1. Received a $66,000 grant from Congressman John Hall to install solar panels on the City Hall roof. Near the end of the year we received a matching grant from NYSERDA. Construction will begin in 2010.
2. With the help of the City and the Planning Board, the CAC obtained standing with the Planning Board and was invited to provide input to the Planning Board, if there were environmental issues that were overlooked.
3. The Environmental Management Council (EMC) launched a student program to put markers on storm water catch basins. A segment of catch basins have been completed. The seals caution residents to not dump harmful chemicals down storm drains. We expect to continue this program.
4. The EMC organized an ad-hoc committee in Beacon that is concerned with care for trees and problems with roots heaving up our concrete sidewalks in numerous areas. One of our CAC members, a landscape architect, working with the committee and with City Council members, has temporarily completed the project.
5. On March 2, the Beacon City Council approved an increase of our CAC members from 9 to 15. We also encourage people who are interested in sustainability to form sub-committees with CAC members and take on projects that are of interest to them.
6. The EMC has drafted a template to follow in running our meetings and we have appointed a CAC member to take minutes and get them out to the members before the next meeting. We have 9 sub-committees and expect monthly written reports prior to the monthly meeting, including: Water Protection and Conservation, Renewable Energy, Education, Zero Waste, Sustainable Building Codes, Natural Resources, Vehicle Fuel Economy, Transit Oriented Development(TOD), and Liaison with Planning Board.
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