Conservation Commission - Regular Meeting

Some people saw a response XR can stay on mental health can cause depression or action. Alita, can you hear me? I can. It's Alita. I can hear you. Andrew, can you hear me? I can. Am I on mute? Yes, I can. I can't hear you. I hear you. I can't hear you. I don't know why. Can you hear me now? I'm not muted. You're not muted either. How about now? No. Oleta, can you hear either one of us? I can hear both of you. It's an It's Oolita. Yeah, I can't hear anyone. I don't know why. Olita, you can hear me? I can hear you, Andrew. Okay, beautiful. Betsy might have her volume turned down.

Can you hear me? Yes, I can. I can hear you. You Can you hear? You can hear me, but I can't hear you. We have four participants. It says, "Oh, I'm logged on twice." What's this say on me? I just unmuted myself. Peggy's muted.

I turned on transcriptions. So Oh, it looks like I'm going to have um captions. So when you talk I will get the caption. I don't know why the video is not working for me. Zach, you're muted. Yep, I'm here. Thank you. This is Peggy. I'm not muted. Correct. Correct, Peggy. No, you're no longer muted, Peggy. Okay. And I have no idea why there's no image, but that's probably the way it goes. So, Zach, do you have any suggestions why I might not be able to hear anyone? You can't hear anyone? No, but I put on captions so I'm reading replies. H um do you normally have a headset plugged in when

you're doing this or are you just using the speakers on a computer? Yeah, just using the speakers on the computer. There might be a uh speaker off button on the keyboard. You might look for a speaker with an X. Maybe you turn the speaker off. Yeah, I pressed it but it doesn't seem to be working. Can you hear us now or try the volume? Also, try the volume button. Okay, let's see. Oh, wait a minute. There's a Hello. Oh, I can hear you now. Good. That's That'll probably be much easier than hoping the captions are working for you, Kathy. Yes. Thank you. And the IT man. Yeah, I know. I knew you were the one I should ask. Now I got to figure out how to get my captions off. I think Will is also gonna be joining us tonight. Just give me one more minute. Good evening. How's everybody doing?

Good. I was hoping it was going to be spring weather. This this whole snow and weird stuff. I know it's New England and typical, but it's it's throwing a damper on it. What about Sunday? Spring comes back I think for serious spring. Y comes. I have 704. So, and I think we have a quorum. Oh, and here's Will. So, we definitely have a quorum now. Um, great. So, sorry I'm late. That's okay. Um, I think we can go ahead and get started. Um, I'm still new at the um being the chair. Um, is that all I need to do to call the order, Captain? Okay. All right. And I call this meeting to order. Um, I see couple of members of the public. President, um, would either of you care to make a comment? Peggy Loro, that's who it is. Um, I think you guys got a copy of my letter to various towns people including to Carara for the commission and uh I got a reply from Michael Walsh and uh I identified a couple of different things and he replied to that. So that's about the summary. Thank you Peggy. I don't remember seeing that. Peggy, I don't believe I have it either. It's Jim. All right. I actually I procedurally it's always muddy to me. I sent it to Carara because I didn't really have the wherewithal to send it to all you guys at whatever your addresses were, but I thought the process was there was a

central distribution to you guys. So, I regret if I missed a step there, but I can provide more of a summary if you want, but I don't know, other people in the public may have something to say too, and I'll follow your lead. Um, I had I had sent one also too, Cara. I don't know whether you got mine because I think I sent it to uh the the reply to one that I had gotten from uh Mike Walsh and I think I sent it to several people in the town. So I don't know whether you got it or maybe Jim got it also. Um um I did indeed get it and uh I my apologies to the other members of the commission for not distributing that. It I'm still new to the procedure as well. uh I will know in the future to share that with the full committee. Um yeah so um just I don't think you have I don't think we have a procedure frankly you know sometimes things get distributed sometimes they don't I don't know why um so maybe at some point we should decide you know how do we do that um I will take it under advisement that sharing the letter with the commission would be good future practice uh and I'm sorry I didn't think of it uh in the past week. So, um given that they haven't been the commissioners haven't seen it, um I think um I'm going to suggest we, you know, give a few minutes to Peggy and Lee if they're if they would like to share uh a summary of their comments verbally now. Sure. I'll defer to Lee first. Okay. Um yeah, I just wanted to

speak to the suggestions that the town had come up with um for dealing with uh the farmer and I certainly agree with some of the things that they mentioned. Um, if you've seen the letter, it was um posting signs and not allowing the use of the command herbicide and other things about um spraying records from the site, but they mentioned at the end of the growing season. And I thought it was really important that we have a list in advance of what he's planning on spraying. And my concern about that is the fact that when the report came out from the DEP, it showed that he was very casual about the way he uh did his spraying uh as far as making sure that it was appropriate. And I thought it would be nice to know what he's going to spray ahead of time just so we can make sure he doesn't make a mistake like this again. Um, so and also I I really thought that it would be reasonable for us to think about the or at least for the town to think about uh not just this piece of property but also the other two properties that he leases because right now we don't know whether he might have sprayed command at those properties. and it it would be helpful to know in advance um you know what he's planning on doing because uh East Street in particular is very close to residential areas. So I was hoping that um going forward we'll have an opportunity to continue to have a dialogue with the town about what we'd like to do going forward with at least with this season.

