DuPage County Environmental Committee met April 4
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. CALL TO ORDER
8:30 AM meeting was called to order by Chairwoman Sheila Rutledge at 8:30 AM.
2. ROLL CALL
Member Covert arrived at 8:45 AM.
PRESENT Cronin Cahill, Evans, Garcia, LaPlante, and Rutledge
LATE Covert
3. CHAIRWOMAN'S REMARKS - CHAIR RUTLEDGE
Chairwoman Rutledge informed the committee that Kay McKeen, Director of SCARCE, was featured in the Naperville magazine. She shared that she recently read in an article that electricity generated from renewables exceeded coal for the first time in 2022.
4. PUBLIC COMMENT
David Barcus with Dark Sky spoke during public comment. Mr. Barcus provided event updates and announced the name change for the agency as Dark Sky and no longer International Dark Sky.
Catherine Francyck with League of Women Voters reminded the committee of the Plastic Pollution Community Solutions event. The event will host multiple speakers and a roundtable discussion, where the Chairwoman and staff of the Environmental Committee will be participating.
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
5.A. 23-1355
Environmental Committee Minutes - Regular Meeting - Tuesday, March 7, 2023
RESULT: APPROVED
MOVER: Cynthia Cronin Cahill
SECONDER: Lucy Evans
6. PARENT COMMITTEE APPROVAL
6.A. EN-R-0015-23
Resolution of Support for the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Greenest Region Compact
Joy Hinz, Environmental and Sustainability Programs Manager, reviewed the
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus Greenest Region Compact. The Greenest Region Compact has 49 high level goals with 140 communities having already adopted it. The framework include climate, economic development, energy, land, mobility, municipal operations, sustainable communities, water, waste, and recycling. DuPage County is already working in these areas. Participation in the Greenest Region Compact will enable the county to participate in the Caucus' E.V. Readiness Program and potentially qualify for future sustainability funding.
RESULT: APPROVED AT COMMITTEE
MOVER: Paula Garcia
SECONDER: Lynn LaPlante
7. DISCUSSION
7.A. 23-1356
Campus Cafeteria Packaging Follow Up
Manager of Support Services, Diane Borske, opened the conversation about the Campus Cafeteria Packaging. The cafeteria campus has changed out containers to eliminate Styrofoam use for a eco-friendly alternative. Recently, the price of Styrofoam has increased by two-fold making the turn over to eco-friendly alternatives easier. However, there is still a need for a 35% increase in budget. Nick Kottmeyer, Director of Public Works, stated that this would require a change order through the County Board out of contingency and the budget for the year 2024 would accommodate for this increase moving forward. Committee members supported this change and budget increase for the Care Center.
8. PRESENTATIONS
8.A. Fairgrounds Gardens
Executive Director of The Garden Works Project, Jeannie Iseman, presented. The Garden Works Project is a volunteer-run organization that runs home gardens. They partner with food pantries to donate what is grown in the home gardens to provide fresh produce for those in need. They currently have a garden plot located on county grounds that was developed in 2022 in partnership with the fairgrounds. Within the first year, the volunteers were able to harvest over 1,200 pounds of produce from the plot. Due to expressed interest, The Garden Works Project invites partnership with DuPage County to maintain a vegetation plot. In continuance effort to connect home gardeners with local food pantries, The Garden Works Project has come to a licensing agreement for a mobile app called Fresh Food Connect, that supports a home gardener and provides information on local food pantries that may need their donated extra produce. The Garden Works Project has an interest in erecting a greenhouse to create a winterized garden to supply local food pantries with fresh produce all year long. In order to fund this project, a $200,000 grant request would need to be submitted to ARPA if the committee wishes to pursue it. The request would have to go to Finance Committee then County Board for approval. All committee members came to a consensus to support the project.
8.B. SCARCE
Kay McKeen, Director of SCARCE, provided a presentation on current and past events. SCARCE recently toured the Groot sorting facility with teachers and community leaders. They hosted a Waste Audit demonstration and provided updates on Earth Flag ceremonies. They are looking forward to hosting their annual Sustainable Design Challenge. SCARCE received a $5,000 grant from the DuPage Foundation to repair instruments that are donated.
9. OLD BUSINESS
No old business was discussed.
10. NEW BUSINESS
No new business was discussed.
11. ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:07 AM.
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