Manatee County Government Recognized For Going Green

After more than a year of work and six months of waiting, Manatee County was recently awarded a Green Local Government Certification by the Florida Green Builder’s Coalition.

“This (certification) is important to the employees and administration and Board (of County Commissioners),” said Brenda Rogers, director of the county department of community services and leader of the county Green Team. “It represents a lot of hard work.”

The Green Team, a volunteer committee of county employees representing every department, met for more than a year and developed energy- and cost-saving ideas that promoted environmental sustainability.

The Florida Green Builder’s Coalition, or FGBC, was established to promote sustainability through education and certification programs, according to its website.

To earn the Green Local Government Certification, the county had to prove it met a list of criteria and standards that focus on “improving environmental performance through a number of mediums: energy, water, air, land, and waste.”

The FGBC then “evaluates the environmental practices done in-house, incentives and ordinances that foster green practices, and educational activities for the community to improve the environment.”

For certification, the Green Team had to address several areas, including water conservation, energy conservation/building efficiency, recycling and waste reduction, transportation, forestry and landscaping, water and air quality, the county’s carbon footprint and education and outreach.

The program they developed ranged from major changes in facilities and equipment and simple actions each employee can perform during the regular performance of his or her job.

This included the property management department rewiring light fixtures to work off of separate switches so that a whole office did not need to be lit when someone was working in a small portion of the room.

One of the simpler policies implemented was turning off lights and equipment when not in use.

Actions such as these have resulted in a savings of $480,000 in energy costs, or 24 percent, over last year in the county administration building, the judicial center, the public safety complex and the jail, according to a county press release.

“These improvements will pay dividends for years to come. We’re very proud of this distinction,” David Thompson, county building maintenance division manager, was quoted as saying in the press release.

Rogers said the county put into effect several policy changes that not only affect county employees, but also county residents.

Some of the areas where the program worked to benefit the public are with improved water quality, reduced carbon emissions and reduced landfill waste, she said.

Rogers said the idea of the county initiating a sustainability program came from County Administrator Ed Hunzeker.

"We have always valued the environment in Manatee County," Hunzeker said. "This is just one of the efforts in our community to keep the environment green."

Some counties hired an outside consultant to develop their green program, but this all happened when Manatee was looking a major budget cuts, so Hunzeker kept the project in house, she said.

Rogers, who at the time was director of the Manatee County Extension Services, was picked to head up the Green Team because of the close working relationship she had with the University of Florida, which has worked to establish sustainability programs over the years.

"We appreciate Brenda Rogers for her efforts in bring the Green Team together to achieve this certification," Hunzeker said.

The Green Team worked with the concept where the environment, economy and human /social needs meet sustainability is achieved and the best decisions are made, Rogers said.

“We’re really proud to be recognized with the certification,” she said. “It wraps up a lot of effort of a lot of people and sets us up for our next goal to achieve a gold rating.”

The county was awarded a silver rating because some programs have to be in effect for at least two years to show their effectiveness and savings, such as the energy-efficient plan.

“We have to do this in steps, such as replacing our landscape with all native plants,” Rogers said. “We don’t want to go and just tear everything out.”

Receiving the certification has renewed employee excitement about the Green program.

“We held a rally to boost enthusiasm just before we got the notice of the certification,” Rogers said. “Then when the news came there was even more excitement.”