Florida Green Building Coalition Presents Manatee with Green Government Certification

MANATEE COUNTY – Manatee County Government received its Green Local Government Certification through the Florida Green Building Coalition.

Dr. Jennifer Languell, past president of the Florida Green Building Coalition, executive director of the Coalition, presented the certification to Manatee County Commissioners this afternoon.

“It’s an incredible challenge to parent sustainability and that’s what you’ve done in Manatee County,” Languell said. “Nothing of this magnitude is going to move forward without some enthusiasm and leadership behind it. This was more than just doing your jobs; it was about doing your jobs well and thinking of the greater community by finding these efficiencies.”

Brenda Rogers, Manatee County Community Services Director and leader of the County’s Green Team, was on hand to accept the certification along with several representatives of the team. Manatee has obtained the silver level and will be striving toward gold over the next year.

“The Green Team is to be commended on their efforts and leadership,” Rogers said. “Next year we’ll be going for the gold.”

For more than a year Manatee County staff and the Green Team worked toward the certification, concentrating on conservation, recycling and reducing carbon emissions.

The most high profile of these initiatives has been a retrofit of energy efficiency systems and lighting systems at the county’s four largest facilities resulting in an annual taxpayer savings of $479,309 or 24 percent savings in the County’s electrical costs at those buildings.

Other green initiatives include:

• Improving trash service and adding recycling bins throughout the Manatee County Administrative Center. Most individual trash cans have been eliminated in favor of communal trash cans;

• Installing centralized printers and energy efficient appliances;

• Recycling buildings such as the Valentine House and the Parrish Schoolhouse;

• Ridding Manatee County’s publicly owned natural preserves of invasive vegetation.

For more information on the Florida Green Building Coalition, visit floridagreenbuilding.org.

For an extensive report on Manatee County’s green initiatives, view Green Steps to Sustainability.