The City of Monroe Commission on Environment and Water Quality MINUTES August 8, 2019 7:00 pm, 1st Floor Conference Room

Call to Order: Chairman Egen called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm

Members Present: A roll call of members was taken and a quorum was present.

Dan Stefanski

Milward Beaudry

Brian Egen

Andrew Felder

Ed Kane

Butch Uhl

Barry LaRoy

Excused:          Richard Micka

Guests:            None

Approval of Agenda – Motion by Stefanski, Seconded by Beaudry, motion passed.

Approval of minutes from July 11, 2019 meeting – Motion by Beaudry, Seconded by Stefanski, motion passed.

2019 River Cleanup (MDEQ Volunteer River, Stream, & Creek Cleanup Program Grant):  The cleanup is scheduled for August 10th, 9am to noon.  Meeting point is Veteran’s Park.  Discussed the zones & access points for the cleanup, logistics for access, cleanup, signs, zone leaders, potentially downtown and requirement to cleanup debris collected before Art Fair & Jazz Festival, selected zone leaders, centralizing debris for pickup, getting pictures, no woody debris to be collected or removed, fire dept assistance for medical standby & either them using or providing a boat, discussed release forms for recording the event.  Other items discussed were the maps, sign-in sheets, event info, T-shirts, gloves, trash pickers, advertising, food, drinks, raffle items, bags for collecting debris, & community service verification forms.  Access points are IHM Riverhouse, Roessler Field, YMCA, Veteran’s Park, Waterloo Park (County Park) and Worrell Park (Cranbrook).

Future PAC Support Grants: Discussed future PAC Support Grant potential items with EGLE in the process of obtaining federal funding.  Some items include stickers with downtown businesses-pro-river & provide them stickers, potential buy-in contribution, adopt a zone for a river cleanup, approaching private entities including fish charters, possibly redo the homeowner’s guide & mesh with some field guide topics & branding, a historical marker may need to wait until we are closer to delisting-will need to hear from Mike Alexander of EGLE for the year 2 sampling, possibly fireworks downtown as an outreach and or a COTE boat & trailer with branding for outreach-can bring to events, fair parade, use for cleanups, etc.

EGLE Items (via email):

  • PAC Support Grant – EGLE is at the end of their 3 year cycle & need to structure/finalize the workplan. Request COTE to develop tasks & wording so it’s ready to go once the grant request comes out.

Members Time:

Uhl-none

Kane-none

Milward-none

Felder-welcomes Butch as a COTE member

Stefanski–Looking forward to cleanup on Saturday-will be good event & weather

LaRoy –Mentioned 2019 Flowering Rush spray timeline & use of glyphosate

Egen-Witnessed an Osprey dive bombing into river behind his home

Citizen Comments: None

Adjournment: 8:08 pm a motion made by Felder, Seconded by Stefanski to officially end the meeting.