to: Mayor and Town Council
from: Jim Ward, Mayor Pro Tem and Interim Sustainability Committee Chair
subject: Petition to Amend the Resolution Establishing the Sustainability Committee
date: September 22, 2008
The purpose of this report is to provide information about a petition from the Sustainability Committee to amend the resolution establishing the Committee in a manner that would allow for the explicit ability to:
On May 7, 2007, the Council adopted Resolution 2007-05-07/R-15 establishing a Town Sustainability Committee to address sustainability within the Town of Chapel Hill (Attachment 1). The Council appointed nine individuals to the Town Sustainability Committee on February 25, 2008. The Committee first convened on April 29, 2008 and used the first of three regularly scheduled monthly meetings to address organizational items. As part of these efforts, the members reviewed the original resolution establishing the Committee and identified both near term and longer term amendments aimed at improving the functionality and effectiveness of the advisory board.
Near term amendments, defined by the Committee as being items to address prior to the Council’s summer recess, included the Committee’s desire to increase the membership size to 11 and create a non-voting University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill liaison position. In response to a Committee petition on June 25, 2008, the Council adopted Resolution 2008-6-25/R-1 to increase the membership size to 11 and create an official non-voting University liaison position (Attachment 2).
Longer term amendments, defined by the Committee as being items to address after the Council’s summer recess, included the Committee’s interest in the explicit ability to report directly to the Council and to make recommendations on new sustainability principles, plans and policies for the Council’s consideration. At its July 8, 2008 meeting, the Committee agreed to pursue these longer term amendments by submitting a petition to the Council in September.
The Sustainability Committee unanimously agrees that the existing charge—found within the resolution establishing the Committee—does not explicitly grant to the advisory board the ability to report directly to the Council on matters of sustainability. Additionally, the Committee believes that item 1 (shown below) limits the Committee’s review of sustainability principles, plans, and policies to only those that have been established by the Council. Because the Committee unanimously agrees that it is important for this advisory board to be able to report directly to the Council and to review and make recommendations for the Council’s consideration on all matters of sustainability—both new and existing—the Committee proposes the following text amendments to the charge of the resolution which established the Committee:
The proposed text amendments above are reflected in the attached resolution for the Council’s consideration.
That the Council adopt the attached resolution to amend the resolution which established the Sustainability Committee in a manner that would allow for the explicit ability to: