Environmental Action Committee Meeting: January 13, 2025

Environmental Action Committee (EAC)

Meeting Minutes – January 13th, 2025

Meeting called to order 7:05pm

• Members present: Claire Golding (CG), Kaitlin Kohberger (KK), Richard Bisk (RB), Starr O’Malley (SO), Mark Horeanopolous (MH), and Ed Katebi (EK)
• Members absent: Corey Burnham-Howard (CBH); Forrest Iwanik (FI)
• No members attended remotely
• No public or Advisory Board Liaison present

Review of 12/9/24 minutes

No review of minutes occurred due to Forrest Iwanik’s absence, meeting minutes approval will be postponed until the next meeting

Review of Compiled Updates document

EAC Membership updates

• Ed Katebi to finish Gerry Pellegrini’s term- recommend Ed to replace Gerry’s seat- unanimous vote
• Suggestion to get the word out to encourage students to apply for EAC student membership

 EAC Actions/updates

• Richy gave an update on the Housing Plan Implementation Committee- the committee on its own does not have the ability to build anything, an idea was pitched to run two workshops per year on senior housing and converting 1,2, and 3 family houses and accessory dwelling units
• Corey and Claire are responsible for the next Green News Brief on the night sky
• Public Safety Building Committee- met on 12/19 and discussed recycling of demo materials, possible to reuse slate roof tiles for library repairs, hazard report indicated asbestos, lead paint, and other hazards, cannot have ordinary citizens go in but committee members to go in and identify items for salvage, but this may add costs however. Voted to accept option 2 of draft plans, space for expansion without adding unduly to cost of construction.
• Waste and Recycling Working Group- tried to meet on 1/10/25 but Rutland and Hubbardston were absent
• Holiday string light recycling 1/26/25 10-12pm at PMLD- should report how many string lights are collected- report to Terri, she keeps track of collections and reports to the state, depending on how many points we’re given could allow us an opportunity for more grant money.
• Masterplan Steering Committee has been disbanded
• Raptor and Rodenticide event Wednesday 1/15/25 7-8pm located at the Princeton Town Hall Annex- Claire and Starr are bringing baked goods, Cindy at MassAudubon has rodenticide handouts to potentially distribute at the event
• Winterfest- Kaitlin to reach out to Gerry for contacts and information
• EAC annual report to the town is due 2/28/25- Corey to manage?

Next Meeting

Next meeting will be held 2/3/25 7pm to work on Environmental Action Plan updates, originally made in 2020, needs to be updated- should we rewrite, make an addendum, separate the document, or update? A suggestion was made to make a new document that refers to the old one.

Any other order of business

• Documentary on fast fashion called “Buy Now”
• Textile recycling- no update, just get in touch when we want to do it again
• Suggestion to write a Green News Brief on the environmental impact of the use of AI

Next general meeting

2/10/25 at 7pm Meeting

Adjourned at 7:54 pm

Documents Referenced in Meeting

• EAC Agenda 1/13/25
• EAC Compiled Updates for January 2025 Meeting (see attached)
• EAC Meeting Minutes 12/9/24
• EAC 2024-25 Activities

Respectfully Submitted,

Starr O’Malley