Friday, July 28, 2006
KKB director Tom Salter met with Diana Morgan of the
Knoxville News Sentinel to finalize plans for sponsorship of the
2006 Environmental Achievement Awards program. The EAA are
presented at the Orchids & Onions Awards banquet but are a
separate awards program with a different set of volunteer judges,
categories, criteria, etc. Here is a
link to more information about the awards program.
- posted by KKB Staff at 4:15 PM
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Knox County held a grant recipient workshop today at the O'Connor
Center. Everyone was there! For those of you who are not
familiar with Knox County's community grants process, even if County
Commission and the Mayor approve a grant for an organization, the group
must, without exception, submit a set of measurable objectives and
deadlines for reaching them. Grants are only paid out after those
objectives are met. The workshop was to teach us how to do that.
- posted by KKB Staff at 10:30 AM
Thursday, July 13, 2006
The Orchids & Onions Committee met at Chesapeake's for
lunch. We reviewed emcee, sponsors, judges, nominees and more.
- posted by KKB Staff at 3:00 PM
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Tom met with a group called the Community Forum at the
Baptist Health System facility on Kingston Pike near Michael's
Restaurant. He was invited by Sue Mauer to hear Larry
Silverstein talk about
KUB's vegetation
control program and concerns that he and a number of other
citizens have about how that program is implemented. KKB receives
as many or more calls about utility tree trimming practices as about
litter issues. Finbarr Saunders and Barbara Pelot
were there along with several others. There was an interesting
discussion about utility tree trimming issues. As you probably
know, power outages and injuries from limbs touching or falling on lines
is a big concern for utilities and their customers. Citizens who
appreciate the aesthetic beauty and value of mature trees nearly always
question the tree-trimming practices used to keep lines clear. KUB
and many other municipal utilities participate in a program called
Tree Line USA.
The program, sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation, sets
standards for utility tree and vegetation control programs.
- posted by KKB Staff at 1:40 PM
Friday, July 7, 2006
Tom met with John Harris,
CAC
AmeriCorps Coordinator and Knoxville City Councilman Chris
Woodhull to discuss the start of the next round of AmeriCorps
assignments. Both KKB and
Tribe One
(Chris Woodhull's non-profit devoted to helping inner-city youth learn
work skills) are new AmeriCorps sites for the coming year.
AmeriCorps does extensive background screening and training of its
members and they have an excellent track record of providing
high-quality workers for local groups like the
Ijams Earth Flag Team, Beardsley Farm, the Water
Quality Team and others. We look forward to meeting our new
team members soon.
- posted by KKB Staff at 12:30 PM
Thursday, July 6, 2006
The KKB board of directors held its regular monthly meeting.
The agenda included recruiting volunteers for to complete the litter
index, passing around a copy of the GAC end of project report and
reviewing the non-audited 12 month budget figures. This was the
first regular meeting for the new board members. Also, Caitlin
Campbell, our summer intern, attended the meeting.
- posted by KKB Staff at 2:45 PM