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<br />P.O. Box 8181 * 131 West Margaret Lane, 3rd Floor * Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 <br />Telephone: 919 245-2625 <br /> <br />April 17, 2018 <br /> <br />To: Board of Orange County Commissioners <br /> <br />CC: Bonnie Hammersley, Orange County Manager <br /> <br />From: Brennan Bouma, Sustainability Coordinator, Asset Management Services <br />Brenda Bartholomew, Director, Human Resources <br />Craig Benedict, Director, Planning and Inspections <br />Jim Northrup, Director, Information Technologies <br />Blair Pollock, Planner, Solid Waste Management <br />David Stancil, Director, Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation <br />Jeff Thompson, Director, Asset Management Services <br />Robert Williams, Director, Solid Waste Management <br /> <br />RE: Orange County Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility Goal Update <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br />Since it was adopted in 2005, Orange County’s Environmental Responsibility Goal (ERG) has guided the County’s <br />efforts to lower its negative environmental impacts. The ERG was drafted by the Department of Environment, <br />Agriculture, Parks and Recreation (“DEAPR”) with the input of several departments. <br /> <br />Following from this adopted goal, a group of County departments that were tasked with carrying out ERG <br />objectives have reported on their activities in October 2012, April 2014, June of 2015, January of 2017, and now <br />in April of 2018. Reporting departments are listed here: <br />• Asset Management Services (AMS) <br />• Human Resources (HR) <br />• Information Technologies (IT) <br />• Planning and Inspections <br />• Department of Environment, Agriculture, <br />Parks and Recreation (DEAPR) <br />• Solid Waste Management <br /> <br />SUMMARY <br />The Environmental Responsibility Goal and its associated objectives continue to direct the work of County staff <br />across several departments towards ever more sustainable operations and better support programs for County <br />residents. This work has been made possible through the leadership of the Board of Orange County <br />Commissioners as well as the collaboration, hard work, and open minds of many County staff. <br /> <br />UPDATE ON KEY SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS AND ACTIVITIES <br />This report only covers a sample of the broad array of measurable sustainability activities of County <br />departments that are relevant to the work and the lives of County residents. This report provides the latest <br />updates on several ERG performance goals since our last report in January of 2017, including: <br />• Current and proposed sustainability initiatives across several departments; <br />• A final analysis of the County’s performance against its utilities reduction goals from 2010 to 2017. <br /> <br />This utilities reduction goal was established in 2011 to match the aggressive efficiency goals of the State at that <br />time. Now that the endpoint of those goals has been reached, in future years the County will shift to a new <br />1