The Palm Beach County & Cities Sustainability Collaborative started when the EECBG formula funding was announced and applications outlining each municipality’s strategies and activities were requested. All of the cities within Palm Beach County that received funding got together to discuss how to best proceed with the applications. The Sustainability Collaborative shared their story on December 10, 2010 at the Florida State University Center for Sustainable Energy Governance symposium entitled, “Energy Efficiency and Sustainability: Barriers and Best Practices for Local Governments”. The workshop featured panel discussions with Florida EECBG state and local government grantees, as well as representatives from U.S. DOE and TAP.

The Symposium was attended by around 50 local government administrators, many of whom have responsibilities for local energy or sustainability programs in Florida cities and counties. The panel discussions brought up challenges and solutions facing local government practitioners as they implement energy efficiency policies and programs in their jurisdictions. Throughout the meeting, city and county practitioners highlighted the value of learning from other local governments through peer exchange and collaboration.

During one of the panel sessions, a grantee from South Florida brought up an interesting example of how local governments can work together to establish networks where clean energy information and best practices can be easily transmitted among regional peers. In Palm Beach County, Florida, a group of local governments has organized a peer exchange group that meets on a regular basis to discuss their EECBG projects and share information. Since then, the group of Sustainability Officers and Grant Managers continue to meet on an informal basis either when an issue comes up or if when a member contacts Palm Beach County to bring the group together. The meeting space has been provided by Palm Beach County facility, but the plan is to rotate the meetings so that participating local governments can see firsthand how all of the municipalities are implementing their clean energy and green initiatives. 

The group is also working with Florida State University’s Network of Energy Sustainable Communities (NESC), a group that engages with municipalities to share innovations and best practices and coordinates bulk purchasing of sustainable energy or energy efficient products. At a recent NESC workshop that was hosted by the Palm Beach County group, Richard Reade with the city of Delray Beach recalled a missed opportunity for discounted bulk purchasing: “the group of cities and counties started talking about some of our successes and how we utilized our EECBG funding. It came up that 4 cities all purchased the same Musco lighting system. Had we all known, we could have bid this out together and really got more of a bang for our buck. I can tell you that was an opportunity to save money that we do not want to miss again.”

Moving forward, the Palm Beach County & Cities Sustainability Collaborative is considering bringing together city and county staff from neighboring Broward County, and recruiting involvement with smaller municipalities in the region. The list of participating municipalities is growing and includes:
• Palm Beach County
• City of West Palm Beach
• City of Boynton Beach
• City of Delray Beach
• City of Lake Worth
• Town of Jupiter
• City of Boca Raton
• Village of Wellington
• The School District of Palm Beach County
• Two consultants that worked on grants and other project for the County & cities – one is an attorney and the other an engineer
• Palm Beach County will also be inviting the five municipalities they awarded DOE funds to through their EECBG Competitive Grant program (all had not received EECBG formula grants).
• Several representatives of the Southeast Florida Chapter of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP). Various procurement agency members also comprise the Southeast Florida Governmental Purchasing Co-operative Group. 
 
Have questions for Palm Beach County & Cities Sustainability Collaborative on how to start a similar effort in your state, or have similar activities you would like to share? Please comment below.

For a look at the presentations and the full agenda of the “Energy Efficiency and Sustainability: Barriers and Best Practices for Local Governments from this Symposium”, click on this link: http://www.ieses.fsu.edu/Network-of-Energy-Sustainable-Communities-NESC/Speakers-and-Presentations

Content for this blog post courtesy of Mitch Brown, Southeast 2 Regional Coordinator, ICF International.