The city council approved a single-stream recycling proposal and
selected a company to perform a technical energy audit as Englewood
moved ahead on its “go green” efforts.
During the May 4 study session, the council gave the OK to move
ahead with plans for setting up a single-stream recycling program
for items including newspapers and plastics in all city
buildings.
Audra Kirk, a city planner, said all departments already had
volunteers who were collecting items for recycling and either
putting them in public drop-off locations or taking them home for
pickup there.
This program will set up recycle bins in all city buildings and
there will be arrangements with Waste Management Corp. to regularly
empty the bins.
The $7,000 cost for the remainder of 2009 is offset by a $5,000
Keep American Beautiful grant through Waste Management. Kirk
reported the city will be eligible for the same grant next year,
reducing the annual cost from about $9,500 to about $4,500.
In the same study session, the council listened to the proposal
to select Ameresco to perform the technical energy audit for the
city.
The audit will evaluate the energy efficiency of all city
buildings and facilities with recommendations to reduce energy use.
Once the audit is completed, the city will work with the company to
decide if it is feasible to move forward with the energy-saving
recommendations. The audit will cost about $35,000 and that cost
will be rolled into the costs for services if the city decides to
establish a energy performance contract to have the company proceed
with the energy-saving recommendations.
The good news is the whole process isn’t supposed to cost the
city anything. That’s because money from the expected reduction in
energy costs of about 15 percent cost is predicted to pay for the
audit and energy performance contract.
Englewood is among a growing number of cities signing up with
the Governor’s Energy Office for the program to reduce energy
use.
The city is using the contract suggested by the state energy
office and the council passed a resolution in the May 2 meeting,
endorsing the selection of Ameresco to do the energy audit and
project proposal.
