MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at 8:00 a.m.
Town Hall, 2nd Floor Conference Room
302 Main Street
Members Present
Robert Fish, Chairman
Jerry Brophy, Vice Chairman
Bruce Sherwin
Members Present from Partner-Groups
Janice Holland, Old Saybrook Land Trust
Sara Keaney, Old Saybrook Land Trust
Land Use Department Staff Present
Christine Nelson, Town Planner (arrived at 8:22 a.m.)
Sandy Prisloe, Environmental Planner
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
R. Fish called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. He said the purpose of today’s meeting was to critique the web site and discuss content.
J. Holland said although she likes the web site’s logos and graphic, it looks a little messy, and she’d like to see a cleaner look.
Everyone agreed the definitions were inspiring.
S. Keaney asked if a picture of Old Saybrook could be added. B. Sherwin said the graphic could be changed.
J. Holland asked about the elm tree graphic.
R. Fish said, and other members agreed, that the graphic they prefer is of the water and the boats in North Cove.
B. Sherwin asked for comments about the layout. Members said they liked the overall layout.
There was discussion about the best way to encourage the public to sign up for e-mail tips, events and news from the site. All members decided they would prefer the word “join” to register, and they’d like to offer more than one place on the web site for the public to join.
There was discussion about putting a Community Action Plan on the web site. It was suggested that perhaps there could be something that says, “Community Action Plan in Development.”
J. Brophy talked about “Big Belly Solar Trash Compactors” in Tennessee. They compact the trash and reduce the number of times a barrel has to be emptied. He asked if it would be possible for the town could get some here.
S. Keaney talked about the Tennessee web site and “Sustainable Features”.
S. Prisloe said that while the group has a lot of great ideas, they should think about realistic maintenance and management of the site.
R. Fish said he felt the purpose of these meetings should be to maintain the site once it is launched.
S. Keaney said she’d like to see the town logo on the web site so it shows that the town is in full support of it. Other members were concerned it would then look like a government run web site. B. Sherwin suggested we represent the town as a partner and put the logo under the partner area.
S. Prisloe suggested putting together a plan similar to the one in the town of Franklin, CT where people and businesses can do certain things which can earn them rewards to be listed as “green” businesses.
S. Keaney then asked about the first public “green” building being the new police department.
J. Holland had concerns about the difficulty of getting back to the home page of the web site once you’ve gone to a tab. B. Sherwin said that could be fixed.
Regarding the format of articles on the web site, members agreed it was necessary to include some discussion about the impact on the global picture or “big” picture as well as the local picture.
There was a question about whether or not the town requires businesses to recycle. C. Nelson said that although recycling is encouraged, it is not mandated. It is not a law, and there’s no penalty for not recycling.
S. Prisloe suggested that on each page where there’s a priority being discussed, it would be good to discuss accomplishments to date; things that could be done, things that have been done.
C. Nelson said that the word “accomplished” sounds like something is “finished”, and many of these things are not finished, they are ongoing.
B. Sherwin said each of these things should have goals as tag lines. If you have one local goal, you can use that as the tag line.
S. Prisloe suggested bullet points would be better than too much text that people may not read. Also, the bullet points catch people’s attention, and if they choose to read more, they can click on the link to do that.
C. Nelson said it was decided that “pet topics” would be more free form.
S. Keaney suggested putting something on the web site that would talk about how much the town is saving by recycling, for example, making a connection between good environmental practices and money saved.
C. Nelson said under each priority there should be a measurable goal. She suggested that the priority page should show the priority, tag line, local and global context, and bullets of measurable goals under each pet project.
J. Holland referred to the web site for Franklin, TN. Each bullet has a hyperlink, and it’s a nice, clean look.
S. Keaney suggested that looking forward, perhaps a web designer could eventually help with the look.
C. Nelson discussed the importance of these Tuesday morning meetings becoming more about partner involvement. There are currently four partners: the Land Use Department, the Conservation Commission, the Old Saybrook Land Trust and the Old Saybrook Merchants’ Association. Each partner should be participating and should provide some content for one of the priorities.
J. Holland said OSLT could write about the environment. Suggested pet topics could be: oak, horseshoe crabs, the landowner incentive program, trail maintenance and Oyster River restoration. J. Holland and S. Keaney said they would have to go back to their board to decide which topic to write about.
C. Nelson said the articles should be free form but a measurable goal should be included, a description, what’s been done to date, things that need to be done (a task list/ action items), and a comment page should be included. Each page should have the same “ingredients,” but people could add a slide show or other visuals. She added that someone from each partner group needs to have the skills to do this.
There was discussion about environmental tips, events and a news blast. The idea is that an e-mail that would go out on a regular basis, maybe every other week that could have an environmental tip or information about an environmental event. People can opt in to receive these e-mails. Constant Contact was the software S. Prisloe used for his test e-mail about computer font and the savings people could see if they downloaded a particular computer font. The template they have lets you create a document that you can send out as an e-mail. It was nice because it was one topic, it was easy to read, and it was a great environmental tip. At the bottom, there was a link to forward it to a friend or to subscribe. With Constant Contact, anyone who’s on the e-mail distribution list has to be there by choice.
C. Nelson asked for input about how the tips, events, news should rotate. There was discussion about frequency of these e-mail blasts and how often each topic should be featured, whether the e-mails should offer one environmental tip or a listing of environmental events going on in the community.
C. Nelson asked members if the next blast should be news topics. She suggested a different format since the last e-mail blast was a tip. She said in the future at each meeting, everyone should come in with events that are upcoming and which the group would like to see promoted.
S. Prisloe suggested that the first e-blast be a description of Sustainable Saybrook itself. He asked about the Land Trust e-mail mailing list. S. Prisloe suggested asking those members if they’d like to be added.
Ideas for newsworthy topics were the eco-tour “Tourganic” at David Brown’s Hay House, town cleanup post Irene, and this past week’s “Harbor News Person of the Week”, Sandy Prisloe.
C. Nelson suggested the news not be news that the group is writing themselves but news that is being gathered and shared from other sources. She asked members for their opinions on whether or not it would be possible to have one news item per priority. She suggested the group always try to hit the spectrum of sustainability in the news blasts especially once more partners are on board.
C. Nelson asked members to look for news regarding all 12 priorities. She offered to collect environmental news from Committee members to present at the next meeting. She suggested the rain garden workshop that was held at the Acton Library would be a good example of a relevant news topic.
S. Prisloe said links to news articles should go on the web page not as an e-mail blast. He suggested sending just sustainability tips for now.
C. Nelson said the important part of sustainability would be to keep people “in the know”. She really feels it’s important to send out a news digest and talk about promoting events as well.
C. Nelson asked J. Holland and S. Keaney if they had any OSLT news or events they’d like to promote. S. Keaney said they have a bat lecture coming up.
Discussion moved on to whom should be the next partner brought on board. B. Sherwin suggested asking someone from the Chamber of Commerce, Susan Esty or her delegate from the Main Street Merchant’s Association. S. Keaney and C. Nelson offered to contact Susan to set up a meeting.
C. Nelson asked about the best way to engage a new partner. She suggested that there could there be a committee to explain to the partner what Sustainable Saybrook is and what the expectations for a new partner would be. She added the importance of having an active partner not just someone to comes to the meetings.
B. Sherwin said he’d like to bring on the next partner when there is a template to show them. He’s going to work on creating a template.
The meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathleen Noyes
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