AGENDA #4e
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Memorandum of Agreement: Joint Chapel Hill-Carrboro-Orange County Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Reduction Plan
DATE: June 15, 2005
The attached resolution would authorize the Mayor to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (please see Attachment 1) between the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and Orange County to initiate the development of joint countywide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Reduction Local Action Plan.
The Resolution also would add $13,000 to the 2005-06 Budget to pay for the Town’s share of the project cost as described in the Memorandum of Agreement.
BACKGROUND
On August 23, 1999, the Council adopted a resolution to join the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign and develop a local action plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, contingent on securing grant funds. The resolution called for the development of a local action plan, consisting of:
On October 22, 2001, the Council adopted a resolution requesting the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to authorize their Managers to work jointly with Chapel Hill staff to obtain a funding source and prepare a countywide emissions reduction plan once funding becomes available.
On February 13, 2003, the Council Committee on Sustainability, Energy and Environment discussed proposing a jointly-sponsored budget among jurisdictions in Orange County to conduct a countywide emissions study. The Committee decided to ask the Council to set aside funds in the 2003-04 Budget deliberations for the study and to make the use of the funding contingent upon the participation of the other jurisdictions.
On February 24, 2003, the Council adopted a resolution requesting that the Mayor ask Orange County to place the topic of conducting a countywide emissions inventory and greenhouse gas reduction plan on the agenda of the April 2003 Orange County Assembly of Governments meeting.
The Council included $30,000 in the 2003-04 Budget for the emissions plan. On August 23, 2003, the Council authorized using about $15,000 of these funds for the 2003 Mobility Report Card. The emissions study funding was not carried forward to the 2004-05 Budget.
Staff with the Town of Chapel Hill, Town of Carrboro, and Orange County met in recent months to select a consulting firm to develop the Inventory and Action Plan and draft the joint Memorandum of Agreement, (see Attachment 1). After a Request for Qualifications process, the staff team picked ICLEI Energy Services, the technical services consulting arm of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County are members of ICLEI, now called ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.
DISCUSSION
The six-phase project would begin officially in the fall of this year (see Attachment 2) with an initial meeting of a 13-member Air Quality Advisory Committee to be appointed jointly by the Chapel Hill Town Council, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Board of Commissioners. The University of North Carolina also would appoint a member (see Section 7 of the Memorandum of Agreement).
ICLEI Energy Services would conduct an inventory of existing greenhouse gas emissions and develop a projection of future emissions levels. The process includes identifying existing and potential new greenhouse gas reduction measures the local governments have already put in place. The consultant will then recommend emission reduction targets for both the community and local government operations based on differing levels of investment on behalf of local municipalities.
The project schedule anticipates the completion of the local action plan in May and June. The plan will be submitted for approval to the Advisory Group, the Transportation Advisory Committee of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization and the governing boards of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange Country.
Contract Administration
Orange County, through the County’s Environment and Resource Conservation Department, would serve as the coordinating jurisdiction for administration of the project. Orange County would manage the contract, approve payments and invoice the Towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill for their portions of the project costs consistent with the payment schedule in the contract.
Coordination with Carbon Reduction Project
The contract scope of work accounts for the potential involvement of the Town of Chapel Hill in the Carbon Reduction Project, a program established in England that challenges participants to substantially reduce existing levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
The contract scope of work states that if the Town participates in the Carbon Reduction Project, ICLEI Energy Services will coordinate the development of the Inventory and Local Action Plan with the Carbon Reduction Project.
BUDGET
The estimated project budget is $45,000. The Memorandum of Agreement allocates the costs to each local government based on the following previously-used method for joint projects based on the 2000 Census:
Orange County 44.6% (projected share, $13,781)
Chapel Hill 41.2% (projected share, $12,731)
Carrboro 14.2% (projected share, $4,388)
In order to cover the Town’s share of the project cost as described in the Memorandum of Agreement, new funding will need to be included in the 2005-06 Budget.
In addition, the Memorandum of Agreement would accept a $14,100 grant from the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization towards the project.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council adopt the Resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign the attached Memorandum of Agreement to initiate the development of a countywide greenhouse gas emissions inventory and local action plan and providing $13,000 for the Town’s share of the project cost in the 2005-06 Budget to be considered by the Council on June 27, 2005.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Joint Memorandum of Agreement (p. 5).
2. Schedule A – Scope of Work: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Inventory and Action Plan (p. 10).
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT WITH ORANGE COUNTY AND CARRBORO FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTYWIDE EMISSIONS INVENTORY/ACTION PlAN (2005-06-15/R-5)
WHEREAS, on August 23, 1999, the Town Council adopted a resolution to join the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives Cities for Climate Protection Campaign and develop a local action plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, contingent on securing grant funds; and
WHEREAS, on October 22, 2001, the Council adopted a resolution requesting the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to authorize their Managers to work jointly with Chapel Hill staff to obtain a funding source and prepare a countywide emissions reduction plan once funding becomes available; and
WHEREAS, on February 24, 2003, the Council adopted a Resolution requesting that the Mayor ask Orange County to place the topic of conducting a countywide emissions inventory and greenhouse gas reduction plan on the agenda of the April 2003 Orange County Assembly of Governments meeting; and
WHEREAS, staff with the Town of Chapel Hill, Town of Carrboro and Orange County have selected a consulting firm to develop the Inventory and Action Plan and drafted a joint Memorandum of Agreement for consideration by the Chapel Hill Town Council, Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Board of Commissioners;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council authorizes the Mayor to sign the Memorandum of Agreement attached with this memorandum.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that $13,000 for the Town’s share of the project costs as described in the Memorandum of Agreement be included in the 2005-06 Budget to be considered by the Council on June 27, 2005.
This the 15th day of June, 2005.