Ontario
Room
ATTENDANCE
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Members: |
Staff: |
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Brent Mersey, Chair Krista Olins River He Regional Councillor Jack Heath |
Regrets
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Lindsay Turko |
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1.
CALL TO ORDER
Brent Mersey,
Chair, called the meeting to order at
2.
CHAIR’S COMMENTS
The Chair
spoke briefly to his memo dated November 12th and his role as Chair;
he stressed the importance of all members getting involved as well as attending
other meetings, i.e. Environmental Issues Committee, Regional Environmental
Advisory Committees. At present, there
is a single committee representative on these committees and the Chair
encouraged other members to step forward and get involved as well.
3.
ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE
There was discussion
pertaining to Item 3 and the issue of letter writing to Council on issues of
concern. It was agreed that the
Committee would come to General Committee meetings on a regular basis, possibly
every other month, to present concerns or suggestions on areas of
interest. John O’Gorman and Mike Hough
will routinely review agendas of Town meetings and apprise Committee of items
of interest.
Moved by Romila Verma
Seconded by Mike Hough
THAT the minutes of the Markham
Conservation Committee meeting held on
CARRIED
4. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION
a) Proposed Meeting Dates for
2006 – The Chair reviewed the proposed meeting dates for 2006. There was a brief discussion on the merits of
having a meeting over the summer and it was agreed to hold one in August. The following dates were approved by the
Committee: January 26, February 23,
March 30, April 27, May 25, June 29, August 24, September 28, October 26 and
November 30; with no meetings in July or December.
b) MCC Dinner in December: Following brief discussion, it was agreed to
have a seasonal dinner early in the New Year, January 6. Romila Verma will confirm the time and
location with all members.
c) MCC Membership – Regional
Councillor Heath and Councillor Shapero have met concerning this item and
advise that a number of applications have been received. Interviews will be taking place over the next
week.
d) Environmental Assessment
Process – The Chair reviewed his handout (attached) on both public
consultation and environmental assessment processes. Romila Verma will be the Committee contact on
this issue. A suggestion was made to
invite someone from the Ministry of the Environment to give a brief overview on
this process; Romila agreed to follow-up on this item. The Chair called on members to provide him
with their comments/concerns on this initiative.
e) Presentation to Council
– Romila Verma provided a brief overview of the power point presentation she
will be making to Town Council on November 29th on the Mission Green
ambassador program and encouraged members to attend this meeting if possible as
there will also be a presentation of certificates to all those volunteers who
participated in the launch of the Mission Green program.
5.
NEW BUSINESS
a) MCC
Mandate – This item, along with Committee goals and the possible re-naming
of the Committee, will be the main items on the January 2006 agenda.
6.
MATTERS
ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
a) Markham Conservation Committee Goals 2005/2006 – deferred to
January [see above item 5 (a)] – The Chair will also be setting up a
schedule of items that MCC should be actively involved with – i.e. Earth Day,
Clean-up initiatives, tree plantings to name a few.
b) MCC
Budget – No report at this time.
7. REPORTS
OF SUBCOMMITTEES
a) Waste Management – The
Chair reviewed the items raised in Joan Maddock’s e-mail. There was general discussion on the problems
with packaging – it is a provincial/federal matter but the merits of writing a
letter to the proper legislators was discussed.
No decision was reached. Regional
Councillor Heath advised that the Mission Green group would be taking on the
task of educating the Catholic elementary schools and progress to the public
High Schools to encourage their involvement and support in this important
program. Committee agreed to field trips
to view various waste treatment facilities but dates were not set at this
time. The point of having a
waste-recycling plan in the new Town Centre development area was recognized but
agreed to be too large an undertaking. Alternatively, the Mission Green ambassador
program will be used to encourage participation from apartment buildings, as
well as festivals and fairs held throughout the Town.
b) Community Outreach and Education - The
Chair advised that with
On a motion by Krista Olins, seconded by
Romila Verma, and unanimously carried, it was agreed that the Town’s
Environmental Co-ordinators be requested to provide Markham Conservation
Committee advance notice of upcoming meetings which would contain items of
environmental impact on the Town.
c) Cycling & Pedestrian Committee –
Councillor Shapero agreed to update members, as she is a member of this
Committee until such time as MCC appoints a replacement for Stephanie Sokolyk.
d) Pesticide Reduction – Regional
Councillor Heath and Councillor Shapero provided a brief update on the status
of this important initiative; there will be a further staff report in December
at which time arrangements for public discussion will be arranged.
8. REPORTS
FROM RELATED COMMITTEES
a) Environmental Issues
Committee (EIC) – The Chair stated, due to time constraints, he would update
the Committee on the three EIC meetings held in November, at the January 2006
meeting.
9.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Markham
Conservation Committee is scheduled for
There being no further business, it was
moved by Mike Hough and seconded by Lindsay Turko, that the meeting be
adjourned at
CARRIED
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