Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 11/04/2013

Home

Environmental Policy Board (EPB) 5. 2. Meeting Date: 1 1/04/2013 By: Chris Anderson, Community Development Title: Discuss Potential Creation of Subcommittees Information Purpose /Background: At the October meeting, a request was made to add a case to the November agenda to discuss the potential creation of various subcommittees to help accomplish the items on the Work Plan. The intent was to identify up to three (3) Board Members interested in a particular action item to work as a Subcommittee on that item and report back to the Board as a whole monthly. Observations /Alternatives: There are several topics that may be a good fit for a Subcommittee, including the Environmental Expo, the Greenstep Cities program (if the City opts to enroll in this program), and education /community awareness. In addition to these, which all seem to be of the on -going nature, a Subcommittee to work on a community stewardship recogition program may also be beneficial. Following is a brief synopsis of what each of these Subcommittees could focus on: Environmental Expo Subcommittee: This Subcommittee would likely focus on identifying and /or contacting potential keynote speakers, identifying and /or contacting potential exhibitors, identifying appropriate kid - friendly activities, exploring potential sponsorship opportunities, and promotional /markeing ideas. Greenstep Cities Subcommittee: This Subcommittee may be slightly different in its make up than the others due to the actual program. As we learned at the October meeting, there are approximately 170 different actions that the City could implement as part of the Greenstep Cities program. As such, different Board Members may have more interest in some areas then others. Thus, this could potentially be more of a rotating Subcommittee depending on where individuals interests lie. Initially, this Subcommittee could review the various possible actions and provide some recommendations to the Board on where its efforts should first be focused (attached to this case is the list of possible actions). Education /Community Awareness Subcommittee: This Subcommittee would focus on several different mediums to promote awareness of environmental topics. This would include information for the newsletter, website, and QCTV spots. The Subcommitte would identify relevant and timely topics to address and be responsible for drafting articles, provding information to City Staff for updates to the website, and recruiting Board Members to participate in QCTV pieces. While the Board as a whole would have an opportunity to review the proposed newsletter articles, their review would be more to stay informed about what is being prepared and to suggest any potential revisions related to inaccurate information, not with how an article is worded. Community Stewardship Recognition Subcommittee: This Subcommitte's main role would be to develop a program to recognize individual or group efforts to improve the community. This could include developing the objectives of the program, examples of activities that may merit recognition, potential standards and /or benchmarks, and how an individual or group would be recognized. These examples of possible subcommittees were identified either through the discussion last month or by Staff.