City and County Administrators Discuss Sustainability with Specialists in Chattanooga

Montgomery County, TN – In the ongoing effort to promote environmental sustainability in Clarksville and Montgomery County, City of Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan and Montgomery County Mayor Carolyn Bowers sent administrators to meet with Chattanooga’s Sustainability Office to learn about their environmental practices.

Employees with the Chattanooga Office of Sustainability spent the day with City Chief of Staff Charlie Koon, Director of Administration Phil Harpel and Clarksville-Montgomery County Green Certification Program Manager Michelle Newell, explaining their climate action plan and how they work with the community to implement changes.

The sustainability team also organized meetings with experts throughout the community in areas such as green infrastructure, planning, the manufacturers association and urban forestry. Chattanooga, once named the dirtiest city in the United States is now a model city for green sustainability in the Southeast.

Chattanooga’s team also had an interest in the involvement of Bi-County Solid Waste Management and the CMC Green Certification Program. The information sharing that took place on the May 18th visit and the ongoing communication since has been valuable to both communities. “We often tend to look at Chattanooga as our competition but our time together allowed us to learn from one another in a way that was beneficial to both communities,” said Koon. “They made us feel right at home. We hope to continue the relationship and would like to expand networking opportunities to bring forth other ideas that will help improve sustainability for our community as well as the communities around us,” stated Harpel.

The City of Clarksville and Montgomery County recently passed recycling resolutions in all municipal buildings and continue to make adjustments in the way that they use energy. The county alone saved more than $200,000 last year in energy costs by changing over to more efficient lighting and adjusting custodial services to daytime hours.

Both the county and city mayors are supportive of wanting our community to move ahead in sustainability efforts for the short and long term benefits of the people who live in Clarksville-Montgomery County and surrounding areas.