The question of what to do about gas-powered leaf blowers is headed back to Croton's Conservation Advisory Council. At the council's June 16 meeting, members took up a new assignment from the Board of Trustees: gather more information on the impact of gas leaf blowers and on public opinion about their use. A memo from the board with further details is expected shortly. Mayor Brian Pugh and another trustee noted the board would likely ask the council to hold one or more events to engage stakeholders. The council had previously held a Zoom town-hall-style event to gauge perspectives. This time, members suggested inviting trade association representatives, landscape business owners, and officials from nearby towns — drawn both from towns that adopted leaf-blower bans and from towns that considered but rejected them. A subcommittee of about three members could meet over the summer to begin organizing; formats discussed included two separate meetings, one for the general public and one for the stakeholders, or a single meeting where stakeholders speak and the public listens. The council also worked over its case for a light-pollution code. Jason Mencher brought a draft letter to the Board of Trustees recommending the village pursue the creation of a light-pollution code; after discussion, the council decided the letter should carry a slightly more specific set of recommendations, stated with more certainty. Trustee Nora Nicholson, the board's liaison, advised that the trustees do have an interest in a light code, so the council would be within its rights to make specific recommendations and code requirements — though they may not be adopted wholesale. Mencher asked members to email him suggested edits, including specific policies on light overflow, shading, and nighttime shutoff hours, at least a day before the next meeting. The evening's most concrete number came from the C.L.E.A.N. crew: its largest haul of trash yet, 1,500 pounds collected at Silver Lake, including car batteries, toilets, mechanical parts and construction equipment. Black Rock Park drew the meeting's guest presentation. Judy Rayer reported on conditions in the park, where she found dead and dying trees, poison ivy, overgrown bushes, and abandoned, disintegrated flower beds. The council recommended she report the locations of the dead and unhealthy trees directly to the Department of Public Works. With advice from Nicholson, Rayer was told she could weed areas she saw fit and collect fallen and dead plant life as ordinary maintenance without specific village permission; for anything more, the council, Rayer, Halle Clarke and the Garden Club chair are to contact the village manager for permission to organize volunteer maintenance at the park under the Garden Club's auspices. Members also discussed establishing a semi-regular invasive-plant management event, noting it would have to run less frequently than other council events because of the added work of distinguishing invasive from native species and educating the public on the difference. In other business: Trails crews reported that bushes recently installed by the Boy Scouts show signs of deer browsing. The council suggested David Daly of Trails ask the chair for money or materials such as chicken wire to raise protective barriers. The Garden Club cleared a small garden area in front of the Croton library, and, at the village manager's request, improved the area around the Dobbs Park flag pole for a June 17 ribbon-cutting ceremony. Members also flagged an unmaintained strip of land past Benedict Street near Cleveland, suggesting the village ask its contractors to care for it as they do nearby areas. On the council's Monarch Pledge work, members scouted spots for leftover milkweed stock just outside the municipal building; the library may also have room despite earlier concerns about upcoming renovations — Shiloh Shea will check with the library's manager — and the Dobbs Park bed might take more if there is surplus. Car idling got its own discussion after a member reported finding many cars idling by the Blue Pig, in violation of local law. Parking enforcement stepping in was floated, though the mayor and the board liaisons thought that might not be practical or popular. Members suggested politely reminding drivers that idling is against the law and ticketable — Sherry Horowitz reported good results doing exactly that — and a future Conservation Corner letter on idling's effects on the environment, health and car maintenance was considered. Halle Clarke volunteered to write a plain-language explanation of the village tree code for the Conservation Corner of the village manager's letter, and was directed to the village engineer, who enforces the code, for details. The council opened the search for a vice chair: interested members were asked to email the chair, who makes a recommendation to the mayor for final approval. Housekeeping closed the meeting. The May minutes were approved after a correction — it was David Lowell, not council member David Daly, who attended as a member of the public representing Quiet Clean Croton — and meetings return to their 7:30 p.m. start time next month. The June meeting itself started late, at about 7:55 p.m., after the recreation room door was found locked and the council relocated to the meeting room behind the courtroom; it adjourned about 9:15 p.m.