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Leon County
Board of County Commissioners Agenda Item#15 November 17, 2020 |
| To: | Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board |
| From: | Vincent S. Long, County Administrator |
| Title: | Status Update on the Capital Area Sustainability Compact Administrator Role |
| Review and Approval: | Vincent S. Long, County Administrator |
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Department/Division Review and Approval: |
Alan Rosenzweig, Deputy County Administrator Maggie Theriot, Director of Office of Resource Stewardship |
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Lead Staff/ Project Team: |
Tessa Schreiner, Recycling and Sustainability Manager |
Statement of Issue:
This item seeks Board approval for the Apalachee Regional Planning Council to serve as the administrator for the Capital Area Sustainability Compact. Sustainable Tallahassee, the current administrator, has notified the County that the non-profit no longer has the capacity to fill this role.
Fiscal Impact:
This item has a fiscal impact. The FY 2021 Budget includes $8,800 for support of the Compact. This item recommends allocating $4,970 for Apalachee Regional Planning Council to serve as the Compact Administrator and $3,830 in one-time support of Sustainable Tallahassee’s strategic planning initiative.
Staff Recommendation:
Option #1: Ratify the recommendation of the Capital Area Sustainability Compact members to approve the Apalachee Regional Planning Council as the Compact Administrator and allocate $4,970 for the role.
Option #2: Direct $3,830 funding to Sustainable Tallahassee in one-time support of their strategic planning initiative.
Report and Discussion
Background:
This item seeks Board approval for the Apalachee Regional Planning Council to serve as the administrator for the Capital Area Sustainability Compact. Serving as the Capital Area Sustainability Compact (“Compact”) Administrator since its establishment, Sustainable Tallahassee has stated they no longer have the capacity to fill the Compact Administrator role. As a result, this agenda item seeks Board approval to proceed with a replacement administrator to ensure continuity and momentum of the Compact. Compact members have considered various options and identified the Apalachee Regional Planning Council (ARPC) as the recommended alternative.
This item provides an update on the Compact, which advances the following FY2017-FY2021 Strategic Initiative:
This particular Strategic Initiative aligns with the Board’s Environment Strategic Priorities:
In fall of 2017, staff approached leadership of Sustainable Tallahassee on a collaborative idea to further drive sustainability in the community. The idea evolved into the Capital Area Sustainability Compact, with the hope that the largest local organizations in the community would join and work together to tackle sustainability challenges and identify shared opportunities. In summer of 2019, eight founding organizations officially signed onto the Compact: Leon County Schools, Florida State University, Capital Regional Medical Center, Florida A&M University, the City of Tallahassee, Tallahassee Community College, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, and Leon County Government. By signing on, the organizations have committed to work together to develop a joint strategy to minimize the community footprint, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and drive sustainable action in the Capital Area. In addition, each member organization has committed to creating a sustainability action plan for its organization within two years of signing the Compact.
Through the creation of the Compact, Leon County worked alongside Sustainable Tallahassee in forming the collaborative. As the needs and structure of the Compact began to take shape, it was clear the Compact needed an Administrator to support the Compact through various administrative duties that include: set meeting times and agendas, help facilitate meetings, identify areas of collaboration and interest among Compact members, keep records and meeting notes, and other administrative tasks. As the organization that helped bring the Compact together, it was a natural fit that Sustainable Tallahassee become the Compact’s first Compact Administrator. Leon County offered to financially support this role in the first years of the Compact, so that cost was not a barrier for any member organizations in the initial stages of the collaborative effort. Beginning in FY 2019, Leon County has made the administration of the Compact the focus of the annual agreement with Sustainable Tallahassee, contributing $8,800 to Sustainable Tallahassee annually. Leon County has been the sole contributing funder of the Compact Administrator role up to now, although other Compact members have said they will be able to contribute to the role during the current fiscal year.
Since founding members officially signed on in 2019, the Compact has created a charter, convened dozens of Steering Committee and Working Group meetings, and continues to identify opportunities for collaboration. Although in-person meetings were put on hold in March due to COVID-19, the various Compact groups have continued to meet virtually. The Compact Administrator serves a vital role in helping keep the Compact momentum going, keeping members engaged, and finding synergies and opportunities between Compact members.
