HomeMy WebLinkAbout03052012 Article 68 Work Group Minutes
ARTICLE 68 WORK GROUP
Meeting of Monday, March 5, 2012, at 11:00 am
Conference Room at 2 Fairgrounds Road
Preliminary Minutes
Attendance: Cormac Collier (11:04 am), Caroline Ellis, Bam LaFarge, Mark Lucas,
Wendy McCrae (11:06 am), Seth Rutherford, Lee Saperstein, Ernie Steinauer, and
Lucinda Young
Absent: Peter Boyce, Dave Fronzuto, Mike Misurelli, and Richard Ray
Guest: Ken Brasfield
Call to order; Approval of Agenda; Approval of Minutes: Lee Saperstein, Chair pro
tem, called the meeting to order at 11:00 am; there was a quorum. The draft agenda was
approved by acclamation. The Minutes of January 31, 2012, were approved, as amended,
by acclamation.
Chair's Announcements; Comments from Work Group Members: Lee Saperstein
said that the he had no announcements save to say a tremendous thank you to Libby
Oldham, Ernie Steinauer, and Lucinda Young, who brought the BMP to the point that it
could be discussed at this meeting for final approval.
Nantucket Best Management Practices for Fertilizer Application: Final
Consideration: Lucinda Young stated that she had reviewed carefully Libby Oldham’s
edits and formatting changes to ensure that none of them created a change in substance or
meaning. Once she was finished with that task, she asked Ernie Steinauer and Mark
Lucas, members of the editing group, to look it over one last time. Ernie Steinauer
reviewed it carefully and identified a number of needed editorial changes (typographical
errors and misspellings, minor formatting changes, and pagination) along with a few
issues that he wanted to discuss with the group.
Most of his concerns had to do with irrigation, which had not been discussed in depth in
earlier meetings. His first concern had to do with several comments about depth of
watering and whether or not it should extend beyond the root zone. He, Seth Rutherford,
and several others discussed the pros and cons of deeper watering and concluded that, for
our purposes, advice to saturate the soil to the bottom of the roots would be sufficient.
Consequently, most of the existing language on this topic would stay unchanged. Ernie
also asked about the use of “smart” moisture probes that might be used to control
irrigation flow. Again, the conclusion was that their use required a great deal of
sophistication with respect to locating the probes in the field and processing their output
in computers, which meant that the simple and existing language identifying probes with
a word or two was all that we would provide. The remainder of Ernie’s concerns were
modest and were accommodated by the group. He promised to incorporate the edits into
the document before transmitting it to Lee for distribution to the Work Group.
Mark Lucas also had several concerns, including a separate acknowledgement for the
work of Dr. Morris and his group at the University of Connecticut, and they were all also
accepted by the group. He supplied a hand-written copy of his changes to Ernie who
promised to incorporate them into the draft.
Lee Saperstein, serving as Chair pro tem, asked if there were any additional changes to be
proposed. Hearing none, he asked if someone would move formally for the adoption of
the BMP as a final document ready to be transmitted to the Board of Health. Cormac
Collier so moved and Wendy McCrae seconded the motion. By a show of hands, the
Group was unanimously in favor of releasing a final document subject to the final editing
of Ernie Steinauer. This has been done and the document is now posted on the Town’s
web site.
The Work Group is reminded that changes to the BMP are still possible but they will
need to be submitted to the Board of Health during the Public Hearing procedure.
Educational Tasks: In anticipation of the Group’s final meeting, we reviewed the status
of educational tasks.
BMP. It was noted that the BMP should be published by the Town and copies be
available to the public. The issue of publication costs and cost recovery was
deferred to our next and final meeting.
“Blue Pages” to be published by the HPIC and the Town. Bam LaFarge reported
that the summary points of the BMP have been submitted to Peter Brace, editor.
These summary points were copied from the Section Summaries in the BMP.
Bam will re-submit them to include the final editing done to the BMP. This item
is at no cost to the Work Group because HPIC is in the process of identifying
sponsors for the Blue Pages.
Brochures and Flyers. Caroline Ellis gave us copies of a draft flyer to be given
away at Town sites and at garden centers that sell fertilizer. They will also be
given to landscapers for distribution to customers. She asked that we review the
text carefully for completeness and ease of comprehension. Saperstein suggested
that, eventually, it will be formatted to fit on one page, two sides. ACTION
Please review this document and send comments back to Caroline
(carolinequaise@gmail.com).
Watering and mowing guide. Caroline asked about creating a small card of a size
similar to free pocket calendars. It would have a ruler down one side and a brief
summary of the regulation in the rest of it. Watering and mowing guidance would
be on it also. She was concerned that it be printed on durable but recyclable
stock.
Web pages. It was agreed to advise the Town that a fertilizer web page should
carry all of the educational items including the BMP.
Workshops. It was announced by Cormac Collier that the Nantucket Land
Council workshop for March 13 has been advertized but numbers of registrants
are low. Members of the Work Group are welcome to attend; seven professors
will be presenting material. ACTION urge colleagues to attend.
The above educational materials will be provided to the Board of Selectmen in draft form
as part of our final report. Broad estimates of costs will be included.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be on call but should fall just before Town
Meeting, which is on Saturday, March 31st.
Adjourn: At the motion of Wendy McCrae, and with general acclaim as a second, the
meeting was adjourned at 12:31 pm.
Lee W. Saperstein, Secretary
March 6, 2012