Sustainability at Lake Superior College

Meeting Minutes 3/7/2014

9:00-10:30

Location: Student Life Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council Members present: Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein, Mike Francisco, Heather Grillo, Aaron McIntire, Heather Rantula

General Members present:  Duane Timo, Dick Haney

Guest Present: Deanna Keller (PTK), Alyssa Heim

Announcements

Sustainable Twin Ports Early Adopter training will not run this year.  Dine Sustainably Twin Ports will take place in late April, during Homegrown, volunteers are welcome!

Work Group and Student Employee Reports

Policy and Procedure: employee reminders, education, and training needs (printing, recycling, supplies, computers, small appliance)

                *Rachel, Carol, Kristi, Chad

No updates

Master Facilities Plan

                *Dick, Cliff, Glenn, Kristi, Theresa

The work group met on February 24^th to further brainstorm sustainability proposals for inclusion in the Facilities Master Plan.  This time, the group focused more on building efficiency technologies and plans.  The full list was sent to Al for conversations with the contractors.  The list is attached to today’s minutes.  From this meeting, some broad needs were identified, including the need for a Landscape Plan and Annual Landscape Maintenance Calendar.  Kristi convened a meeting with the Landscape Planning Committee to discuss these plans further.

Sustainability Reporting/Benchmarking: GGI, ACUPCC, MnSCU Sustainability Reporting, Superior Compact, B3, publicizing info

                *Kristi, Aaron, Deanne, Bruce

No updates.

Sustainability Kiosk: energy dashboard/demo, sustainability signage

                *Duane, Rachel, Student Senate Rep

No updates

Landscape Planning: annual flower planting, rainwater harvesting, no-mow areas, rooftop gardening

                Theresa, Mike, Aaron, Kristi, maintenance rep

The work group met on March 3^rd to continue work on proposals submitted to the Facilites Master Planning consultants.  The group started to identify key areas on campus that needed landscaping attention or specific maintenance needs, both for asthetic purposes and structural.  After the meeting, Kristi drafted an LSC Landscaping Map through google, this map will be used to create an Annual Landscape Calendar and specific annual planting goals in the next month.

Sustainability in Curriculum

                *Theresa, Duane, Aaron, Kristi, Deanne, Glenn

Aaron reported that he’s been communicating the efforts of our group to PTK, and they are very interested in being part of the research needs that Jenni is looking for to bring the Sustainable Food Systems articulation track to LSC.  PTK is also interested in helping to secure funding or support for a greenhouse.  Theresa and Aaron have been working with Theo in the Grant Office to find potential funding sources.  Theo would like us to draft letters of intent for projects we’re hoping to secure funding in.  These letters will fall under the responsibility of the SC work group the most align with.

Other SE Updates

None

New Business

The Earth Day planning committee met on March 3^rd to continue discussions for Earth Day planning.  Kristi will ask Jean to create a poster for the meal, featuring vendors and where to buy.  The poster or another will feature the day’s schedule. Schedule below:

World Water Week is being recognized locally on March 24-25; collaborative events from CSS, UMD, UWS, and LSC are being organized by the League of Women Voters.  LSC will gather plastic bottles and create a garland chain on March 25^th in the Atrium.  Garden Club will make popcorn, we will show the movie Tapped or similar water focused documentary, and invite all students (through posters on the vending machines and facebook) to connect their bottles to the chain where images of the destructive nature of plastic in ecosystems will also be hung.  The garland will hang in the concourse until Earth Day. 

Ongoing Business

Old Business

Budget

Annual RSPT dues, of $300, are due soon.  Kristi outlined the benefit of RSPT to LSC.  This is a membership we budget for each year.  Theresa motioned to pay the dues, Dick seconded.  Motion passed unopposed.

FY14 Budget: $9,000 

Encumbrances to date:

MN Waste Wise membership 2013-2014: -$150

Open PO for Menards (landscaping supplies: azalea mulch, planter flowers): -$200

Open PO for Menards (Interpretive trail supplies) – $200

AASHE membership: -$280

Airpark plastic bag recycling program: -$208

Rene Fall (Int Trail GIS mapping): -$320

UMACS Kristi travel and registration: -$758.39

ACUPCC annual 2013-2014 membership: -$750

Eden Brothers (seed mix for S-bldg): -143.96

Grainger for faucet aerators: -$85

BALANCE as of 3/7/2014: $5918.65

FY14 potential budget items

·         Concourse lighting signage

·         Bottle filling station for ERTC (did this happen in FY13?) and downtown campus

·         Additional bike rack for main entrance

·         Outdoor recycling cans

·         Interpretive Trailhead sign

·         Interpretive Trail bench, trash/recycling cans

·         Parking lot info signs

·         Legacy: fencing for exclosures

·         Sustainability kiosk

·         MnSCU Sustainability Across Curriculum workshop host costs

Next meeting

April 4^th, 2014, 9:00 am, Student Life Conference Room

Notes submitted by Kristi Heintz

Meeting Minutes 2-7-2014

9:00-10:30

Location: Student Life Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council Members present: Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein, Wade Gordon, Heather Grillo, Aaron McIntire, Heather Rantula

General Members present:  Al Finlayson, Carol Johnson, Duane Timo

Guest Present:

Announcements

The Nelson Institute Earth Day at UW Madison is April 22^nd.  Deanne will be going; students are encouraged to attend as well.

Kristi submitted our Energy conservation grant blog story to AASHE bulletin, it will be posted in next week’s issue

Work Group and Student Employee Reports

Policy and Procedure: employee reminders, education, and training needs (printing, recycling, supplies, computers, small appliance)

*Rachel, Carol, Kristi, Chad

No updates

Master Facilities Plan

*Dick, Cliff, Glenn, Kristi, Theresa

Al gave an update on the consultant meeting timeline and reported they were on campus this week for further discussion and will be back on February 26^th.  Al made sure there was a sustainability point in the Plan, and would like the SC to put together a more comprehensive list of building needs related to sustainability.  The Council began to put a list together; Kristi will convene a work-group meeting next week to brainstorm further.

Sustainability Reporting/Benchmarking: GGI, ACUPCC, MnSCU Sustainability Reporting, Superior Compact, B3, publicizing info

*Kristi, Aaron, Deanne, Bruce

Kristi worked on the GGI a bit over break and was able to enter all data from B3 and update year’s past.  Denise updated past institutional data and also entered data for the past 2 years.  Kathy sent data to Kristi, but she hasn’t had a chance to enter all of it yet.

Sustainability Kiosk: energy dashboard/demo, sustainability signage

*Duane, Rachel, Student Senate Rep

No updates

Grounds Maintenance/Campus Appeal: annual flower planting, rainwater harvesting, no-mow areas, rooftop gardening

Theresa, Mike, Aaron, Kristi, maintenance rep

No updates

Sustainability in Curriculum

Theresa, Duane, Aaron, Kristi, Deanne, Glenn

No updates

Other SE Updates

None

New Business

Kristi and Deanne updated the SC committee structure: members, Governing Council, and Council co-chair responsibilities.  The Council reviewed and approved the changes.  It will be posted on the blog.

An Earth Day met Friday, January 31st to discuss themes and ideas for Earth Day.  Chad Johnson also joined the conversation and is willing to serve as a speaker for the event.  The Council discussed the theme for this year, it will follow a zero-waste idea.   Bruce is willing to offer lunch again, and Todd from Thousand Hills may be interested in coming up to serve his all-beef, grass-fed hot dogs.   The Council will again provide compostable eat wear for the event.  The Council discussed using the lunch as a lure for the speaker, and perhaps showing a short video before the speaker to get conversations going.  After attending the speaker, students would receive a ticket for free-lunch.  Students felt like this was a fair option.  Other activities for the day will include campus clean-up,  poster sessions on mini-landfill project, compost-related activities like vermiculture demonstrations and perhaps and drawing to win a home compost bin.  We will also do a cell phone collection for CASDA-PAVSA, we’ll showcase our other ongoing recycling efforts (toner, soft plastic, hard plastic and will invite Johns Twin Ports Recycling to do a collection.  Water bottles from last year, shirts, and bags from year’s past will be used as thank-yous for volunteers for the day.  The planning committee will meet next Friday, February 14^th at 9:00 in the Student Life Conference Room.

Kristi mentioned that Glenn would like to take another field trip to Victus Farms in Silver Bay in April.  Deanne motioned the SC to fund Voyageur bus travel to Silver Bay for any students or staff that want to attend, Heather seconded the motion.  April 11^th was ste as a tentative date, Glenn will check with Mike at Victus to confirm.

LSC will be hosting the still tentative Sustainable Twin Ports full-day training sessions in March.  Kristi asked if the Council would be interested in supporting the training through printing workbook materials and purchasing binders for each trainee.  In return, any LSC employees that would like to attend the day-long training sessions would be welcome to sit in.  Theresa motioned up to $300 be spent on printing and binders, Carol seconded the motion.

Ongoing Business

Kristi submitted the STP-LSC project “Strategic Sustainability Planning to Synergistic Results” submitted for consideration for one of 5 annual AASHE Sustainability Case Study awards.  Stay tuned…

Old Business 

Budget                                            

FY14 Budget: $9,000 

Encumbrances to date:

MN Waste Wise membership 2013-2014: -$150

Open PO for Menards (landscaping supplies: azalea mulch, planter flowers): -$200

Open PO for Menards (Interpretive trail supplies) – $200

AASHE membership: -$280

Airpark plastic bag recycling program: -$208

Rene Fall (Int Trail GIS mapping): -$320

UMACS Kristi travel and registration: -$758.39

ACUPCC annual 2013-2014 membership: -$750

Eden Brothers (seed mix for S-bldg): -143.96

Grainger for faucet aerators: -$85

BALANCE as of 1/14/2014: $5918.65

FY14 potential budget items

• Concourse lighting signage
• Bottle filling station for ERTC (did this happen in FY13?) and downtown campus
• Additional bike rack for main entrance
• Outdoor recycling cans
• Interpretive Trailhead sign
• Interpretive Trail bench, trash/recycling cans
• Parking lot info signs
• Legacy: fencing for exclosures
• Sustainability kiosk
• MnSCU Sustainability Across Curriculum workshop host costs

Next meeting

March 7th, 2014, 9:00 am, Student Life Conference Room

Notes submitted by Kristi Heintz

Meeting Minutes 1-17-2014

8:30-10:00

Location: Student Life Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council Members present: Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein,

General Members present:  Glenn Merrick, Dick Haney,

Guest Present:

Announcements

The Nelson Institute Earth Day at UW Madison is April 22^nd.  Deanne will be going; students are encouraged to attend as well.

Check out the Duluth Public Seed Lending Library, grand opening is on February 22nd!

The Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association’s Annual meeting will be on January 25th from noon-4:30 at Peace Church in Duluth.

Work Group and Student Employee Reports

Policy and Procedure: employee reminders, education, and training needs (printing, recycling, supplies, computers, small appliance)

*Rachel, Carol, Kristi, Chad

No updates

Master Facilities Plan

*Dick, Cliff, Glenn, Kristi, Theresa

Dick gave an update on the Master Plan consultant meeting.  Cliff and Dick have put together maps and forwarded to the consultants for trail development potential.  Dick is working on some additional connections with City trails and will forward that information as well.

Sustainability Reporting/Benchmarking: GGI, ACUPCC, MnSCU Sustainability Reporting, Superior Compact, B3, publicizing info

*Kristi, Aaron, Deanne, Bruce

Kristi worked on the GGI a bit over break and was able to enter all data from B3 and update year’s past.  Denise updated past institutional data and also entered data for the past 2 years.  Kathy sent data to Kristi, but she hasn’t had a chance to enter all of it yet.

