CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The City of Charleston is joining a handful of other cities across West Virginia by creating its own Green Team, a team of volunteers dedicated to find environmentally-friendly, cost-effective measures to make Charleston greener.
Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin recommended seven citizens and one advisor to comprise at a city council meeting recently. The team will work daily with the city administration.
“The addition of a Green Team will help us find new ways to make our City more sustainable and vibrant,” said Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin. “I’m excited to see the ideas this citizen-led group come up with and working together with them to implement them.”
Members of the Green Team are Emmett Pepper (Ward 9), James Young (Ward 11), Justin Marlowe (Ward 6), Linda Frame (Ward 15), Rod Watkins (Ward 12), Patti Hamilton (Ward 15) and Ted Armbrecht (Ward 14). Pam Nixon will act as an advisor to the group, a release said.
Pepper, Policy Director of Energy Efficient WV, and Chair of the Green Team, told 580-WCHS that the concept is to have an opportunity for experts and interested individuals from the community to participate and give advice, suggestions to the city government.
He said the team will meet every other month and needs to prioritize ideas that address sustainability.
“My recommendation would be we do that in a way that prioritizes the initiatives that will be broadly popular that will save the tax payer money while also addressing important needs,” Pepper said.
In West Virginia, Pepper said Morgantown and Lewisburg have Green Teams. He said the best start to this process will be the city to dig into its own energy methods.
“Just looking at how much electricity and how much energy is being used in city buildings. Then starting to prioritize and find ways to improve energy usage so we are not wasting energy,” he said.