Presentation today from our conservation advisory council, and then about 10 items on our agenda, and then an executive session for discussion of matters concerning the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person, persons, or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person, persons, or corporation.

So at this time, I'll turn it over to our city manager, Mr.

Alexander.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Good evening.

We have just a few things on this agenda, but do remember next week when we go to the council that we're putting two cows onto one council meeting package.

So we've got 20-something items on the uh council meeting.

But we're we're set up.

Um tonight we have uh the conservation advisory council, Chan Melillo, who is the chair, is here to talk to us as you requested about the leaf blower uh countywide discussion.

And so I'm gonna get the presentation set up.

Okay, good evening everyone.

So um I'm Jen Mulillo, Chair of the CAC, and I'm here um at the council and city managers request to address some questions that came up when the CAC sent a letter of support in January for a countywide leaf blower ban and asked the council to support that.

So I'm here to talk about why that is, why we supported that.

Um, and uh these are the questions up here that the presentation answers, and there will be more questions that this presentation brings up, and maybe a need for further research as well.

To a good start.

Okay.

So reason number one why municipalities, many municipalities in Rochester are passing uh gas leaf blower bans is air pollution.

Um the negative impact of uh gas burning leaf blowers is 200 times worse than a car engine.

Um, and it emits all of those toxic chemicals that are listed up there on this slide, as well as several others.

Um it's also important to understand that those chemicals are being released in very close proximity to people, to the workers who are at the greatest risk, and also to residents who are uh obviously nearby in their yards and in their homes.

Um so I call those uh toxic chemicals or toxins because they are connected to all of these extremely concerning health impacts, including cancer, leukemia, anemia, cardiovascular conditions, triggering those various uh symptoms of asthma, skin rashes, etc.

Also decreasing fertility rates and increasing rates of miscarriages.

So we're talking about like extremely toxic chemicals, and perhaps the worst of those are the um VOCs, which include formaldehyde and benzene that are being released into the air and breathed in by people.

Um and children are especially vulnerable to many of these health impacts.

The the second reason for leaf blower bans is noise pollution.

Um particularly gas leaf blowers uh put out low frequency sound waves, and those sound waves travel farther and they can travel through glass, such as windows and doors, and that's why they're really such a sound nuisance.

But beyond being a nuisance and a disturbance, this chart shows the issue concerning decibel levels.

And so often gas leaf blowers are functioning at decibel levels that are above safe levels and are proven to over long-term exposure cause hearing loss.

Um so again, workers are at the greatest risk, but again, children are vulnerable to this.

And so people wear ear protection devices, but ear protection devices don't always work to protect, particularly the workers because often they're not worn properly, they're ill-fitting, or they are of poor quality, and they're not offering the protection that they should.

Some of the other issues that have been connected through research to noise pollution are mental health issues.

Of course, we aren't finding the peace and quiet when we're at home that we crave, and also it disturbs and drives away species, particularly birds, and disrupts the ecosystem.

So leaf blowers are only one aspect of conventional landscaping and lawn care, which causes many negative impacts to our ecosystems.

So up there talks uh the slide talks about the loss of diversity of species, both plant and animal, due to uh conventional landscaping and the disruption of proper soil balance as well as the pollution of our water through uh fuel toxins regarding gas leaf blowers and pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that are used extensively in conventional landscaping.

And leaf blowers contribute to most of those eco disruptions.

Um people are aware of the low MOME and other initiatives that have sprung up in the in the not so distant past to address some of these issues, and people are becoming more and more aware of them.

Um also it's important to understand that eco-friendly lawn reduction and lawn maintenance is one of the most positively impactful things a private citizen can do because these practices are so harmful to our ecosystem.

Um of the things that is disruptive and one of the problems is the loss of pollinators.

Um many people are aware this is well documented.

On the left hand side of the slide, it talks about the loss of honeybees.

Um, you know, honey bee uh hive collapse is been a very serious problem for a while now, and honey bees are necessary to produce a third of our food.

So if you imagine yourself walking into the produce section of ShopRite, and a third of those fruits and vegetables are not there for you to choose from, that's what at risk when we don't try to find out if we can rescue our honey bee populations.

Um also monarch butterflies and then other pollinators and other vital insects, those populations are always being also being impacted.

Um the city has begun the mayor's monarch initiative last year and trying to mitigate the impact on these butterflies.

Uh I don't know about you, but I remember as a child I saw these butterflies all the time, and now when I spot one, I'm very excited because it's a rare occasion.

Um the CAC would like to enjoy uh invite any citizens to come and join our that initiative, either through their private garden or through volunteering at the public spaces that we are creating and maintaining.

Um when homeowners and landscapers blow use leaf blowers and use them uh excessively or too frequently, what they're doing is blowing away the necessary materials that decay and go into the soil to form humus.

Um they blow away insects and the larva of insects impacting on those populations at depleting food sources for other animal species, and when those things are not getting into the soil, the microbes that are necessary for making soil from dirt can't do their job.

So the good fungi, the good bacteria in our soil, if it's not given these other um forms of organic material, they can't get their job done, and we end up with an imbalanced soil that can't grow things properly.

Some other negative impacts, like a fourth reason uh of leaf blowers is really more social one.

Um so I don't know if you've ever had the experience, but I had a neighbor in Courtland, so his property looked great, but he just blew half of the material onto my yard and half into the other neighbor's yard.

Um it didn't make for us to be good neighbors.

Um people who are inconsiderate and blow, or landscapers who blow during meal times, or if you're having an outside party, people who use them outside of the noise ordinance hours that the city has in place, and then neighbors feel like they have to report on neighbors, and that doesn't create uh positive community.

So for all of these reasons, as of December 2025, 33 out of 47 municipalities in Westchester had leaf blower bans in place already.

So we're gonna look at very quickly three municipalities in Westchester with bans.

So the city of uh White Plains has a full gas leaf blower ban all year on all property sizes.

They uh they have a 250 dollar fine in place for both landscapers and residents, and some other aspects of their um leaf blower ban, I think is uh their page is very good.

The pages in both Spanish and English, which is explaining to people what it is, what the leaf blower ban is, why they have it, and also giving contact information uh for people to find out more information from their city.

The village of Osining.

Um I'm gonna point out what are some interesting and important um details of some of these ordinances.