Sustainability at Lake Superior College

Meeting Minutes 11/9/2012

8:30-9:45

Location: Student Life Conference Room

Attendance

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

General Members present:  Jeri Schwerin

Guest Present:

Announcements

ERTC’s Adopt-A-Lot: The Fire Tech Club requested to adopt their parking lot at the ERTC campus.  A sign has been made and sent to them to put at the parking lot entrance.

Adopt-A-Parking Lot lower lot clean-up will be next Thursday, November 15^th, at 10:00.   Kristi has requested that Mat post the announcement to facebook, asking for any student volunteers.  Anyone that would like to help can meet at the East entrance.

Student Employee & Work Group Reports

Purchasing Policy update: Wade, Mike and Kristi met last week to discuss initial change to the first draft of the Environmental Responsible Purchasing Policy and Efficient Use Policy.  After one more small-group meeting, the Council decided a hard copy of the Policies should be proofed and initialed by each Environmental Council member, especially voting members.  Kristi will send an email next week with more information.

Plastic water bottle alternative proposal  Kristi sent an email request to Wade to forward to Administration about the opportunity to replace single use plastic water bottles with compostable cups.  Two alternative products were outlined, and the cost comparison and disposal options were highlighted in the email. Kristi spoke with Suzie at WLSSD about the potential to drop compostable cups at their composing facility.  This option depends on the type of product used (material) and quantity.  These cups could be handed out at events such as Open House, Student Success Day and Earth Day.

New Business

North Shore Community School contacted Kristi about the possibility of using our campus as a collection point for glossy paper.  NSCS has been recycling glossy paper at New Page for years, and would like to expand their collection sites.  All funds rasied from collection would go to North Shore Community School.  Although the community partnership opportunity is positive, the Council advised we first check with Student Life to find out how consistently the collections are happening here by our own campus groups.  Currently, PTA is collecting for a trip.  Kristi will follow-up with Heather.

Sustainable Twin Ports Cara Lindberg, STP Board President, met with Bruce, Deanne and Kristi on Thursday about our potential participation in this year’s training cycle.  All members agreed it would be a great opportunity if we got the right campus stakeholders involved.  Representation from the Deans, Public Information, faculty, Wade again suggested we propose it as an AQIP project.  Kristi was mistaken and under the impression that we missed that opportunity, but the AQIP team will meet again in December and will review suggestions.  Wade will follow-up with Kent.  In the meantime, Deanne will contact Jerry Hembd about meeting with the President’s Cabinet soon to propose the project.  The Council would like to move forward with the project, regardless of its affiliation with AQIP.  Another notable attribute of STP is the metric they’re creating, based on the STARS system, which would be free to us with participation.  The City of Duluth has agreed to go through the metric on a beta version basis and Cara noted there may be an opportunity for LSC to go through the beta test as well.  She also noted the tuition rate for us would be substantially less if we agreed to host the 5 meetings through the 6 month cycle.

Ongoing Business

Old Business

Budget                                                                                                                                                                      

FY13 Budget: $10,000

Expenses since last meeting: none

System Hold ($1000)

Balance as of 11/9/2012: $7,628

Next meeting

November 30^th, 2012, Student life Conference Room at 8:30

Meeting Minutes 10/26/2012

8:30-9:30

Location: Student Life Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council Members present: Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein, Mike Francisco, Wade Gordon

General Members present:  Dick Haney, Glenn Merrick, Julie Johnson, Neldon Herron

Guest Present:

Announcements

Sustainability Across the Curriculum Workshop: March 21^st-23^rd at North Hennepin Community College

UMD Fall Sustainability Fair, November 7^th 10:00-2:00, Kirby Center

Fall Open House table, November 1^st, 2:30-6:30

“Living with Uncertainty: Duluth Streams and the Aftermath of the 2012 Floods” meeting and workshop, Oct. 31^st, MPCA Office, 8:00-12:30

Call for Annual Pass-Through Coastal program Grant Apps, Nov 2^nd Deadline for draft comment

LEAP Energy Sector meetings: October 29^th at 10:00-Residential, 2:00-Public. October 30^th at 10:00 C&I, 2:00-Transportation

Student Employee & Work Group Reports

No student employees present to report

New Business

STARS? Sustainable Twin Ports? Theresa reported from AQIP that our window to propose projects had passed by the time we wanted to bring up the possibility of using Sustainable Twin Ports as an AQIP project.  Deanne recommended a former Early Adopter meet with Admin that may be involved.  Deadline for application is December 4^th.   Kristi passed around the STARS worksheet she worked on a year ago. The benefits of quick and easy positive promotion from a STARS Rating was discussed, but no decision was made on either project.  More discussion at the next meeting.  (Kristi, Theresa)

ERTC thank you pizza Kristi contacted the ERTC students’ instructor, Mark Behning, about sending a gift certificate to the guys for helping with bridge work.  Kristi will take a donation collection at the next meeting for those interested in contributing.

