September 28, 2010 RESAA Minutes – page 1
Rutgers EnviroStewards Alumni Association
(RESAA) Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
ATTENDANCE: Bill Curzie, Bob Tallon, Will Sigle, Jim May, Marlene Robinson, Deb Kolar,
Bob Becker, Irene Sabin, Bruce Barbour
The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. Deb Kolar (Duke’10) and Bob Becker (Duke’08)
were welcomed to their first meeting of the RESAA Executive Board.
Bob Tallon will do his slide presentation at the next meeting in a room with a screen.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The July 27, 2010 minutes were approved as written on a motion made by Bob Tallon and
seconded by Marlene Robinson.
CORRESPONDENCE

Linda Cody (Duke’10) sent an article entitled “Is NJ Running out of Space?” as a topic for
discussion. It can be accessed at:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/op-ed/landlocked_082910.html

Dionne Polk e-mailed to say that she was unable to attend the meeting but would present
a proposal for a database at the next meeting.
RES PROGRAM COORDINATOR’S REPORT

The 2010 RES Class Graduation and Certification Luncheon will take place on
Wednesday, October 20 at Duke Farms. Fifty-one graduates will receive certificates
of completion for the course and 20 alumni will be certified. Members of the RESAA
Board are invited to talk about the alumni association and set up a RESAA display table.
The event will be sponsored by Organic Diversions. After cooperating with Rutgers
Environmental Stewards on a certification project, the company is composting food waste
from kitchens in large organizations for resale in the landscape market. RES volunteers
continue to act as coaches for new clients that use the company.

The 2011 classes will be offered at 3 locations statewide: the ACUA in Egg Harbor,
Duke Farms in Hillsborough, and a new site, Warren County Extension Office in
Belvidere. Class begins in January. Venues are being rotated this year to give speakers a
rest from traveling to four locations. Bill and Jim stated that the RES course should be
promoted by word of mouth in RES volunteer communities as well as by brochures at
Extension offices and display tables

ANJEC will hold the 37th Annual Environmental Congress on Friday, October 15 at
Brookdale Community College in Lincroft. Irene will set up a RES/RESAA display table at
the event. The theme is “Local Environmental Action in Challenging Times.” Details are
on the alumni website.

Bruce announced that Duke Farms would like to offer continuing education courses for
RES alumni as the core audience but open to the public, as well. He would like RESAA to
cooperate with Duke in developing the format, content and schedules. Members who
have expressed interest in working on the committee are Deb Kolar, Bob Becker,
Marlene Robinson and Irene Sabin.
September 28, 2010 RESAA Minutes – page 2
COMMITTEE REPORTS

Education/General Meeting Committee
Bill suggested that we should contact the DEP and start planning for our second annual
Forum and General Meeting in 2011. Bob Tallon made a motion, seconded by Jim, that
we set a date in June for this event. Motion carried. Bruce will talk to Tanya Oznowich
about prospective dates and ask what information she needs from RESAA to start the
planning stage.

Computer Communications/ RESAA website update
1. A new page, Alumni Communication and Resource Materials for Alumni Use, has
been added to the website. Irene posted an Extension Master Gardener Blog
Widget to this page which would provide information on consumer horticulture in
North America as well as communication with Master Gardeners and Extension
staff. There are currently about 100, 000 volunteers who have gone through the
Master Gardener program in the U.S. and Canada.
2. A suggestion was made to add a “contact us” blind email address to the website.
It was decided that the enviromail@njaes.rutgers.edu at the bottom of each page
is sufficient for inquiries and other communication about the website.
3. Irene would like to use a “flipping page” format on part of the website, either for a
“yearbook” of individual project pages, a photo gallery or a “scrapbook” of RES
activities. Members were in favor of trying this format.
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS

Continued Recognition of Certified alumni: Many alumni are continuing to volunteer in
significant projects after initial certification. One way to recognize them would be to
feature them on the website with an individual page, if they agree to be published. We will
begin doing this soon.

Continuing Education for Alumni provides not only up-to-date knowledge in one’s
chosen environmental area but also a chance for networking with colleagues and experts
in the field. A system for requiring continuing education hours for alumni is under
discussion. Three necessary aspects have been identified:
1. Courses have to be conveniently available statewide – one way this can be done
is by indicating on the website calendar which lectures or presentations would
count. Webinars might be another option.
2. If high cost is involved for some courses, volunteers should be given choices that
include free or low cost options.
3. If there is a requirement for a certain number of hours per year, a system for
reporting the hours as well as maintaining the records is necessary.

Project Summary Handouts – A suggestion was made by Tom Latza (EcoComplex’09),
after he sat a display table, to have a handout of representative RES projects for the
public. Irene condensed the projects completed through 2009, eliminating volunteer
names and grouping some under various categories. She will format the handout for
legal size paper and send to Bruce so that he can have it reproduced on both sides of
two legal sized sheets of paper. The handouts will be available for display tables at the
various locations where the materials are stored.
September 28, 2010 RESAA Minutes – page 3
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Bill brought an article from PhillyBurbs.com which featured Barry Draycott from the
EcoComplex’07RES class:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/information/guides/go_green_guide/going_green_details/article/2794/20
10/september/14/green-jobs-grow.html

Bob Tallon went to a meeting at Stony Brook on September 12 where creating and
maintaining a social networking site was discussed. He reported that a lot of maintenance
is needed (about one week per month) in order to have a successful site. He also
announced that there will be an event at the end of October where all the Burlington
County Health Department committees will gather, including the environmental health
committee. He would like to promote the RES program at this event. He will send details
for our website calendar when the date is finalized.

Marlene has created a model for her environmental classes to help illustrate how
pollutants arrive in rivers. She also has a three part poster for use in class. She
announced that she is working with the NJ Alliance of Native Americans to build an
Indian village, based on Lenape culture, on Burlington Island. This will benefit the
environment because there will be a clean-up of the island with continuing maintenance
which will benefit the Delaware River. She is looking for materials on the Lenape Indians.
The Next RESAA Meeting date will be Thursday, November 4, 2010.
9:30 – 10:00 idea exchange; 10:00 to Noon – business meeting.
Marlene made a motion, seconded by Will, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at
12:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Irene O. Sabin
iosabin@earthlink.net
908-806-8895