Explanation
Background: This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Public Utilities to enter into an agreement with The Ohio State University for GreenSpot program assessment services.
The GreenSpot program assessment is vital to ensuring compliance with the City’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit and the Storm Water Management Plan (SWMP) to assess the performance of the legacy GreenSpot program on resident, business, and local community’s behavior changes regarding water consumption, energy use, and other sustainable actions. The project aims to improve the effectiveness of the City’s support to the growing GreenSpot member population in Columbus.
The GreenSpot program assessment will require The Ohio State University to meet various objectives and goals which are considered project parameters. These project parameters include assessments of current GreenSpot programming and a recommended future action plan. There are many tasks and responsibilities included in this assessment which include general Stakeholder meetings and Consultations, review of scientific literature on behavior change, and surveys regarding Columbus residents and business owners. The tasks also include various reviews, surveys, and analysis of how GreenSpot is functioning currently. These include an analysis of members, member surveys, and assessments of staffing.
Once the assessment is complete, the project will provide the City of Columbus with a detailed report on current GreenSpot programming in context of the MS4 and Sustainable Columbus’ Climate Action Plan (CAP) goals, as well as, staffing adequacies for the program. The assessment will also develop interventions and implementation measures for the next four years, 2026-2030, to achieve the outlined goals.
The vendor was provided access to the GreenSpot files as of January 2025. The agreement will be in effect from the date of passage of this Ordinance until May 31, 2026. This ordinance is submit...
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