Subcommittee Updates

As the Board knows, several Subcommittees were formed at the November meeting. The Subcommittees topics included the Tree Sale, the Environmental Expo, and Education and Community Awareness. Staff will be creating a standing case each month for Subcommittee Updates. This will provide each Subcommittee an opportunity to review thoughts and/or brainstorm with the Board as a whole on certain ideas and concepts related to their focus area.

Tree Sale Subcommittee:

The City of Ramsey has coordinated a Tree Sale for multiple decades now. The Tree Sale has traditionally always been offered in the spring to correspond with Arbor Day and the availability of bareroot trees. At one time, the Tree Sale included a handful of nurseries that brought their stock to a central location (in association with the Environmental Expo). Over time, for various reasons, the Tree Sale evolved into a pre-order program that provided residents an opportunity to purchase primarily bareroot trees at wholesale prices. Trees were available for pick-up during the Environmental Expo or, as of last year, during the Spring Recycling Event. However, over time, sales and participation have trended downward and this Subcommittee is exploring potential ways to reinvigorate the program.

At the January meeting, the Subcommittee updated the Board that at least one (1) local nursery was interested in participating in the reconfigured format of the Tree Sale.  With that commitment in place, Board had directed Staff to proceed with identifying species that would be offered as part of the Tree Sale and to develop information for inclusion in the next issue of the newsletter.  The Subcommittee was going to try and contact a second local nursery to gauge their interest in participating as well.

Education & Community Awareness Subcommittee:

A major role of the EPB is to educate the citizenry on environmentally relative matters. This can be accomplished through a variety of ways including the City's newsletter, website and QCTV. This Subcommittee is researching and reviewing how to better promote environmental initiatives that the City has already implemented (such as being designated as a Tree City USA) as well as ways to increase community awareness of specific events and activities that coincide with seasonal opportunities (such as spring/fall recycling events and holiday lights recycling).

At the January meeting, the Subcommittee informed the Board of their work to develop a comprehensive list of organizations and publications that could be contacted and/or utilized to promote the mission of the EPB.  Once this list is complete, the next step will be to start identifying articles for publication at the appropriate time of year.

Environmental Expo Subcommittee:

The City has coordinated an Environmental Expo event for well over ten (10) years now. The event was initially developed in partnership with Ramsey Elementary School and had been held at the school each spring. In 2007, the school informed the City that they could no longer continue the partnership as it was consuming too much staff time in planning and coordination. Thus, the City revamped the Environmental Expo event and shifted it to the Municipal Center. In 2013, the event was incorporated into Happy Days to capitalize on greater foot traffic and greater promotion. This Subcommittee is looking at how to grow the expo event now with potential guest speakers, activities, etc.

The Subcommittee informed the Board that an update will be provided at the next meeting.

Each Subcommittee should be prepared to update the Board with any relevant information and solicit feedback and direction from the Board with regard to their focus area.