SSRC MSW Manager Breakfast Forum Minutes

5/11/2005, 9:00 am, Norwell Town Hall

approved 6/15/2005

Present: Abington:  Michelle Roberts*; Cohasset: Merle Brown*, Arthur Lehr*; Hanover: Steve Herrmann*; Hingham:  Helga Jorgensen*; Holbrook:  Ken Brown*; Hull:  Nancy Kramer*; Marshfield:  Paul Tomkavage*, John Bianchi, Debbie Sullivan; Norwell:  Joanne Dirk*, Pattie Hainer*; Rockland:  Rudy Childs*;  Rosemary Nolan, Ann McGovern, MA DEP; Wendy Garpow, Samantha woods, NSRWA; Claire Sullivan, SSRC Executive Director

*appointed Board members

Chairman Merle Brown called the meeting to order at 9:22.  

Wendy Garpow and Samantha Woods, North and South River watershed Association (NSRWA) do outreach that overlaps with SSRC’s. Their Greenscapes program promotes landscaping techniques that require less water, fewer chemicals and encourages composting.  They distributed 70,000 Greenscapes Guides this past April, which includes info about our municipal compost bins and HHP collections.  Next year they plan to expand the guide.  It cost them 25c each to print, and another 25c each to mail.  The mailing has resulted in a lot of signups for their 6 workshop series, and positive feedback from vendors who provided coupons in the guide.  They hope to do it annually, and will need grant funding.

They also bought air time on WATD, which appeared to be effective, and proposed a joint radio ad venture to take advantage of a package deal offered by WATD where we could split the cost of 60 second ads at $22/minute instead of each paying the regular price of $20/30 second ad.

Minutes:  Mr. Herrmann moved that the 2/9/05 minutes be accepted as written, Ms. Dirk seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:  Ms. Dirk reported that the balance as of March was a healthy $49,348.53, which is about $3,000 more than the previous March.  Mr. Ken Brown moved to accept the treasurer’s report, Ms. Roberts seconded, passed unanimously.

Radio ad funding?:  Should the Board work with NSRWA to take advantage of the offer from WATD for cut rate 30-second radio ads?  To split 85 ads planned by NSRWA through September would cost SSRC $935.  Mr. Herrmann thought we should keep the radio outreach up for a year before evaluating its effectiveness.  Suggested subjects included the availability of compost bins and scrap buckets through municipal programs, events recycling and HHP days.  Mr. Herrmann moved that we appropriate up to $935 for 85 30-second radio ads on WATD, Ms. Jorgensen seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Nominating Committee:  Ms. Jorgensen volunteered to be on the Nominating Committee for new officers.  She polled the current EBoard for their willingness to continue in their current positions.  Mr. Brown accepted the nomination for Chairman, Mr. Herrmann for Vice Chairman, and Ms. Dirk for Treasurer.  Ms. Hainer volunteered to accept the nomination for the vacant Secretary position. Mr. Ken Brown moved that the nominations be closed, Ms. Jorgensen seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Officer Election:  Mr. Ken Brown moved that the Nominating Committee cast its vote for the slate, which it did.  New officers are as follows: Merle Brown of Cohasset, Chairman; Steve Herrmann of Hanover, Vice Chairman, Joanne Dirk of Norwell, Treasurer, Pattie Hainer of Norwell, Secretary.

Rosemary Nolan, DEP’s Municipal Assistance Coordinator for our area, provided a handout and gave a presentation about contract standardization.  Municipal curbside contracts can be complex, are usually not given enough lead time to address needed changes, and thus are often rolled over for many years without being updated.  DEP is offering a contract template to help towns update and streamline their contracts with minimal effort.  Go to www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/recycle.htm for the template, timeline, and a regional hauler list.  Additional templates will be added to create flexibility, plus a recyclables processing contract with revenue sharing language.  Weymouth and Quincy bid out curbside collection together a few years ago and got ten bids, at a time when the pool of bidders was small, due to sufficient lead time, pre-bid conferences and sufficient attention to the process.  The towns still awarded separate contracts, but saved a lot of money.

Nolan also distributed a “Contract Input Survey” for potential users to fill out.

Executive Director’s Report:  

Meet Marshfield’s new Recycling coordinator, Debbie Sullivan, and RTF Foreman, John Bianchi

Media Blitz- We succeeded in coordinating a two week radio and print ad campaign in April in which we aired 3 messages.  Gave away 6 compost bins donated by member towns plus Quincy on radio shows.  Ms. Nolan got some recycling videos on all our local cable stations and had a booth at the Hull Climate InfoFest, coordinated by Sustainable South Shore/Nancy Kramer.  CDs with the 3 ads, plus the five from the fall, were distributed, and are played at HHP collections as people wait in line.  DEP, the SEMASS Material Separation Plan and SSRC provided funding.

Legislative Breakfast- a photo collage was distributed, write-up on back of agendas and on website.  Whitman/ Hanson/ Duxbury Clipper reporter also did a good article.  Attended by Sen. Hedlund, Sen. Resor, Rep. Teahan, Rep O’Brien, and staff from Rep. Nyman’s and Bradley’s offices.

Leaf and Yard Waste needs, problems?- seeking input ; call Holbrook BOS, need help

Marshfield Fair- needs volunteers for recycling 8/18-8/29; Chairman Brown, Vice Chairman Herrmann will help again; call Ann McGovern 617-292-5834

State Budget- Recycling line item still split with redemption center line, level funded (low), no luck reaching Senate Ways and Means (W&M), Sen. Murray is unresponsive.

Waste Ban Enforcement- DEP is taking swift action fining for waste ban violations at town facilities; Marshfield fined $1400, had new staff; Mr. Tomkavage gave details; Cohasset received commendation from DEP

SWANA/MassRecycle fall conference- planning 2 day solid waste/recycling conference 9/12-13 at the Cape Codder in Hyannis

MassRecycle Presidential candidacy- Executive Director is only candidate, election is 5/25

New Business:  Ms. Dirk is in touch with some local video producers, Rayco Beach Ltd.  Chairman Brown asked that we research the costs to produce a video with them, invite to meeting.  Ms. McGovern suggested that we tailor the Lawrence video to each town, try to get picked up by local news.  Send letters to “Ask This Old House”.

Next mtgs:  June 8, Abington Town Hall. (n.b. In March Cohasset had volunteered to host the June meeting)

Meeting adjourned at 10:48.  Ann McGovern followed with a compost bin grant info session.

Respectfully submitted,

Claire L. Sullivan, Executive Director

Legend:

NSRWA = North and South River watershed Association

BOS = Board of Selectmen

W&M = Ways and Means