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If the spreadsheet classifies your city in a category that does not seem fair or make sense to you, please contact the MPCA's GreenStep Cities program coordinator. May my city claim credit for best practice actions completed years ago? Yes We think most cities will be pretty close to being recognized at Step Two once they log on to the web site and post information about already implemented best practices. The only caveat to claiming credit for previous actions is that, if the action is an ongoing action — for e�mple, qualify as a Tree City USA, or purchase 15% of city energy requirements from renewable energy sources, or limit barriers to higher density by code — the city must currently be qualifying for, funding, staffing or keeping in force those actions. How do the GreenStep best practices fit in with my city's existing programs and plans? The GreenStep program focuses cities on completing and publicly documenting specific actions from a limited menu of 163 actions. We anticipate that cities have or will develop specific programs and plans that facilitate completion of GreenStep actions and other city-chosen actions. Who picked the best practice actions and why? The GreenStep Cities report to the Legislature details the dozens of city representatives and topical experts involved in developing the best practices. This input, in addition to review of 13 state-level sustainability challenge programs across the U.S. (see links to these other programs), has resulted in what the GreenStep Cites steering committee thinks are truly best practices for cities as they strive to meet their sustainability goals. Why are some best practices and a handful of actions required? Nine diverse best practices float to the top as essential to a city becoming more sustainable, and must be implemented by all but the smallest cities in order to be recognized as a GreenStep City. Think of them as college distribution requirements (that ensure a student rounds out his/her education). Implementing these best practices will: • Make your buildings more energy-efficient, healthier, and cheaper to operate • Make land use regulations legallydefensible and publiclysupported • Make moving around the ciiypossible, pleasant, free and healthful withoutalways using a car • Save moneyand cutenergyuse bysmartercitypurchasing • Exceed stormwater requirements and mitigate cost liabilities at a cheaper long-term cost • Provide communitymembers with engagementoptions and a scorecard ofcityperformance • Strengthen citytaxbase via business assistance Within these nine best practices — as is the case for almost all the best practices — cities almost always have a choice as to which specific action or actions to complete in order to claim credit for implementing the best practice. There are fewer than a dozen required actions out of 163 total actions. And among the appro�amately 155 action options, there are "easier" actions and "harder" actions that cities can choose. Larger cities, which tend to be category A cities, generally need to do more actions and "harder" actions in order to implement a best practice. Will the best practice actions and program requirements change over time? Yes, but we anticipate only a few small changes over time. Based on an annual cycle of feedback from cities and topical experts during March and April, and based on changes in technology, financing, regulations, state-wide assistance, and other factors, we think modifications will be needed to keep the suite of actions and the program requirements current, relevant to cities, and challenging yet doable. Are there different types of actions? Actions tend to fall into these categories, which correspond to the typical tools a city uses to make civic improvements: • Changes in citypolicy, ordinances, regulations • Investments offinancial capital or a commitment to funding operating costs • Developmentand staffing ofcityassistance programs—fnancial, informational, educational • Collaboration with and leveraging the resources of others, such as business groups and the county What if my city has done/wants to do an action not on the list? Other actions that meet the overall goal of a specific best practice can also satisfy program requirements. Ideally they will be a variation on one of the e�sting actions, and should be reported as completion of an ebsting action. But if they are so substantially different than any of the action options, then they can be reported as a custom action and the GreenStep City's steering committee will reviewthe submission to assure its conformance with minimal standards. Feel free to contact the GreenStep Coordinator at the MPCA to discuss possible custom actions, but note that only one custom action per best practice is allowed. What do the blue stars mean? One, two or three blue stars show up in several places on the GreenStep web site. They denote a city's completion of a best practice action at a