Do you want me to go ahead? Go ahead, D. Okay. All right. Um, my letter of April 4th, um, the preface is beside the point, but basically I said my personal goal was to give Bagot the leeway to farm responsibly. um because I want to see the property stay in agriculture and um make it clear to other people that we support farmers who do the right thing and are safe and lawful. Um so also I mentioned the town wanting to make sure we kept able to use the recreational uses there that have been the spirit of the acquisition of the property. So I then went a little further and I said I thought that they should consider Bagot's lease void which is something actually your commission members some of them mentioned but uh the extra thing for me was then to on on the premise that was a void lease that they would then have a new two-year lease that would give him a chance to behave and be renewable if the competitive process so dictated and if he behaved Um, and I agreed with the the point about advanced notice of what his options are on insecticides and herbicides, fertilizers, and give the town advanced notice when he's about to apply it and then um not use the command, list the crops he actually plants because not being a farmer, one of the things that's come up is whether tobacco is an appropriate product there to grow because maybe it's one of the things that needs worse chemicals. I don't know the answer and other things were less kind of barreling what they were doing. I also mentioned again the the

aquifer downstream of this in Salmon Brook Park which supplies the town water. And then I agreed with the proposal the town was making to have the ad commission and conservation commission get their heads together and meet. But I pointed out that neither of these two commissions have really a whole lot of authority or power. So that I hope that that it would loop back to the selectmen to actually make sure that was productive. Uh I think that that combined effort would be a good idea to see what's what. Um, and I also noted that a friend of mine had been walking up at Avanch's property at O East Street, which I think is number 107 that's leased. I'm not positive it's the same farmer, and had found debris there as well as including from um sanitary uses and um trash. So, I don't I think they ought to take a look at that, but I I assume they will. So, um I guess I really hope that the bottom line is that the town is proactive and not just assume that either the neighbors or your commissions are supposed to be initiating all the ideas. I think the town should be really taking it seriously and carrying the ball and I think they can do that and I think we could hopefully end up with keeping that in agriculture which I think is important if it's done right. I There's another tangential issue I won't raise in detail right now. I have a question about cover crops on there to prevent erosion, but that's for another time. That's it. Okay. Peggy. Hey, it's Jim. Just quick clarification. And you I know you shared your you sent the letter to to Cara. Uh

but I guess also to to Mike Walsh. Just curious who who you sent it to. I sent it to Fentino, Mike Walsh, and um quote all selectmen, and then copied it to Carara and our wetlands agent, Bednaz. Okay, thanks, Peggy. Okay, I will forward those on to the commission members um at the end of this meeting. do that. Um so I think that is the uh both members of the public have commented uh who are joining us. So um let's the next item on the agenda is uh review and approval of the March 11th minutes and then then we'll come back to the Barnor Hills Farm property. Um so do I have a motion? uh to approve the minutes or any amendments to them. Hey Kathy, it's Jim Sipsky. I've spent a lifetime um even spelling my own name wrong. Okay. But wherever there's an S, there's a Z and there's two of those and that just shouldn't happen, but it does in Hungarian a lot. So, uh, anyway, I thought the minutes were great, but, um, my name is curious, uh, throughout the the the document. Okay, I will pay special attention to that going forward. No worries. Any other uh, amendments? Well, I'll move adoption. Thank you. And a second from Andrew. So, uh, all in favor?

