Keep Rutherford County Beautiful Full Committee Meeting

Full Committee Agenda

March 25th, 2025

Rutherfordton Town Hall, 12 p.m.

Attendees: Jerry Stensland. Gabe Isaac, Maddie Bartosh, Allie Houtz, Taylor Hardin, Don Cason, Amber Saint Clair, James Kilgo, Jenna Bailey, Rick Trader

1. Administrative

   1. AmeriCorps Project Conserve Position

      1. Welcome Daphne!

      2. 8-month disaster relief position assisting with Keep RC Beautiful, river work, and disaster relief needs

      3. Application pending for an ongoing 11-month AmeriCorps position serving from September-July each year

   2. Funding 

      1. KNCB Sponsorship - Jerry

         1. $11,000 in funding from a sponsor - $5,000 to cover hurricane funding cuts, $6,000 to fund materials and time for river cleanups

      2. Green Scholarship Sponsorship - Jerry

         1. $1,200 sponsorship from Broad River Authority

      3. Tourism Funding - TDA

         1. Continued 20% cut in funding, could go up or down depending on hurricane recovery

      4. Great to Greatest Grant - Allie

         1. Received a $2,500 grant through Keep America Beautiful

         2. Pollinator Garden in downtown Spindale - $1,500

            1. Partnering with Town of Spindale and Ruff’ton Roots 

         3. Recycling program for Rutherfordton Elementary - $500

         4. Clean-up supplies including grabbers and gloves - $500

      5. Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Grant - Allie

         1. Cigarettes are the #1 source of litter, especially toxic for waterways

         2. Grant prioritizes funding focused on promoting litter reduction in waterways

         3. Funding for:

            1. Cigarette litter receptacles (8-10) - $1,000

            2. Marketing and education materials - $3,000

            3. Administrative costs - $1,000

         4. Program Model:

            1. Task force identifies locations (river accesses, transportation sites, etc.)

            2. Install receptacles with educational signage

            3. Marketing campaign promoting cigarette litter prevention

            4. Staff and volunteers empty and send cigarettes to TerraCycle for recycling ($1 per pound goes back to KRCB!)

         5. Funding is pending, expecting to hear back in May

   3. Keep America Beautiful Conference

      1. Cigarette Litter Prevention and Recycling Grant

      2. ReTreet disaster relief program

         1. Tree planting program being piloted by Keep America Beautiful, hoping it will be available to us soon!

      3. Day on the Hill with policymakers

      4. Connections with NC affiliates

2. Programs

   1. Litter Index

      1. Priority roads identified, linked here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1egkqDn1Q5wXlWK6hTpmYA3eG1PBpyO73D2PQCH5jhoQ/edit?usp=sharing

   2. Spring Litter Sweep

      1. April 7th-30th

      2. Litter kit building on Fridays in April

      3. Contacted teams and distributed flyers in Spindale, Forest City, and Rutherfordton

      4. Committee cleanups:

         1. Team RC Library - White Oak Plaza on April 12th

         2. Team TDA - Coxe Rd on April 16th (4 grabbers needed)

         3. Team Artifacturing - Thunder Rd on April 18th

         4. Team Rick Trader and family - Sulfur Spring Rd, ongoing adopt-a-highway

         5. Team Jerry and Carole - River Rd, date TBD

         6. Team ROC - TBRT and downtown Spindale, April 22nd

   3. Earth Day Sweep

      1. Litter sweep on the Thermal Belt Rail Trail in downtown Spindale

      2. Monthly KRCB and ROC litter sweep schedule starting in May

         1. Focusing on litter index areas, river accesses, and trails

   4. RecycleBots Challenge

      1. Judging on April 17th from 12-2pm in Rutherfordton Town Hall

         1. Elizabeth Toney with TDA (Roxi’s Pick)

         2. Jerry Stensland (Rocki’s Pick)

         3. Amber Saint Clair

         4. Jenna Bailey

         5. Debbi with Cherry Mountain Farm

         6. Willard with Kidsenses Museum

         7. Daphne Homen

   5. River Sweeps

      1. ROC, Broad Riverkeeper and MountainTrue partnership effort

         1. March 16th: 980 pounds collected by 26 volunteers

         2. March 20th: 1,000+ pounds collected by 7 volunteers

      2. More to come through coordination with landowners, MountainTrue, and county contractors

   6. Tree planting with Ruff’ton Roots

      1. Tree planting project on Thursday at 5pm

      2. Planting ~140 trees to restore stream banks at Norris Park

      3. Register through dash.pointapp.org/events/313228 

3. Future considerations

   1. Get in contact with Nick Hoskens with NCDOT Adopt-a-Highway to share our litter index and get a list of adopted roads

   2. Lowes grant funding for pollinator garden or any construction related projects

   3. Review littering laws and enforcement options to help prevent littering

4. Upcoming Schedule

   1. Full Committee Meeting – May 13th at 12 p.m.

      1. Second Tuesday of every other month

   2. New committee members

      1. Welcome Rick Trader!

      2. Invite Cindy Cobb with Chamber of Commerce