Sustainability at Lake Superior College

Meeting Minutes 7/16/2012

11:30-1:30

Location: Student Life Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council Members present: Cliff Koski, Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein, Vaughn Johnson

General Members present:  Jeri Schwerin

Guest Present:

Announcements

The EC would like to welcome Vaughn Johnson to the EC.  He is the new EC representative for facilities taking over for Kevin Futhey who retired last week.  Vaughn has already met with Kevin, Deanne, and Kristi and voiced some great ideas, welcome Vaughn!

Conference attendance in FY13:  Deanne mentioned two conferences next year and encouraged anyone that would like to go to put the dates on their calendars.   The first is the Annual Minnesota Waste Wise Meeting in Chaska at the Landscape Arboretum on Tuesday October 2^nd.  Kristi, Theresa, and Cliff all showed interest in going. The second conference is at UW-Madison on April 15^th where Jane Goodall will be the keynote speaker.

Deanne brought up an interesting idea themed after “Food For Thought”.  This would be a sustainable food plus discussion forum involving Bruce/the LSC cafeteria.  Deanne will try to set up a meeting with Bruce to discuss this idea.

New Business

Gardening Club/Wild Ones:  Jeri gave a brief review of work done by the Garden Club in the past month and also gave an overview of what “Wild Ones” does.  She also described the tour they’d like to have here at LSC.  Kristi added that we’d like to make it a plant identification workshop open to the LSC community where natives in both the rain gardens and other areas on campus would be identified and labeled.  Mary Beebe is working with the group and is trying to arrange the workshop for early August.

Ditch no-mow: With the current momentum of the Garden Club and Student Senate Legacy projects bringing attention to outdoor spaces, Kristi brought up the idea of creating some no-mow spaces in the wet ditch areas along the main drive of the campus.  There are many spots that aren’t easy to mow now, and with a little work could become permanent stormwater mitigation areas.  Kristi contacted Jeff West with Boreal Natives to ask for recommendations.  Kristi asked the EC if this is something we should pursue or put in a long-term goal file.  Vaughn agreed there are some areas that could use some immediate attention, and he will bring our idea to Gary A. for feedback.  Jeri suggested we take a look at her home rain garden for ideas.  There are a lot of unknowns as far as who would pay for the work and materials, who would do the work, and how we could get long-term support for maintenance.  Kristi will move forward with some initial planning, but the focus will remain on existing projects to make sure we aren’t taking on too much at one time.

Atrium: Vaughn asked who is responsible for upkeep of the Atrium plants.  This raised a larger discussion of who is responsible for grounds maintenance etc.  It was agreed that a larger discussion needs to be had with facilities and Admin on issues such as these.  Deanne will contact Al about possibly meeting with us to talk about these things.

Dedicated Tree for Kevin The EC decided to dedicate a replacement tree to Kevin once the dead white pine is cut down on the hillside by the H-Building.

Kristi is working with Mat on H-Building LEED signs and showed the design idea to the EC.

Vaughn mentioned the recent MnSCU hazardous waste fines.  He wondered if the EC had any role in our campus’ hazardous waste procedures.  Kristi has a role from a CLA standpoint, but most felt as though the EC is not in a position to make recommendations to Admin beyond the need they already recognize.

Ongoing Business

Old Business

Three water bottle filling stations have been installed in the E and W buildings.  Support and gratitude has been tremendous, and suggestions for more stations have been noted.  A need for one by the Wellness Center makes most sense and if an opportunity to install another arises, we will suggest this.

Budget                                                                                                                                                                      

FY13 Budget: $10,000

Encumbrances since last meeting:

• MN Waste Wise annual membership dues: $150
• Airpark Disability Svcs for plastic bag pick-up: $208

Items for approval:

• 7×5” galvanized signs: $2 each, cards $.70 each.  These will be used for plant identification in the campus gardens.  Theresa motioned to purchase 100 of each, Cliff seconded it, no opposition.

Next meeting

Next tentative meeting is August 13^th, 2012

Notes Submitted by Kristi Heintz