HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04112006 - PR.2 WILLIAM B. WALKER, M. D. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS PROGRAMS
HEALTH SERVICES DIRECTOR
4333 Pacheco Boulevard
DIRECTOR OR
RANL. SAWYER Martinez,California
-
•. 94553-2229
CONTRA COSTA Ph(925)646-2
/ Fax(925)646-2073073
HEALTH SERVICES
April 5, 2006
TO: Members, Board of Supervisors
FROM: Robin Bedell-W ' 03reen Business Program Coordinator
SUBJECT: April 11 -Presentation to New Green Businesses
50 businesses have been certified Green in the last year in Contra Costa—proving that
being green and running successful businesses go hand-in-hand! Just when we think
we've found every green business to certify, we find more. Green is catching on
because it's practical and because business owners are realizing that it's crucial to our
future—they lecture me about this!
Some highlights:
+ We've certified two housecleaners that are green: Houseshining in EI Sobrante
and Tri-Valley Cleaning in San Ramon (they are very few in our county)
+ We've attended several Chamber of Commerce Trade Shows, and certified the
Antioch Chamber itself as well as the president of the Pleasant Hill Chamber,
Wade Cantrell from Computer Renaissance
+ A very dedicated Brentwood staff is now partnering with us, and has helped us
certify our first four Green Businesses there—including their own City Fleet
Services
+ Bing Crosby's Restaurant is proving that being a classy restaurant and being
green easily go together
+ All four EBMUD water treatment plants are now certified—and their Board
members even attended ABAG's Executive Board recognition of new public
agency Green Businesses
+ Our first bank,zMechanics Bank, truly believes that being green is part of being a
good ,member of our communities
+ And finally, the offices of three of our own Board members—DeSaulnier, Goia
and Uilkema!!
Contra Costa Community Substance Abuse Services • Contra Costa Emergency Medical Services • Contra Costa Environmental Health • Contra Costa Health Plan
s� • Contra Costa Hazardous Materials Programs •Contra Costa Mental Health • Contra Costa Public Health • Contra Costa Regional Medical Center • Contra Costa Health Centers
As you know, they all meet the high standards of environmental excellence set by the
Program:
✓ They fully comply with all our environmental agencies:
Hazardous Materials, fire, storm water, wastewater and the Air
District; and
✓ They conserve energy, water and other natural resources; and
prevent pollution from hazardous wastes.
The program's partners-24 environmental agencies and cities in Contra Costa—have
worked hard this last year to achieve our vision of Contra Costa as a place where
businesses contribute to the sustainability of our communities by being green
themselves. Our annual report and two newsletters (attached) should help convey the
accomplishments of this past year.
Please note: In order to expedite the Board presentation, I will call up all of the
recipients in each supervisor's district, and once they are up front you can call out the
names of each business in your district. Please call if you need any more information.
cc: Randall L. Sawyer
William B. Walker, M.D.
New Contra Costa Green Businesses - April 11 , 2006
(More specific contact information available at www.greenbiz.ca.gov)
District I (Gioia) EBMUD Walnut Creek WTP, Walnut
Creek
EBMUD Sobrante WTP, EI Sobrante Independent Volvo Service, Walnut Creek
Excellent Packaging, Richmond Kendall Automotive, Brentwood
Hae Now, EI Sobrante Mechanics Bank, Walnut Creek
HAUS, EI Cerrito Performance Auto%Volvo, Walnut Creek
House Shining, EI 5obrante Roussell's Auto Service, Walnut Creek
Jenny K. , EI Cerrito Simon Systemz, San Ramon
Postnet, Richmond Sycamore Associates, Walnut Creek
RabbitEars Pet Supplies, Kensington The Covello Group,.Walnut Creek
Shelterbelt Builders, EI Cerrito Tri-Valley Cleaning Svcs, San Ramon
Velocity Lock & Key, Richmond Walnut Creek City Hall, Walnut Creek
Well-Grounded Coffee, EI Cerrito Walnut Creek City Parks, Walnut Creek
Board Member John Goia, EI Cerrito Walnut Creek Honda, Walnut Creek
District II (Vilketna) District IV (De Saulnier)
EBMUD Lafayette WTP, Lafayette
EBMUD Orinda WTP, Orinda Computer Renaissance, Pleasant Hill
Enviro Star, Martinez Concord Toyota, Concord
Evaluation Focused Consulting, Pinole Hauling Pros, Concord
Lin Spier Construction, Martinez Malaya Center, Pleasant Hill
Performance Autoworks, Martinez Meals by Marlene, Pleasant Hill
The Newsletter Guy, Pinole Mechanics Bank, Concord
Board Member Gayle Uilkema, Martinez MSRC, Concord
Roof max, Concord .
