03-13-24 MINChanhassen Environmental Commission (EC)
6:00 pm
March 13, 2024
Members Present: Greg Hawks, Leslie Elhadi, Scott Grefe, Ryan Farnan, Billy Cripe, Kristin
Fulkerson, Scot Lacek
Members Absent: Kaisa Buckholz
Staff Present: Jamie Marsh, Environmental Resources Specialist
Visitors: Judy Harder, Resident
Minutes
January 10, 2024, minutes Commissioner Fulkerson motioned to approve, Commissioner Cripe
seconded. All voted in favor. January minutes passed. February 14, 2024, minutes Commissioner
Fulkerson motioned to approve amended minutes, Commissioner Cripe seconded. All voted in
favor. February minutes passed.
Environmental Trivia Follow Up
There were 20 teams that attended the trivia night. A well-attended event. The next event will be
planned for the fall. Dave Ryan talked about the Better Bin app on the radio the next day. Jamie
Marsh created a checklist for communications to use for each trivia night. The commissioners
reviewed and updated the information for all the communications that will happen for future
trivia nights.
Finalize Arbor Day Activities
Ms. Marsh shared the ideas they had from the last meeting that included: invasive education,
milkweed bombs, tic tac toe, and refreshments. Ms. Marsh will check with Manuel Jordan to see
if he can attend the Arbor Day planting event. Some buckthorn could be cut prior to the event
and put on a table to show what it looks like. The event is on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 10 a.m.
Partner with Minnetonka High School for Arbor Day Event
Commissioner Farnen sent an email to the Environmental Club at Minnetonka High School to
see if they would be interested in Arbor Day. They were initially interested but he needs to get
back to the club to give more details. The Commission on Aging has reached out to Ms. Marsh to
connect with the Chanhassen High School students and they would like to assist with Arbor Day
along with the Minnetonka High School Earth Club.
Discuss Involvement with Water Resources Open House
Ms. Marsh reported that there will be an event for the Water Resources Open House.
Communications reached out to Ms. Marsh to invite the Environmental Commission to attend.
The event will be in August and there will be more information to come.
Review Onboarding Packet
Ms. Marsh presented the onboarding packet and updated home and email addresses. She redlined
the changes that were made and will distribute it to the commissioners.
Green Step Cities-Best Management Practices
Ms. Marsh sent out an update from the Green Steps coordinator. Each commissioner would
choose a category and see what steps we could take to continue working on the best practices.
The commissioners will use a shared document and update things that have been done already.
A March 28 deadline was set to have comments back.
Commission Presentation
Chair Grefe reported that he applied for the Carver County Solid Management Stakeholder group
and is part of that group. Meetings in April, May, and June.
Ms. Marsh thanked Commissioners Fulkerson, Hawks, and Lacek for all their work.
Commissioner Fulkerson asked that people use the Better Bin app and shared that she will be
moving to the Park & Recreation Commission.
Commissioner Hawks said that he had learned much being on the Commission and it was
enjoyable to him.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 7:59.
Minutes prepared by Jenny Potter, Senior Administrative Assistant
Minutes Submitted by Jamie Marsh, Environmental Resources Specialist