Green Team

Morgantown Green Team: Minutes of the January 4, 2016 Meeting Attending: Joey James (chair), Doug Milbrand, Jim Kotcon (Energy Committee), Jing Zhang (Morgantown- Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization or MMMPO), Holly Purpura (Friends of Decker’s Creek), Jenny Selin (City Council), and Pam Cubberly (Green Nights and Green Morgantown). I. Old Business None. II. New Business A. Proposal to Morgantown City Council for “Year to Go Green” declaration. Building on Holly Purpura’s idea for a winter-spring series of forums on various topics presented at the team’s Decem- ber 2015 meeting, Holly and Pam Cubberly had developed a broader proposal, incorporating a range of current and potential sustainability initiatives in a citywide “Year to Go Green: Path Toward a Cleaner Morgantown.” Such an action made sense as it could build on the 2015 fall series of commu- nity forums, promote Phase III projects by the Sustainable Morgantown Initiative, support a range of existing and potentially new sustainability efforts by a range of community groups, and keep momen- tum going once SMI concludes this spring, among other goals. Holly and Pam started a brainstorming document on Google Docs on what such a year could entail, roughly summarized as celebration, education, dialogue, and results on existing and new sustainabil- ity initiatives with a tentative yearlong structure of events, which could be filled out through partici- pation by a variety of community groups, including businesses. With review by Joey James and Pam and advice from Jenny Selin on process, last week, Holly drafted a letter, approved by Joey and Pam for Jeff Mikorski, city manager, to include in his report at the first council meeting on January 5, 2016. Holly, Pam, and Joey asked the Green Team for their approval of the overall idea as well as let- ter along with any suggestions they could offer. Action: Team members present generally supported the idea, agreeing to hold a working lunch meeting at noon on Friday, January 15th, at Mother India Restaurant, 40 High Street. Any Green Team member is welcome to attend. Most of the rest of the meeting involved open discussion of the idea with the following decisions and action steps:  Holly and Jim would present the proposal during the public portion of Tuesday’s city council meeting and Pam would also attend. Jeff Mikorski would later discuss the proposal with council members for possible action [Note: the council declared the year by acclamation that night].  Once approved by council, Joey agreed to put together the team’s end-of-year report to pre- sent at the council’s Committee of the Whole later in the month as well as a detailed plan for the Year to Go Green (YTGG), for council input. He also hoped to glean suggestions from council on potential new members for the Green Team.   Joey agreed to get Jim a copy of the latest environmental performance report for the city.  Holly and Pam agreed to meet right away to scope out next steps, should the team’s proposal be approved, most important, embedding a Google Calendar in a city website page on the YTGG for monitored posting by various groups on existing and new events that fit under the YTGG umbrella, as well as some kind of Facebook presence for the YTGG.  Holly would take the lead with input from Pam on developing scoping out topics, speakers, formats, and locations for the series of community forums.  Pam has prime responsibility for a Third Annual Green Households Fair, ideally for April 23rd, as part of Earth Day celebrations.  It was agreed that the team could ask Mayor Shamberger if she would sign a letter inviting a range of community groups to participate in the YTGG and how to get involved.  Joey agreed that he could focus on expanding the idea of a solar coop celebration into a larger event that helped promote phase III opportunities to reduce energy use and use renewable en- ergy and officially launched the YTGG.  Holly and Pam agreed to meet with Chelsi Baker, communications director and new city liai- son with the Green Team, as soon as possible to discuss first steps in launching the YTGG. [Meeting took place that Friday.] B. Recruiting a new recycling intern to replace Amanda Stoner in the spring. Joey and Jim agreed to contact Amanda Stoner for the job description for the recycling intern to rework for advertising for the new intern. The intern will be supervised by the new city engineer with support from the city manager. Jim agreed to get Jeff Mikorski’s review of the draft as soon as possible so that it can be sent out through usual channels. Next meeting: February 1, 5:30pm to 7:00pm, in City Council Chambers at 389 Spruce Street.  Attachment A: Letter to Jeff Mikorski Proposing 2016 as the Year to Go Green: Path Toward a Cleaner Morgantown 12/29/2015 Jeff Mikorski, City Manager City of Morgantown 389 Spruce Street, Morgantown, WV 26505 RE: City Council Declaration for 2016 to Call for an Increase in Sustainability Efforts in Morgantown Dear Jeff: We are writing on behalf of Friends of Deckers Creek and the Morgantown Green Team to encourage your con- sideration of approaching the City Council to declare 2016 the “Year to Go Green: A Path to a Cleaner Morgan- town” or another similar title. This year, Downstream Strategies and the city of Morgantown are wrapping up the third stage of the Sustainable Morgantown Initiative. In order to celebrate this and to continue the work to promote sustainability across the city, Friends of Deckers Creek and the Morgantown Green Team hope to engage the Morgantown community. We aim to do so through community outreach forums, educational workshops, and the creation of a Green Business Coalition, which will gather data from businesses to lay the groundwork to establish a Green Business Certification Program in the city. Here are some of the goals of this declaration: ● Provide framework for range of existing and new sustainability efforts in Morgantown in 2016 and thereby raise awareness of how all are contributing to the one goal ● Expand “culture of sustainability” in Morgantown among wider range of stakeholders, including busi- nesses and other community institutions ● Start building follow-up for Sustainable Morgantown Initiative whose Phase III ends spring 2016 ● Encourage cooperation, coordination, and dialogue among city, businesses, nonprofit groups, and pri- vate citizens on sustainability with a focus on next steps and action ● Link existing and new efforts toward sustainability among environmental groups in Morgantown  ● Continue to work toward environmental goals of city’s comprehensive plan, especially toward clean air, clean water, and clean energy I’ve attached a tentative agenda of events that we anticipate taking place over the next year to celebrate the “Year to Go Green.” We also aim to collaborate with and expand partnerships with other area green organiza- tions to unify our message and broaden our impact. Please consider adding this letter to your City Manager’s report for the City Council meeting next week on Tues- day, January 5th. Sincerely, Holly Purpura Pamela Cubberly Executive Director Secretary Friends of Deckers Creek Morgantown Green Team