Sonoma County Waste Management Agency: Board Member representing Santa Rosa, since 2002, elected Chair of this board in January 2007.
Founding member of Build It Green Public Agency Council (BIG PAC) for Northern California; since 2003, elected Chair in 2006.
I have been professionally involved with cultural change as it relates to environmental issues for over 30 years. Essentially, much of my work has been with the control and management of community waste streams. During the course of my career, I have designed and administered a range of environmentally-oriented programs many of which involved unique, grass-roots design. I have managed the state, federal, and local contracts and grants associated with these programs. Several of these programs involved management of subcontractors. The Air Quality Management Program in Boise, Idaho involved over 150 private sub-contractors.
In addition to my work with water supply, water quality, and air quality, I am also very involved with municipal solid waste management, climate protection, renewable energy, and municipal biosolids beneficial re-use. I have coordinated the voluntary Santa Rosa Build It Green Program since it’s inception in 2003. Santa Rosa City Council made this program mandatory in 2007. I am the Chairman of the Build It Green Public Agency Council for Northern California.
My professional goals are to develop and implement community programs which achieve the environmental goals, promote beneficial reuse, develop renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and biodiesel, and maintain economic vitality. My current projects include adding more active solar generation to the City of Santa Rosa’s renewable energy portfolio and development of a biodiesel feedstock plant using algae grown in municipal wastewater. This Algae-to-Fuel project is currently in Phase II and has already received major grants from the California Energy Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. In addition, it has received several awards including the ICLEI Innovation of the Year Award.
My section manages the EECBG stimulus funding totaling over $1.5 million. In addition, we have been awarded Solar America City status from the Department of Energy and have received over $1 million in grant funds as a result of that designation. We took a regional approach with this award and formed Solar Sonoma County.
