Quality of Life Committee Meeting Minutes for 3/16

Date and Time: 3/16/2026 at 5:00 PM

Location: Glens Falls City Hall, Second Floor

Members Present: Mary Gooden, Dan Rice, Dan Donohue, and Sean Palladino

Members of the Public Present: Scott Royael, Josh Dranoff, Barbara Joudry, Diane Collins,   Jeff Flagg, and Richard Halvorsen

Discussion:

• Special Guest: Scott Royael of Warren County Office of Solid Waste and Recycling

  1. Learned about the Center for EcoTechnology (CET) free assessments to businesses and municipalities to help abide by the NYS Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law

  2. In 2027, businesses and institutions that generate an annual average of one ton of wasted food per week or more must either donate excess edible food or recycle all remaining food scraps. 

     1. Learn more about requesting a free assessment at:

        https://www.cetonline.org/business-assistance-to-reduce-food-waste-in-new-york/

  3. Discussion about recycling cardboard to reduce volume at transfer stations

  4. Warren County wants to create an experimental compost program, funded by a grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities program.

• Special Guest: Josh Dranoff of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission for Sustainability

  1. Discussed the status of the city’s Climate Smart Communities since the 2021

  2. Learned about next steps for documentation of completed tasks and actions to reactivate a new certification by May 22, 2026.

  3. Jeff Flag provided the link and login for the committee to peruse to learn about the 100+ potential tasks and actions to adopt: 

     https://climatesmart.ny.gov/actions-certification/getting-started/

  4. Next meeting, we will go over the latest draft of the city’s Climate Action Plan and Fleet Inventory following the meeting and find out the status of what is still needed to complete the certification application.

• Discussion about Alley and Rear-of-Building Storage from Policy Committee Memorandum

  1. We discussed any concerns we had about the policy

• Discussion about helping and providing outreach to disaffected youth from a local resident in Queensbury.

  1. Ideas like Big Brother and Big Sister events, ASCEND Wellness Gardening, Glens Falls Youth Center, and more were suggested.

• We are working with Adirondack Cycling Advocates and Bike Glens Falls on a new 14-bike rack proposal to submit to the Board of Public Safety for approval.

  1. Proposal was submitted by Barbara Joudry, of the Adirondack Cycling Advocates

Next Meeting:

Date: 4/20/2026

Time: 5:00 PM

Location: Glens Falls City Hall, Second Floor