Item A: Joint Meeting with EWEB Board

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The second Sustainability Commission recommendation approved by the City Council states that the City of Eugene shall, in conjunction with a wide variety of community partners, develop a community climate action plan within 18 months that will: 1) set a carbon emission reduction goal and establish targets for achieving that goal; (2) identify strategies to achieve the targets; (3) identify expected climate change impacts and community responses; (4) develop measures for tracking success; (5) include financial impacts; and (6) provide annual reports to the Sustainability Commission and periodic progress reports back to the community. We look forward to working with EWEB and others in the creation of a community climate action plan. Additional Sustainability Commission recommendations will be presented to council in early 2009. Issues currently under discussion by the commission are a waste reduction goal for the city, development of a community food security plan and ways to reduce community-wide fossil fuel use. In October the city adopted a no idling and top-off policy for city fleet. Adoption of this policy will help reduce fuel costs through energy conservation and reduce green house gas emissions. It will also reduce air pollution and contribute to employee and community health by reducing the release of carcinogenic benzene into the atmosphere. Implementation of the policy will reduce noise pollution as well as wear and service needs on vehicles and equipment. Staff training and education on the policy is about to begin. Many other counties, cities and organizations in Oregon have adopted similar policies. Procurement and sustainability screen An internal city sustainable procurement policy has been developed and was included as an amendment to the administrative orders in late October. The policy provides guidance to help staff make more sustainable procurement decisions and help eliminate toxic compounds; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; encourage closed-loop flow of materials; minimize life-cycle costs and impacts; select safe alternatives; and promote local purchasing. The adoption of the policy is the first phase in increasing the sustainability of city purchases. The policy will be included in the Financial Policy and Procedures Manual. Training will be conducted to help staff understand and implement the policy. Specific detail on product standards will be developed to help increase the sustainable purchase of a range of products and services. To enable the further integration of sustainability principles and practices the city has begun the development of a triple bottom line (sustainability criteria) screen or tool to be used in city and council decision making. Once completed it is anticipated it will help staff consider more fully the social, environmental and economic aspects of proposals and enable a more integrated approach to providing good information to decision makers. Working together EWEB attendance at and contribution to Sustainability Commission meetings has been much appreciated. Joint work on promoting green building in the community is also resulting in a more coordinated approach to this important issue. We look forward to creating new partnerships to help meet the challenge of responding in an integrated manner to climate change in the community. Attached is a brochure that outlines some of the other city sustainability initiatives. It was good to be able to include highlights from EWEB, LTD and Land County Waste Management Division.