I I All right. So, we'll consider. Thank you. We approve the minutes. All right. Um, Barndor Hills Property. I'll start. Um, I did reach out to Heather Lombardo. Um, she is, uh, amendable to discussing, uh, future state of future leases, uh, and what that will look like and and making recommendations to the town. Um she uh the next meeting is tomorrow night at 8:00m. Um and I'm planning to attend. So David, just who is Heather Lombardo? I'm sorry. She's the um chair of the agricultural commission. So I think tomorrow uh at 8 in the police uh community room. Um I believe I will plan to attend. Um I think still waiting to hear back from Heather about uh they may not have a quorum. Uh in which case we won't meet then. Um but we will um I think make an effort. We will have a meeting as soon as we can with them. But I uh I plan to attend tomorrow evening. Um Cara, double check the time. I think it's seven. Um I I'm going by the email that Heather sent saying at 8 o'clock. Okay. All right. I will uh I will double check with her. Um she was uh we had exchanged emails today. She was going to get back to me. I will uh let folks know uh when she confirms that the meeting is happening tomorrow. I think she's also on the board of ed, so is very um uh I guess busy with the budget season as everyone is. Um so I think um I think we have a lot of opportunity to recommend best practices going forward. Um and I look forward to

discussing that further. Um any other comments? Yeah, David just question. So are you looking for other members of the commission to going or are you going representing the commission or what what's the um I'm planning to go representing the commission. I uh encourage anyone who would like to come along and be involved to to join us. Jim, um I believe you were also planning to attend. Yes. Yes, G. I sure was. Thanks. Yeah. So, I think the first one is is likely just to be kind of a discussion about how this would work um and and what we would look at and consider. Um so I don't expect we will have things wrapped up next week and again this will be this is thinking more long term rather than immediate issue. So, um, but any other like thoughts, comments, discussion of the the current issues in front of us? I mean, personally, I'm I'm glad it seems like the town is um being receptive and making improvements and changes to try to, you know, uh keep the environment in mind while also, you know, giving I I think it sounds like they're going to give the farmer another shot. Um so, I I'm glad that's that's the direction it's going. And um yeah, I think being more strict. And one thing I just wanted to mention, you know, I I've suggested in the past the idea of um requiring like an IPM plan. So if just so you guys are aware, if if the farmer

is truly practicing IPM, he might be able to provide a list of possible pesticides that he's using. But IPM, you wouldn't be applying pesticides unless it's deemed necessary based on scouting and what's being detected. So he might not be able to tell you like the weekend before July 4th, I'm going to apply this insecticide because he should be scouting to see if that's actually needed. Um, so that when when we get to it and making suggestions in the long term, that'll be something that I'll be suggesting and kind of laying out what what an IPM plan for an agricultural system would look like. Um, and that's something that I hope uh Mr. Bagot is is going to be considering and using and might make it difficult for him to tell you exactly what pesticides he's using. Um, hopefully because he's trying to reduce what's being used. And then one other thing that was mentioned um I think by Peggy, the concern of tobacco and I I think you very well might be right Peggy that um tobacco is a very uh pesticide intensive crop because what's being produced in Connecticut historically and I still believe still is um they're valued for the quality of a perfect leaf to be the outside wrapper of a cigar. So one single hole or divot from a insect riddles that leaf unusable. So it uh does tend to be an intensive um pesticide needy crop. So just a couple thoughts from my side. Um thank you Zach. Just uh what is an IPM plan? Um integrated pest management. So, it's, you know, taking it's a several step plan that that um farmers and a lot of people should be familiar with, but um certainly something in the future we can

go into more depth, but essentially instead of pesticides being the first thing, it's trying to make your system or your environment um more eco-friendly, I guess. So using things like biological control and scouting to see when you should actually be applying pesticides, not just relying on the calendar and saying, "Well, like I said, Fourth of July, I apply insecticide because this insect might be on my crop." Hopefully that makes sense. Yes. Thank you. [Laughter] Dave's holding up common sense pest control. stuff. It's a it's a nice big book about IPM. It's a little old, but if anybody wants to look at it, I've got it. Excellent. Great. Any other comments, questions, suggestions? David? Well, I just want to note that I think the town's response, I agree with Zach, it's good that the town has responded. I don't think the town's response goes as as far as the neighbors and the people most affected um would like. And I'd like to see us adding our voice to the uh neighborhood concerns and move help move the town a little bit further through more um education and and uh information provided. and um and uh maybe public awareness if that's if that's necessary. And is that Frank Zappa, Will? Yes, that's Frank Zappa. He uh he inspires

me in my daily life. Well, we can get into them another time. Cara, could I be recognized for 30 seconds? Yes. I don't want to get credit for that thought about whether tobacco is the right crop. That came from my colleagues in this process. They were brilliant on that idea. So, thank you. So, David, what would um you encourage this committee to do? How what do what do you think um we should do to encourage the town to move forward? Well, I think some of that will come out of our conversation with the egg commission um about uh general policy, but um I I I didn't have anything specific in mind that we should be pushing for right now. Um but there's a there's some there we've talked about a lot of issues and a lot of you know, a lot of ideas and the town came back on, you know, two or three or four. Um, so I just think there's there's room for movement and I I wasn't I I wasn't prepared to be specific and say here's what we should stand for, but that would be a good idea for us to come up with in the future. Um, all right. You know, signage is is one. uh being proactive uh uh information about what's to be sprayed um and and not uh just retroactive after it's too late. Yeah. So um one way to respond to that would be to potentially just ask the farmer to respond to the items in the in the deep report. And with that, I guess just a question. Um, I guess a number of us understood even a month ago that a notice of violation

