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1 Orange County Commission for the Environment Meeting Summary August 8, 2016 Orange County Solid Waste Administration Building, Chapel Hill ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRESENT: Lydia Wegman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Bill Kaiser, Bill Newby, Rebecca Ray, Sheila Thomas-Ambat ABSENT: Lynne Gronback, Loren Hintz, Jeanette O’Connor STAFF: Tom Davis, Rich Shaw _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I. Call to Order – Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:40 pm. II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – None. Shaw reported that the County purchased land earlier that day for an addition to the County’s Soccer.com Soccer Park. III. Minutes – Wegman asked for comments on the June 13 meeting summary. Kaiser motioned approval as written; seconded by Becker. Motion approved unanimously. Kaiser asked if there was any new information about the possibility of installing a solar array at the closed landfill, which was discussed by the CFE and members of the Town of Carrboro's Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) at the June meeting. Shaw noted that the EAB members had spoken with Orange County Solid Waste staff about two possible sites at the landfill, but he had not heard anything further. Shaw said he would contact the Solid Waste staff and report back to the CFE with any news. IV. CFE Facebook Page – CFE members recapped the June meeting discussion on the use of Facebook and other social media to communicate with the public about CFE activities and other environmental matters of interest to county residents. At that meeting CFE reviewed the Orange County Social Media Policy included in the meeting materials. CFE members expressed continued interest in using social media (not just Facebook) and asked staff could request that someone from the County attend a future meeting to answer questions and to help guide the CFE in how it could participate in outreach to county residents. CFE members said they recognize and appreciate the need for Orange County to enforce a social media policy, but it remains unclear how the CFE should move forward with its outreach efforts. Shaw said he would ask Beth Young (DEAPR Communications) or David Hunt (BOCC Clerk’s Office) to attend a future meeting. V. Hydrilla Treatments in Upper Eno River Basin (Update) – Davis provided an update on year two of a two-year pilot study to treat the aquatic weed hydrilla in the Eno River. He said the chemical treatments were being injected into the Eno at two locations (rather than just one in 2015) and the effects are being monitored at several locations along the 16 miles of river that comprise the study area. Davis noted the Eno River Hydrilla Management Task Force decided to maintain a lesser concentration of the chemical Fluridone (<5 ppb versus <15 ppb in 2015)), but due to the high incidents of rainfall they would need to use more of the chemical than they used the previous year.