Environmental Management Systems Parks Recreation Chesterfield County Virginia

Environmental Management Systems Parks & Recreation Chesterfield County, Virginia 2008 Mark Askin – Chief of Park Operations Chesterfield Parks and Recreation

Profile n Chesterfield County – Located in Central Virginia A First Choice Community

Profile n Chesterfield County u Population: 311, 000 u Over 400 square miles u Reputation for being a first-choice community in which to live, work, play and raise a family n Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation Operations u 114 full-time employees u Maintain: 43 Parks , 75 Schools, 8 Libraries, and 20 other sites. u 11. 3 million dollar annual budget u Three divisions: Parks, Recreation, and Administration u Equipment inventory: 75+ vehicles, 27 tractors, 60+ mowers plus chains saws, heavy equipment and other turf and landscape equipment.

Chesterfield County Strategic Goals 1. 2. 3. 4. To be exemplary stewards of the public trust To provide world-class customer service To be acknowledged for extraordinary quality of life To be the safest and most secure community compared to similar jurisdictions 5. To be a unifying leader of local government 6. To be the employer of choice 7. To be the FIRST CHOICE business community 8. To be responsible protectors of the environment

Environmental Management: The Beginning County leadership attended the workshop entitled: “What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You” u u Addressed environmental challenges facing local governments Provided a perspective on the legal and financial consequences of not having an Environmental Management System (EMS)

Environmental Management Milestones Oct 2001: The Office of Environmental Management was created May 2002: Made formal decision to establish a countywide Environmental Management System (EMS) May 2003: County Environmental Policy was adopted by Senior County Leadership Feb. 2005: Parks and Recreation Department establishes an EMS team and sends to Environmental Management Systems Implementation Course in Roanoke (COTA) Parks and Recreation received ISO 14001 certification Oct. 2007

Environmental Organization

EMS Initiatives n Use of Bio Diesel Fuel u Use B-20 in vehicles and equipment u 25% of fuel consumption is B-20 n Used Cooking Oil Collection u Program to collect used cooking oil from youth athletic concessions Aerosol Cans u 8, 500 field marking paint cans disposed annually in trash u All cans are now disposed properly u Developed new field marking program, reduced can disposal by 50% n

EMS Initiatives Cont. n Chemical Inventory u Developed chemical rating matrix u Developed approved chemical list

Key EMS Steps n Establish Department Teams working under the guidance of the Office of Environmental. Management n Formal EMS Training at Va. Tech COTA n Develop Written EMS Program n Implement EMS and Train Employees u Certify EMS through third-party audits and VDEQ Exemplary Environmental Enterprise certification (E 3)

Overall EMS Benefits n Cultural Change: “It’s how we do business now” n Assurance of Regulatory Compliance n Employee Environmental Awareness through Training n Uniform and Documented procedures and guidelines n Positive relationship with DEQ n Established system to help meet our strategic goal “To be responsible protectors of the environment”

Key to Our Success n n n n Meet on a regular basis. Our team meets weekly Get support from upper management Get buy-in and input from staff Integrate EMS with safety program and part of doing business Show the cost, safety and environmental benefits Effective and timely training Monitor and measure your progress and initiatives

Questions What are some of the road blocks and barriers to developing an EMS ? n How to determining your significant aspects? n How to maintain and sustain your EMS? n What types of certification do you apply? u ISO 14001? ; E 2, 3, or 4? ; Performance Track? n