In October 2020, Sustainable Tallahassee sent a letter (Attachment #1) to the County notifying that due to a shift in staffing and organizational structure, Sustainable Tallahassee no longer has the capacity to serve as the Compact Administrator at this time. The purpose of the Compact Administrator role is to carry out various facilitation and administrative functions for the Capital Area Sustainability Compact. Through the Compact Charter, the Compact Steering Committee outlined several responsibilities of the Compact Administrator that include:
This item seeks Board approval to reallocate funds to the Apalachee Regional Planning Council to conduct the Compact Administrator role.
Analysis:
This section provides further information on the Sustainable Tallahassee’s organizational shift, Compact Administrator role, and the Apalachee Regional Planning Council.
Sustainable Tallahassee
Sustainable Tallahassee has played a critical role in the development of the Compact. Since the Compact’s official foundation, Sustainable Tallahassee has served as the Compact Administrator, supporting the Compact through various facilitation and administrative functions. Due to a shift in organizational structure and leadership, Sustainable Tallahassee has indicated that it no longer has the capacity to serve in this role.
In May 2020, Sustainable Tallahassee’s full-time Executive Director resigned from the position. The Sustainable Tallahassee Board made the decision not to rehire due to the uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn, although the Board President is currently fulfilling the role on a volunteer, unpaid basis. Sustainable Tallahassee dedicated a significant portion of the Executive Director’s time to serving as the Compact Administrator, and since May, Sustainable Tallahassee has been fulfilling this role through the volunteer efforts of the President.
In October 2020, staff received official notice (Attachment #1) from Sustainable Tallahassee informing the County that it no longer has the capacity to serve as the Compact Administrator. Given the time commitments, administrative duties, and needs of the Compact Administrator role, Sustainable Tallahassee does not have the long-term staffing abilities to continue providing the level of service requested by the Compact Steering Committee under the current structure. In the time that Sustainable Tallahassee has served as the Compact Administrator, the Compact has received public input and has provided opportunities for public involvement through the standing Sustainable Tallahassee committees.
Sustainable Tallahassee has asked that the County allocate the existing FY21 annual funding agreement towards supporting the organization, as it implements its new strategic action plan and activities. This new action plan is guided by an updated organizational vision and mission statement, and Sustainable Tallahassee plans to carry it out through the work of its volunteers and Board members. The adopted County budget includes $8,800 originally anticipated for Sustainable Tallahassee to serve as Compact Administrator. The County’s Office of Sustainability also is a member of Sustainable Tallahassee and pays $1,000 annually in dues. Prior to the launch of the Compact, the County did provide the $8,800 in funding to Sustainable Tallahassee. The City of Tallahassee also previously provided similar funding, but the City stopped this funding three years ago with the launch of the City’s Sustainability Office. With the work of the Compact membership and the County’s full-time dedicated professional sustainability staff, the necessity for a volunteer organization to augment the County’s programming efforts has diminished. However, while this item does recommend providing $4,970 to ARPC to serve in the Compact Administrator role for the balance of FY2021, this would leave a balance of $3,830. This item does recommend allocating the remaining budget, $3,830, as one-time funding for Sustainable Tallahassee during their transition and assisting them through their new strategic planning process. If Sustainable Tallahassee requests additional funding next fiscal year, this would be addressed as part of the annual budget process. However, at this time it is unlikely that funding would be recommended given efforts already being undertaken by the County’s Office of Sustainability and the focused efforts of the Compact membership.
Was joint with City and County, would be community wide focus; the City doesn’t provide any funding. 3 solo years
Staff will continue to work with Sustainable Tallahassee to identify opportunities to support the organization’s efforts as it works through implementing its action plan. Sustainable Tallahassee played an instrumental role in creating the Compact, and staff remains supportive of its organizational involvement and sustainability work in the community.
Compact Administrator Role
As Sustainable Tallahassee no longer has the capacity to serve in the Compact Administrator role, the Compact Steering Committee examined alternative administrative structures or organizations that could fulfill the Administrator duties. Sustainable Tallahassee has estimated that fulfilling the Compact Administrator role requires between 5-10 staff hours a week. Structures included self-governing and organizing; having one of the Compact members serve in the role; as well as the continued approach of engaging a third-party non-member to facilitate. Nearly all other compacts and collaboratives around the state and country use a third party in an administrative role to support the groups’ efforts. Although not common for other compacts, self-governance was discussed. However, the Steering Committee members felt that sharing the administrative burden among members would greatly diminish the likelihood that sustained progress continues. Steering Committee members voiced that the additional time commitment of self-governance could be an added charge and time commitment barrier for some staff, and additional tasks could result in reduced participation in the Compact overall. The governance option for one of the members, such as the County, to take over the Compact Administrator duties was also explored. While using the ARPC is the Compact members recommendation, the County’s Office of Sustainability could serve in this role if necessary.
