Tampa- Certified Gold Green City

Mayer’s citizen/TECO Energy Conservation Task Force meeting took place at the Mayer’s, Pam Iorio, conference room on Thursday afternoon. Going into this meeting I didn’t expect to sit just a couple of seats away from the Mayer. Actually, this was my first time seeing her in person. Pam Iorio welcomed all of the citizens and she made it very specific that those kinds of meetings are recorded and the Sunshine Laws require them to have the conversations taped.

Did you know that Tampa is one of the few cities in the America that is been certified as a Gold Green City? I didn’t. As a matter of fact TECO is the electrical company in town that helps the government to reach the green status of the city.

TECO works with the Mayer Pam Iorio and her energy conservation task force member on the green project for about a year now and they are trying to find the most efficient way to save energy and keep the city green. Those members included representatives from different organizations in town that are directly involved with the management of the energy use. The City of Tampa Staff attendees were also present at the meeting along with two representatives from TECO.

For over a year this force committee is been working on several recommendations on how to achieve energy savings. At the meeting the Mayer wanted to move forward and focus on the action plan that should be happening now in order to keep the progress in going green. Some members recommended education plan to be planned for the middle class residence to spread the word about their goal. She followed this offer by saying, “Do we want to target homes that use the most energy?” An example of this would be the people in the rich areas of Tampa.

According to the Mayer, TECO made some suggestions to their energy users but she wants to see soon a marketing plan on how to reach more people and businesses and make them aware that energy use is an issue. The educational idea was an interesting point, but the budgets don’t allow any money spending at this time.

Sharon Hanna, USF-Dept. of Mgmt & Org College of Business, offered her students research help for a future data which might be needed for accomplishing the Energy Conservation Task Force goals.

An interesting point made by C. J. Raynolds, Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, included the small businesses knowledge on how to cut their use of energy and cost at the same time. She said that those companies don’t know and don’t pay much attention to saving the green world. TECO should focus on those types of energy customers in order to make a difference in their usage.

Stephen Koontz, Tampa Bay Trane, said the he is looking for something that will bring faster results for energy savings. He mentioned the $50 instilment kid for energy users offered by TECO that made a quick progress within customers.

In closing the long debate about the best idea for energy savings the Mayer asked the Task Force member to continue on working on this project with her because this is the best way she would stay informant of the “going green issue.”