah thank you um but on the topic of meeting in person I'm open to it um you know maybe we can uh alternate in person versus um you know Zoom meetings uh the only thing I will need to check is uh meeting space is tight okay and uh there is another group that meets tonight and then I don't know if there's

a requirement that you have to do both um provide zoom and a meeting space um so I will look into that and um I can uh say send you an email Cara perfect yeah I mean personally for me um my wife works at Harford hospital and like tonight she didn't get home until after our meeting started so if there's an option where I could join virtually if we're in person would be awesome otherwise I might miss a few meetings should I I support in person I could do either but I sort of like in person I'm good either way but yeah love the hybrid option for like you know Zach's work life balance all right so um hybrid would be preferable so if we're able to have an inperson um meeting space with uh Zoom then great um um but Kathy if you could look into the options and we can discuss it um you know I I think that having at least a few inperson meetings a year would be a good thing um I know formerly we did have meetings in the police um community room where we weren't able to have zoom so right I think we did have imperson only meetings at some point so I don't know if things have changed um but all right any other comments just with so many new members it might be useful at some point to have a longer meeting you know in person for

a couple hours um where we have a little bit more chance to step back maybe maybe we'll have an actual you know work thing to discuss that's lengthy um but you know doesn't have to be a a a a full weekend retreat or a a week in a week in the mountains or something but um even if we can't even if we really can't do uh in person monthly maybe every six months or something we have sort of a planning meeting that's longer that's in person I I certainly would be in favor of that yeah that sounds uh sounds good I spend about seven out of eight hours of of my work day even when I go into the office on teams meetings so in person is is great I crave it anyway um all right uh do I have a motion to adjourn so moved all right second any seconds I'll second all right thank you um all in favor hi hi okay um thank you very much everybody thank you cara thank you so much nice to meet you guys Jo nice meeting everyone great [Music] job thank you all well yeah we must be done I we're good yeah but there's a way to sign out like actual sign out so they don't get us saying something we shouldn't do because now I'm

unmuted leave yes e e e

e e e e