Sustainable Maryland Committee (Green Team)

Sustainable Maryland Committee Meeting Minutes November 6, 2023 Attendance Chiara Atoyebi Dorothy Estrada Janet Owens Jeremy Schwartz Emanuel Wagner Sophia Yarrow Discussion The meeting was called to order at 7:10. The SMC adopted the minutes of October 16, 2023. The November meeting was devoted to a training conducted by the University of Maryland Sustainable Maryland Program Manager, Mike Hunninghake, and Program Assistant, Liv Pierce. The training discussed the origins of the program that was initiated by the UMD Environmental Finance Center, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Mike discussed the goals and steps of the sustainability certification process which is available only to Maryland municipalities. First, an interested municipality must declare a resolution to pursue certification and establish mandatory actions of creating a ‘Green Team’ and an action plan. To obtain a bronze rating of 150 points it must fulfill 4 of 8 priority actions and earn points awarded for those actions. A silver rating requires earning 400 points. The municipality must provide supporting documents by June 30 of that year to be considered for certification. The team then reviewed specifically Takoma Park’s Action Plan Certification Review that was conducted in 2020. The City was awarded a Bronze Rating, valid 2020- 2023. To apply for recertification (by June 30, 2024), the Committee should review each action presented in the 2020 Action Plan and update the documentation. The Committee should also assess what new actions have been taken and provide the mandatory documentation and identify planned actions yet to be taken. Takoma Park will intend to apply for the Silver Rating requiring 400 points. The meeting adjourned at the close of the training, 8:30pm.