FROM:Michael Mucha, Past Chair APWA Center for Sustainability

TO:APWA Board of Directors

Mary Anderson, Chair APWA Center for Sustainability

Julia Anastasio, Director of Sustainability

RE: Continue Developing the Preeminent Center for Sustainability Strategic Priority for 2011-2012 term

DATE:August 2010 to September 2011

Past Activities

Provide Resources, Tool & Portal to Exchange Ideas & Information on Sustainability

The Center is working to develop a web based knowledge center that will serve as a one-stop shop for all APWA members sustainability needs. This project is on-going. The web pages are under development and will be populated with content shortly after Congress.
A small group of Center Leaders reviewed and provided comments on the APWA Accreditation Manual to ensure that sustainability principles are included.
Various postings to the Sustainability infoNOW community over the past year.
Rating Systems
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. APWA and the Center for Sustainability continue to be engaged in this project. Members from the Center for Sustainability and the chair of the Transportation Sustainability Subcommittee reviewed and provided comments on the Stage 1 checklist of the rating system. APWA will also provide the ISI with a group of volunteers to serve on the ISI Technical Committee. Center Leadership Group members also updated APWA House of Delegates members during their spring meetings.
Greenroads Foundation Rating System. A small group of APWA volunteers are reviewing and providing comments on the new Greenroads rating system. Greenroads is a project of the University of Washington and is designed to evaluate the environmental, economic and social impacts of road and bridge projects and provide a standard for what constitutes a more sustainable, low impact, high performance roadway.

Support & Strengthen Chapters

Establish Community of Chapter Liaisons. Currently, the Center is working with 15 Chapter liaisons. The Center conducts quarterly conference calls with the liaisons to share Center updates and to solicit feedback and suggestions from the liaisons.

Support Chapters in Creating Sustainability Committees. The Center has provided guidance and information on creating sustainability committees at the Chapter level.
Recommend changes to PACE awards to include sustainability criteria. The Center proposed changes to the PACE awards to ensure that sustainability criteria are included in award applications. The Center shared their recommendations with the Awards Committee. The Center also worked with the Awards Committee by reviewing a new Sustainability Practices Award proposal from the Awards Committee.
Presentations. Members from the Center Leadership Group and the Director have provided presentations on the Center and sustainability in public works in several national conferences and chapter conferences. Examples include: APWA Colorado West Slope Conference; APWA Colorado Management Conference; North Carolina Chapter Conference and Chapter Leaders Workshop.

Foster Partnerships

NARC Livability Grant. The Center has been working with NARC and other partners “Developing the Capacity of Local and Regional Stakeholders to Create, Integrate and Implement Federal Livability Goals.” As part of the grant work, NARC and the Center hosted sessions at the 2011 Sustainability in Public Works Conference and Congress in Denver.
MARC Sustainable Communities Grant. APWA partner with the Mid-America Regional Council and various local, regional and national partners on “Creating Sustainable Places” grant. The purpose of this grant is to develop a model approach that local communities can use to create more sustainable places, including transportation corridors, activity centers and neighborhoods.
ICLEI Local Action Conference. “How to Turn Obstacles, Barriers and Challenges into Opportunities for Sustainability" was chosen to be included in the Sustainable Communities Track at the 2010 ICLEI Local Action Summit. Leadership Group members Keith Reester, Mary Anderson and Mary Pat Baldauf gave the presentation.
Reviewed and commented on ASCE Peer Review Manual Sustainability Chapter. ASCE Peer Review for Public Agenciesis a customized evaluationprocess designed to help federal, state, andlocal government engineering agencies ortheir subdivisions of all sizes improve themanagement and quality of their engineeringservices and better protect the public safety with which they are entrusted.
National Complete Streets Coalition. APWA, along with a broad coalition of organizations, advocates and transportation professionals, is part of the National Complete Streets Coalition which is working to enact complete streets policies across the country. The Coalition was recently successful in getting complete streets legislation introduced in the House of Representatives. Representatives LaTourette (R-OH) and Matsui (D-CA) recently introduced the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 (H.R. 1780).

