04-14-20211
Chanhassen Environmental Commission (EC)
Regular Meeting – Zoom Online Meeting
6:00 pm
April 14, 2021
Members Present: Bill Chappell, Kristin Fulkerson, Jeff Harken, Greg Hawks, Markus Fischer, Scot
Lacek, Leslie Elhadi.
Members Absent: None
Staff Present: Jill Sinclair, Environmental Resources Specialist
Minutes: March minutes were approved.
Introduction of members/new members: Commissioners introduce themselves to Scot and Leslie
who then shared a few things about themselves with the commission.
Election of Chair/Vice Chair: Kristin was nominated and approved to continue as Chair. Greg was
nominated and approved as Vice Chair.
Commission by-laws: Jeff shared that during the interviews, the council brought up the idea of adding
a youth to the commission. The by-laws would need to be updated. Jill will share what the Park and
Recreation commission has in their by-laws for youth members. The commission will plan on talking
about it at the joint meeting. By-laws were accepted with no changes.
2021 Arbor Day Poster Contest selection: Two posters were submitted for the contest. The
submissions were done by a brother and sister. The commission decided to stick with the prize packs
and not have a grand prize winner for 2021. Next year the contest will be sent again to the schools. Jill
will put together the prize packs and notify the winners. Packs will include MN tree i.d. book, white
pine seedling, Arbor Day pencil, bracelet, stickers, temporary tattoo, and milkweed seed pack.
2021 Recycling Education Ideas: The commission wants a social media post on Earth Day. Jill will
coordinate that. They’d like to encourage residents to pick up trash when out on walks in the spring.
Kristin will send the links to the DemCon videos that the city can share on social media. If there is a
trade fair for July 3, the commission will have a table with ‘What is/isn’t recyclable’. For the fall
education event, the plan is still to have the DemCom trailer at Rec Center but could also have display at
library with the ‘What is/isn’t recyclable’ and the videos.
Trex Plastic Film Recycling Program: Jill will look into hosting a collection at the city. Will need to
promote it. The commission will talk about it again in the future.
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City Updates:
• The City Council had an Earth Day proclamation at their April 12 meeting.
• The city received a grant from the MNDNR to assist with the removal and replacement of
ash trees. The city also applied for a grant for the purchase of electric lawn care equipment
and is waiting to hear back.
• There’s no public Arbor Day event. Residents are encouraged to plant trees at home and take
a walk in the woods.
• America Recycles Day is Nov 15. The commission should think about how to promote it.
General Discussion:
• Minneapolis restaurants are offering reusable containers for take out. Some way to get
Chanhassen restaurants to offer it too?
• Jill and Bill will be doing an Earth Day presentation at the Senior Center and will be talking
about recycling.
• Park board display – still working on it? Jill will talk to Don.
• RPBCWD – Liz Forbes is the new education person to replace B. The shoreline stabilization
discussion focused on how to repair riprap without a permit. They decided to temporarily
approve no permit needed. The St Hubert project issued a $19350 contract to SRF to design
an underground storage system to be used for irrigation. $180K for the whole project.
Meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm
Minutes prepared by Jill Sinclair