Purchasing Policy Kristi has a draft policy compiled for a first draft look.  Wade and Mike volunteered to  work with her on this next week.

Buckthorn removal options Glenn mentioned the need to do some buckthorn removal on campus.  Kristi suggested this project possibly wait until later this winter or next year.  There are a few options we can explore when time permits.

Ongoing Business

Old Business

Budget                                                                                                                                                                      

FY13 Budget: $10,000

Expenses since last meeting: none

System Hold ($1000)

Balance as of 10/25/2012: $7628

Next meeting

November 9^th, 8:30, Student Life Conference Room

Meeting Minutes 10/12/2012

8:30-9:30

Location: Workforce Development Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council members present:  Cliff Koski, Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein, Amy Brooks

General Members present:

Announcements

St. Louis River: Past, Present, Future Social Event, hosted by St. Louis River Alliance, will be held November 14^th at Spirit Mountain’s Moosehead Conference Room from 5:00-7:00 pm.  Contact Kristi for more information.

After many years of service to the LSC community and the EC, Carol Johnson will be leaving.  Unfortunately, the Upward Bound Program funding has not been renewed for our campus.  The EC agreed a going-away social be organized on Thursday the 25^th at 5:00 at Blackwater.  Anyone interested can join, contact Kristi or Deanne for details.

Fall open house is November 1^st, 2:30-6:30.  The Biology Dept has arranged for 2 tables, the EC will share with the Garden Club.

Work Group Reports

None to report on at this time

New Business

STARS Kristi revisited the idea of continuing our planning for AASHE STARS tracking.  In light of requests from Administration to show accountability and numbers, this would be a good tool to track progress over time.  Registration in STARS is $900 the first year and $450 each consecutive year.  Cliff also pointed out that we could use the STARS framework without registering, but then we miss out on the promotional aspect.  The discussion is tabled until next meeting.

AQUIP Project Proposal Kent has asked for AQUIP Project proposals.  Wind energy was brought to Kent’s attention from a campus individual outside the EC.  Kent stated it wasn’t a viable AQUIP Project for many reasons but forwarded the request to Deanne for EC consideration.  We all agree it’s beyond our scope of project planning.

Sustainable Twin Ports Deanne, Bruce, Glenn, and Jim all attended the Early Adopters Social last week.  All were in agreement that it may be a good fit for LSC.  The Strategic Sustainability Training happens over the course of a year and costs $3,5000.  The training would require 2-5 people from campus to be involved and committed to about 80 hours of training over the course of the year.  Theresa will take this to AQUIP as a potential project idea and discussion will continue at next EC meeting.

Ongoing Business

Kristi gave an update on Interpretive Trail signage and bridge work.  Larry Sampson from the SHTA has been helping with design and construction of the 2 Interpretive Trail bridges.  Both sets of stringers are almost completed and set.  ERTC students have been incredibly helpful in getting this much accomplished.  Kristi suggested we treat them to lunch for all their hard work.  John Calcaterra’s carpentry students have built and assembled cedar frames for the new Interpretive Site Signs that Jean designed.  Adam has installed most of the frames and will work on putting the signs in sometime in the next month.

Maintenance trash/recycling update: Vaughn was not present to report.

Old Business

Beach Sweep and Adopt-A-Parking Lot kick-off event was a success.  Kristi and Amy both helped to organize the volunteers.  We had 5 of 9 groups represented and the 30 individuals collected about 35 of trash.  Stat sheets were sent to Andrea at the Aquarium.  Andrea sent out community stats: 20 total sites were cleaned and over 1300 pounds of trash were collected.  As a thank-you, participants have free access to the Aquarium on Friday October 18^th from 6:00-8:00 pm.