Develop Sustainability Professional Development Content

2011 May issue of Reporter. Members of the Center Leadership group contributed articles to the May issue of the APWA Reporter. The Center Leadership Group also worked with the editor of the Reporter to add a new sustainability snippets feature in each issue of the Reporter.
CLL Programming. The Center planned 2 CLL for 2011: How to Write a Sustainability Action Plan and Decision Making for Public Works Management.
2011 Sustainability in Public Works Conference Education Session Review. A small group of Center Leadership members reviewed and selected the presentations for the 2011 Sustainability in Public Works Conference. In addition, the Center Leadership Group planned three sessions and one workshop for the 2011 Conference.

Promote Advocacy & Federal Relations.

The Center Leadership Group reviewed and provided comments on whether to support various pieces of legislation and/or regulatory efforts. Examples include:

Complete streets legislation
Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act
Sustainable Infrastructure Policy for Water & Wastewater Utilities

Future Activities

Provide Resources, Tool & Portal to Exchange Ideas & Information on Sustainability(supports APWA Strategic Objective #2 & 5)

Develop 5-10 minute video or DVD that Chapters can use as an introduction to the Center for Sustainability and the principles of sustainability in public works management.
Develop Model RFP language promoting use of Framework for Sustainable Communities and/or Rating Systems to embed sustainability concepts into local procurement processes.
Develop Newsletter/ Blog that will be included on new Center website.
Continue to post useful information to the Sustainability infoNOW community.
Continue to support the efforts of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure and other rating systems as appropriate.
Finalize development of Center’s web resources and launch updated website.

Support & Strengthen Chapters (supports APWA Strategic Objective #1 & 4)

Continue to build and increase the Community of Chapter Liaisons.
Continue quarterly conference calls with Chapter Liaisons to keep them up to date on Center activities and to gather feedback and ideas from the Chapter Liaisons.
Continue to support Chapters who wish to create Sustainability Committees at the Chapter level.
The Center Leadership Group and the Director will continue to give presentations at Chapter and partner conferences.
Work with APWA staff to recommend changes to PACE awards to include sustainability criteria.

Foster Partnerships (supports APWA Strategic Objective #5)

NARC Livability Grant. The Center will continue to work with NARC and our partners on the second year of this grant. In the second phase, NARC and its partners will test and evaluate the framework developed through stakeholder input and real-world simulations.
MARC Sustainable Communities Grant. The Center will continue to work with MARC and our partners on the second year of this grant.
New NARC grant proposal. APWA joined NARC and others in submitting a proposal to the Department of Energy for a one-year project to plan and implement policies for the development of local/regional plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging infrastructure, including implementation of local policies, procedures and incentives that facilitate that development. These activities will prepare communities for successful deployment and implementation of plug-in electric drive vehicles with the overall goal of decreasing the nation’s dependence on petroleum and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Develop Sustainability Professional Development Content (supports APWA Strategic Objective #3)

2012 May issue of Reporter. The Center Leadership Group will contribute articles to the 2012 issue of the Reporter. The Center Leadership Group will continue to provide content for the sustainability snippets feature in each issue of the Reporter.
CLL Programming. The Center will plan a minimum of 2 CLL for this year. One of the CLL will be in partnership with the APWA Emergency Management Committee on sustainability and resiliency issues. The second CLL will provide an overview of various sustainability rating systems including envisionTM, Greenroads, FHWA and Sustainable Sites.
2012 Sustainability in Public Works Conference Education Session Review. The Center Leadership Group will continue to review and select the educational sessions for the Sustainability in Public Works Conference. The Center Leadership Group will also propose a minimum of three sessions at the 2012 conference.
Work with the Donald C. Stone to ensure that sustainability principles are included in the initiative.
Explore the possible development of a comprehensive workshop curriculum that can be delivered by Chapters.

Promote Advocacy & Federal Relations(supports APWA Advocacy Strategic Objective)

Continue to monitor and weigh in on federal legislation.
Continue to review and provide comment on federal guidance, rules, policies, etc.
Continue to build relationships with key federal partners.