As part of an ongoing effort to get everyone thinking about improving the environment, Westchester County has launched a series of Sustainability Forums, designed to engage every community in the county. The municipal forums are an outgrowth of the countywide Global Warming Action Plan that gives steps for every sector to follow, including residents, businesses, governments and schools. The third and final forum targetting communities in the Sound Shore region will be held at New Rochelle City Hall (515 North Avenue) from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. on September 9th. See brochure here.

Local officials and citizen volunteers are being invited to attend regional forums to learn how to develop a sustainability program or take the one they have to the next level. By meeting with other municipal leaders as well as environmental experts, they are able to discuss issues such as energy, waste, land use and transportation, and see how they are being handled by other communities. Participants are also invited to share what their municipalities are doing by completing a newly launched profile form which will increase transparency regarding countywide sustainability efforts and facilitate the exchange of information via the county's website.

The first forum -- designed for communities in the northern tier of the county -- was held at Hilltop Hanover Farm on June 8; the second forum for Hudson River communities took place on June 15 at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. Below are program details and links to some of the informative presentations delivered at both events:

Panel A: Building a Sustainability Program in Your Municipality
An overview of the Westchester County Action Plan, subsequent countywide developments, suggested steps that each municipality should take to begin a program for reducing its carbon gas emissions and developing a citizen volunteer organization to engage community support.

June 8 presentations:

Background & Overview of County Actions to Date by Reese Berman, Town Supervisor, Town of North Castle
Getting Started by Mary Beth Kass, Chair, Bedford Energy Advisory Panel

June 15 presentations:

Getting Started from the perspective of Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell and Dr. Carole Griffiths, Chair, Tarrytown Energy Advisory Council

Panel B: Best Practices
Panelists described current best practices in each of the four sectors identified in the Westchester County Global Warming Task Force Report and report on the dynamic nature of “state-of-the-art”.

June 8 presentations:

Transportation: Carol Ryan, Regional Manager for Westchester and Rockland Counties, Metro Pool
Building and Land Use Regulations: Anna Georgiou, Esq., Wormser, Kiely Galef & Jacobs LLP
Energy Use: Bedford 20% by 2020 by Mark Thielking, Director of Energy Resources, Town of Bedford
Waste Reduction: Welcome to the Town of New Castle Recycling Center by Anthony Vaccaro, PE, Commissioner of Public Works, Town of New Castle

June 15 presentations:

Transportation: Efficient Municipal Fleet Management by Joseph "Bud" Nicoletti
Building and Land Use Regulations: Michael Gerrard, Director, Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University
Energy Use: Energy-Efficient Street Lights and Energy Performance Contracting by Maribel Cruz Brown, New York Power Authority
Storm Water Management: A Watershed Approach for Municipalities and Storm Water Funding Resources by Anne Jaffe Holmes, Greenburgh Nature Center

Panel C: Developing a County-wide Communications Network

Presentation by Scott Fernqvist, Westchester County Executive's Office

The forums are sponsored by Westchester County and the Westchester Municipal Officials Association Green Subcommittee. For additional information, contact Jerry Faiella, New Castle Town Administrator, at (914) 238-4774 or jfaiella@town.new-castle.ny.us.