um had been issued and we're waiting for a response. I guess I don't have any update on that. Um, and I want to pick up on some good words that Peggy said, which is like you want to give you you want the farmer to succeed, but but okay, in succeeding, please follow the rules. Um, so do we does anybody have any indication as to when we might see the notice of violation or the farmer's response to it? Um, I just think that would probably play a key role in what the town needs to do and and and what we would be looking at as well. I don't have an answer to that question. Okay. Uh, has anyone requested the a copy of the notice of violation? No. No, I haven't. Um, so everything at um, DEP, it's a public state agency. So just like you know anything that goes through our commission technically is available through freedom of information request. Um it should especially if um you're the complainant. Normally it's pretty easy to obtain a copy of that. um sending an sending an email to someone at at the program should be able to get you a copy of that and uh the compliance statement if if it's available yet. Should someone uh request it on behalf of the commission? Um so my suggestion would be um the

complainant. So I is that Julie or was that Stephanie or uh it was it was me. I was the complainant. So I would suggest you you reach out to whoever um you've been dealing with in our department whether it's um Diane or Adam I um and just put a formal request in and they should provide it to you. Um otherwise the commission will have to go through the egov portal and that's a little bit backlogged to be honest right now. Okay, I can do that. And then uh Lee could could share it with the commission if she wanted to. I think the town may have it and the town says they have met with the farmer a couple of times and uh had already we're were taking various positions with him but I guess that's for them to update you. Can I suggest that we uh Lee that you also ask maybe it's proactively to be uh provided a copy of any response from the farmer if the you know 30 days has a chance to has elapsed and he's responded. I I think a lot of the responses are going to be related to issues where he has been very lax with his recordkeeping because the final page of the complaint really details a lot of the facts that he did not maintain adequate records and did not have, you know, protective

equipment for his employees and did not have wash stations for his employees and you know he a lot of it was u really related to how he wasn't doing what he needed to do for his workers. So I'm assuming that probably a lot of what they're going to give him on that 30 days was that he had to you know bring his operation up to standards. But it would be good to know about that. Also follow up with the with um Mike Walsh to see if the town has received a copy. Yeah, I'll follow up with that. Um all right, last call for commissioner comments. All right. Um, so I think we'll move on to the rest of the agenda at this point. I will keep the other commissioners informed about whether or not we'll be meeting with the A commission tomorrow as soon as I know. Um, and then if not, when the the next opportunity to meet will be. Um, so, um, moving on, sorry, it's Jim. Not not not a question, but just I guess a an item I I I guess just I thought that was to be communicated. So, following up on kind of last month's notes and whatnot. Um um you know per the followup I had reached out thinking we were scheduling a meeting and I guess the reply to Carara and myself was um no no meeting. Mark had already met with the farmer and came up with these points that I think will

be in Lee's email to everyone. Um and that the first selectman volunteered to come to a conservation commission meeting and so currently is planning to come to the May meeting. Is that correct, Carara? Yes. Yes. Uh the first selectman is planning to come to next month's the May 13th meeting. So we will uh have an opportunity to uh discuss this with him. Then I'm you know we'll you know we'll definitely keep this uh item on the agenda. I do want to talk with him about you know about how to respond short and long term. So Jim, anything else you wanted to say on this? No, I just just thought it was prudent to to let the group and especially like as maybe David was saying um you know gosh what what what position would this commission have or questions that that at this point no meetings have occurred but but but hopefully we'll have that opportunity to have a dialogue with Mark um in in early May. Yes. So, does anyone else have any comments on that of I don't know things to prepare or or Cara any guidance on maybe preparing for that discussion or um David you you well I just have have a question to what extent can we um you know have a committee uh or a small group that isn't a quorum or isn't you know they can have an informal conversation about it in advance or should we um make the commitment that we'll

um you know we'll we'll sort of do it by email here some someone will say here are some things I think should be uh our position and someone else chimes in and so that we're we're we at least we know how aligned we are by that meeting because I think it'd be useful for us to be uh unified. I think that's a good point. Um Kathy, do you know um what our guard rails are as far as um between meeting communication um you know I want to be transparent. Yeah, I was thinking about that um when that was brought up. I'm not a 100% sure, but let me because I think if there's a certain number of people, it becomes a meeting like if you have a group. So I I'll clarify that tomorrow and let you know, Cara. Okay. Um would it be um you know again trying to balance uh speedy response um growing season is getting started um with you know wanting to address this as fast as we can with you know time to do it in a thoughtful way. So would it be better to you know maybe postpone the first selectman's uh meeting joining us to June and so that we can or do we want to you know work through some questions now for him um you know do we want to how how much do we want to think about it versus um just go back and forth like Well, if

