Sierra Club, Atlantic Chapter, Niagara Group
Minutes of June Meeting of the Executive Committee, June 22, 2004

Location, United Methodist Church Community Room, Main Street, Williamsville.

Jane Jontz, Chair, presiding.

Attendees
Jane Jontz*
Mike Stroh*
Larry Beahan*
Paul Maine*
Marilyn Reeves
Charles Lamb*
Ginger Ursitti*
Jim Hufnagel*
Richard Lippes*
Linda Hedley (member?)
Carl R. deVyver (sp?)
Robert M. Ciesielski

*Member of Executive Committee
First meeting for Member

Business Reports

1. Treasurer Report - S. Burns:
$795.05 cash on hand - as of June 20th, 2004
Activity since May report:
• Expense of $225.00 on 6/17/04 - Bulk mail deposit, post office for pending Trailblazer.
• Deposits: $25 Mollot (sp?) contribution; $5 FRIP 4th quarter.
• Pending deposit of $40.50 from sale of 3 shirts and 1 bag at Stella Niagara table.

2. No Membership Report

3. Introduction of New Members (see attendance list).

Committee Reports

4. Political Endorsements - Jim Hufnagel
• Our early endorsement of Sam Hoyt was gratefully accepted by his office.
• Ken Baer requested our recommendation of Byron Brown and Crystal Peoples for early endorsement. After discussion, Jim moved, Richard second; vote was unanimous to endorse.

5. Niagara Power Project Relicensing Update - Larry Beahan
• City of Niagara Falls is pushing for Robert Moses Parkway removal.
• Friends of the Buffalo and Niagara Rivers (FBNR) has requested that we sign onto a letter of agreement for FBNR to represent our interests at the negotiations with the Power Project. After discussion of required expertise and the enormous time commitment involved, Larry moved, Ginger second; unanimous vote of intent to sign letter of agreement. Larry will update us on when the letter is written.

6. Marcy Woods - Richard Lippes
• We received a request to sign onto a letter requesting a moratorium on development at the property. After discussion on our jurisdiction (or lack of), our past efforts in the protection of Marcy Woods, and suggestions to develop a relationship with the Ontario Sierra Club group, Richard moved, Larry second; unanimous aye to sign onto request for moratorium.

7. Erie County Forests Master Plan Update - Larry Beahan
• Richard is working with Bruce Kershner. Bruce does not want to send the letter mentioned in last month's report.

8. Outings - Larry Beahan
• New directive from Club is that official Group Outings require Outings Leaders meeting the national standards for Sierra Outings Leaders, including Basic First Aid course, a Club training course, a Mentor Leader, and the Group to keep the records of qualifying Leaders. Steve Burns is a National Outings Leader, and is the only one in the Group meeting the requirements.

9. Theodore Roosevelt Lecture Series Update - Ginger Ursitti
• Meeting set up with TR Site and Buffalo Museum of Science (host) on July 20th. Will report next meeting.

10. WNY Earth Day - Jane Jontz
• Group was asked by the Earth Day committee to participate August 15th, 2004 at the Buffalo Zoo. Several objections to participating at the Zoo location. Some are against zoos in principle, some against the conditions at the Buffalo Zoo. Several supported tabling at the event, as the zoo is a good place to get to those who are interested in the environment. We can reserve a table and cancel if we decide to at the July meeting.

11. Hazardous Waste - Charles Lamb

• Earth Day celebration at Stella Niagara, though sparsely attended, was a good experience.

• RRG is holding Environmental Summit tonight where NYSDEC had been invited to attend to answer residents’ questions on the State Hazardous Waste Landfill Siting Plan and the CWM expansion application. NYSDEC declined to attend at the last minute, but meeting will be videotaped with questions posed to NYSDEC and sent to them for answers.

• S3370b sponsored by Senator Maziarz: Breakdown between Maziarz and Francine (Assembly bill); late amendments, watered down, no longer supported by RRG.

• Paul Maine wants more information on incineration as a method of disposing of PCBs. A discussion followed and the person recommended to give us an informational talk is Joe Gardella, a chemist familiar with the scientific issues.

Administrative

12. Executive Committee opening - Richard Lippes
• Reported that Dr. Joseph Gardella is likely interested in filling the open ExCom seat. Richard will check bylaws on mid-term appointments.

13. Strategic Planning Retreat - Jane Jontz
• Report on strategic planning meeting in Binghamton on the weekend of June 5th -6th, 2004. Jane, Larry, and Steve from our Group participated in course led by Greg Casini and Dave Karpf (new Club board member) of Club staff. The Niagara Group was chosen for the example plan.
• Jane proposed a Niagara Group Strategic Planning meeting facilitated by Greg Casini to follow up on progress made at Chapter retreat.
• Several agreed to participate, schedule allowing, and thought the meeting should take place in a retreat fashion again. Larry suggested Allegany, other ideas were mentioned

14. Meeting Minutes - Ginger Ursitti
• Submitted minutes from May meeting, corrected according to comments. She will post them on the website.

15. Atlantic Chapter June Quarterly meeting - Ginger Ursitti
• Ginger and Richard both attended meeting in Hudson. Reported that meeting went somewhat smoothly after a rough start regarding the agenda items and the newsletter committee. Meeting minutes are taken by Jim Lane and available when he posts them to the “mitchell” website.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Ginger Ursitti
874-6769