Keep Truckee Green: Waste Reduction and Transportation Demand Management Outreach Programs

Host: Town of Truckee
Region: Greater Sacramento
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Affordable Housing, Transportation / Mobility, Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, Waste Management
Skills Needed: Community Engagement, Stakeholder Engagement, Communication

Service Needs & Plans

The Town of Truckee is a mountain community inextricably connected to the outdoor world and dedicated to fostering a sustainable community through projects like the Town’s Climate Action Plan, 80% GHG emissions reduction goals, new waste reduction programs, and transportation demand management planning. True to its entrepreneurial and progressive spirit, Truckee has embarked on climate resilience programs and policies to build a strong community in the face of climate change. The CivicSpark Fellow would split their time assisting these efforts between our Solid Waste and Recycling Division and Engineering/Transportation Division. 

 In the Solid Waste Division, the Fellow will help implement a new single-use foodware reduction ordinance. The ordinance will aim at reducing waste generated at restaurants and retail stores and focus on a cultural shift towards reusable foodware to reduce litter and waste in our community. Litter has been a prevalent issue in our community, which has increased in recent years due to an increase in tourism spurred by COVID-19. As a tourism-driven community with a heavy focus on the outdoors, there is a community focus on source-reduction, or eliminating waste at the source to prevent lifecycle impacts of single-use items.  

Within the Engineering/Transportation Division, the Fellow will assist with implementing and promoting internal Town Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies to reduce vehicle commute emissions, and track their effectiveness and their social, environmental, and economic benefits. The Town is making efforts to lead by example in reducing GHG emissions from one of our largest emission areas within the municipality, which is employee commutes. 

Our CivicSpark Fellow would then work with our Team to broaden this scope and reach to develop and promote TDM strategies to external agencies and organizations such as the United States Forest Service, Nevada County, Truckee-Tahoe Unified School District, Tahoe Forest Hospital District, Tahoe Donner Public Utility District, and the Tahoe Donner Recreation District.  Many of these organizations share the same values and goals and would be willing participants in TDM programs through better coordination and ongoing outreach.   Collectively, these agencies are the largest employers within the Town as such the opportunity to promote and achieve vehicle trip reductions could be significant and result in significant corresponding social, economic, and environmental benefits. 

Project Description

With the Solid Waste and Recycling Division, the Fellow will assist in implementing a new single-use foodware ordinance in Truckee. The ordinance will include policies to reduce waste in restaurants and retail stores, including a polystyrene ban, and other policies to incentivize waste reduction in our community, and is scheduled to pass in the summer/fall of 2022. Implementation of the ordinance will include education and outreach to the business community as well as members of the public and visitors. Outreach will include developing communication materials and conducting one-on-one outreach to businesses owners and providing technical assistance to help them understand the new policies and assist in switching to use of allowable foodware under the new requirements. Efforts will include working with partner organizations to help with outreach, including the Truckee Chamber of Commerce and Visit Truckee-Tahoe, the local tourism bureau.

The Town of Truckee also operates the only jurisdiction-run reusable foodware program, where restaurants can purchase reusable to-go boxes at a discounted rate, and provide reusable takeout containers to customers to reduce single-use items. The Fellow will focus on expanding and monitoring the success of this program. The Fellow will also assist in implementation of edible food recovery requirements of SB 1383, which requires restaurants and other food generators to donate their edible food to a food recovery organization. This will involve education and outreach to a similar business community, and hopefully using relationships built to assist in technical assistance for food recovery.

In an effort to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips and associate vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions, the Town has embarked on an effort to develop and promote Transportation Demand Management best practices.

The focus of the TDM is to increase capacity in the existing transportation system through mode shift to non-auto means or high occupancy vehicles, shift travel to off-peak demand periods, or reduce or eliminate vehicle trips altogether.   

This is accomplished by developing programs and strategies aimed at a wide variety of travel markets that vary by demographics, economic classes, and origin and destination. Due to the high cost of housing, many of the Town employees live in the more affordable communities in and around the Reno metro area. As such, significant reductions in VMT and GHG can be realized with the ongoing support of the internal TDM program and can also result in improved quality of life and economic savings. Many of these strategies have been developed and established as best practices by agencies such as Association for Commuter Transportation and California Air Resources Board. However, effectiveness and long-term success is dependent on consistent coordination and outreach and requires the right approach with the right personality that focuses on the “carrot vs. the stick.”

The CivicSpark Fellow would assist the Sustainability and Engineering/Transportation teams with implementing and promoting internal Town TDM strategies and tracking their effectiveness and their social, environmental, and economic benefits. This would include creating a database for ride matching to encourage carpooling to and from work, promote and coordinate the continuation of online virtual meetings which has become common practice during the pandemic, coordinate weekly carpool opportunities to meetings, and work with managers to promote and coordinate work from home opportunities.

Target goals will be set for these strategies based on expected VMT reduction documented by industry resources and tracked and result in “Program Effectiveness Monitoring Report” with recommendations on how to improve the program to assist in achieving both short- and long-term sustainability and mobility related goals.

Desired Skills

The Fellow’s projects will involve significant amounts of outreach to the business community and to Town of Truckee staff. The Fellow will be tasked with clearly communicating ordinance requirements to local businesses, and will require strong communication and interpersonal skills. The Fellow will also be tasked with championing a commute reduction program for internal staff, and providing resources to replicate it at other local agencies. The Fellow should be enthusiastic about GHG reduction and be able to create creative, fun, and motivating campaigns to motivate local staff to participate in GHG reduction efforts. This role would be best for a “people person” who enjoys communicating and leading others. The Fellow will also be tasked with tracking the success of the programs developed, and should have strong organizational skills. Ability to speak Spanish is a plus.

Organization & Community Highlights

The Town of Truckee is a unique place to live and work. Nestled in the mountains, near Lake Tahoe and many ski resorts, Truckee is prideful of its tight-knit small town community and the extraordinary natural environment surrounding us. At the Town, you will be working with a lively team of like-minded people who value a “work hard, play hard” work ethic. We are a group of people who love to work where we live, and are often found skiing, biking, running or recreating in the mountains when we’re not in the office.

Because we are a small town with a relatively small local government organization, the work is very meaningful when implementing new programs and policies, like rolling out a single-use foodware ordinance or reducing commuter emissions within local agencies. This fellowship will provide a great opportunity for a candidate looking to utilize excellent community engagement and project management skills.

Since incorporation, the Town of Truckee staff and decision-makers have embraced a set of operating principles known colloquially as “The Truckee Way.” The following provides the essence of this philosophy.

“We will treat everyone, and their point of view, with respect, courtesy, and fairness. We will approach issues with creativity and innovation. We will conduct ourselves, and the Town’s business, according to the highest ethical standards. We will encourage the free exchange of ideas and information by open and honest communication. We believe that non-adversarial dispute resolution results in the most effective community, decision-maker and employee involvement in the Town and its future.”

The Nevada County Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee aims to create a vision and actions to address local challenges with racial justice and equity. As a collaborating member of this important group, the mission and goals ring true in the Town of Truckee. The mission statement reads, “We strive to be a community where all residents thrive, visitors feel welcome and we care for one another despite our differences. There is equal and fair access to resources, opportunities are abundant, and everyone does their part to embrace collective responsibility and take actions that uphold racial and social equity.”

Remote or On-Site Placement

The Town of Truckee will be launching a pilot one-day-per-week work from home policy in spring 2022, which is anticipated to allow eligible staff and Fellows to work from home on Fridays. The Fellow will be expected to serve in-person at Truckee Town Hall Monday through Thursday, unless remote work is necessary (i.e. due to public health restrictions).

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