Sustainability Strategy
The City of Banks has a rich history in natural resource and agriculture industries, which has provided an underlying cultural value of sustainability among its citizens. The City seeks to build upon this foundation by introducing a holistic strategy that addresses actions of local government, households, and businesses.
The goal of this plan is to bring together various stakeholders to foster the concept of a sustainable city- one that values economic security, social equity, and environmental quality. With the creation of the Banks Sustainability Strategy (the Strategy), the city has, for the first time, a sustainability related vision and guiding principles to advise decisions.
The Strategy also outlines a shared understanding of sustainability and the concomitant environmental sensitivity to provide a clear comprehension of the concepts for operational purposes.
Next, the Strategy utilizes the performance based model and milestone process to assess seven working sections:
- Energy
- Transportation
- Water conservation
- Sustainable purchasing
- Waste and recycling
- Community outreach
- Greenhouse gas inventory
For each section a goal, target and implementation plan is set or discussed in detail. With the limited resources of a small local government organization, it is critical to prioritize activities based on an effort/impact analysis and to set achievable targets.
The final section of the Strategy discusses this challenge and recommends creating an oversight committee to implement and monitor progress to report annually to the City Council and adapt the strategic goals, targets and implementation plan as needed.