#4 Sustainable Janesville Committee Informatio
City Manager’s Office Memorandum
May 22, 2012
TO: Citizen Advisory Committee on Appointments
FROM: Al Hulick, Management Analyst
SUBJECT: Sustainable Janesville Committee
The Sustainable Janesville Committee was created by the City Council (Council
Policy 81) in May of 2008. The purpose of the SJC is to advise the City
Administration and the City Council on issues of sustainability. The SJC collects
public input on sustainability issues, examines potential sustainability initiatives,
and provides sustainability related recommendations to the City Administration
and the City Council. The committee is a centralized point of contact for all
sustainability related items within the organization and the community.
The SJC is comprised of seven citizen members appointed at large by the
Citizen Advisory Committee on Appointments and one Councilmember who is
appointed by the City Council President. The Council representative is a non-
voting member, unless in the case of a tie vote.
In June 2010, the SJC and City Council held a joint study session to discuss the
role and goals of the SJC. At the conclusion of that meeting thee priority projects
were established and to completed within the next 18 months. Those priorty
projects include:
1. Solid Waste Alternatives – Councilmember Perrotto suggested that the
SJC could play a role in the Solid Waste discussion. The Committee
continues to work on a variety of Solid Waste issues, including assisting
with the Automated Trash Collection initiative.
2. Green Action Plan – As part of the City’s 2009 Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) allocation, the City Manager allocated
a portion of those funds for the creation of a “Green Action Plan.” The
purpose of this plan would be to create a framework to create a more
sustainable community as a whole. A consultant would be hired to help
develop this plan, with the SJC acting as the steering committee for the
planning process. The City Council preliminarily approved this concept as
part of the larger EECBG application in June 2009.
3. Complete Recycle Away From Home (RAH) Initiative – In December
2009, the SJC presented the RAH program to the City Council. The
purpose of this program is to encourage recycling in all aspects of life
when away from home. There are four main components of the RAH
program as presented by the SJC: Public Facilities, Schools, Special
Events, and Businesses. At that December meeting, the Council
endorsed the first three components of the RAH program (Public Facilities,
Schools, Special Events). Since that time the SJC has been very
successful in implementing those three components. The SJC would now
like to move forward with the fourth and final component of the RAH
program: Businesses. In December 2009, the SJC indicated to the
Council that it would take considerable more work to implement the
Business component of the plan, and that they would be coming back with
a proposal in the future.
In addition to these three priority areas of focus the SJC has also successfully
created/accomplished the following projects:
Created the Sustainable Janesville Awards Program in 2011
Green Building Resolution – File Resolution 2009-657
Hosted a Natural Step Study Circle in 2011
Provided City Council input on Chronic Wasting Disease carcass disposal
Provided City Council input on a Plastic Bags Ordinance
Provided City Council input on a Roofing Shingles Ban at the landfill
Supported the Container Garden Program
Upheld the Eco-Municipality Resolution – File Resolution 2008-508