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CITY OF HUGO Memorandum TO: FROM: Phoebe Brown, Community Development Intern SUBJECT: GreenStep Program DATE: 1. BACKGROUND GreenStep is a Minnesota-based continuous improvement program that provides recognition and assistance to cities for achieving sustainability and quality of life goals. Participating cities are recognized for pursuing actions related to 29 best practices. These best practices fall into five categories: Buildings and Lighting, Land Use, Transportation, Environmental Management, and Resilient Economic and Community Development. There are around 175 actions that can constitute implementing a best practice, providing a diversity of options for cities of various sizes across Minnesota. The GreenStep program includes five steps of accomplishment which cities can be recognized for. Cities achieve Step 1 when they join the program by adopting a city resolution. Step 2 recognizes cities that implement 4, 6, or 8 best practice actions, depending on city size. To achieve Step 3, cities must double the number of practices they have implemented, including certain specific high-impact actions. Step 4 involves measuring and reporting city performance metrics. Step 5 recognizes cities that continue to report performance metrics while demonstrating improvement. Qualifying sustainability actions that a city completed before participating in GreenStep may be counted toward these steps, providing recognition for work cities have already done. Cities that participate in the GreenStep program work toward sustainability benefits such as improved quality of life and social equity, improved preparation for extreme weather, prevention of future environmental costs, and increased resilience to financial pressures. Additionally, participating cities benefit from public recognition, including through GreenStep road signs and recognition at an annual League of Minnesota Cities conference. GreenStep can also connect cities to funding and technical assistance, and may be beneficial when applying to competitive grant programs. Additional benefits include access to best practice action reports from peer cities and potential leadership opportunities for community members. 2. GREENSTEP IN HUGO The City of Hugo could become a GreenStep city by pursuing Step 1. Required actions to complete this step include passing a city resolution, appointing a GreenStep coordinator (this could be an existing staff person, an elected official, or community member) and emailing the resolution and coordinator’s contact information to GreenStep staff. The program also recommends meeting with community organizations and residents to build interest, inviting a GreenStep program representative to visit the community and present to city council or staff, and reviewing any existing and planned GreenStep practices. Hugo is considered a category B city, meaning the city must implement six best practice actions to complete Step 2. Some previous City actions can be counted toward this goal, including: referencing the