Current Activities

Since our meeting at City Hall in January, Sustainable Tallahassee has been busy laying the groundwork to be a communitywide catalyst for information and resources on sustainability in Tallahassee. We remain totally focused on our objective: making Tallahassee a capital for green business, technology and living.
A summary of our activities to date follows:

I. BOARD MEMBERS:

Twenty local citizens, including several Sustainable Tallahassee incorporators, compose the Board of Directors. They are:

Kristin Dozier, President. Kristin is vice president and green building adviser for Mad Dog Design & Construction.

Bill Berlow, Vice President. Bill is an associate editor at the Tallahassee Democrat and an original catalyst for the Knight Creative Communities Initiative project called Greenovation.

Kathy Bartlett, Treasurer. Kathy is an investment adviser for SunTrust and also was an original Greenovation catalyst.

Jackie Hightower, Secretary. Jackie is a coordinator for Student Support Services and adviser to the Environmental Sciences Student Organization (ESSO) in the Environmental Sciences Institute (ESI) at Florida A&M University and a member of FAMU's Green Coalition.

Mark O'Bryant. Mark is president and CEO of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare and a Greenovation catalyst.

Stephen Hogge. Stephen is an attorney for the Legislature and, in another volunteer capacity, is president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations. He helped draft our articles of incorporation and bylaws.

Frank Ryll. Frank is the recently retired executive director of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Michael Whitney. Mike is a CPA with Carr Riggs & Ingram, LLC who moved to Tallahassee last year from upstate New York.

Robin Safley. Robin is a consultant, talk-show host and former chief of staff for then-Education Commissioner Charlie Crist.

Rachelle McClure. Rachelle works for the City of Tallahassee Energy Services department and is a Masters student in Florida State University’s Department of Interior Design.

Tom Bajorski. Tom is a retired state government employee.

Steve Urse. Steve is the retired executive director of a statewide Prosecuting Attorneys Association and a member of the Big Bend Climate Action Team.

David Byrne. David is Energy Services Director for the City of Tallahassee and a Greenovation catalyst.

Mark Worley. Mark is a state certified general contractor specializing in design/build, construction education and consulting. Past president of the Tallahassee Builders Association and currently on the executive board as Secretary.

Nancy Paul. Nancy is general manager of Marpan Recycling and former superintendent of the Leon County landfill. She is also chairing a planning committee for a recyclable art contest.

Merry Ortega. Merry is director of secondary schools for Leon County Schools and is overseeing the district's recycling initiative that Greenovation successfully advocated.

Ben Tunnell. Ben works for Shaw Contract Group as a commercial and government specialist.

Michelle Williams. Michelle is an adjunct professor at Tallahassee Community College and an adjunct instructor in the College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture at Florida A&M University.

Jake Kiker. Jake is an attorney with Williams, Gautier, Gwynn, DeLoach & Sorenson, P.A. and an adjunct professor; Florida State University

Larry Peterson. Larry is special adviser for energy and sustainable planning to Kitson & Partners’ Babcock Ranch Community and is retired professor of architecture and former associate dean at Florida A&M University.

BOARD ACTIONS

We adopted articles of incorporation and are in the process of adopting bylaws. We also are in the process of filing the paperwork required for becoming a nonprofit organization.

We established several initial committees: Website, finance and marketing/special events. Each has met at least once.

We have select committees working on our bylaws and membership structure and will be creating additional committees in the near future including membership, fundraising and grant writing.

A Strategic Planning Workshop has been scheduled for our board members for the purpose of setting clear objectives, forming new committees, etc. More information will follow.

III. LAUNCH PARTY

We will hold a party to celebrate the launch of Sustainable Tallahassee on May 22nd. More details to come.

IV. WEB SITE

We have been working with several volunteers for the last few months to gather content for our website. The Website is sponsored by Marpan Recycling and has been designed by Steve Smith at Peter Mitchell Associates.

V. LEON COUNTY CLIMATE ACTION SUMMIT

Held March 28 at the Civic Center, the successful summit attracted about 400 participants. Four ST board members, Kristin Dozier, Mark O'Bryant, Stephen Hogge and Steve Urse were on the county's planning committee, and Kristin moderated two sessions during the daylong event. In addition, board members Stephen Hogge, Larry Peterson and David Byrne were among the presenters.

VI. BROGAN EXHIBIT

The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science opened their Your Energy Generation exhibit on March 29. Please visit their Website for more information, yourenergygeneration.com.
The Brogan generously offered ST a space within the exhibit and volunteers have worked for the past few months to partner with local companies who have donated sustainable products for the home and office which are now on display. This exhibit will be installed for a year and we will add to and update our exhibit during that time.

VII. EARTH DAY EXHIBITS

On Earth Day, April 22, we are planning three exhibits: at the Capitol Courtyard, in partnership with the Leon County Schools "Green Team"; at the Satellite Office Complex; and at the Civic Center in the evening, in partnership with Marpan Recycling.

VIII. GRANT APPLICATIONS

We are preparing our application for a Knight Foundation grant that will allow us to hire an executive director, whose job will include identifying and applying for other grants, coordinating volunteer activities, and supporting the Board of Directors.

IX. PARTNERSHIPS

We established partnerships and working relationships with many businesses and organizations during our year as Greenovation and we are continuing to develop these partnerships and create new ones as Sustainable Tallahassee. For example, Marpan Recycling has offered to sponsor the development of our Website. We have an ongoing partnership with Leon County Schools, the City of Tallahassee and Leon County with regards to iRecycle, the school district's expanded recycling program. We also are partnering with the Chamber of Commerce and the city in a soon-to-launched downtown recycling program, and several other collaborations/partnerships are in various stages of development.

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