if I pick up on if I pick up on um the the phrase the IPM, the integrated plus management plan um that Zach referred to, um it it sounds like that's not a taxing ask. And I guess I also articulate it because command is a pre-emergent pesticide and I realize we're not using command anymore, but but maybe there'll be another pre-emergent and that would go down in in that would probably be applied in May. So from a practical standpoint, having maybe not every question, but at least a couple of questions and a dialogue with the first selectman in May seems prudent. Um while he says he's done considering things for 2025, I believe um in his in his notes um or you know he's already made a plan for 2025 and and we're commenting longer term anyway. A May meeting would provide the opportunity to still be almost pre growing season whereas June would I don't I don't believe it would. Yeah. No, I think that's a good point. I think um and Cara what I will do I should be able to get back to you tomorrow. Okay. Um regarding if there's any problem with like the commission having a group email and the only thing that string comes to my mind is I don't want that to be like a breach of freedom of information. Are you having like a private meet? that's what will be considered like. So, I just want to double check on that. Thank you. I also want to make sure we're being appropriately transparent. Um, yeah, but I think Go ahead. I was just going to say and of course every email related

to it could be discoverable, you know, FOI requested. So we we if we had a a a meeting of two people, you know, there could be notes from that that someone want and that that would be our respide. Pretty sure that's how it works. Okay. Thank you. Um but I think bringing up definitely it sounds like we want to bring up the integrated pest management plan. um you know maybe ask uh for a little more um ask him to share a little more about what he has discussed with the farmer and what the expectations are. Um, and you know, asking for a little more of a plan up, ask for a plan up front, whether it's integrated pest management or what is he, how is he planning to use pesticides? Um, and the 2025 growing season. That's a good list, Cara. Okay. and maybe add to that um whatever um signage or notification would is helpful for u folks who live nearby. Yep. Okay. Any other comments or suggestions? Okay. All right. Uh, next on the agenda,

composting updates. Um, Will, have you um continued your discussions with Blue Earth or or had any further uh Yeah. Um, yes, I have. So, I've been communicating with Charlie Burggoyan uh from Blue Earth and he has um offered um to provide um you know, some education, some resources for us. I'm thinking that um you know, we we have these uh presentations we're going to be making at the library and I think mine is scheduled for September 23rd. Um, I think that was in the drummer uh this past uh uh um this past issue. Um but I was um planning on asking Charlie if he can attend that um with me. And um what I'd like to do uh since I yeah since I think a a a reasonable and salutary goal here is to find uh 50 households who are willing to participate in the Blue Earth program so that we can have uh service provided to the town. Um you know that I I would like to you know possibly put an article uh in the drummer maybe in August. um you know sort of alert the public to the fact that we're making an initiative here to bring Blue Earth to Graanby uh and then um you know combine that with an invitation to attend on September 23rd at the library uh to get more information and sign up sheets and things like that. So um so that's that piece of it. Um I um I did reach out again to Mindy Gould and I've not heard back. Um, so, um, it might I'm not sure that I have the right email address. Um, but it might be helpful if someone has her cell phone

number or, you know, telephone number to get it to me by email. Um, then I can just, uh, place a call to Mindy. Um, but, um, yeah, that's, uh, that's about all I have to report on the composting component. Thank you. Thank you for keeping that moving forward. Um, and the combination of a article in the drummer and then the September meeting I think is a great a great idea. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, I think the drummer doesn't publish an article in August. They do July and September. Okay, that sounds right. Yeah. Well, then we'll have to put it in July. Yeah. So, that's a mid June deadline. Okay. All right. Does anyone know who my who the contact person would be at the drummer for me to do that? I think there's a submissions line. Oh, there is. Okay. All right. Yeah. Right. Just send it to editor at the drummer. Okay. Very good. Any other comments on composting? Okay. Energy conservation. Kent, have you uh got any updates for us? Uh no specific updates. Um I did write an email to Kathy in midFebruary that I was hoping you would forward to Mike. Uh you did reply to me um saying I I could write to Mike, but I just wrote the same email again tonight directly to Mike. I copied Kathy. Okay, Cara, Dave, and Jim asking for a meeting to um hear about Mike's priorities.

