PEAT Meeting February 1, 2010
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 19:04 — Lavinia Demos
PEAT Meeting February 1, 2010
Bill Oliver
Cynthia Cole
Jubal Kessler
Justin Palmer
Mary Anne Mitchell
Sam Saltonstall
Steve Demos
Vinnie Demos
These minutes have been condensed. To find out more, consult one of the attendees.
Composter/Rain Barrel Sales
We will again sell composters and rain barrels for Earth Day, but this time we’ll simply collect orders and channel them through the city of Portland. Bill Oliver volunteered to coordinate this.
Earth Day and/or Coastal Clean Up and/or PeaksFest Participation
We agreed to do an all-island pick-up for Earth Day, and a beach pick-up in the fall for Coast Week. Children from the daycare will be involved in the Earth Day clean-up. We will renew our efforts to involve the school in the fall since this event provides lots of curriculum possibilities. Recycle barrels will also go back out for the season on PeaksFest weekend. We will also have a show of clothesline photos.
Earth Day Planning
For the rest of Earth Day, Vinnie will get together something about clotheslines again. Mary Anne will try to coordinate the inaugauration of the Big Belly compactor as an Earth Day event. If that doesn’t work, she’ll aim for PeaksFest.
Earth Day is actually on Thursday April 22, but we’ll celebrate it on Saturday the 24th.
This year is the 40th anniversary. Perhaps we can incorporate that into our publicity. We will ask the library whether we can again show movies on Saturday night.
Garden Report
Fourteen gardeners met on January 15th. They are still discussing the basic guidelines for managing the garden. The costs and benefits of importing organic soil vs composting alone are still up for discussion, but it looks as though most of 2010 will be devoted to soil building.
The fencing has been purchased and stored until Spring, but they still need corner and gate posts. The next meeting will address future expenditures and individual contracts for plot holders. Eighteen people have signed up to date, and the number of plots has been expanded, which means that the annual fee will go down from $40 to $35.
It was suggested that the Inn and the Café might be willing to save coffee grounds and maybe more for the composting effort.
Rummage sale volunteers
Ruth Williamson and Mary Lavendier are running a monthly sale in the Methodist Church vestry. They would like volunteers from PEAT to help unpack and then put away the stuff for the sale each month. The new schedule will be 3-6 p.m. on the last Wednesday of every month and also 3-6 p.m. on the following day. This will mean that folks can shop before attending the monthly church supper, which is always held on the last Thursday.
Swap Shop vs email lists vs monthly rummage sale vs Yahoo Group on Long Island
Mary Anne reported that the PIC is still interested in supporting a swap shop and has included money for a building at the transfer station in their budget request for this year. She will stay in touch with them about this.
PEAT supports the idea of a swap shop, but one of more limited scope that what we had envisioned originally. The Internet has proved to be a big help in recycling and selling goods on the island, particularly furniture, and the rummage sales might be sufficient to handle all clothing. That would leave a smaller batch of stuff to store and keep tidy at the swap shop so that it perhaps would not need continual staffing. It would be important, though, to serve as a drop-off for spot for any useful item that was about to be dumped in the trash. Volunteers could then siphon off articles to the appropriate venue. Another idea, which we didn’t have time to discuss, was a Yahoo mailing group. Mary Terry sent information about such a group that was recently started on Long Island for exchange of both goods and services. We will continue to explore these ideas.
Treasurer’s Report
Howard gave us an update on recent donations and expenditures. We are still working on the printable form for his reports.
Truck Committee Report
Jubal discussed insurance ideas with the company that’s handling the community garden policy. They explained that there are two basic models:
- A for-profit rental car agency, which rents to all comers and costs more. Would-be drivers submit an application with a fee, which covers the cost of getting the applicant’s driving record checked. A successful applicant is given a card which entitles him to rent a vehicle for a fee, which covers insurance and maintenance and makes a profit for the company.
- A non-profit model, in which only members of a co-op are covered by the liability policy, costs less. Each member buys into the cooperative by donating money to cover maintenance, gas, and the driving-record check. The vehicle itself is funded elsewhere through a grant or donation.
The second model would be better for us, but wouldn’t work with an island vehicle. The truck likely would have to pass inspection for us to get adequate insurance.
Update on 501 C3 Application
Ted Kelleher emailed all the necessary documents for us to amend our by-laws, and remove them as an exhibit to the articles of incorporation, which we would then refile with the state. Once these are approved, signed and returned to him, he can go ahead and complete the 501(c)(3) application and bring it to our March meeting.
Wind Report
The wind group has collected $1,600 in donations, more than enough to cover insurance. The biggest donor, who gave $500, agreed to let the group spend a portion of it on our 501(c)(3) application fee.
The group will have to file for an extension because winter weather may not allow University of Maine to get the tower up till the ground thaws and the snows melt. Good news is that Troy Moon has located a fence to go around the tower. The bad news is that there has to be pull testing done on the screw anchors for the tower's guy wires, a $1,500 expense. However, Dr. Mick Womersley of Unity College has offered to bring students down from Unity College and do the testing for nothing. Whew!