Item B - Sustainability - Laserfiche WebLink

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mitigate for impacts to wetlands. The "bank" sells credits to developers that allow them to proceed with their development without conducting their own on-site mitigation. The environment benefits from this approach since the bank carries out large-scale restoration with extremely high ecological standards. The West Eugene Wetlands mitigation bank is considered a model for other communities for its innovative and high quality management of the regulatory process. Purchasing - In a specific City activity, we will be reviewing our purchasing procedures, especially around some of the larger commodity purchases to see if we can make improvements within Oregon purchasing laws in both the ability to buy locally and for increasing the sustainability criteria used (e.g. recycled content in paper). Social/Communi ,ty/Employee In the area of social equity, the City has programs that operate both internal to the organization and external to thc community. In the work done by Good Company, we concentrated on internal issues such as employee satisfaction, health and safety and diversity efforts. The City also has many programs which address social equity in the community including low-income housing programs, contributions to thc Human Services system, our exemplary Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Support System, homeless camping programs, participation in the community campaign under the auspices of United Way of Lane County, extensive investments to comply with thc Americans with Disability Act, and scholarships for low income residents in the recreation program. The following represent just a few of our recent program initiatives. Parks, Recreation and Open Space - These core values form the cornerstone for the draft comprehensive plan: health, equity, community, service, and sustainability. These values involve supporting community stewardship of our built and natural environment, ensuring services are equitably distributed throughout the community, building a sense of community, providing the highest quality programs and facilities, contributing to overall ecosystem health through preservation and restoration, pursuing a strong understanding of our natural systems, and creating a legacy for future generations. Goals, strategies, and proposals to address the needs of all segments of our community for the next 20 years are proposed. This is the first planning process for parks, recreation and open space to be based on sustainability principals. Volunteer Programs - The Parks and Open Space Division offers three volunteer programs to allow Eugene residents the chance to contribute substantially to their parks and open space. The Stream Team program provides the opportunity for people to do hands-on environmental work, restoring and caring for the city's waterways and natural areas. Stream Team volunteers maintain two native plant nurseries where they sow seeds and nurture plants to be used in restoration projects across the city. The Volunteers-In-Parks program provides an avenue for neighbors to help improve their local parks and thc Ridgelinc trail. The NeighborWoods program works with local business partners and community members to plant trees along our streets and continue to grow thc city's urban forest. Employees - The First Step Healthy Movement Program was introduced in January 2005 as a motivator for City of Eugene employees and dependents on the health plan to be more active. This program uses a pedometer to record thc number of daily steps taken. As people move and become more active, thc health of the individual will no doubt improve. And we know from many research studies that healthier people use less sick leave and use the medical system less. Currently, wc have 607 employees and dependents participating in the First Step program. To date, the current step total is 82,000,000 and climbing fast.