Sustainable Communities Network Quarterly Meeting Minutes – March 2017

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March 2nd Meeting Notes of Sustainable Communities Network

Meeting was held at the City of Oshkosh in Oshkosh and Elizabeth Williams chaired the meeting.

Attendees were: Kathy Thunes, Jeanine Knapp, Elizabeth Williams, Steven Wiley, Fang Yang, Roger Kanitz, Margy Davey, and Lurton Blassingame

December 1st meeting notes were reviewed and approved. These are posted on our website.

Updated Membership Distribution List

Kathy Thunes took care of updating the member distribution list for the Sustainable Communities Network. To obtain a copy, please contact Kathy at KThunes@ecwrpc.org.

2017 Sustainability Goals – Road Table

Members in attendance discussed potential projects SCN could collaborate on in 2017. The following items were discussed:

  1. Electric Vehicle Charging Station Inventory
  2. Regional Sustainability Event
    1. Topics: PACE Wisconsin, urban beekeeping, trees, invasive species, recycling, renewables, native plants,
    2. Stakeholders: residents, neighborhood associations, businesses,
    3. Locations: UWO Executive Campus, UW-Fox Valley Campus
    4. Potential to collaborate with New North – Jeanine to coordinate with Steve Dunn.

Input in needed from the larger group to determine if there are additional projects of interest. Once a list of projects had been completed, it will be up to the larger group to select which project they would like to collaborate on in 2017.

Status of Urban Beekeeping Ordinances

An email from Monica Rico was shared with those in attendance which detailed current issues with Appleton’s urban beekeeping ordinance. The City of Neenah and Oshkosh will both be submitting an urban beekeeping ordinance to their respective Common Council for consideration in April. Copies of proposed ordinances can be obtained from Elizabeth Williams (City of Oshkosh) or Carol Kasimore (City of Neenah).

ECOS Website

Roger Kanitz followed up with the webmaster to update the name of the website to http://scn-foxvalley.com/. Roger Kanitz mentioned that the fee to maintain the website will be distributed to member communities in the near future.   Currently the website costs $50/community to maintain.  Shane, who has been maintaining the website will be sending a bill to communities.

Community Sharing

City of Menasha: E-cycling event planning is being finalized. The City received a grant for trees which they will be implementing in 2017.

Village of Fox Crossing: E-cycling event is planned for Saturday, April 18th. World Water Day event is scheduled for March 22nd from 6:30-7:30 p.m. An Earth Day hike is scheduled for Saturday, April 22nd

City of Oshkosh: Oshkosh is working on multiple sustainability projects including a collaboration with UW-Oshkosh Environmental Studies Program students to identify strategies that could be incorporated into a Climate Action Plan. The Sustainability Advisory Board will be making a recommendation to the Common Council on Monday, March 6th regarding urban beekeeping. The Sustainability Advisory Board will also be recommending a resolution to the Common Council to join the DNR’s Green Tier Legacy Community program.

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