Title
Authorizing the City of Saint Paul to participate in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities Program.
Body
WHEREAS, the impacts of climate change have been observed in Minnesota and have the potential to negatively affect local, regional and state economies; existing infrastructure; natural habitats; ecological communities, including native fish and wildlife populations; drinking water supplies; public health; and recreational opportunities; and
WHEREAS, local governments have the unique opportunity to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and expenses through building and facilities management; land use and transportation planning; environmental management; and thoughtful economic and community development; and
WHEREAS, efforts to address energy and climate issues provide an opportunity to move toward energy self-reliance and greater community resiliency; provide environmentally healthy and cheaper-to-operate public buildings; encourage new economic development and local jobs; and support local food and renewable energy production; and
WHEREAS, steps taken toward sustainable solutions aim to improve community quality of life, building community capital, and increasing government efficiency, accountability and transparency; and
WHEREAS, Minnesota Session Laws 2008, Chapter 356, Section 13 directed the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency ("MPCA") and Office of Energy Security in the Department of Commerce ("Office of Energy Security"), in collaboration with Clean Energy Resource Teams ("CERTs"), to recommend municipal actions and policies that work toward meeting the State's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals; and
WHEREAS, a broad coalition of public and private stakeholders including the League of Minnesota Cities, the MPCA, Office of Energy Security, and CERTs responded to the 2008 legislation by establishing the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program to provide a series of sustainable development best practices focusing on local government opportunities to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases; and
WHEREAS, the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program assists in facilitating technical assistance for the implementation of these sustainable development best practices; and
WHEREAS, the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program provides cost-effective sustainable development best practices in the following five categories: (1) Buildings and Lighting; (2) Transportation; (3) Land Use; (4) Environmental Management; and (5) Economic and Community Development; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council does hereby authorize the City of Saint Paul to participate in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program that offers a free, voluntary continuous improvement framework. Passage of this participation resolution allows the City to be recognized as a Step One GreenStep City; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that Saint Paul will work at its own pace to implement selected GreenStep Cities best practices that will result in energy use reduction, economic savings, quality of life improvements, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council appoints the chair(s) of the City's Environmental Work Group, also known as the Sustainable Saint Paul Team, to serve as the City's GreenStep coordinator for best practice documentation/implementation; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED that the Saint Paul City Council grants to the GreenStep program's buildings advisor read-only access to the City's B3 Benchmarking Database so as to facilitate analysis and cost-savings advice to the City regarding its buildings' energy use; and be it
FINALLY RESOLVED that an on-going summary of the City's implementation of best practices will be posted by the City on the Minnesota GreenStep Cities web site.