Acknowledge Community Stewardship Recognition Program

As the Commission will recall, over the last few years, formalizing the process of encouraging more volunteerism, and acknowledging those that do contribute has been discussed.  The Environmental Policy Board had this same goal as part of the their 2014 work-plan, and in April, approved the attached program.  The Commission will note that this program is similar to the Lawful Gambling Fund Improvement Program, developed and in use for more than a decade.  Staff feels that these two programs will work well independently, or together.  The following is additional background and details:

The Environmental Policy Board (EPB) has developed a Community Stewardship recognition program designed to recognize and (hopefully) encourage citizen, civic, and business activities that result in a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable community.  Eligible projects shall have a focus on improving outdoor enjoyment, sustainability and/or conservation of natural resources and can be implemented on public land (with prior City approval) or private land (must demonstrate how the public would benefit from the project).

Projects can be nominated for recognition at any time throughout a year with recognition, if/when warranted, occurring throughout the year as well.  This allows the City to respond and acknowledge efforts and contributions The nomination process is intended to be quick yet informative and includes three (3) components: qualifying criteria, project narrative (meant to be a simple, brief summary), and responses to certain project considerations.  This information will be used first determine if a project warrants recognition and secondly to determine whether that recognition should be from an advisory board/commission (EPB or Park and Recreation Commission) or from City Council.

Recognition may include a letter of recognition from the Mayor and/or Chairperson of the applicable advisory board/commission, presentation of a plaque or certificate by City Council or the applicable advisory board/commission, and/or highlights of the project and notice of award in an upcoming issue of the Ramsey Resident newsletter and the City's website. 

As mentioned above, the EPB has approved this recognition program but wanted to forward it to the Park and Recreation Commission also as they would likely be involved with project recognition at some point as well.  The program is expected to go forward for City Council acknowledgement (as part of the consent agenda) on May 13th, 2014.
 

Expenses associated with this recognition program would be minimal. The hard costs include the plaques (approximately $7.50 apiece), certificate paper (25-count for approximately $6.00), and folders (6-pack for approximately $3.50). Thus, the total hard costs for stewardship recognition with a plaque would be approximately $8.00 and with a certificate would be approximately $1.00. Costs for these materials may come from the Environmental Services budget.

Staff recommends approval of the EPB's new stewardship program.

Motion to acknowledge and approve of the Environmental Policy Board's Community Stewardship Recognition Program.