Sustainable Stockton Meeting Minutes

Thursday, July 10, 2008, at 7:00 pm, Stockton Municipal Building (Meeting #11)  

Attendees:  Sue Anderson; Jeanne Dodge, Mary Maller, Donna Literski.

 Agenda Items: 

1.  Meeting Minutes.  Minutes of Meeting #10 were approved (Sue/Mary; all in favor).  

 2.  Electing Committee Co-Chair.  Tabled for now. 

3.  Goals Update.  Tabled for now. 

4.  Outreach Possibilities.  Further discussion was held on several Outreach items identified at the June meeting:

·        Reach out to Town Board by attending its meetings regularly, keeping it posted on what’s going on with our Committee, and inviting the Board to discussion groups and other Sustainable Stockton activities.  (We discussed attending the regular Town Board meetings once or twice a year and update them on Sustainable Stockton activities.)

·        Year-end Potluck event to include an update of group activities and possible speaker presentation. (This would not be planned unless someone volunteered to coordinate.)

·        Book discussion group.  (This project is going forward.  The July Stockton Newsletter will include a short blurb about our initial book discussion to begin this fall.)

·        Plan or provide plantings at the Town’s  Municipal Building site/park.  (Jeanne mentioned that there is a lot of potential for public service for the Stockton Park.  There was an initial plan that outlined walkways, kiosks, etc. for the park area.  We discussed the possibility of a spring project to coordinate a plant screening for the park.  Some monies may be available for small trees.  This project could be a coordinated effort with the firefighters.  More discussion and a decision will be made at a future meeting.)

·        Show movies and/or documentaries (from the Environmental Education Library, etc.) with discussion afterwards.  The locations suggested were the Municipal Building or possibly the MREA.  (Mary and Jeanne had previously talked about equipment availability and film topics.  As we would have to bring in additional video equipment if we were to use the Municipal Building, Sue will contact the MREA regarding use of their facility. ) Additional Outreach Possibilities were identified:

·        Sue learned that an Amherst group, Chautauqua, has been meeting and writing grants to bring in speakers, etc. to the Jensen Center.  On October 11^th they, along with Farmshed and the Central Wis. Sustainability Group, will host an event with Ellis Jones the author of Better Consumer Shoppers Guide.  Also this fall they are planning a documentary series of films at the Jensen Center, many of the same videos we discussed presenting.  This may be an opportunity for us to participate in a rotating documentary series with Chautauqua in Amherst and ICE in Stevens Point.  Sue will be attending the Amherst meeting next Tuesday and get more information.

·        The Central Wisconsin Sustainability Group will be meeting next Wednesday, July 16^th at Kristin’s River Walk in Stevens Point.  Those at the meeting were encouraged to attend if possible.  

5.  Disclaimer & Liability for Carpooling, Goods & Services on Website AND Website in General. 

·        Group concerned about liability issues regarding Carpooling and Goods & Services items on the Sustainable Stockton website (if someone was to be injured or taken advantage of by using the posted services, he/she may sue us).  The following questions came up:  For Goods and Services, if people pay to have ads on our website (like the Buyers Guide), would we not be liable then?  What benefit would being an LLC or non-profit be for reducing our potential liability for these website items?  What type of lawyer would we need to look over our disclaimer or help us with forming an LLC or non-profit?  Is there a lawyer referral service on the internet? (Jeanne informed us that an attorney referral service is available.)

o       Sharon will check on becoming an LLC or non profit.

o       Sue will check with Renea at MREA to see if they have dealt with some of these same matters.

o       Sue will add the carpooling link to the web site.

o       Donna will contact Lynn to have the web site “go live.”  Once done, Donna will contact a registered non-administrator group member to test Good/Services ad option.

o       If we continue with the web site, the group will have to determine how to provide funding for the site.

o       It was recommended to include Outreach items on the web site.

o       The Web Site subcommittee will meet ahead of the next monthly meeting to discuss final details.   

6.  WEEB Grant/Light bulb Projects.  

·        Kim Becken will update us on the grant details at a future meeting. 
(At this time we plan to hand out CFL light bulbs on Election Day, November 4^th, along with related information on energy reduction, disposal, etc. as well as a few words about us.  We will get information out to folks in the October Town Newsletter.   The Project Committee will work on coordinating light bulb donations/purchase, workers, tent & setup, hand outs, check off sheets, etc.)

·        Cindy Davis will report on the household light bulb project at the next meeting. 

7.  Open Discussion. 

·        Jeanne informed the group that there will be a DNR representative at the July 29^th (7:00 p.m.) Town Board meeting to present an update on the presence of milfoil in Bear Lake.  At 6:00 p.m. that evening an update will be given on the Highway J overpass.

·        Sue attended an interesting session at the MREA on The Community Car.  She met a good resource contact from the Madison Sustain Group. 

·        Sue also mentioned the ENACT book discussion group options.  This group discussion centers on personal sustainable goals.  We may want to consider as a fall discussion group.

 8.  Next Meeting. 

 ·        The next meeting will be Thursday, August 7, 2008, at 7:00 pm at the Stockton Municipal Building.  Agenda for that meeting will be sent at a later date.  

 Respectfully Submitted,Donna Literski