MARKHAM CONSERVATION COMMITTEE

1. CALL TO ORDER

Brent Mersey, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:17 p.m.

2. AGENDA

The agenda was accepted as distributed.

3. ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARKHAM CONSERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON JANUARY 17, 2008

The minutes were accepted as distributed.

Moved by Tom Rado

Seconded by Philip Ling

THAT the minutes of the Markham Conservation Committee held on January 17^th, 2008 be adopted as distributed.

CARRIED

4. EVENT PLANNING DISCUSSION

It was reported that Sara Sterling, Special Events Coordinator, will soon be leaving her position with the Town of Markham. Chair Brent Mersey will forward her email to committee members for information. It is expected that Allan Seabrooke will be the Committee’s contact until Sara’s replacement is in place.

The Committee was relying on assistance from the Town of Markham with special events planning. It was agreed that, with this unexpected development and no assistance, it was now too late for Committee members to coordinate plans for an Earth Day event.

Moved by Tom Rado

Seconded by Serena Chin

THAT due to lack of resources, the Markham Conservation Committee is regrettably not in a position to run an Earth Day Event, but is ready to assist at other events.

CARRIED

As an alternative, the Committee agreed to contact Rebecca Timol, who is planning an Earth Day screening of the film “An Inconvenient Truth” and arranging for a panel of specialists to field questions from the audience. Chair Brent Mersey will offer to be part of the panel.

Committee members voiced their disappointment that the Town of Markham is not leveraging the talents, expertise and energy of Committee members to its advantage to help encourage the growth of Town of Markham events, advise on conservation-related matters, and be involved in policy change. It was recommended that, as soon as possible, Chair Brent Mersey discuss the situation with Town of Markham Mayor Scarpitti with the intention of obtaining Town of Markham commitment and support for the Committee.

It was agreed that Committee members would submit short self-biographies within one week to Chair Brent Mersey. This information will be used to inform Town of Markham Council and staff about the potential the Markham Conservation Committee members have to offer.

5. COMMITTEE NAME CHANGE UPDATE

Committee members were advised that the report on the Committee name change was expected to be submitted to General Committee in February, but this item has been placed “on hold”. The report does include a number of points that committee members wanted included, e.g. an appropriate mandate, a proposed budget and secretariat support, but does reduce the number of Councillors on the Committee. Also, the report calls for the Chair of the Markham Conservation Committee to make an annual presentation to the General Committee about the committee’s action plans, budget and expenses. Chair Brent Mersey will email the draft report to all Committee members, who were asked to return comments to Chair Mersey so that he might, in turn, forward them on to Town of Markham staff.

It was recommended that Chair Brent Mersey add this topic to his discussion with Town of Markham Mayor Scarpitti.

6. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Further to the discussion at the January meeting about ideas for the committee, Serena Chin supported educational initiatives relating to ending littering, perhaps through committee members forming a speaker’s bureau that would take this environmental message to local area schools or arranging clean-up of high litter areas. It was recommended that future committee meetings include presentations from Committee members on such topics as

- “bio-char” (a process of putting charcoal in soil to enrich it) and pyrolisis (the process of creating the charcoal)

- environmental initiatives undertaken by California schools

Committee members may consider planning a field trip to a recycling facility for its April 2008 meeting.

7. NEW BUSINESS

a. Markham Conservation Committee

Chair Brent Mersey reported that it is Town of Markham policy to elect/ re-elect the Chair/Vice Chair for a one-year term at the first meeting each year.

Moved by Tom Rado

Seconded by Serena Chin

THAT Brent Mersey be elected as Chair of the Markham Conservation Committee for a one-year term.

CARRIED

Moved by Lloyd Helferty

Seconded by Serena Chin

THAT Philip Ling be elected as Vice Chair of the Markham Conservation Committee for a one-year term.

CARRIED

b) Openness of Town of Markham Committees

Chair Brent Mersey will bring this document to the next Committee meeting.

c) Monitoring the Moraine

Chair Brent Mersey circulated material, a “how to” guide to monitor municipal land use planning of the Oak Ridges Moraine and a checklist for assessing development applications, provided by the “Moraine Watch” organization.

d) Light Pollution

In response to Committee members’ concern about potential light pollution experienced with new building projects, a member of Town of Markham staff will be invited to make a presentation to the Committee about Town initiatives in approving the lighting specifications of building plans.

e) Membership

It was noted that Samuel Yip has resigned. John O’Gorman’s term on the committee expired November 30, 2007. Joan Maddock’s term also expired November 30, 2007; Chair Brent Mersey will verify whether she was re-appointed to the Committee for another term.

The Markham Conservation Committee is now short three members. Town of Markham will be recruiting new members for all Town Committees; Markham Conservation Committee members were also asked to recruit new members.

8. NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Markham Environmental Advisory Committee is scheduled for Thursday, March 20^th, 2008 at 7 p.m. in the Ontario Room.

9. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. on a motion from Serena Chin, seconded by Philip Ling.

ATTENDANCE

Members

Staff

Regrets

Absent