In this modern era, it is vital for communities to take it upon themselves to prioritize environmental awareness and responsibility. Through the Comprehensive Local Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) Community Challenge Program, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is asking communities to dedicate themselves to better manage the environmental footprint from their municipal operations.
The CLEAN Community Challenge Program is designed to have the participating community develop initiatives that will result in the betterment of the local and state environment through the formation of a Quality of Life Plan. Additional benefits to joining the program include potentially decreased costs associated with municipal operations through improved efficiencies, access to financial and regulatory incentives, improved relationships with regulators and also statewide recognition for the efforts being made by the community
With Wessler serving as consultant throughout the process, the City of Beech Grove recently achieved membership to the CLEAN Community Challenge Program. The City’s designation ceremony was held Saturday October 3, 2015 during the City’s Arbor Day celebration with the newly appointed commissioner of IDEM, Ms. Carol Comer, in attendance to designate the community.
Want to know more about how your community can achieve membership to the CLEAN Community Challenge Program?
The initial step that IDEM requires is to schedule an introductory meeting with the CLEAN Program Manager. From there, your community will create a stakeholder committee, as well as designate a committee leader. Typically, the stakeholder committee is comprised of representatives or department heads from applicable municipal departments. The Mayor or Town Council President, in addition to municipal departments such as Parks and Recreation, Streets, Public Works, Police and Fire are examples of those usually involved.
The next step is to schedule and participate in a site visit with the CLEAN Program Manager to ensure the community is in compliance with existing regulations. From this point, the community will develop a mission statement that demonstrates the importance of environmental stewardship, and then formally adopt through resolution, executive order or ordinance. The community will then identify and prioritize municipal activities that are having an environmental impact. Once these impacts are identified and prioritized, the community will develop four environmental initiatives with action plans that will be implemented over the next four-year membership term. The aforementioned Quality of Life Plan will then be developed as the document that guides implementation of the chosen initiatives. Three letters of recommendation from businesses/organizations in your community are required as well.
After these steps are complete, your community will be ready to submit an application to IDEM to become the next member of the CLEAN Community Challenge Program. Keep in mind, Wessler Engineering is here to assist you throughout this process.
Wessler’s commitment to excellence in providing civil and environmental engineering services makes us an ideal partner in your pursuit of the CLEAN Community designation. We can serve as the facilitator for your community during the application process and also assist with the implementation of your Quality of Life Plan.