Stockton Ecomunicipality Interest Group Meeting

Thursday, January 3, 2008, at 7:00 pm in the Stockton Town Hall (Meeting #5)

Attendees: 

Sue Anderson; Eric Anderson; Kim Becken; Tara Stormoen;  Jeanne Dodge; Renea Dahms; Elizabeth Pitta; Josef Pitta; Mary Maller; and Sharon Reichert

Discussion Items:

Find it in Stockton Directory.

Mary and Sue will set-up a meeting this month with UWSP professor to discuss creating a web page for this project.  Meeting will likely take place on campus.  Anyone else interested in attending, please contact Sue or Mary.

Landfill.

Eric stated that more information on possible power generation from the Town’s landfill will be available after a study about this issue is found by Portage County Solid Waste Department.  Jeanne mentioned that Meleesa Johnson, Solid Waste Administrator, is aware of our request for this study but may be delayed in locating it for us.

Smokey Road Hearing.

Jeanne mentioned the Railroad will be holding a hearing on February 13^th and 14^th regarding the Smokey Road crossing.  She thought it would be beneficial for our committee to send a statement to the Railroad Commissioner on this issue.  Jeanne will contact Amy Heart to view Stevens Point’s statement on this issue to and report back to the group.

Ecomunicipality Mission/Goals.

The group consensus is that we need to define our group’s mission statement and goals in order to stay on-task and avoid wasting time and resources.  The committee agreed with Mary Maller that the ultimate purpose of our group would be to steer our local government towards becoming an ecomunicipality and work towards self-sustainability in our community.  A subcommittee made up of Elizabeth, Sue, Mary, and Sharon will come up with a draft for the following:  group name, mission statement, description, and goals.  Our committee may want to elect officers and follow Roberts Rules of Order for credibility sake.  Jeanne will check on benefits/problems of being a Town Committee vs. Community Committee.

Minutes.

Minutes of last meeting approved. (Minutes for approval will be moved to beginning of upcoming meetings.)

Light Bulb Projects.

MREA and the Town of Stockton are both willing to work with our group to apply for the WEEB grant.  There will be administrative fees associated with partnering with MREA.  However, Jeanne felt MREA may be a better match than the Town due to its greater knowledge on the subject.  Also, Tara thought MREA would have more credibility for obtaining an environmentally-related grant.  MREA appears to be the best choice for the group to work with to obtain the WEEB grant (in order to purchase compact fluorescent bulbs to give away to the community).  Kim and Tara will spearhead the light bulb project as a second subcommittee.  The group’s project goals remain education, dispersal of compact fluorescent bulbs, and the proper disposal (recycling) of incandescent bulbs.  Sue will check via e-mail with other group members to see if they care to join Kim and Tara on this project. 

Community Education.

Ideas for community education opportunities in the Town include churches, Lions Club, Saints Hockey, Arnott Snowmobile Club, 4H, Town Spring Clean-Up, and Elections.  Group to set-up a low-key, low budget booth at the Town Hall for the upcoming April 1^st elections.  Booth may include MREA and/or KEEP demonstration models and a 1-page flyer about our group.  Booth will also offer coffee and baked goods to encourage folks to pass by.  Renea will work on the pamphlet/flyer.  Please contact Renea if you’re interested in helping on this project.

Community Outreach Events.

Though the group members have some ideas for outreach events, the committee will wait on this item until it has definite structure with a mission statement and goals.  Sue will try to find and resend the original brainstorm ideas from our committee’s first session to help jump start ideas for outreach events in the future. 

Other:

Kim gave Jeanne the UW Extension Brochure, “Toward a Sustainable Community:   A Toolkit for Local Government.”  Jeanne will bring the brochure to the Town of Stockton Board for review.  Kim will also send the link for the on-line version of this brochure to all group members.

Announcements:

Sue mentioned a food forum on local food economy will be at P.J. Jacobs Jr. High on Wed., Feb. 13^th (time to be announced at next meeting.)  She also mentioned a Plant Your Garden Workshop will be held on Sat., Jan. 12^th at the Pinery Room of the Portage County Public Library from 10 am until noon. In addition, Sue was able, with Jeanne’s help, to include a small article in the Town of Stockton Newsletter about our Ecomunicipality Group.  The Newsletter is due out this weekend. 

Next Meeting:

Next meeting set for Thursday, February 7, 2008, at 7:00 pm in the Stockton Town Hall.  Agenda to include:  Meeting Minutes; Smokey Road Hearing Statement; Committee Structure/Mission/Goals/Name, etc.;  Election Day Booth; Find It in Stockton Web Page; Lightbulb Projects; WEEB Grant; Community Outreach Events; Next Meeting Time/Date/Location;  and anyone’s contribution to “Something to Think About.”

Something to Think About:

Kim suggested we personally invite people to our meetings that may not be of “like mind” to encourage more community participation and diversity in our thoughts.

Submitted by: Sharon Reichert