Pesticide and Fertilizer Task Force — Portland, ME
Date: 2016-06-14

City of Portland
 Pesticide and Fertilizer Task Force
 June 14, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
 State of Maine Room
 AGENDA




 1. Welcome and Introductions (30 Minutes)

 2. Discuss Objectives and Timeline (30 Minutes)

 a. Review Objectives of the Task Force

 b. Meeting schedule and report date

 c. Discuss extension

 3. Review and Discuss South Portland Ordinance (45 Minutes)

 4. Discuss Agenda for Next Meeting (15 Minutes)

 5. Adjourn


Please refer to the committee web page for background documents:

http://www.portlandmaine.gov/1774/Pesticide-and-Fertilizer-Task-Force

City of Portland
 Pesticide and Fertilizer Task Force
 June 14, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
 City Manager’s Conference Room
 Minutes


Task Force Members Present: Councilor Mavodones, Joe Staples, Avery Kamila, Rachel Bouvier, Deven
Morrill, Jesse O’Brien, Seana Cullinan, Tim Currier, Cathy Ramsdell, Wendy Harmon, Bob Searle, Fred
Dillon

Task Force Members Absent: none

Staff Present: Troy Moon

The task force met in the City Manager’s Conference Room instead of the State of Maine Room due to a
conflict with the primary election.

 1. Welcome and Introductions

 Councilor Mavodones called the meeting to order. Task Force members introduced themselves
 and discussed their background as it relates to the work of the Task Force. Committee members
 include:
  Councilor Mavodones, Chair
  Seana Cullinan
  Bob Searle
  Rachel Bouvier
  Jesse O’Brien
  Wendy Harmon
  Joe Staples
  Cathy Ramsdell
  Tim Currier
  Avery Yale Kamila
  Devon Morrill
  Fred Dillon


 2. Discuss Objectives and Timeline

 Councilor Mavodones reviewed the goals and objectives of the Task Force as assigned by the
 City Council, which appear in Council Order 263-15/16
 The Task Force discussed possible meeting dates and agreed on the following:

 July 5 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 July 26 form 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 August 2 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 September 6 from 7:15 – 9:15

 Members noted that there was a lot of ground to cover in four meetings. Councilor Mavodones
 indicated that the goal is to complete work during the current Council session. Mr. Moon added
 that the report would need to go to the Energy and Sustainability Committee, preferably for the
 meeting on September 21. Councilor Mavodones recommended going ahead with the four
 scheduled meetings and re-examining the issue after a couple of meetings. He also stated that
 there would be a need to build in an opportunity for public comment.

 The Task Force discussed how to address fertilizer. All agree that fertilizer is a very significant
 issue but discussing fertilizer and pesticide will be complicated. Councilor Mavodones
 recommends keeping them together for now but expressed willingness to separate them later if
 the Task Force members feel it is necessary.


3. Review and Discuss South Portland Ordinance

 Fred Dillon described the process for creating the draft South Portland ordinance and described
 its elements. The South Portland City Council requested their City Manager to have staff
 develop an ordinance restricting the use of chemical pesticides. A committee made up of Julie
 Rosenbach, Sarah Neuts, and Fred Dillon reviewed other ordinances and met with a variety of
 stakeholders. They presented the draft earlier this year but are continuing to work on it.

 Avery Yale Kamila shared a list of amendments to the South Portland ordinance that are
 recommended by the Portland Protectors citizen group. She stated that many people would like
 to ban use of all pesticides, organic and chemical, but sees allowing organic pesticides as a
 compromise.

 Cathy Ramsdell distributed documents describing her thoughts about how to frame the issues
 before the Task Force. She argued that we need to take a broad look at the issues in order to
 come up with recommendation that can greatly reduce pesticide use. She believes this will
 require task force members to work together and compromise to reach a solution.

 Deven Morrill agreed that we need to step back and look at the big picture. He recommends
 reframing the discussion to be about least risk approaches instead of organic versus chemical.

 Fred Dillon noted that we need to define the target audience. Many think the largest issue is
 overuse and misuse by homeowners.

 Jesse O’Brien indicated the landscape industry wants as part of the solution to protect the
 environment. He said plants and trees in urban environments face difficult conditions from soil
 compaction and overuse which makes them liable to disease and pests. Sometimes it requires
 treatments to overcome this.
4. Discuss Agenda for Next Meeting


The Task Force agreed that it would be valuable to distribute examples of pesticide policies from
other jurisdictions for members to review. Mr. Moon indicated he would post these on the Task
Force webpage.

After discussion, Councilor Mavodones indicated that the agenda at the next meeting would include
discussion of the City policy on use of pesticides. This would take up approximately the first hour.
During the second hour the Task Force will dig into the language of South Portland’s ordinance and
the other ordinances.