So, little little uh behind, but I I I got that uh email out today. Let's hope and and I got a response that he's traveling soon, Kathy. So, I'm not sure or he's out of office soon, but we'll see when he gets back to us. Yeah, I know he's off Friday this week. I mean, so he'll be in tomorrow. I can give him a heads up about the email. Yeah, if you could, that'd be great. We could um set up a meeting for about two weeks out would be my um so then I hope hopefully if we can find a time I know Dave and Jim and maybe Cara, you might be interested. We you know get I don't know at least two or three of us to meet with Mike. we can see if we can find a time. I think that would be great. Um, also I know I was talking with colleagues that work in Eversource and there's um they're rolling out a weatherization offering for municipal and school buildings that are less than 20,000 square feet. Um, so I'm happy to connect um the the town with Eversource to learn more about that program. municipal and school buildings. Oh, okay. Yeah, we have we have municipal buildings. That's Yeah, it's uh Yeah, I would expect like any of the buildings at our municipal complex would be less than 20,000 square feet. So, we should be full of opportunities. So, that's that's good. Um, thank you, Kent. um sustainable Connecticut. Um I don't think I don't have any updates on this.

Um I think this might be a good one to talk with um Mark Fantino about. Um you know, do we want to does the town want to pursue a silver certification? Do they want to pursue reertification? Um, and if so, maybe ask for additional help in in some of the, you know, some of the other areas that require uh that it's a lot of work and maybe finding some more folks in town to uh help with those activities that we do. Okay. Um, all right. Moving on to library programs. Can I ask Cara? Yeah. On on sustainable Connecticut. Um, you know, some of the members on the commission are new and I'm still getting emails from them every once in a while. They'll do a a coffee hour about issue X or Y and various people from various towns will make presentations. The ones I've attended have been very useful and I just want to wonder if we should make sure that everybody hears about that. It's a way to get, you know, a little more familiar with sustainable Connecticut. Not that I'm a huge booster, but um, you know, it's a resource and it plots a good way forward and hearing from other towns is always really useful. I don't know. I don't list or who who wants to be on the list or you know I think you can do it on your own if you want but we could also probably do it as a a member town. You know here here are the people we want to be on receiving emails. How about I forward one of the emails um

that we've gotten from them and uh folks can you know either self- select or let let us know if we want to have them. I also need to that's reminding me I need to get the um get the login. Um okay. Any other comments or questions on sustainable Connecticut? All right. Library programs. um will you know thank you for the September I for working on the thinking about September now um I shared the list of um you know people who agreed to take on um the topics um Zach have you been I believe you're up for May have you been talking to Holly about that so I haven't talked to Holly yet um I'm gonna throw throw a wrench in the works, I think, unfortunately. So, I was hoping to find someone to speak with me. Um, my wife works on the May 20th date, so I probably wouldn't be able to make it there for 6:30, so I was hoping someone would split time with me. Um, the Wildflower Meadow people that I'm on the board with there, um, they're very busy with a big project coming up. Um, so no one wants to jump from them. And I reached out to a couple of my co-workers at Deep and got turned down or ignored. So I was hoping that maybe you guys might want to push what you were planning to speak about in April to the May date or if someone has another suggestion. I think I'm Yeah, I'm going to have to bow out on it unfortunately.

Okay, thanks. Thanks for letting us know. Um, just sort of thinking about what else we might talk about in that. Zach, do you have do you have I mean, I I realize that you're probably the expert, but do do you have content prepared? And is it a case of just someone getting up to speed on the content or or or anyway sorry if so I have lots of presentations that I've given and could be used hypothetically. Um that's also another hesitancy of mine as to you know similar to the um barn dooror hill issue trying to keep my work and not work separate um and the I know my my my specialties lie in pesticides and there's I don't know how many of you are on Graanby living or some of the other Facebook pages there's a very uh negative um annotation around pesticides. Um I try to stick to the sciences personally. I don't know that that um it would be wise for someone to who's not super well-versed in pesticides and um the laws and regulations around them in Connecticut to get up and present. Okay. Um fair. Got it. So the that's why I would suggest I I feel like there was a topic for April that got bumped because of the budgets, but yeah, that's that's my thoughts. Or are we Oh, okay. And sorry I I and I thought we were talking Wildflower um meadow. So forgive me. Sorry for the question. Yeah. So, so actually um I believe the Wildflower Meadow Group actually has a presentation planned later in the fall to kind of go