Save On Smogs, Pleasant Hill
District III (Piepho) Board Member Mark DeSaulnier, Concord
Beyaz & Patel, Inc., Walnut Creek
Bing Crosby's Restaurant, Walnut Creek District V (Glover)
Brentwood Car Wash, Brentwood Antioch City Fleet Maintenance, Antioch
Brentwood City Fleet Maintenance Antioch Chamber of Commerce, Antioch
Brentwood Auto Tune-Up, Antioch
.Budget Blinds of the Delta, Brentwood ConeHeads Ice Cream, Antioch
Eagle Shield, San Ramon Nature's Bounty, Antioch
Green Business
=1 Program
Annual Report
2005
(GREEN B USINES8
PROGRAM
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
214 businesses have been certified as Green Businesses since 1998, with the program
certifying all business types since 2002. This has been accomplished through a partnership of
24 local agencies and cities that provide funding ($32,600), active leadership, and staff time and
resources to certify businesses. In addition to the program meeting its goals and objectives for
the year, the partnership continues to be a strong, focused group aimed at working together to
strategically and successfully green Contra Costa's businesses.
Highlights of 2005
✓ Almost 50 new Green Businesses, including Bing Crosby's Restaurant, our first school
(Tehiyah in EI Cerrito), -ESCO Integrated Manufacturing and Malaya Healing Center.
✓ Over 600 Green Businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area
✓ Nine of our public partners were certified, including the offices of three members of
the County Board of Supervisors, all four EBMUD water treatment plants, Tri-Delta
Transit and Walnut Creek's Parks Division
✓ Developed the program and a checklist to certifying those professionals involved in
remodeling homes.
✓ The City of Brentwood joined the program!
✓ We ran two full-page ads in the Contra Costa Times listing all of our Green Busin'esses,
made Sunset Magazine, the Brentwood News& Antioch News, and provided all of o r
Green Businesses with business cards having both their contact information and
information on the Green Business Program. The National Association of Counties, in
their County News, did a feature article on the program. And the East Bay Business
Times ran a full article on Mechanics Bank being certified.
MISSION OF THE GREEN BUSINESS PROGRAM
To strengthen and sustain the quality of the environment in Contra Costa County through a
collaborative partnership-of public and private-organizations that encourages, enables and
recognizes businesses taking action to prevent pollution and conserve resources.
1
THREE-YEAR GOALS FOR THE GREEN BUSINESS PROGRAM
1. To expand the program by increasing the number of participating businesses and business
sectors, including governmental agencies.
2. To improve the visibility and marketing of the program and of the participating businesses.
3. To build a strong program partnership to support the implementation of the GBP.
4. To create sufficient organizational capacity to successfully operate the program.
INTRODUCTION a
Protecting the environment by preventing pollution and conserving natural resources are goals
Contra Costa's environmental agencies have been striving to achieve. In an effort to further
these goals, they partnered to create the Green Business Program. By leveraging resources
.-- .and combining expertise, the Green Business Program works with Contra Costa businesses to
address a multitude of environmental concerns at the same time. Green Business'Program .
staff works with businesses in a cooperative, direct and personal way to achieve these goals.
The program was,kicked off with;auto repair shops in 1998, expanding to.all businesses in 2002.
Each business is certified for compliance with all environmental regulations (hazardous
materials, wastewater and stormwater), and achievement of specific standards to conserve
water and energy, prevent pollution, and recycle and conserve material resources.
Additionally, six other Bay Area counties are implementing the program, under the coordination
of ABAG (the Association of Bay Area Governments), with San Francisco, Santa Cruz, .
Monterey and Sacramento Counties kicking off their programs in early 2004, and Sonoma and
Santa Clara expanding to include their entire counties in 2005.
Over 600 businesses have now been certified in the San Francisco Bay.Area.
This annual.report covers who the partners are in the Green Business Program, our goals, as
well as an evaluation of progress in achieving these goals; a budgetary report, and our revised
strategic plan and goals for the future.
GREEN BUSINESS PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP
.The Green Business Program partnership is made up of virtually every public agency within the
County working to protect the environment, including those focusing on stormwater, wastewater,
air, fire, hazardous materials, reduction of solid waste and conservation of water and energy.
As partners, each of these entities provides a variety of support for the Program:
• Adopt the Green Government Pledge. • Attend meetinds-to provide direction
• Inspect or audit businesses. and leadership.
