Time: 12:00 pm

Present Richard Strong, Hannah Chapin, Chuk Kittredge, Norm Vig, Joel Weisberg, Dennis Easely

Absent Wayne Beierman, Julie Klassen, Jamie Long

Secretary: Alyssa Thomas

1) Purchasing Update

  • Thomas reported on the status of the purchasing policy drafted by the committee
  • Thomas, Strong and Long met with Barbara Johnson last week to discuss the policy with her
  • Johnson was pleased that discussions with Randi Johnson had already taken place
  • Overall, Johnson was supportive of the policy and agreed to bring it to the administrative committee
  • Johnson requested examples of products that would fall under the guidelines to share with the committee
  • Long emailed these options to her
  • No one heard whether the proposal was taken to committee yet
  • Thomas will let the committee know of any updates that happen before the next meeting
  • Weisberg expressed his support of the policy and told the committee that he had discussions with his department on this subject

2) Composting Update

  • Easley reported on the status of the composting system, student housing and dining halls
  • For the student housing the compost program was stopped due to a shortage of staff in facilities
  • Strong, Easley, Long and Thomas had discussed ways to continue the system given the staffing shortage
  • The composting would take place at student houses
  • The status of this is unclear, Thomas will talk with Long when he returns
  • For the dining halls, Easley reported that he had a long and very informative conversation with an “expert” on this type of program
  • Easley recommended we bring him to Carleton as a speaker (fess are $300 for a half day and $500 for a full day)
  • The committee decided early next fall would be a good time to do this
  • The news was mainly bad, composting systems are expensive and complicated and he did not think one would be feasible
  • The consultant also mentioned regulatory issues as a potential problem
  • There was discussion on the need to quantify food waste in order to get more accurate numbers

3) Proposal for Alyssa to attend Wind Energy Conference

  • Kittredge wanted to know how much money was left in the budget
  • Strong guessed around $7,500
  • Kittredge also asked what Thomas would learn from this and how accurate was the airfare quote
  • Thomas replied that the $600 for airfare was a maximum and there were many flights for less, and the conference would be a wonderful networking and learning opportunity
  • The proposal was passed by a unanimous voice vote with Thomas abstaining

4) Proposal to create a fund for care of farmhouse organic farm

  • Kittredge distributed an email to the committee about the possibility of establishing a fund for a student worker to take care of the new organic farm every summer
  • Thomas reported that the student, Dorissa Zemirah will receive $3,200 from ENTS for creating the farm this summer
  • Several committee members wondered what happens to the vegetables, especially if they are harvested before school starts
  • There were also concerns/questions over the benefit of having an organic farm, whether there was a clear game plan, and whether there was enough interest for some sort of fund to be established
  • A subcommittee (Easely, Kittredge, Weisberg and Thomas) will meet with Dorissa to address some of these concerns
  • It was suggested that the garden could be a great place for on-site composting