By Judy Sheahan
June 19, 2006

The Environmental Committee, Chaired by Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory, met June 3 in conjunction with the Conference of Mayors 74th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. The Committee considered six policy resolutions as well as focusing on strategic implementation of environmental programs and policy.

McCrory said, “I thought it would be a good idea to have more of a political discussion among all of us about how a mayor implements what is needed in their community. We all know that sometimes we need to sell an idea to our constituency, sometimes we need to get the cooperation of other units of government, and sometimes we need to do something unpopular because it is what is needed. There are all different ways of doing this and I thought it would be a good idea for us to share our stories so that we can learn from one another.”

McCrory invited Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, Kenosha (WI) Mayor John Antaramian, and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to share how they were able to implement difficult environment policies in their communities.

Chavez faced an endangered species issue along with a water supply crisis which required a huge investment by the community. “There is something that speaks to everyone,” Chavez said. “You need to find out what speaks to the various constituents and groups and sell them on those points.” Chavez continued, “By bringing all of these groups together you build coalitions that can accomplish what is needed.”

Antaramian was a former state legislator whose community was riddled with brownfields. Wisconsin, at that time, had virtually no laws that could help turn these properties around. He approached the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources who worked with the city to allow some flexibility in the existing laws. They also created a committee made up of state, local, businesses, and industry to come together and figure out what was needed to redevelop these properties. The result was a law that allows a city to condemn, clean up land to whatever level they see fit, and hand the bill to the owners. “This is a strong tool to force businesses to come to the table and negotiate,” Antaramian said, “but we couldn’t have done it without bringing the business and environmental community together.”

Franklin faced a $3.2 billion price tag and five consent decrees to fix her water and wastewater problem. She had a university and other experts (who pledged not to bid on any future work for a specified time period) to come up with a list of recommendations and she pledged she would follow their recommendations. “It was important to have an independent source to verify that this was the right plan,” Franklin said, “For 18 months, every speech I gave I talked about water; I told my constituents that without federal assistance, we would have to triple their water rates.”

Franklin ended up getting approval to double the water and sewer rates and have a one cent sales tax rate increase. “It made everybody mad,” Franklin said, “and so we sent a letter with senator's and state representative’s phone numbers so people could voice their complaints.”

Mayors discussed the importance of building coalitions as well as the idea of “building a burning platform” where you create a crisis to focus people’s attention around an issue. McCrory warned the group, “Never get caught in an exaggeration because even if 90 percent is correct, the 10 percent will make you lose your credibility.”

The Environmental Committee also considered six resolutions which were approved. They included:

Resolution #57: Recapitalizing the State Revolving Fund Loan Programs Annually to Help Communities Improve Water Infrastructure and Meet Federal Water Mandates;

Resolution #58: Increasing Local Government Activities to Help Communities Conserve Municipal Water Supplies;

Resolution #59: Promoting “Green” Infrastructure in the Nation’s Communities;

Resolution #50: Adopting the “2030 Challenge” for All Buildings;

Resolution #51: Encourages The Use of Landfill Gas-to-Recovery Technologies; and

Resolution #83: Establishing a New Municipal Energy Agenda to Help Address the Nation’s Energy and Environmental Challenges and Improve Local Communities.