9/20/2007 ENVIRONMENTAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Minutes

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1 Environmental Oversight Committee Minutes September 20, 2007 Present: Don Myers,Beverly Kane, Ted Theis,Rick York, Lyle Hasley, Ralph Marcelli, Edward Baker Action Items: Committee to think of links for website. Invitation to Ms. Laurent to attend meeting to update committee. Members to make list of their priorities. The Chairman,Don Myers, called the meeting to order 7:05. There was a quorum and the meeting was telecast. Memo from Jim Hanks regarding testing was distributed to members. • Mr. Marcelli asked the schools what their plans are to educate regarding environmental concerns. A list of what is planned for the new school year was compiled and distributed. It was learned that the most effective time to make the most impact in teaching children environment concerns is between Grade Three and Six,which is where the schools have focused. Mr. York mentioned that his department speaks to the Fifth Grade every year. Last years science fair at KC Coombs was converted to a water fair,which Mr. Myers felt the children did an excellent job. Mr. Marcelli will find out what the focus will be for this year. • He did meet with seniors regarding Senior Project ideas and feels there was at least one student who was interested. He also encouraged them to do a study on things that did and didn't change. Mr. Baker said that the Mashpee Environmental Coalition would be willing to fund with $100 to any student doing a local project. Mr. Marcelli mentioned to the students that Mr. York would be a good resource for possibly doing a project on planting grass and taking care of the dunes. Mr. York suggested a nitrogen reduction project would be a good topic. • Mr. Marcelli found out that the use of organic fertilizer opposed to the fertilizer being used now by Mr. Tripp would cost 2.5 more. The current cost for two applications is $20,320. Organic fertilizer twice would be $31,969. Mr. Tripp also found out that he would have to fertilize more frequently using the organic kind. During Mr. Tripp's discussion with R.F. Morse, he found out that the current fertilizer being used is environmentally friendly. The reason it is not called organic is because it is man-made. Mr. Theis offered to get MSAD information on the fertilizers. • Mr. York mentioned that his department is preparing a grant proposal to the County Waste Water Collaborative. The money awarded would be used to order equipment for a monitoring station in Popponesset Bay. It would be on-line in real time to allow the community to see the nitrogen loading and its causes like the fish dying from lack of oxygen. Barnstable, Mashpee and Sandwich would all have links through their town's website.