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POLICY BOARD BUSINESS <br />Case #1: Consider Ways to Enhance 'Green' Information on the City's Website <br />Associate Planner/Environmental Coordinator Anderson presented the staff report. <br />Chairperson Max stated that he thought the recycling information could be expanded to <br />promote /educate opportunities for reusing and/or exchanging materials rather than disposal. <br />Board Member Stodola inquired if the Board was aware of the website <br />www.twinoitiesfreemarket.org, which was a great place to both find items and get rid of items at <br />no cost. <br />Associate Planner/Environmental Coordinator Anderson stated that unfortunately, Anoka County <br />opted not to contribute funding for the site in 2011 and therefore, cannot list items on the site. <br />Board Member Stodola stated that Anoka County residents cannot list items to get rid of but that <br />they can still search the site to find items. <br />Associate Planner/Environmental Coordinator Anderson inquired if enhancements could simply <br />include links to existing sites. <br />Chairperson Max stated that that would be fine, no reason to recreate things if information is <br />already out there. <br />Board Member Bentz stated that he thought that there was a lot of redundancy on the home page <br />and thought that things could be boiled down under essentially two headings, city administration <br />and things to do in Ramsey. <br />Associate Planner/Environmental Coordinator Anderson stated that the action item on the <br />approved work plan was to enhance green information on the website and so the Board should <br />focus specifically on how that can be accomplished. If there were suggestions for the website as <br />a whole, those could be directed to the webmaster. <br />Board Member Bentz stated that the search function doesn't work very well. Improving search <br />capabilities would help improve the usefulness of the website. <br />Associate Planner/Environmental Coordinator Anderson stated that that is partly his fault. As <br />web pages are created, keywords can be added to help locate information when a search is done. <br />That was something that he didn't initially realize when creating some of the pages but the good <br />news is that it is something that could be addressed relatively easily. Once the conversion is <br />made to the new program, he will go into the system and add a number of additional keywords <br />for some of the pages. <br />Chairperson Max stated that years ago, through the Horse Care Board, a `nitrogen network' was <br />developed in which the exchange of manure was possible from horse owners to gardeners. He <br />Environmental Policy Board / November 7, 2011 <br />Page 2 of 4 <br />