Ambler EAC Meeting Minutes May 24th, 7pm

Attendees:

Members:  Nancy Roecker-Coates, Wes Pipitone, Hannah Lloyd, Will Nassau, Kirsten Puskar

Visitors:  Mark Settman, Jill Sanchez, Judy Baigis, Matt Walker 

• Call to Order / Introductions (7:05-7:10)

• Presentation: None 

• Ways to Get Involved (7:10-7:15) 

1. October 21 EAC Fall EAC Gathering

1. https://weconservepa.org/blog/save-the-date-eac-fall-gathering-saturday-october-21-at-west-chester-university/

2. No Mow May Program

1. Residents need to register for this 

1. Receive and display a sign if approved

2. Limited number of spaces available for approval, no specific number announced for this. 

3. Need to apply in person at Borough Hall

1. Maybe next year, we could make the application available online.

2. Creates a more pollinator friendly environment 

1. Provides habitat for pollinators, butterflies, beetles and other native populations that need to establish themselves.

2. Bee population has been plummeting recently.

3. Statistically, not mowing your lawn does not actually create more of a tick issue.

4. Borough Council came to an agreement that this could be a program with guidelines 

5. If you have been cited for not caring for your property within the last year, you would not quality 

6. 10(?) residents so far applied 

7. Question: Why did we do May instead of April?

1. Technically, both April and May are good for no mow but it’s more friendly to have a one month program and No Mow May has a nice sound.

8. Idea: Maybe next year the program could also include an education element.

9. Idea: February the EAC can submit an article to Hometown News to advertise this program for the following year. 

1. The EAC should try to plan ahead for this and could even start writing this article early. 

2. The EAC in general should explore ways to plan a head for future publications and make sure that we schedule these. 

3. Grab a (free) leftover Earth Fest poster in Ambler Borough Hall

1. In a reusable tote bag

2. Only as supplies last

4. Become an EAC Member 

1. Email the EAC for more information

2. Mark Settman is interested 

5. Bird Town Presentation at Borough Council June 6, 2023 at 7pm (next Borough Council Meeting)

1. All are welcome to attend - please show your support! 

1. Tom Voter and Heidi will speak at this meeting - they spoke during the presentation during a previous EAC meeting.

2. To be a bird town you need to have positive environmental practices and educational elements / events that support native bird populations. 

3. Should council adopts a resolution to make Ambler a bird town.

1. This would require the EAC to take a vote to be an accountability partner. (Which is a supervisor type role and not burdensome in time required of members.)

• Formal approval of minutes for April (7:15-7:16) 

1. All motioned to approve

• EAC Updates (7:16-7:40) 

1. May 12th was Rain Barrel Day (Downtown)

1. Jill, Nancy and Kirsten put the downtown rain barrels back on line. 

2. Amazing deck's rain spout(Behind Pizza Box) is down and still needs to be repaired / put back up. 

1. Jill is going to follow up. 

2. Plant Ambler uses this rain barrel 

3. Mattie Dixon has a rain barrel now as well.

2. Wes & Hannah: Membership Role Updates & Requests 

1. Hannah will be stepping down at the end of this year from her membership (3 year membership period will expire at that time).

1. The role of secretary is available for whenever a replacement would like to take over, current member or appointed new member. Hannah would be happy to train someone to take this over ASAP.

2. Hannah will continue to be a friend of the EAC and will assist with some graphic needs - mostly the park signage for Ambler Borough Park and other future parks 

2. Wes will be stepping down as chair and seeks a replacement for this role.

1. Wes would like to transition to a more traditional advisory role in the EAC. He will continue to assist with knowledge in environmental reporting and goal setting obtained from his role as environmental data lead in a corporate setting. Applying industry best practices and standards set by The Greenhouse Gas Protocol developed by the World Resources Institute.These resources can transfer directly to assist the borough in hitting carbon neutral goals set in Ambler’s Ready for 100 initiative. 

2. Will continue to do the treasury role and be an EAC member. 

3. Nancy is interested in taking this over. 

1. Idea: Could the EAC put out a public survey to see what they would like to see the EAC do as far as projects, etc. Maybe September and use this for the following year? 

4. Before making an official switch, others are welcome to also speak to their interests and a discussion can be had.   

5. Questions: are there official rules and guidelines for the EAC members?

1. Yes, 7 members allowed

2. Three official roles: Chair, Secretary, treasurer 

1. There are official job descriptions for these three 

3. The EAC does have bylaws

4. The EAC does also have a manual 

1. Physical book 

2. Can also find the PA EAC Handbook online as well (Ambler used this as a reference)

5. There are conferences and training sessions encouraged for EAC members to attend. 

1. The EAC does have funding to help with any costs associated with attending these. 

2. Public Comment: Is the EAC involved in monthly meetings? A:RF100 (Ready for 100), yes. 

• Committee Chairs No new updates from Education and Outreach Committee, Open Space Committee or Creek Monitoring on Rose-Valley Creek. 