• Promote program to businesses and • Provide funding.
provide program with referrals of • Provide other materials/resources.
worthy businesses. Work to certify,th'eir own entities as
Green Businesses.
2
Contra Costa's Green Business Partners
• Contra Costa Hazardous Materials • City of Brentwood
• Contra Costa Clean Water Program • City of Concord . .
• Central Contra Costa San. District • Town of Danville
• Mt. View Sanitary District . City of Martinez
• Delta Diablo Sanitation District • City of Pittsburg
• West County Wastewater District . City of Richmond
• Central Contra Costa Solid Waste • City of San Ramon
Authority . City of Walnut Creek
• West Contra Costa Integrated . PG&E
Waste Management Authority . Contra Costa Water District
• CCC Watershed Program • EBMUD
• CCC.Environmental Health • San Ramon Valley Fire
• City of Antioch . Bay Area Air Quality Mgmt. District
EVALUATION OF 2005 PROGRAM GOALS & OBJECTIVES
In 2001, a long-term planning process by the GBP Partners yielded a strategic plan and
program goals to guide the program for the subsequent five years. Below is an evaluation of
work done in 2004 to achieve these goals.
Program Goal 1: To expand the program by increasing the number of
participating businesses, business sectors and governmental agencies.
For 2004 we set several specific objectives for this goal.
Objective 1: To certify 50 new businesses.
Results: 49 new businesses were certified.
Objective 2: To certify five partner or public agencies.
Results: Nine public agencies were certified
Objective 3: To re-certify 15 businesses.
Results: 10 businesses were recertified.
We certified 49 businesses,bringing our total certified Green Businesses to 214. This included:
• 6 businesses related to remodeling homes
• 4 restaurants
• 9 auto repair shops
• 5 retail stores
• Our first school (Tehiyah)
• 9 public operations, including the offices of three members of the Board of Supervisors,
and all four of EBMUD's water treatment plants in Contra Costa.
3
Our focus for this year has been to begin certifying those professionals involved in remodeling
homes—painters, interior designers, contractors, etc. Coordinating with the solid waste staff
that are working on promoting Green Building, we developed ways to support each other and to
reinforce what each other was doing. We created a pollution prevention/resource conservation
checklist to use with remodelers, and began certifying them.
The City of Brentwood joined our partnership this year, and we began certifying businesses
there. An excellent newspaper article in the Brentwood News on Brentwood Car Wash capped
off a terrific start in Brentwood.
Ten businesses were recertified, with many of them surpassed their previous efforts with
additional conservation practices. To help our Green Businesses implement even more
measures to prevent pollution and conserve resources, we have been continuing to send our
newsletter to Green Businesses, Staying Green. Published twice each year, it provides tips on
being green, spotlights one of our Green Businesses for their success in being green, welcomes
the newest Green Businesses and covers program highlights. This year we highlighted Moon
Dance Painting in EI Sobrante and Bill's Ace Hardware Store in Martinez.
Program Goal 2: To improve the.visibility and marketing of the program and
of its participating businesses.
A strategic decision was made by the Program's public relations committee to publicize the
Green Business Program primarily through the Green Businesses themselves (rather than in a
larger publicity campaign aimed at reaching consumers and teaching them about our logo). To
this end, at the end of 2004, we provided all of our Green Businesses with business cards
having both their contact information and information on the Green Business Program, as well
as a calendar on the back. Many of our smallest businesses greatly appreciated having these
business cards, and asked us to repeat this again in 2005—which we did! We even allowed
businesses to order more cards if they wanted to pay for them.
For the first time the Program ran, at Earth Day, a full-page ad (and ran it twice) listing all of
Contra Costa's Green Businesses—and they just barely fit! We heard from numerous
businesses how much they appreciated seeing their name in the newspaper—something they
normally could not afford.
The Brentwood .News and Antioch News both ran a terrific story on Brentwood's first Green
Business, the Brentwood Car Wash. Sunset Magazine ran a story on one of Alameda County's
Green Businesses that is a landscaper. The National Association of Counties, in their County
News, did a feature article on the Green Business Program. And the East Bay Business Times
ran a full article on Mechanics Bank being certified.
We participated in eight events this year—twice as many as last year: the San Ramon
Economic Conference, the East County Economic Summit, the Concord/Pleasant Hill/Hispanic
Chambers Trade Show, West County Earth Day, the EI Sobrante Stroll, John Muir House Earth
Day, the Green Festival and the County Wellness Fair.
4
The regional program participated in the fourth annual Green Festival in San Francisco, along
with 300 businesses and 20,000 people! Its purpose was to help promote and build
sustainability by offering companies operating in a "green" way a place to highlight their efforts.
Directories listing Green Businesses throughout the Bay Area were distributed at this event, and
most significantly we have certified or are certifying six businesses which had attended this
workshop.
Program Goal 3: To effectively train and educate all Green Business
Program Partners.
In this last year the partnership thought it most important to expand their knowledge of all of the
environmental programs in the county in order to better assist businesses. Towards this end we
have dedicated a significant amount of time at our quarterly meetings to presentations on what
the partners are particularly focusing on, and exploring in depth any issues that they may be
having. The presentations were in the areas of energy conservation, mercury reduction, and a
major cross training in auto repair.
Program. Goal 4: To create sufficient organizational capacity to successfully
operate the program.
A strength of the Green Business Program continues to be the partners themselves, and our
ability to work together effectively. These partners contribute in essential ways: funding,
staffing, policy making, program promotion and providing referrals for the program. The
partnership itself includes 24 partners, with an active steering committee with eight members:
representatives from wastewater, fire, solid waste, cities, utilities, Clean Water Program,
Hazardous Materials and Environmental Health.
BUDGETARY REPORT
Contributions to the Green Business Program are made on a fiscal-year basis. Contra Costa
Hazardous Materials continues to provide funding for the program coordinator, with the partners
contributing an additional $32,600 in FY04/05. This contribution funds a half-time contract
employee position ($22,000) to work directly with businesses, promoting the program and
verifying the pollution prevention part of the checklist. The remaining $7,500 is dedicated to
program promotion and materials.
5
THREE-YEAR GOALS.FOR THE GREEN BUSINESS PROGRAM
In preparation for the 2005 year, the partnership used a strategic planning process to revise its
previously-set goals. These goals, with their associated outcomes, will provide the program with
both its general direction and guide the setting of specific objectives for 2004.
1. To expand the program by increasing the number of participating businesses and
business sectors, including governmental agencies.
Outcomes: This goal will be satisfactorily met when:
a. All businesses have an opportunity to be considered for Green Business certification.
b. Effective incentives and rewards are identified and implemented to motivate businesses
to become green.
c. Educational materials for new.business sectors have been developed and distributed.
d. Inspectors regularly make referrals to the Green Business Program.
e. The program continues to add new business sectors selected in response to partner
agency goals and environmental considerations.
f. The annual targeted goal is met for the number of businesses certified
g. The certification process runs smoothly, in a timely fashion, and with opportunity for
problems encountered at a business to be resolved.
h. Departments of public organizations have been certified as Green Businesses. (i.e.,
when all appropriate public Partners become "Green Businesses").
i. The program supports the re-certification of Green Businesses by providing ongoing
education on pollution prevention/resource conservation measures through newsletters,
correspondence, and/or telephone calls and site visits.
2. To improve the visibility and marketing of the program and of the participating
businesses.
Outcomes: This goal will be satisfactorily met when:
a. More prominent use and recognition of the GBP logo occurs.
b. Green Businesses market themselves as Green Businesses to the public.
c. We effectively market to non-Green Businesses the benefits of being a Green Business.
d. A public relations campaign (to create demand) is developed and maintained that
includes:
1. Partner newsletters
2. Newspaper articles, press releases
3. Radio/TV ads and video segments on public/cable TV
4. Pamphlets/promotional materials distributed to businesses
5. Web site .
6. Participation at environmental and business fairs/conferences
7. Chamber of Commerce & Business Association promotions
8. Partners promote the program within their own jurisdictions
e. Tools to measure PR effectiveness have been developed and implemented.
6
3. To build a strong program partnership to support the implementation of the Green
Business Program.
Outcomes: This goal will be satisfactorily met when:
a. A sufficient number of partners have joined to successfully implement the program.
b. Partners are provided program updates and program evaluations and/or annual reports.
c. Sufficient training in compliance and/or pollution prevention/resource conservation is
provided.
d. The Green Business Program is seen as a valuable asset to the partners and a means to
achieve their own environmental protection and conservation program goals.
4. To create sufficient organizational capacity to successfully operate the program.
Outcomes: This goal will be satisfactorily met when:
a. An effective organizational structure and process are in place.
b. Appropriate policies and procedures have been developed and implemented.
c. Sufficient funding from GBP partners exists to realize our goals and outcomes.
d. Partner agencies commit sufficient personnel as inspectors and auditors to successfully
certify Green Businesses.
e. Roles are clearly defined for the steering committee, its task forces and subcommittees,
and program staff.
7