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COMMITTEE TASKS Depending on the size of the city and the committee size and type, committee members typically are tasked with a variety of jobs ranging from policy and advising, to community engagement, to hands-on project work. Tasks can include: • researching past city accomplishments and new ideas • evaluating existing policy • drafting vision and policy statements • coordinating and harmonizing city departmental / community efforts • defining, measuring and reporting on outcome measures • collecting feedback from the community • educating community members about the city vision and desired outcomes • engaging residents, businesses and institutions to change their practices to help meet city goals TIPS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING SUCCESSFUL COMMITTEES The following are a distillation of learnings from GreenStep cities, those who work with GreenStep cities, and Sustainable Jersey's Secrets to a Successful Green Team. Please feel free to contribute your own tips to this list by submitting them to the GreenStep coordinator via https:Hgreensten.nca.state.mn.us/contact.cfm ➢ Create a mission statement. Or maybe you call it a committee charter. Everyone involved should have a clear sense of the purpose, roles and the responsibilities of the group. For example, is the group more of a policy group that makes recommendations to the city council, or is it more of a work group that works directly on community projects? A mission statement may be determined by the city council, or developed as a group exercise with input from diverse interests. ➢ Pick strong leaders. At least one. The committee should have a clearly defined leader, whose role and responsibilities have been determined and documented. Having leaders from both the municipality and the community is particularly effective. If the committee has working groups (subcommittees), appoint a chair for each one. ➢ Decide on a leadership succession plan. Leadership should be shared and future leaders developed so that (1) the leaders do not get stuck with most of the work and (2) the leaders can gracefully bow out after a term of service without compromising the ability of the group to successfully continue. ➢ Clarify committee membership, tenure, and think diversity. Be clear on who formally, or informally, participates on the committee and how long they are signing up to serve. Consider 3 -year staggered terms to facilitate continuity and orderly transitions. For committees other than a staff green team, city council committee or community group, take an honest look at who is on your committee: does the group include staff from one or more city departments? Does one city council member serves as a member of a commission? Does the group reflect the overall demographics (race, income, age, homeowners / renters, etc.) of the city? The more diverse voices at the table, the more robust, authentic and effective your efforts will be. ➢ Schedule regular meetings. If at all possible choose a regular meeting time and stick with it. Creating a yearly meeting schedule and communicating it to members, city staff/city council and the public can make the difference between a successful effort that is recognized by the municipality and public, and one that gets "fit in" when convenient and mostly serves committee members. ➢ Divide the work. Some committees, especially large ones and ones that meet infrequently, have sub- committees (work groups) to focus on specific topics in more depth and between full committee meetings, such as energy, or water, or local businesses. Such work groups typically invite diverse