Minnesota Waste Wise Annual Meeting report: Theresa, Cliff, and Kristi all attended the Meeting this year in Chaska at the Landscape Arboretum.  They all agreed the EC should take a field trip to the Arboretum in the summer.  They gathered a lot of ideas for campus landscaping.  They also reported on some of the speakers at the meeting.  Overall, a great experience and a great lunch!

Budget                                                                                                                                                                     

FY13 Budget: $10,000

Expenses since last meeting:

System hold ($1000)

Balance as of 10-10-2012: $7938.44

Next meeting

Next meeting is October 26^th at 8:30 in the Student Life Conference Room

Notes Submitted by Kristi Heintz

Meeting Minutes 10/12/2012

8:30-9:30

Location: Workforce Development Conference Room

Attendance

Governing Council members present:  Cliff Koski, Deanne Roquet, Kristi Heintz, Theresa Hornstein, Amy Brooks

General Members present:

Announcements

St. Louis River: Past, Present, Future Social Event, hosted by St. Louis River Alliance, will be held November 14^th at Spirit Mountain’s Moosehead Conference Room from 5:00-7:00 pm.  Contact Kristi for more information.

After many years of service to the LSC community and the EC, Carol Johnson will be leaving.  Unfortunately, the Upward Bound Program funding has not been renewed for our campus.  The EC agreed a going-away social be organized on Thursday the 25^th at 5:00 at Blackwater.  Anyone interested can join, contact Kristi or Deanne for details.

Fall open house is November 1^st, 2:30-6:30.  The Biology Dept has arranged for 2 tables, the EC will share with the Garden Club.

Work Group Reports

None to report on at this time

New Business

STARS Kristi revisited the idea of continuing our planning for AASHE STARS tracking.  In light of requests from Administration to show accountability and numbers, this would be a good tool to track progress over time.  Registration in STARS is $900 the first year and $450 each consecutive year.  Cliff also pointed out that we could use the STARS framework without registering, but then we miss out on the promotional aspect.  The discussion is tabled until next meeting.

AQUIP Project Proposal Kent has asked for AQUIP Project proposals.  Wind energy was brought to Kent’s attention from a campus individual outside the EC.  Kent stated it wasn’t a viable AQUIP Project for many reasons but forwarded the request to Deanne for EC consideration.  We all agree it’s beyond our scope of project planning.

Sustainable Twin Ports Deanne, Bruce, Glenn, and Jim all attended the Early Adopters Social last week.  All were in agreement that it may be a good fit for LSC.  The Strategic Sustainability Training happens over the course of a year and costs $3,5000.  The training would require 2-5 people from campus to be involved and committed to about 80 hours of training over the course of the year.  Theresa will take this to AQUIP as a potential project idea and discussion will continue at next EC meeting.

Ongoing Business

Kristi gave an update on Interpretive Trail signage and bridge work.  Larry Sampson from the SHTA has been helping with design and construction of the 2 Interpretive Trail bridges.  Both sets of stringers are almost completed and set.  ERTC students have been incredibly helpful in getting this much accomplished.  Kristi suggested we treat them to lunch for all their hard work.  John Calcaterra’s carpentry students have built and assembled cedar frames for the new Interpretive Site Signs that Jean designed.  Adam has installed most of the frames and will work on putting the signs in sometime in the next month.

Maintenance trash/recycling update: Vaughn was not present to report.

Old Business

Beach Sweep and Adopt-A-Parking Lot kick-off event was a success.  Kristi and Amy both helped to organize the volunteers.  We had 5 of 9 groups represented and the 30 individuals collected about 35 of trash.  Stat sheets were sent to Andrea at the Aquarium.  Andrea sent out community stats: 20 total sites were cleaned and over 1300 pounds of trash were collected.  As a thank-you, participants have free access to the Aquarium on Friday October 18^th from 6:00-8:00 pm.

Minnesota Waste Wise Annual Meeting report: Theresa, Cliff, and Kristi all attended the Meeting this year in Chaska at the Landscape Arboretum.  They all agreed the EC should take a field trip to the Arboretum in the summer.  They gathered a lot of ideas for campus landscaping.  They also reported on some of the speakers at the meeting.  Overall, a great experience and a great lunch!

Budget                                                                                                                                                                     

FY13 Budget: $10,000

Expenses since last meeting:

System hold ($1000)

Balance as of 10-10-2012: $7938.44

Next meeting

Next meeting is October 26^th at 8:30 in the Student Life Conference Room

Notes Submitted by Kristi Heintz