Sustainable Stockton Meeting Minutes

 Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 7:00 pm, Town of Stockton Municipal BuildingAttendees: 

 Sue Anderson; Donna Literski; Mary Maller; and Sharon Reichert. 

Meeting Minutes. Minutes of 05-07-09 Meeting were approved (Donna/Mary; all in favor). 

Website.  Christy Weseloh is unavailable to help out with the SS website at present due to some personal matters.  In lieu of current website volunteers, the committee will work on general and specific questions/ideas that can be presented to Computer Science Professor, Tim Krause.  Possibly he can help us with our computer programming needs or maybe use our problems as a student or class project.  Group hopes to put down general ideas by the end of summer and then work on specifics through the Fall semester in hopes of some spring semester help.  Also, plan to ask Katie Miller and Nick Hyla directly about possibly assisting us with our website. 

Chris Egle's brochure.  Mary will check with Chuck Egle to see if SS would have to pay for a listing and follow up with group. 

 Items for next Town of Stockton Newsletter.  Tony of Whitefeather Organics has agreed to do a tour of his farm for SS on Tuesday, July 21, 2009.  Our group will provide free refreshments Donna will start on poster for tour and Sharon will finish it.  Committee members will put posters up throughout Town and local community.   For the film series, committee should at least have dates figured for Sept. TOS Newsletter.  That way we can at least ask the residents to “save the date” even if we don’t have all the films decided.  We’ll need to confirm film series dates at our August meeting (including an April alternate date in case of inclement weather). 

SS Summer and Fall Tours.  Hans Schabel has agreed to have a tour of his property this Fall.  Sharon will get more details from Hans later on this summer.  Mary is working on a possible tour of the Gordon Dale Farm in Nelsonville (where manure is turned into energy to help operate the farm).   

Town of Stockton Park.  The Town of Stockton and its Plan Commission are ready to start plans for the Town Park which lies adjacent to the Town Municipal Buildings.   The Commission and the Town Board want to make the park a natural place that the local community can utilize—possibly to include such activities as hiking, sledding, birding, disk golf, environmental education, etc.  What the Town appears to need is some sort of clear vision for the park and some inventory of the resources it has.  Sustainable Stockton is willing to provide labor and useful contacts that may help the Town with its park plan.  Some SS members will tour the park separately this summer and make recommendations to the Plan Commission/Town Board.   

 Find it in Stockton Directory Publication next Winter.  Our deadline to have the materials ready is December 15^th.   Committee will need to contact Jerry Piesik to see if he is willing to sponsor the publishing of the Directory again this year.  We will need margins, size of page, and provide paper of decent quality.  Possibly we can put an article in the next Town Newsletter to ask folks for additions to the Directory.  Donna to contact those already in directory and give them a chance to edit by November 1^st otherwise their ad will go “as is.”  In directory, group would also like to put a leaf or some other symbol by companies’ names that use sustainable practices.  Criteria for the “leaf” will be discussed at the next meeting.  Sharon will let the Town Clerk know some SS members can help stuff envelopes for the Sept./Oct. newsletter if she needs us. 

 Open Discussion/Future projects/Ideas.  Mary Maller and friends purchased a CSA share (approximately $400) as a prize for a local essay contest for Stevens Point Area Public School District employees.  The contest was a 200-word essay about the importance of utilizing local foods.  The contest was designed to foster awareness of the importance of eating locally and to promote sustainability.  The contest was publicized in materials put up in the lounge and break rooms of the School employees.  Eighteen essays were received with various approaches to why local foods were important.  Mary read two of the contestants’ essays to the group.  The committee awarded the CSA to Deb Oliver, a teacher at the Alternative High School.  Members thought this contest was a fun and innovative way to get people thinking about sustainable issues.  Maybe SS can utilize a similar contest in the future.    

Next Meeting.  Next meeting of Sustainable Stockton will be on August 13, 2009, at 7:00 pm in the Town of Stockton Municipal Building. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Sharon Reichert, Secretary