over what they are um what's been going on there and what they're going to be doing this spring and summer. Um there's some big things that haven't come out that um that they're planning on doing I think in the next month or two. And then um yeah, so the talk was supposed to be I think Holly labeled it good bugs, bad bugs, and then parenthesis she wanted to talk about uh mosquito control. So, I was going to take an IPM approach and then go over the statues and regulations about um pesticides and I was hoping that someone from the wildflower meadow was going to talk about like pollinators and creating pollinator gardens in your yard to kind of fill that first half a time until I got there and could jump over. But unfortunately, that's not the case. Okay, David. Uh, I'm set for October, I think it's 28th, to do something on invasives. I was going to recruit an expert from the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group, speaker bureau, you know. Um uh but I could do my you know sort of straightforward invasives thing as long as it's uh especially if it's the 20th the 13th is a little harder because of wedding and uh family family visiting and stuff in early May. But if you want if you want to swap me or even do it twice we could do me in in April I mean in May and maybe even a sip person would be available. I don't know. I just assume it's short notice, but it's two months. So, yeah, we can we can touch base with Holly um and see. Just trying to think um what other content I mean I'm happy to get up and speak.

Um I, you know, I'm not going to talk about pesticides. I could probably talk about pollination um and pollinators, but I don't have anything prepared. So, um yeah, we'll we'll talk with Holly and and see what else comes up. I mean, I think she was um I think one of the other suggestions might have been water quality. [Music] Um, I wonder if we could get coordinate with someone from the Inland Wetlands Commission, um, talking about protecting water quality in our, [Music] um, you know, in our town. So, Okay. Any other um thoughts or updates on the library? Um I I had reached out to Holly for the November topic. I hadn't heard back. I'll resend my my note to her tomorrow morning and just to confirm that uh heading down the path of of of trying to have a a MLAN focused discussion in November uh makes sense whether it's whether it's Connor himself or whether it's one or more of of of his interns. But uh I I'll reach out again to Holly tomorrow morning. Okay. Yeah, she can be um a little like I think she tends to not plan as much long term. No, no worries. And I'll or or I'll just

stop by the library and and and and say hi. That's probably a good way to do it. Yeah. Awesome. uh last time the last series we did we it got the name con conservation conversations yes which I thought was good in a couple ways you know it sort of got us out our name out there but also it wasn't a it wasn't built as a lecture it was there was some lecture but there was also good communication in fact that's where the uh the sign came from you know we had a we had a no mo presentation which was really a conversation and people who were not mowing said, "Well, we don't really need a prohibition against mowing. We need an explanation. We need uh a way for people to know that we're not mowing on purpose and you know, we're we're supporting the pollinators." And out of that grew, you know, a sign contest. Um so the conversation part is so is is I think appropriate. So I don't know if we're if we put thought into any branding. uh my favorite subject. Uh not at all, but that would be a nice uh it would be a nice continuation if we just called it conservation conversations uh or anything else that doesn't take us a lot of time to come up with. So I think that's perfect. I like that name. It's good. Yeah, I think it is good. All right. Um, we ready to move on to invasives? David, um, part of this I think, uh, Zach might be next. Um, this is the second Saturday coming up and we'll have another invasive action day. Um, I'll have a an article in the drummer for next month. Not sure what else there is to say. Oh.

Uh, there's a community serve day at Stony Hill Village on May 3rd and a bunch of people from the invasive action group have gone over there and worked on the outside environment, you know, massive um mugwart infestations and um and you know, the usual bittersweet and stuff like that. Uh, which is has been really worked back a lot over the last couple years and I'm sure there'll be more of that. So that's another opportunity for people who are interested in invasives. And I think that's all. Thank you. So I have some good news on invasives. Two years plus in the making. I feel like I think I don't know when we initially started this, but the uh PNZ um approved a regulation change for section 4.2.5. 2.5 landscape treatments. Uh the regulation is now effective and they are updating the document. This language is nowhere near as strong as we push for, but nonetheless it is language. So the language um included is site plans are encouraged to contain native species whenever possible. If a non-native species is proposed and there is a native species similar in appearance and function, preference shall be given to the native species. Cleared areas not being regularly mowed should be seated with a mix of native grasses and pollinator friendly species whenever possible. So that has been added to the regulations. Um, like I said, it's not specifically banning invasives, and we had this conversation last time, um, because all invasives aren't technically banned in the state of Connecticut. Um, you can still purchase them because of

lobbyists essentially. Um, but I think it's a step in the right direction and I'm glad we finally got something on on the books. Well done. Thank you, Zach, for your Congrats. Yeah, that's a good start. I have two one big invasive news. I cut down the world's largest burning bush this uh late in March on my property. Thing was a monster. It's got to be 25 ft across. And Bradford pairs are coming down in April. Well done. And I'm getting ready to pick mustard garlic again. I've been waiting mustard garlic. It's We're in our third year. I think we're seeing a difference. It's pretty hard. Uh I love the the memes that are going around about it's Bradford pear pruning season time and the the the instructions are to cut no more than four inches above the base. Okay. And if anybody doubts the um ability of Bradford pair to take over, you see it in little ways all over the place, but uh Peggy noted a place on 189 near where Dayill Road meets. No, 187 near where are they combined there? You know where I'm talking about where they are rampant. And another is the picking pick and patch on route uh on nod road on on just south of the pick and patch. Uh you know there many many hundreds. A little footnote. Go down and look at Deill Road and they've cut a whole slew of them. Good to know. We'll see.

