Plattsburgh staff: DEC approves fleet-efficiency policy; council members discuss ‘No Mow May’ and pollinator education

Plattsburgh staff reported that the Department of Environmental Conservation has approved a draft fleet-efficiency policy that completes a Climate Smart Communities grant project, and council members discussed a voluntary “No Mow May” resolution and related public-education steps to encourage pollinators.

The planner and Climate Smart Communities coordinator said the DEC-approved draft is the final major deliverable for a grant that the coordinator described as a state-funded project that included preparation of a government operations climate action plan and an updated fleet inventory. The coordinator said DEC will pay $30,000 toward the grant and that the award required a matching contribution; the coordinator said she had only received DEC’s approval this week and intends to bring the draft fleet-efficiency policy to the full council for review at the next council meeting.

The topic matters because the fleet-efficiency policy is the closing requirement for the state grant and will guide city vehicle procurement and operations; the council must review and adopt any final municipal policy. The coordinator told the council the DEC review process involved several iterations and more-stringent edits compared with the earlier policy version that earned Climate Smart Communities points.

Council members followed that update by raising a separate but related environmental initiative: a voluntary “No Mow May” resolution to encourage residents to let small patches of lawn or wildflowers grow in May to support pollinators. A council member who said she had introduced the measure in a prior council session asked whether the city would reintroduce it as a nonbinding resolution and whether the Climate Smart Task Force could coordinate an education program encouraging residents to “mow around” patches of wildflowers.

Building Inspector Joe responded with enforcement constraints: under the city’s enforcement approach, grass taller than 10 inches is a code violation and the building-inspection office typically responds to complaints. Joe said his office would “stand down” during a defined period if the council instructed them to do so and that the office receives calls and issues citations when grass exceeds the local 10-inch standard. He recommended that any resolution explicitly state whether the city will stand down on enforcement and for what timeframe.

Council members and staff also discussed parks and high-traffic areas. The building inspector and public-works staff warned against applying a blanket approach in parks and other high-use spaces (for example, ball fields) and recounted a prior year’s “breakdown of communication” when a pilot maintenance approach produced overgrown areas that frustrated residents. Public-works staff said some perimeter and low-traffic park areas might be suitable for pollinator plantings, but noted past issues of maintenance and invasive species control.

The council directed staff to locate the DEC-approved draft fleet-efficiency policy and to schedule it for full council review at an upcoming meeting. Council members also asked staff and the Climate Smart Task Force coordinator to revisit the prior No Mow May resolution and consider a public-education campaign and specific, limited areas for pilot wildflower plantings while preserving playfields and high-use areas.

The discussion made clear the difference between a nonbinding council resolution and local code enforcement: council members framed No Mow May as a voluntary, educational resolution, while the building inspector described the operational limits of code enforcement and safety considerations for rights of way and sight lines.