• Education and Outreach Committee Shelly Absent 

• Ambler Camp Programming

1. Jill, Nancy, Chloe and Alaina would like to do crafts and a litter clean up (older kids) with the YMCA

2. This was approved, working on a date

3. Similar crafts to what was done at Earth Fest  

4. Ambler borough has a limited seat program in the borough gym for Ambler resident kids only 

1. They walk to Knight Park as well

• Treasurer (Wes) (7:40-7:50)

1. Please be sure to add any and all EAC expenses to the reimbursement sheet.

2. Earth Fest Expenses and reimbursements update

1. Rain Barrel Paint For Students (Hannah)

3. EAC: please send any leftover Earth Fest expenses to Wes

4. Earth Fest financial run down 

1. Vendor fees: $900 

2. Profits: $503

1. Rain Barrels highest sold item. 

3. Sponsorships: $850

4. What we earned versus spent for Earth Fest: 

1. Spent $2,400

2. Broke even 

3. We did have a rainy day, so this is good news 

5. Since Earth Fest broke even, we still have our full budget. 

1. We can afford to purchase the Ambler Borough Park Sign 

2. Should start this project soon

1. Nancy, please contact the manufacturer and send the specs and deadline to Hannah 

• Keep Ambler Beautiful Committee (Nancy) (7:50-8:00)

1. Cell phone Recycling Program

1. 153 phones collected and donated to Laurel House

2. Litter/Trash ordinances 

3. Plastics Ordinance education & Updates

1. Plastic bag ban activated on March 1

2. In a year (March 1 2024), polystyrene will be banned. 

3. straws will be only on request. 

4. Education started, fliers and fact sheets available on Borough website. 

5. Nancy met with a rep from Cheltenham EAC to discuss strategies used for SUP bag ban education

6. Nancy shared educational materials with the SE PA SUP coalition

4. Litter clean up with Ambler Camp Program (spoken about above)

• Shade Trees Committee (In Need of Champion) (8:00-8:05)

1. Possible volunteer interest in tree plantings

• Climate Action Committee (Wes) (8:05-8:15)

1. Public question: what does the Climate Committee do and what is upcoming?  

1. CCA for PA: The EAC will shift focus to supporting this and being involved in conversations around this. 

1. CCA for PA was presented to the EAC and there are notes about the details on this in those meeting minutes linked here.

2. Above meeting minutes also has a link to the presentation slides from that night.

2. Borough Manager let us know that the Borough is looking into this currently - Wes please look into how this affects the EAC and our involvement. 

3. This was tabled to discuss further after Earth Fest 

• New business (8:15-8:25)

1. Leftover Rain Barrels

1. Unpainted: For Residents - none available

2. Painted: For Sale 4 painted rain barrels available

1. EAC: Please agree on a price- Kelly O’Hara from Hatboro EAC inquired about pricing

2. $100 each, if no takers we will drop the price to $80

3. (Suggested by Judy Baigis) Can the EAC discuss the idea of going to a neighboring municipality’s EAC meeting as a group to meet like-minded environmentalists? Abington, Whitpain, Horsham, Upper Dublin, etc.

1. Kelly O’Hara from Hatboro EAC is planning to attend an Ambler EAC meeting as soon as she is finished with her Master Watershed class

• Public comments (8:25-8:40)

1. Time given for general comments.

• Updates from Borough Council: (8:40-8:45)

1. No Mow May passed at the May 2nd meeting

1. Spoken about above

• Closing Thoughts (8:45-9:00)

• There are two open seats on the EAC for membership.

• ROI for Earth Fest and future thoughts

1. The EAC spends a long list of months and volunteer hours planning this when the time could be potentially spent working on things such as Ordinances etc. 

2. Maybe if there are future Earth Fests the EAC could make them smaller and easier / less time consuming to plan.

3. Maybe instead of Earth Fest, we could partner with other people's events and table there to reach a larger audience? You could still offer activities and education, just not a full scale stand alone event this way…

1. Ambler Main Street

2. Other townships Earth Day festivals

3. Temple Ambler 

4. Include the above in our survey- Nancy

• Next meeting: Wednesday June 21st, 2023 at 7:00pm 

• Adjournment (9:00)