Minutes - Environmental Policy Board - 06/02/2008

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the Board Members and also ideas on how the event could be improved in the future. He advised that staff is considering 'recruiting' interested folks to form a planning committee to help plan and organize the event in future years. He also thought that the planning should begin earlier than it had begun this year. He advised that he had also had discussions with the tree vendors to find out how they could improve that aspect of the event as there were very little sales that occurred. He thought that overall the event went well, with the major exception being attendance. He advised that attendance was less than previous years and thought a couple things played into that. He advised that they did not have the Environmental Expo at the elementary school where they had previously held the event and thought that not having the co-sponsorship of the school hurt the event. In the past, the school had sent home flyers with the children, which was great direct promotion of the expo. He advised that the weather was also not exceptional, but stated that they had dealt with worse weather in the past. He stated that in the previous years when the event was held at the school it was more of a festival or carnival atmosphere, where as this year's atmosphere was more educational. He stated that the economy might have also played a small role in the outcome of the tree sale, as people do not have as much disposable income as they have had in the past. He thought that a large emphasis should be put on advertising in the future to gain a higher attendance for the event. He thought that they might advertise in the Ramsey Resident to gain volunteers to help with brain storming and planning next year's event. Acting Chairperson Sibilski stated that he liked the vendors for the most part, with the exception of the Tupperware vendor. He did not think that vendor fit into the theme of the event. He also liked the idea of having a planning committee for the event in the future and thought that they should start planning earlier. He thought that they should start advertising for the event earlier in the year and also suggested that the tree vendors promote the tree sale prior to the event as well. He advised that they could possibly tie in with the elementary school and PACT charter school for an environmental poster contest to draw in more families for the event, but did not think they should necessarily go back to the carnival atmosphere. He suggested possibly having a birdhouse or bird feeder construction class for the children to participate in. Environmental Coordinator Anderson advised that the Tupperware vendor was not directly invited but contacted him and sold him on the fact that they would promote the waste reduction factor in using reusable containers. He advised that the vendor stated that they would display that information, but he did not see it displayed and noticed that they had also displayed toys instead of having the emphasis on reusable containers. He stated that Staff looked into a class on bird house or feeder construction, but explained that the problem they ran into was where to have that within the building. He explained that in the Municipal Center there was not an area that would facilitate that kind of hands on activity that would generate that kind of mess, like the art room did at the elementary school. Acting Chairperson Sibilski suggested that they setup a tent outdoors for the event next year where they could hold that kind of activity. Board Member Stodola also suggested using the first level of the parking ramp for that activity. He liked the idea of having a build a birdhouse station and advised that Home Depot conducts those kinds of activities. Environmental Coordinator Anderson advised that either idea would be an option for the future. He stated that he had thought about roping off the first level of the parking ramp for the tree sale Environmental Policy Board / June 2, 2008 Page 2 of 10