MINUTES FOR BEE CITY USA - ASHLAND MEETING
 
March 24, 2017
North Mountain Park Nature Center
620 North Mountain Ave.
 
In attendance: Kristina LeFever, Karen Potts, Shari Shattuck, Joel Heller, and Libby VanWyhe


 
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
 

1. CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME
   1. Welcome Joel Heller!
      Ashland Parks and Rec Commission.  Teaches about berries and fruit here at NMP.  The BCU committee fits in with his passions.  Has been paying attention to the lack of bees this spring, and has been doing hand-pollination of his peaches. 
      All members were introduced.

 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
   1. Approve Minutes from previous meeting
      Shari moves to approve from December and goal setting meeting.  All voted in favor to approve.
   2. Review Action Items from previous meeting
      As a member of the sign committee, Joel predicts that the sign committee will agree to two additional BCU signs at city entrances.  The only remaining question is how much they would cost.  Libby and Karen suggest that the additional signs be placed a bit lower.
        Kristina will look into sign costs for two new BCU signs for city entrances. 
       Libby will contact Julie Smitherman again and set a deadline of 4/15 for the water conservation article for the tour booklet.
        Libby will contact Jeff about the Grove Pollinator Garden planting timeline.
      Kristina suggested using our contact list to invite people to help maintain the Grove Pollinator Garden plantings.
        Joel suggested that we put a sign up at the Grove that says “Future Site of the Pollinator” Garden.  Joel will contact Marcia from John Muir School and ask them to make up the sign.
      Kristina said that we got the swarm article in the City Source.
       

 

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
   1. Open Forum
      No members of the public were present

 

4. ADDITIONS OR DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA
   Addition to the Agenda:
   1. APF grant

 

5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
   1. Update on changing the resolution so that it says “at least three citizen members.” So that we might include Susan Ekstrom on the committee – Libby
      After meeting with her supervisors, Libby confirmed that everyone wanted to allow the committee to take on one more person.
      Susan Ekstrom, is invited to participate in the next meeting.  Libby pointed out that it would then take 4 people to make a quorum.
        Kristina will get in touch with Susan Ekstrom to see if she is still available to participate in the committee.
   2. Flyer for pollinator-friendly landscape practices – Shari
      Shari made a flier out of the landscape practices which can help pollinators. Libby suggests that the flier should include the website address ashland.or.us/beecity for more information.  The landscaping practices could be re-formatted into a tri-fold brochure, and could possibly take the place of the proposed rack card.
        Kristina suggested that this list of practices be shared to Facebook.
        Committee members will review the “pollinator friendly landscaping practices” document, and email the group with any ideas and suggestions
   3. Update on Rocky Top – Karen
      Karen got in touch with Trudy from the garden committee of the Village Green HOA.  Trudy was interested in adopting the Rocky Top site in some way.  She agreed to host a meeting of the HOA members (a small group of all ages). 
        Kristina and Karen will set up a meeting with Trudy from Village Green HOA to discuss adoption of Rocky Top.
        Kristina will do a count of the native plants installed at Rocky Top, so that we can provide some numbers to report to BCU central.
       
   4. Update on Pollinator Garden Tour - Kristina and Libby
      We have 17 gardens on the tour and we have photos and garden descriptions from all of them. 

 
VI. NEW BUSINESS

5. Discuss drafting and editing the Pollinator Garden Tour booklet – Kristina and Libby
   We have a timeline for the compilation and printing of the booklet.  We would work on compiling the tour booklet between April 15 and May 15.
     Kristina will send a letter to the paper to advertise the tour by May 31.
     Kristina will use similar language to generate a press release, and send that to Libby.
     Libby get Dorinda to help submit a press release about this upcoming program.  To be submitted June 16.
     Joel suggests putting this program into the June City Source, which has a deadline of May 15.
   If we have the tour booklet done by June 1, and printed by June 15, people can begin picking them up at the center if they are registered.
   Libby agreed to do the printing for the booklet using the Nature Center printer.  She also agreed to print the cover page in color, if all the other pages were in black and white.  Libby offered the use of some colored paper that NMP has in house to jazz up the black and white internal pages.
   The booklet will be collated and stapled by NMP volunteers.
     NMP will a design flier for the program, and the committee members will distribute/poster around town.
     Libby will check with her supervisors about whether the BCU budget will reset at the end of the fiscal year.  If it comes down to using or losing the remaining budget, the committee may decide to purchase plants or marketing materials etc.
     Libby will check with Leah and Julie about getting the map and the conservation blurb.
6. Decide whether to send the optional $100 payment to BCU for 2017 – Kristina
   Bee City USA central has now implemented a renewal fee.  For a town of our size the renewal fee would be $200.  But because we didn’t know about this charge, Kristina is suggesting that we pay only half of the requested amount for 2017.  Presumably, we will have to pay the full amount next year for 2018.  There are 40 Bee City USA’s now, and Ashland if 5^th. All of those cities are now being charged based on their populations. 
   The committee voted unanimously that we want to pay $100.
     Kristina will ask Phyllis Stiles to submit an invoice for $100, and give that invoice to Libby.
     Libby will send a check request form through to the City’s accounts payable department, and have them cut a check to Phyllis Stiles of Bee City USA. 
     We will check with Dolly Warden to see how Talent is dealing with the fees.
7. Update on the Grove Pollinator Garden - Libby
7. Libby will check in about the Grove planting, and ask about whether the trees are going to be removed. 