Having an outside organization serve as the Administrator provides important benefits including creating an atmosphere for neutral facilitation, bringing fresh and outside perspectives to the table, the ability to ask difficult questions and confront assumptions, and can help ensure that all members contribute and receive benefit equitably. The Compact Administrator relieves the administrative burden from the Compact members so that meetings can be focused on the collaborative sustainability work. With agreement that a third-party structure offers the greatest benefit to the Compact, the Steering Committee examined numerous organizations that could potentially provide such services.
Apalachee Regional Planning Council
After thorough research and analysis of local organizations, the ARPC is being recommended by the Compact Steering Committee to serve as the Compact Administrator. ARPC is an organization with a collaborative mission, a robust team, and an ever-growing interest in the resilience and sustainability space. In addition, ARPC has access to various networks and potential grant funding that could be beneficial to the Compact as the collaborative evolves and grows. Furthermore, the East-Central, Northeast, and Tampa Bay Collaboratives, which are similar in many ways to the Capital Area Sustainability Compact yet focus more on resilience, are all housed in their region’s Regional Planning Council (RPC). ARPC is naturally networked with these RPCs and could learn from their efforts in this type of role. ARPC has indicated that it is interested in and has the capacity to fulfill this role and has quoted the Compact a rate of $8,000 annually ($800 less than the former services of Sustainable Tallahassee) to fulfill the Compact Administrator roles and responsibilities. Given that FY21 has already begun, ARPC has provided a pro-rated quote of $6,970 for the remainder of FY21.
Fiscal Considerations
As mentioned in the Background section, since FY 2019, the County has been the sole funder of the Compact Administrator role at $8,800 annually. However, this fiscal year, the City of Tallahassee and Florida State University have indicated that they will be able to financially contribute at $1,000 each. It is anticipated that next year even more Compact members will be able to contribute, with the hope over time that all members will support the role equally. Support of the City and FSU reduces the County’s annual financial contributions to $4,970 in FY21. The County’s FY21 budget was enacted prior to notice that Sustainable Tallahassee would not continue as the Compact Administrator, or the ability of funding contributions by the City and FSU, therefore the full $8,800 is currently available as budgeted in the Office of Sustainability’s operating budget. Should the Board approve the ARPC to receive $4,970 to administer the Compact, up to $3,830 would remain unallocated. This item recommends providing this funding to Sustainable Tallahassee in one-time support of its strategic planning as noted in the October letter.
The Compact Steering Committee voted to move forward with ARPC as the Compact Administrator, with the understanding that Leon County Government, as the majority financial contributor, would need to grant final approval to transfer the funds previously allocated to Sustainable Tallahassee to ARPC. Should the Board ratify the Compact’s recommendation, the ARPC has indicated the ability to begin serving as the Compact Administrator immediately.
Conclusion
Sustainable Tallahassee played a crucial part in creating the Compact, and has served as the Compact’s first Administrator, helping support the Compact and its members in the first stages of its development. Due to changes in the organization’s leadership structure, Sustainable Tallahassee no longer has the capacity to serve in the Compact Administrator role. After thorough discussion and research, the Compact Steering Committee voted to recommend moving forward with the ARPC as the next Compact Administrator. Although the County has been the sole funder of this role since inception, this year more Compact member organizations are able to contribute financially, with anticipation of financial contribution by all members in the future.
It is anticipated by the Compact Steering Committee that ARPC will help the Compact continue to evolve and grow and will bring new ideas and opportunities to the collaborative. In the coming year, the Compact plans to work on several important initiatives that include compiling information on what each Compact member is doing through a sustainability inventory, working together to support Compact members in creating a sustainability plan that do not currently have one, and taking a deeper dive into how a joint strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions may take shape. Moving forward, the Compact will continue to seek public input from various avenues, including Sustainable Tallahassee. Should the Board approve staff’s recommendation to shift existing funding to the ARPC for the Compact Administrator role, ARPC would also be tasked with fielding public input and communicating to the Compact members. Public input is critical to the mission of the Compact, and staff will work with ARPC to ensure that opportunities for public input continue to expand. Having the support of ARPC as the Compact Administrator will be key in achieving these efforts.
Options:
Recommendation:
Options #1 and #2
Attachment: