Advocacy Blog
Committee Chairs:
Brian Quackenbush (Chair) EMH&T bquackenbush@emht.com
Chris Schleicher (Co-chair) NBBJ cschleicher@nbbj.com
Monthly Meetings:
First Friday of the Month 12:30-1:30 at Cup-O Joe (670 Cap) 600 North High Street Columbus, OH
General goal of Advocacy Committee:
Supporting state and local government, identifying resources to advance development and funding for green building, and helping bridge information gaps between interested parties.
MEETING MINUTES
Advocacy Committee Minutes 040210
Attendance: John Mrofchak, Brian Quackenbush, Chris Schleicher, David Scott, Jerry Smith
Chapter Assessment
Group discussed the recently submitted chapter assessment, and the committee should be using this document as a guide to direct our efforts over the next year.
IECC Letter Review Discussion
After some follow-up discussions from the emails earlier in the week, the group agreed to endorse the co-signing of the IECC support letter by our chapter.
Tracking of pending local & state legislation
David shared a spreadsheet he has started to develop to track pending local and state legislation, and he will continue to populate and circulate at the next meeting
Suggested website content for our committee
Who are we? Committee names and contact information
What are we doing? List of current initiatives including legislation tracking, compilation of contact names, etc
How can you help? Volunteer opportunities
Chris shared a list of roles and responsibilities for an advocacy chapter in Texas
that we want to utilize as a framework for who we are and what we are doing.
Contact information for state representatives and senators
Case studies of local buildings (include USGBC business case and actual cost savings such as the return on investment being realized by Rick Orr at C-Tec)
Information on incentives and grants including a link to the nationwide database list on the USGBC national website that Brian shared with the group
Elevator speech input from our committee
Group started to discuss ideas for the chapter elevator speech and decided it would be best to fall back to the chapter mission
Impacting Building Codes
Group discussed how our committee can be most impactful to building codes. It will be tough for us to impact the International Building Code, but we may be able to have input on the “Ohiosized” version. John knows the person who compiles this document and he will contact him to see how we can provide input.
Another opportunity is to approach municipalities such as Dublin who have their own code add-ons.
The best immediate opportunity for cities and towns to encourage green building is going to be incentives they can provide builders.
Compilation of Contacts in our Region
Group brainstormed on several other professional organizations that can be added to our list and Brian is to update and contact Phil to help with the compilation of Franklin County City contact information.
SMPS Collaboration possibilities
Group agreed that the synergies with SMPS will help our committee spread more easily into the community and Tyler Steele to attend our May committee meeting with his contact from SMPS, Mike Totsch
Public Policy Committee Minutes 030510
Attendance: Lesley Avery, Chris Schleicher, Phil Yensel
Old business: Update on Chapter activities, review of chapter status.
Chris shared info from the chapter meeting
- New board members
- Chapter now has over 100 members
- Projected budget from dues and donations
New Business: Preparation for Steering Committee meeting on 3/18.
Collected questions to ask the board
- What is the difference between an advocate and a lobbyist?
- What groups should we contact for collaboration?
- Should we or the communication committee develop the “elevator speech”?
- Is there a letterhead available?
- How can we develop more defined committee roles?
Discussion on groups/ organizations to engage
- Mayor’s Green team, AIA, BX, BAR association, BOMA, IIDA, MORPC, ASLA, EPA
- Chris shared the AIA’s COTE contact in his office
- Lesley shared a potential contact at MORPC
- A suggestion that this information be shared among the committees but not made publicly available led to the idea of a public and a private side to the COGBC website.
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Public Policy Committee Minutes 020510
Attendance: Brian Quackenbush, Chris Schleicher, Phillip Yensel, David Scott
Old Business: Discussion held regarding efforts to reach out to public policy committees of other, more established, chapters to identify strategies and tactics for advancing Public Policy Committee goals. Brian Quackenbush volunteered to attempt to identify several other chapters to whom we could reach out.
Discussion held regarding ongoing efforts to identify relevant persons within various governmental departments and/or counties and/or municipalities to serve as points of contact for advancing Public Policy Committee goals. General agreement that this is a worthwhile exercise and, subject to feedback from the Columbus Chapter leadership group, the Committee will identify volunteers and/or resources to be allocated in furtherance of this effort.
New Business: Discussion held regarding upcoming Chapter board elections. The Public Policy Committee looks to the Chapter leadership to identify goals for the Committee to attempt to accomplish.
General agreement between Committee members that better communication and increased transparency between the leadership and the committees, as well as the membership at large, could be beneficial.
*On this subject, discussion also held regarding potential Public Policy Committee goals, including the following:
-identifying and/or tracking legislation relevant to green building; and
-creating a compilation/database of relevant individuals in the government and/or private sector who could benefit from increased education about matters pertaining to green building.