7. OTHER ITEMS FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
   8. Neonicotinoids and SB 929
      Kristina will be going to Salem on Monday (wearing her PPRV hat) and will be hoping to put pressure on the legislature to make Neonicotinoids a “restricted use pesticide”.  To restrict consumer use of these pesticides which have a systemic and persistent effect on plants.  The formula for consumers is stronger for public use than for agricultural use, and the warnings are not very clear on the product labels. These can have a severe impact on bees and bees can also bring the poisons back to the hive.
      Kristina asks whether Parks and Rec uses Neonics in the few small areas where we do use pesticides. 
        Libby will ask Jeff whether we use any Neonics in Parks and Rec and/or in the city.
   9. APF Grant opportunity
      Would it be possible for Bee City USA Ashland to apply for an Ashland Parks Foundation grant?  Libby says yes. 
      Kristina suggests that there could be things we could do with a grant.  Libby suggests that the grant should be used to support one of our current goals, and Joel suggests that we use the money for purchasing pollinator plants for the Grove.
      To make this request, we need to look at the space, put together a planting list and estimate the cost of the plants that we’re requesting.
        Libby will show the group, the exact planting bed that we are talking about.
      The group agrees that they want to request funds from the Ashland Parks Foundation.
      The deadline for the APF grant application is May 3.
      The group understands that the project will start in October 2017, when we install plants.

 

8. UPCOMING MEETING DATES

 
Next meeting to be scheduled for May 31 or June 1, 8, or 9.
 

Action Items:
  Kristina will look into sign costs for two new BCU signs for city entrances. 
  Libby will contact Julie Smitherman again and set a deadline of 4/21 for the water conservation article for the tour booklet.
  Libby will contact Jeff to confirm about the Grove Pollinator Garden planting timeline.
  Joel suggested that we put a sign up at the Grove that says “Future Site of the Pollinator” Garden.  Joel will contact Marcia from John Muir School and ask them to make up the sign.
  Kristina will get in touch with Susan Ekstrom to see if she is still available to participate in the committee
  Kristina suggested that Shari’s list of practices be shared to Facebook.
  Committee members will review Shari’s “pollinator friendly landscaping practices” document, and email the group with any ideas and suggestions.
  Kristina and Karen will set up a meeting with Trudy from Village Green HOA to discuss adoption of Rocky Top.
  Kristina will do a count of the native plants installed at Rocky Top, so that we can provide some numbers to report to BCU central.
  Kristina will send a letter to the paper to advertise the tour by May 31.
  Kristina will use similar language to generate a press release, and send that to Libby.
  Libby get Dorinda to help submit a press release about this upcoming program.  To be submitted June 16.
  Joel suggests putting the pollinator garden tour into the June City Source, which has a deadline of May 15.
  NMP will a design flier for the tour, and the committee members will distribute/poster around town.
  Libby will check with her supervisors about whether any unspent fuds in BCU budget will reset at the end of the fiscal year. 
  Kristina will ask Phyllis Stiles to submit an invoice for the $100 in annual registration fees, and give that invoice to Libby.
  Libby will send a the invoice through with a check request form to the City’s accounts payable department, and have them cut a check to Phyllis Stiles of Bee City USA.
  We will check with Dolly Warden to see how Talent is dealing with the increase in annual fees.
  Libby will ask Jeff whether we use any Neonics in Parks and Rec and/or in the city.
  Libby will find a time to walk the committee members around the Grove and show the group the exact planting bed that we are talking about.
  Libby will Doodle Poll the dates for the June meeting.