EC 2018 03 14
Chanhassen Environmental Commission (EC)
Regular Meeting
March 14, 2018
Members Present: Charlotte Chappell, Bill Chappell, Keith Butcher
Members Absent: David Hess, Rachel Popken, Don Vasatka, Wayne Benbow
Staff Present: Jill Sinclair, Environmental Resource Specialist
Visitors: Tom Preiss
Minutes: February minutes were approved.
Arbor Day Poster Contest Selection: The commission discussed the selection process for the contest
winners and then revisited the promotion process for the contest. Since there are Chanhassen kids that
attend Minnetonka schools, the commission wanted elementary schools the Minnetonka district to be
invited to participate as well. Jill looked into the ratio of Chanhassen students at those schools and
found that it would encompass students from many other areas if all classes were invited to participate.
Since the contest is focused on Chanhassen students, it was felt that finding another way to engage
students in the northern part of the city would be better. Keith suggested that next year the contest can
be advertised in the e-flyer sent to all families at each elementary school. The contest can be promoted
for Chanhassen students and invite them to submit a poster. The commission then reviewed all of the
submitted entries for the 2018 Arbor Day poster contest and selected 12 winning posters. From the 12
they selected one grand prize winner. The winning poster is from Bluff Creek Elementary and was done
by Elle H.
GreenStep Cities Update and Project Planning: Jill notified the commission that GreenStep Cities
will be discussed at the City Council work session on June 25.
2018 Focus Topic: The commission discussed possible topics to promote in 2018. One suggestion was
GreenStep Cities – promoting it at events, explaining it to the public, etc. Another suggestion was Tree
Care since that was the theme of the poster contest. The commission discussed the suggestions and
agreed that Tree Care would be a good focus topic for 2018.
Joint meeting preparation: Charlotte compiled the commission’s list of events and accomplishments
for 2017-2018. Jill will include these with the memo for the meeting along with the 2018 work plan.
Keith will update the council on the regional environmental commission meeting (metro area
sustainability group) happening the Saturday before the joint meeting.
General Discussion:
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Keith gave an update on the Metro Area Sustainability Group. As of last week there were 28
people registered for the meeting. Seventeen of the 32 communities that have working groups
are represented so far by attendees. Many of the participants are interested in water topics
followed by energy, then solid waste, then land stewardship. Keith will give an update on the
meeting at the April EC meeting.
Jill updated the commission on the Leaf Clean Up project scheduled for this fall which will be
the commission’s fall service project this year. Jill has invited the coordinator to attend a
summer meeting to connect with the commission and discuss how the commission can help with
the project.
Jill updated the commission on appointment process. The city council will be appointing
commissioners at their March 26 meeting. Audrey who interviewed with the commission has
withdrawn and so the Council will hopefully appoint another applicant in her place. The
commission will not be interviewing any additional applicants.
Meeting adjourned at 7:40 pm
Minutes prepared by Jill Sinclair
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