Pleasanton is building its first Sustainability Awards program, and the city's Energy and Environment Commission gets its first say on how it will work at a meeting Wednesday, Nov. 4.
The commission meets at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chamber at 200 Old Bernal Ave. The awards are one of three items on an agenda that also includes an update from Ava Community Energy, the area's public power provider, and the selection of the commission's 2027 chair and vice chair.
What staff is proposing
The awards come out of the city's Climate Action Plan 2.0, which calls for recognizing community efforts and raising climate awareness, with residents able to nominate green work by businesses, development projects and individuals. Launching the program is on the City Council's project priority list for this fiscal year and next, according to the staff report.
Under the plan described in the report, the commission would help design the program, promote it and choose the winners. The City Council would hand out certificates at a meeting during Earth Month, and winners would be featured on city communication channels. Staff's goal is to launch in 2027.
Staff wants the commission's views on five questions:
- Categories: Examples include school or youth resident, resident, business or organization, and construction or green building. Staff suggests three to five broad categories.
- Criteria: Possibly how a nominee's work advances the city's environmental goals and its impact on the environment, kept broad enough to allow a range of winners.
- Second chances: Staff recommends that nominees who do not win remain eligible the next year without a new nomination form.
- Repeat winners: Staff recommends barring a winner from winning again in the same category.
- Number of winners: Up to two per category.
