Sustainability Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2010 09 15

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:1 detailed execution plans. in addi- tion to IiOW having the specific plans, the city also has a cornnion approach for future planning, allowing it to focus on content and implementation with the ability to adapt as the external environment and business realities dictate. Given that the city had decided to take a comprehensive approach across the entire organization, the core sustainability team identified issues and areas of foi:irs that crossed departmental boundaries. The city also built broad stake- holder support for the plan, in part, through participation of an exter-- nal advisory panel composed of business and community leaders. As part of implementing new programs, Longmont needed to pinpoint its current sustainability activities in order to track progress toward goals and understand required modifications over time the essence of a data- driven approach_ At this point, there is n0i comprehensive and robust baseline instrument for use at a city level, particularly wheIi a city, as is true for Longmont, runs an FIGURE 2 Program selection by year 120- `a 100 0 0 0) 60 80 e 2 40 0. 20- 1- 12012 2013 12016 32018 2020 0G m y 'a Cr; a m r0 42 .near 2010 1 JOURNAL AWWA m C a ,Ll CD L CC To mom,. 13 N E n 0 Water Program array of utilities as well. To fi.[i this gap and support the assessment of l..ongrn.ont's current su.stainability performance, R..NV. Beck tailored an enterprisewide baseline assess- ment framework, which drew from various sustainability proto- cols such as the World Bank Global City Indicators, the United Nations Indicators of Sustainabil- ity Development, and those advanced by the Global Reporting In..iti.ative. Once the baseline assessment needs were outlined and the goals set, th.e city focused on selecting, evaluating, and prioritizing the many "green" program options. With more than half a dozen departments seeking funding for sustainable programs, this step was critical to identify the "next hest dollar spent" on. programs that supported the mission and goals. The core sustainability team nar- rowed the program options to 20 and then used R.W. Beck's Optinzi- tysti optimization model to identify the highest priority and most cost effective programs. Through this process, R.W. Beck and the city of ti N E a 0 U ET— evapoiranspiratian, HE—high efficiency, 111,F— uftralow flow E E 0 c 0 0 I.Ongm.ont were able to determine the optimal mix. that leveraged the city's current programs while inte- grating and prioritizing future proj- ects to achieve the city's sustain- ability-related goals. They were also able to inform allocation of the FEC.BG funds and create the backbone of their programs for future consideration. The integrated approach that Longmont took to exploring the hest approach to sustai.nability across the city's entire span of responsibility led to some interest ing results. Although many cities reserved the EECBG funding to add ress only energy- centric pro- grams and sometimes for only city buildings, Longmont took the broader view of looking at all pro- grams, including water, wastewa- ter, and solid waste. ].n fact, such activities were eligible under the requirements of the block grant funding but required city leader- ship with a comprehensive and inclusive point of view. From this broader standpoint, the findings of the Optinlity modeling exercise revealed that its goals were best met through an array of interact ing programs. In fact, seven water conservation programs were among the highest-priority pro grams identified. These high-prior- ity programs were the most cost effective in supporting multiple_ goals these conservation pro- grams save water and therefore electricity, which curtails green- house gas emissions. Figure 2 shows the program selection per centages by year for each of the specific water programs. R111I_ LING BLOCKS— THE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN With both city -level issues and focused project areas identified, Longmont began to construct its implementation plan. This plan outlined the specific assignments and framework to build account- ability and drive execution with full knowledge of budgets and