{"id":18388,"date":"2014-07-16T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=18388"},"modified":"2014-07-15T20:50:07","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T01:50:07","slug":"montgomery-county-sheriffs-office-obtains-green-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2014\/07\/16\/montgomery-county-sheriffs-office-obtains-green-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office obtains Green Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Clarksville-MontgomeryMontgomery County, TN<\/strong> – The Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office, through nearly a year\u2019s worth of extensive planning, changing habits and educating its employees, has obtained Clarksville-Montgomery County Green Certification.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started this project last October, and through the Environmental Task Force we created, we\u2019ve met the requirements to gain certification,\u201d said Sheriff John Fuson.<\/p>\n

\"Sheriff<\/a>

Sheriff John Fuson unveils the new fleet vehicle, a 2014 Ford Escape that costs less, has a higher mile per gallon rating and is more environmentally friendly.<\/p><\/div>\n

During a ribbon cutting ceremony today, Fuson explained the process to Montgomery County Mayor Carolyn Bowers and City of Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan.<\/p>\n

The process began with meetings of the Task Force, made up of several key employees from each division.<\/p>\n

From there, the Task Force came up with several initiatives to not only reduce the environmental impact of the Sheriff\u2019s Office, but to also save money.<\/p>\n

For example, the Sheriff\u2019s Office decided to purchase the more economical 2014 Ford Escape for use by civil process deputies who don\u2019t have a need for higher horsepower vehicles. This not only decreased environmental impact, but increased gas mileage and saved money, as the vehicle is cheaper than the vehicles typically used in the MCSO fleet. The vehicle cost $2,800 less than other patrol vehicle, and costs half the price in gas.<\/p>\n

\"Fuson<\/a>

Fuson shows Mayors Carolyn Bowers and Kim McMillan the 2014 Ford Escape.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis was a better choice for us, all around,\u201d Fuson said. \u201cWe\u2019re saving taxpayer dollars and we\u2019re reducing pollution, all at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MCSO also takes part in the military\u2019s DLA Disposition Services program, which allows local law enforcement and emergency agencies to obtain and repurpose equipment no longer used by the military for the agencies\u2019 operations.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cWe\u2019re able to obtain equipment we need without dipping into our budget, and we\u2019re reusing equipment that the military no longer requires and repurposing it to fit our needs,\u201d Fuson said.<\/p>\n

A big part of maintaining green certification is making sure everyone inside the agency changes habits to be more environmentally conscious.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to continue to change our habits to continue this trend \u2013 and these habit changes are something that everyone at home can do,\u201d Fuson said.<\/p>\n

This includes using less paper, by using digital copies of documents rather than printing them out. The MCSO is doing this by providing reports to citizens that request them via e-mail, free of charge.<\/p>\n

\"Mayors<\/a>The Sheriff\u2019s Office is also looking to the future, working with Austin Peay State University\u2019s GIS Center to create a fleet file that accurately tracks vehicle usage, mileage, maintenance and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cTracking our vehicles will greatly improve our ability to manage our fleet and reduce our impact on the environment,\u201d Fuson said.<\/p>\n

Helping bring an agency the size of the MCSO to green status is an arduous and ongoing task, but Fuson said he\u2019s committed to constantly improving.<\/p>\n

\"Bowers<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019re proud to receive our certification, but we\u2019re not done, yet,\u201d Fuson said. \u201cWe\u2019re still looking into and implementing other options for making our agency better for the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the ribbon was cut and a sticker was put on the door of the Public Safety Complex to show the agency\u2019s certification, County Mayor, Carolyn Bowers congratulated everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate you being conscious of the environment,\u201d Bowers said. \u201cKeep it up, and I\u2019m proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuson thanked Bi-County for supporting Clarksville Montgomery County Green Certification program which encourages organizations to conserve resources when possible.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/a>

Members of the MCSO Environmental Task Force to meet to discuss how to reduce environmental impact in the agency.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office is maintaining their certification through the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Increasing traffic stops for criminal violations to include the improper securing of trash loads, criminal littering and investigation of hazardous waste dumping.<\/li>\n
  • Significant reduction in the amount of paper and ink to print tests and manuals.<\/li>\n
  • Using more environmentally friendly and longer-lasting protective vests.<\/li>\n
  • Reusing vehicle parts from older or wrecked vehicles to fix and maintain current fleet.<\/li>\n
  • Retrieving unused medications from the public through the 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force and dispensing of them in an environmentally sound way.<\/li>\n
  • Educating employees on how to be more environmentally conscious at work and at home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Montgomery County, TN – The Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office, through nearly a year\u2019s worth of extensive planning, changing habits and educating its employees, has obtained Clarksville-Montgomery County Green Certification. \u201cWe started this project last October, and through the Environmental Task Force we created, we\u2019ve met the requirements to gain certification,\u201d said Sheriff John Fuson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,2638,262,21527,1749,250,1759,21330,23424,19343,693,20181,160,10067,11513,278],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-4MA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18390,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18388\/revisions\/18390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}