MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 8:00 a.m.
2nd Floor Conference Room
Town Hall, 302 Main Street
Chairman, Robert Fish, called the special meeting to order at 8:00 a.m.
Members Present
Robert Fish
Bruce Sherwin
Partner Group Members Present
Janice Holland, Old Saybrook Land Trust
Sara Keaney, Old Saybrook Land Trust
Land Use Department Staff Present
Christine Nelson, Town Planner
Sandy Prisloe, Environmental Planner
Kathleen Noyes, Recording Clerk
R. Fish confirmed with Carl Fortuna that the Conservation Commission’s Outreach Commission Sustainable Saybrook will be on the agenda to make a presentation for the Selectmen’s meeting on January 24, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. Reporter Becky Coffey will be in attendance to write about the Sustainable Saybrook initiative. R. Fish said it’s important that the web site be populated as soon as possible so it will be all set in time for the meeting.
Regarding web site content, B. Sherwin said that he has not yet received anything from the Health Dept (Mary Jane Engle) or Y&FS (Heather McNeil and Sue Consoli). Also he still needs content from the Land Trust. J. Holland and S. Keaney said they would get together later this week to choose the Land Trust content.
B. Sherwin said Walter Smith has provided content for both water resources and food.
B. Sherwin said he would like to see an editorial review process for content received from the partner groups to be sure the content is in keeping with Sustainable Saybrook’s goals.
R. Fish asked who should be a part of this review team. C. Nelson suggested that as part of the editorial review process, one person could volunteer to be in charge of each individual task. For example, one person could be in charge of news events, another could be in charge of sustainability tips and another could be in charge of priority initiatives, etc.
J. Holland said once more partners are on board; perhaps some of those people can volunteer to take on those tasks.
C. Nelson asked the group what it means to be a partner. What are the responsibilities?
J. Holland suggested if someone wants to be a partner, they should commit to being an active partner who will attend meetings and regularly update web site content.
B. Sherwin handed out a printed form showing an outline for his presentation to the Selectmen for their meeting on January 24, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.
J. Holland said she’d like to see a definition of what sustainability means to us as a community on the opening banner.
S. Keaney and J. Holland suggested some rewording by eliminating the “What?” heading and by eliminating the words “grew out” and instead replacing them with, the CC “developed” or “envisioned” this group. Also, they’d like to eliminate the words “Community Outreach” because it is redundant as it is mentioned in the sentence below.
R. Fish said at the end of the presentation, the discussion would focus on how the Selectmen can be partners. He said he’s spoken with C. Fortuna, who wants to form a public energy committee, which can be done as part of the CCOCSS. Also, C. Fortuna talked about wanting to form public focus groups. R. Fish said this group could be part of that outreach process as well.
R. Fish said the town has just started the budget process, and he’s talked with C. Fortuna about the cost of the Saybrook Sustainability web site, which could cost about $5,000.00.
S. Keaney asked B. Sherwin if he could make his presentation for this group at the next CCOCSS meeting on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 8:00 a.m., and he said he would.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Noyes
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