Item B: Presentation of Report from Sustainable Business Initiative

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Workshop: Presentation of Report from Sustainable Business Initiative Meeting Date: September 25, 2006 Agenda Item Number: B Department: City Manager’s Office Staff Contact: Mary Walston www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5406 ISSUE STATEMENT Co-chairs Dave Funk and Rusty Rexius of Mayor Piercy’s Sustainable Business Initiative will present the major recommendations from the task force. This meeting will be the first of several opportunities to discuss the recommendations and implementation plan for the recommendations. BACKGROUND In April 2005, Mayor Piercy convened a meeting of over 60 persons from the community to discuss what a sustainable Eugene would look like. Following this meeting, the Mayor proposed the creation of the Sustainable Business Initiative (SBI). A 16-member task force was to be appointed to identify strategies, incentives, financial assistance mechanisms, and educational opportunities which could improve the local economy by generating income for local businesses and living wage jobs for employees while also conserving the environment. Shortly thereafter, with the adoption of the FY06 Budget, the City Council approved the expenditure of $50,000 over an 18-month time frame to support the work of this initiative. Subsequent to the approval of funding, a contract between the City of Eugene and the University of Oregon Resource Innovations was developed to staff the task force, conduct research and develop recommendations, and prepare a final report. The SBI Task Force held its first meeting on June 28, 2005. The task force continued to meet monthly through July 2006. In addition to the 16-member task force, an advisory committee of almost 50 persons was created to provide feedback and comments on the recommendations of the task force. This advisory group met twice during the year-long process. Two town hall-type meetings were also held to provide a forum for comments and conversation on the work of the SBI Task Force. In addition to the meetings noted above, the SBI Task Force sponsored a number of “roundtable” discussion groups on 12 topics related to sustainability. The appendix of the SBI report provides details on the roundtable meeting topics. As noted in the SBI report, (page 8), “Mayor Piercy initiated the SBI to build upon the City government’s sustainability goals and to capitalize on the local private and public sectors long history of exemplary sustainability activities. The overarching goal of the SBI work was to make Eugene one of the nation’s most sustainable mid-sized communities and to become a center of excellence for community sustainability practices. In order to fulfill the goal of strengthening the economy by finding L:\CMO\2006 Council Agendas\M060925\S060925B.doc