Palmer Township Environmental Steering Committee

Meeting Minutes – January 19, 2006

Attendees: Larry Bonner, Tom Dittmar, Tom Ganssle, Ron Kantor, Nancy Nicholas, Cindy Oatis, Rob Reese, Andy Yost, Denise Veres, Bob Lammi (Supervisor and Liaison)

Guests: Bill Buskirk, Residential Route Manager, WM/GCS

Reorganization of ESC – Nominations:

R. Reese turned the meeting over to Bob Lammi for nominations.

Chairmen: Rob Reese nominated Tom Ganssle for Chairman, seconded by Tom Dittmar. Tom Ganssle nominated Rob Reese for Chairman, seconded by Larry Bonner. Bob Lammi asked the membership if they wanted both Tom Ganssle and Rob Reese to continue to serve as co-chairman. Ron Kantor stated a motion: “Rob Reese and Tom Ganssle to mutually co-chair” which was seconded by Denise Veres – membership unanimously approved the motion and their nominations. Meeting was turned back to Rob Reese.

Secretary: Tom Ganssle nominated Larry Bonner for Secretary, seconded by Rob Reese - unanimously approved by all.

Approval of Minutes:

Minutes were approved from the October 2, 2005, ESC meeting (TG & TD). (No meetings were held in November and December.)

Hauler Issues:

Bill Buskirk said there were no issues to discuss. Bill said that the “Palmer Township Recycling and Trash Schedule – 2006” was mailed to all township residents.

Recycling Coordinator’s Report:

Cindy Oatis explained the need to increase the current drop off charges for the Composting Center which are $5.00 for pickup truck load and $25.00 for large dump truck load and asked the membership for their input. T. Ganssle made a motion that the change in cost to residents to be "kept to a minimum or no increase at all." This motion was seconded by R. Kantor and unanimously approved by all. T. Dittmar discussed how busy the Recycling Center was immediately following the Christmas holiday. This could possibly lead to unsafe conditions due to vehicles having to make u-turns within the facility. B. Lammi provided the November and December figures for the number of tons dropped off at the Recycling Center which was 27 and 32. Some suggestions to improve this situation included having additional staff to decrease the congestion or providing a means for vehicles to pass through the center. This would eliminate the need to make u-turns. These suggestions should be put in place between Christmas and New Years. There was also a suggestion to increase the hours the Hartley Ave. Center was open, especially after the holidays.

Old Business:

Newsletter: The deadline for getting something in the next issues of the Palmer Newsletter is January, 27, 2006.

Old Business continued:

Ag Expo: There is an Ag Expo scheduled to be held from February 10 – 12 at the Palmer Mall. It was recommended that the PESC participate by having a booth.

R. Reese presented samples of stickers to be placed on storm drains that he received from Tom Adams.  The purpose of these stickers is to inform everyone that these storm drains empty directly into natural waterways. After the discussion of what type of signage is necessary for no dumping in gutters (PDEP regs.), ESC expressed interest in future involvement.

New Business:

Composting Seminar (2006): T. Dittmar said that he was working on a “How to Start Composting” presentation. D. Veres started a discussion on how to start composting programs in schools. All members agreed that it would be a worthy project but cited past attempts and the DEP findings that such programs have a very low success rate in schools. No action to start such a program will take place at this time.

E-Cycling 2006: R. Reese discussed the plans for EAHS students to run an e-Cycling event this spring. He also noted that Northampton County has such an event planned for this March. The membership recommended that the EAHS event be scheduled sometime at the end of April.

Year of Planned Action: R. Reese asked the membership to bring any ideas for this year’s PESC projects and dates to next months meeting so that planning can begin.

BSC Initiatives: Rob Reese asked B. Lammi if the BOS would consider allocating some funding for the Bushkill Stream Conservatory. Since a part of Palmer Township’s border is the Bushkill Creek, B. Lammi suggested that the BSC should send a letter requesting this to the BOS prior to next year’s budget planning.

Next Meeting: February 16, 2006 at the Palmer Municipal Building at 7:00 p.m.

Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Submitted by:

Larry Bonner, Secretary

Palmer Township Environmental Steering Committee