Sustainability Kiosk: energy dashboard/demo, sustainability signage

*Duane, Rachel, Student Senate Rep

No updates

Grounds Maintenance/Campus Appeal: annual flower planting, rainwater harvesting, no-mow areas, rooftop gardening

Theresa, Mike, Aaron, Kristi, maintenance rep

No updates

Sustainability in Curriculum

Theresa, Duane, Aaron, Kristi, Deanne, Glenn

Theresa reported she has been in conversation with Jenni about a potential land for the Food Systems articulation and also outlined some questions and concerns in an email to Jenni.  Jenni is still very intent on pushing this articulation through, although a timeline has not yet been established.

Other SE Updates

None

New Business

Deanne and Kristi visited Fond du Lac over break to talk with Bill Hilty about Co-hosting the next Sustainability Across the Curriculum Workshop.  He was very interested although both of us are concerned about the May date Ana and Erika have proposed.  The Council agreed it would be a time-crunch for faculty and would also lessen the chance we’d be able to get  student involvement.  Deanne will send a message to Ana and tell them we are very interested, but this year will not work for us and propose next year the workshop be scheduled perhaps in March.

The Business Office has twice requested a water bottle filling station for the S-building.  The Council supports purchasing a station if Gary Adams will have one installed.  Deanne will send an email to Gary.

Kristi and Wade worked on the FY15 Budget proposal and submitted a slightly lower request than last year.  We need to be proactive in utilizing funds each year to demonstrate the ongoing need.

An Earth Day committee will meet Friday. January 31st to discuss themes and ideas for Earth Day.  Deanne, Kristi, Theresa and Aaron will be part of the planning committee.  Kristi will invite Heather to the next Sustainability Council meeting to share committee ideas.

LSC will be hosting the still tentative Sustainable Twin Ports full-day training sessions in March.  Kristi will have more information about those trainings at next meeting.

Kristi mentioned the $30,000 conservation grant LSC received from Comfort Systems Duluth for the boiler upgrade project in both the main building and Art building.  Kristi did a blog post about it and forwarded the blog post to Mat for Newsplash.  It was not Newsplashed or mentioned in any campus correspondence.

Ongoing Business

Update SC Committee structure: members, Governing Council, and Council co-chair responsibilities (tabled until next meeting)

Old Business

The latest Sustainability Council AQIP Action Project initiated through the Sustainable Twin Ports Training titled “Early Adopter Project-Building Sustainability into Campus Process”, will be closed-out this month. (Kristi)

Budget

FY14 Budget: $9,000 

Encumbrances to date:

MN Waste Wise membership 2013-2014: -$150

Open PO for Menards (landscaping supplies: azalea mulch, planter flowers): -$200

Open PO for Menards (Interpretive trail supplies) – $200

AASHE membership: -$280

Airpark plastic bag recycling program: -$208

Rene Fall (Int Trail GIS mapping): -$320

UMACS Kristi travel and registration: -$758.39

ACUPCC annual 2013-2014 membership: -$750

Eden Brothers (seed mix for S-bldg): -143.96

Grainger for faucet aerators: -$85

BALANCE as of 1/14/2014: $5918.65

FY14 potential budget items

• Concourse lighting signage
• Bottle filling station for ERTC (did this happen in FY13?) and downtown campus
• Additional bike rack for main entrance
• Outdoor recycling cans
• Interpretive Trailhead sign
• Interpretive Trail bench, trash/recycling cans
• Parking lot info signs
• Legacy: fencing for exclosures
• Sustainability kiosk
• MnSCU Sustainability Across Curriculum workshop host costs

Next meeting

March7th, 2013, 9:00 am, Student Life Conference Room

Notes submitted by Kristi Heintz