Regarding the Chapter in general, the Public Policy Committee respectfully submits to the Chapter leadership that several goals and/or ideas may be worthwhile, including the following:
*continuing education,
*website design,
*programming (for example, identifying speakers and/or topics of interest),
*identifying and defining the committees more clearly,
*creating a catalog of local green buildings and/or projects under development,
*establishing a regular schedule of chapter-wide meetings,
*creating a newsletter (perhaps monthly) that will provide a brief capsule summary of each committee’s activities and/or ongoing work,
*establishing a consistent “message” with respect to why the Chapter exists and/or the function of each committee (in other words, creating an “elevator speech” and/or “talking points” that chapter members can use when discussing green building initiatives relevant to the chapter, and the other matters referenced above).
With respect to the upcoming board elections, the Public Policy Committee respectfully suggests that the chapter leadership offer the membership additional information about each nominee in advance of the February 24 meeting. Perhaps sending around each nominee’s self-nomination would be useful for the membership at large.
MEETING ADJOURNED. Next meeting is Wednesday, February 24, 2010.
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Minutes 120409
Attendance: Phillip Yensel, Chris Schleicher, John Mrofchak, Franklin Brown, David Scott
Old Business
Franklin discussed updates regarding the search committee tasked with identifying potential board members to establish chapter leadership.
Committee looks forward to Lesley putting together the informational letter to send upon achieving chapter status so letter can be circulated. Goal of sending the letter to mailing list contacts by January will be extended.
New Business
Discussion held regarding democratic selection of Public Policy Committee leadership. Unanimous agreement that the leadership structure will be election of one chairperson to be elected to a one year term, and one co-chair who will serve one year as the co-chair and then rotate to the chairperson, whereupon a new co-chair will be elected. Persons interested in either the chair or co-chair position should submit self nominations immediately.
Discussion held regarding strategies for identifying and implementing Public Policy Committee goals. David Scott discussed a “strategic plan diagram” for general structure and organizational theory (copy attached), to be used as a reference guide. Particular initiatives that the group is interested in pursuing include the following:
1. Continue working on compiling information regarding, what, if any, green building initiatives currently exist in the counties comprising our chapter area, and identifying particular persons within each county who are relevant to green building initiatives.
2. Help identify and/or broadcast LEED® certified buildings in our chapter area; Franklin reports that he already has a map that identifies all LEED® certified buildings in our area, so Franklin will circulate that. Then we can decide how/if we can broadcast that information.
3. Provide information and/or education about existing and/or potential legislation relevant to green building. For example, House Bill 7 currently under consideration could mandate green building standards for new public construction. The Public Policy Committee could help educate the membership about legislation.
NEXT MEETING WAS ON THE CALENDAR FOR JANUARY 1, BUT THE MEETING HAS BEEN MOVED TO JANUARY 8, 2010, AT 12:30 P.M., CUP O’ JOE ON THE 670 CAP.
MEETING ADJOURNED
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Minutes - [11/6/09]
Status updates:
-Anticipate achieving both chapter status and 501(c)(3) status within the next few months.
-Election of new officers set for this coming January. Committee currently in place to take nominations for the board.
Mailing List:
-Start the process of assembling the county information in to a larger mailing/contact list
-Dave Scott to verify information he has received regarding the previously assigned counties
-Discussed need to come up with a central location or contact for mailing/contact list as well as letters and information (discussed below)
Letter:
-Draft an informational letter to send upon achieving chapter status
-Lesley to put together a draft of the letter to circulate
-Goal of sending the letter to the mailing list contacts in January (pending chapter status)
Information:
-Franklin indicated he would provide information pertaining to the current Ohio USGBC membership list, a list of schools (approximately 170) registered for certification, and information pertaining to registered Ohio projects.
-Need to put together general information suitable for including in the initial letter
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September 4, 2009
Meeting conducted at Cup o' Joe over the 670 cap. Reports given by committee members re their efforts to identify policies/procedures/incentives available in the various counties comprising our Chapter area. Results of committee members' research to be compiled in singular database with goal of learning what pro-green development incentives exist, what works, and what doesn't work, so worthwhile incentives can be replicated and expanded.
Recommendations made at meeting to (i) identify municipal-level incentives in Chapter area (not just on county level), as well as municipalities outside Chapter area in Heartland region, and (ii) include contact information for governmental personnel in various counties/municipalities who are knowledgeable of pro-green development matters. Committee intends to include this information in compilation/database.
Next meeting scheduled for October 2, 2009, at 12:30 p.m. at the Cup o' Joe over the 670 cap.
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June, 2009
Welcome to the Public Policy Committee's page on the Chapter website.
The Public Policy Committee meets at 12:30 p.m. on the first Friday of each month at the Cup of Joe on the 670 cap. Our meetings for the month of May and June have been cancelled. Our next meeting will be July 10th, at the time and location specified above. In August, our meetings will return to the regular schedule.
Currently, the Public Policy Committee is working to compile information from each of the counties and major cities within the Chapter's region on green building legislation that has either been enacted or is pending. Specifically, we're looking for information on what types of green building incentives are being offered within our region so that we can pass that knowledge on to our members.
Meeting minutes will be posted in due time.
If you have any questions or would like more information about this committee, please feel free to contact Lesley Avery at lavery@szd.com.