Sorry. In the last two weeks, I or three weeks, I've cut some bittersweet vines that I I hate to say this, have have 40 four zero rings. They're they're almost six inches in diameter. Wow. They they were all at Hulcom Farm, but uh yeah, it's just like No, no, they it can't it can't be more than 30. Oh gosh, it is. Anyway, they're cut now. Great. Um, thank thanks for the good news on invasives, everybody. Yeah, that's good. Um, any other comments? Okay. Um, meeting topics for May 13th. Um, continuing Barnor Hills Farm Property. Um, discussions with, um, Mark Furantino. Uh, as I said, I [Music] um think we should talk with him about sustainable Connecticut um and where we want to take that. Um, should we keep composting and uh energy conservation on the agenda for next month? I see nods from David. Yes. And Kent. Okay. Um, I'm actually traveling next month, so I won't be able to attend. Okay. Um, I'm actually also going to be traveling. Um, but I will be able to attend, but I um I think it would be good if we had someone else running the meeting just in case I'm I do have internet problems. Um, so was it Zach? Are you the vice chair now? Yep. I can I can plan on doing that. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, we'll keep it um

we'll keep this one Zoom. Um I would maybe next month let's talk about perhaps having an in-person meeting in sometime in the future. Um the just just to mix it up and meet see all of you and in person. Um any other topics that we should bring up from the May meeting? Okay. Um, final comments from the commissioners. David, I'm sorry. I always have something to say. Um I've uh one main thing but um thinking back about distribution of material that you know to to board members I wonder if uh if it's you know it could be just really simple like somebody writes the the chair and says could you please pass this to to the rest of the commission and um uh the chair has the you know um discretion to do that or reply no I'm not doing that for some reason or something like that I don't know um I'm not trying to propose a final rule just I think it could might not take a lot of deliberation but the other thing is um the drummer this month had for the first time I think our minutes in them um as they often have the minutes of but but they were the uncorrected minutes or they were partially corrected or something like that so I just wondered what the process is like do they just does the drummer just decide to go to the website and pull whatever is down and and not know that it's important to wait until they're approved or or what. I you know if it's going to if they're going to keep doing it, we should have some control over it or at least some knowledge of what their process is. Does anybody know?

Kathy, it's not it's not like they contacted you and said, "Could you get send us the minutes?" Right. No. No. I'm assuming they probably just took them off the website. So, it it's kind of a drag to tell them, okay, you got to wait. But I don't think it said, you know, these are the unapproved for un, you know, the commission hasn't had a chance to finalize these or something that would make it clear that it was a draft. Maybe could we just put draft on the minutes until they're approved? I think that's a good idea. No, you can't do because they need to go to the town clerk. um within I forget what it is. I think like there's a whole process to minutes. There's the legality and um the motions. So you can't wait like a month for them to go on the website. Yeah. Right. but um saying that until they're fully approved by the commission to to just have it indicated on the copy that gets posted to the website that they're a draft. I can look into it. Okay. Um I'd be happy to contact the drummer and and just ask, you know, are they aware of the process and um you know, report back what they say. I mean, they probably don't know the difference that Yep. I think regularly, don't they um put the Do they put the board of selectment and the board of finance minutes in there? Yeah. And PNZ. There's lots of stuff that's up there. That's why ours stuck out. First time I've ever seen it. Yeah. So, I'm assuming that's what they do is they take [Music] them off the website, but I could also find that out, too. Not that they're our minutes are so

different that you know they don't change that much but right maybe it's not worth fussing with. What do you think? I mean is it I don't know. It's kind of curious. I think that the board of selecting minutes need to be there should be they they would need some more controls. It's probably more important for them. It's less important for us, but it I agree with you, David. It should be a little bit more controlled. But how about I just ask what their thinking is and and just report back and we can just Okay, I'll do that. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. Um, thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for uh thank you for caring and being engaged and um bringing your concerns to us. So, thank you. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjourn. I'll second. I think I think we have a second and a third. Uh all in favor? I I All right. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Bye. Yeah. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Get out of this.