League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Marin County, CA November 3, 2015 Election
	Jim Wickham Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Mill Valley

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Marin County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. How would you rate your Climate Action plan, what has been done and what more is needed?

How would you rate your Climate Action plan, what has been done and what more is needed?

As a 4th generation resident of Mill Valley I have seen for the last half century how Mill Valley has progressively changed with local, regional and national treads, to become a leader now in reducing green house gases (GHG). From the days of residents burning their leaves and trash in back yards (leaf burning was common on weekends along the Sycamore area streets in the 1960's) to the closure of our city dump in the late 1960's, where the Mill Valley Middle School is built, behavioral changes and local ordinances began the process of reducing our GHG levels.

Today, most people don't realize the effect of GHG and how Mill Valley could lose nearly 1/3 of our waterfront in the next 50 to 100 years. Working closely with community members and business owners we all have a responsibility to respond on how we're going to do our share in reducing GHG, and most importantly prepare for sea level rise.

We cannot do this alone and, as Supervisor Kate Sears has noted, this has to be a regional approach. The recent OWL program is a good example. Working with the County of Marin and Bay Area resources such as Climate Access, community meetings are being held to help educate and start the local discussion about sea level rise. As a community, especially looking at my grandchildren who live in Mill Valley, I want all of us to fully understand how our environment and sea level rise impact our watershed and the entire east side of town.

In the early 2000's, I volunteered to sit on a working sustainability "Green" committee led by Carol Misseldine (Charles McGlashan's wife) on how Mill Valley can respond to GHG. From the initial plans to reduce waste, including eliminating plastic bags and an ordinance requiring merchants to encourage single use bags, Mill Valley began the process as a leader.

In 2001, I initiated the process of exploring solar panels on the Public Safety Building (PSB). Not only was it good for the environment, but also potentially would reduce the $1,500 electric bill we were paying each month. Collaborating with the County of Marin, a plan emerged to install solar on the hillside behind the PSB. When the initial costs came back, nearly half-a-million dollars, the project was tabled until other funding sources became available. Months later I received a call from the County, as did Mill Valley's Finance Director Eric Erickson, that Clean Renewable Energy bonds were available to any "turn key" project in Marin. Our project at the PSB was chosen since all of the heavy lifting had already been done. In 2010 the dedication ceremony was held at the PSB when our largest solar array project in Mill Valley was dedicated by the City Council. The array supplies enough energy to run both the Fire and Police Departments, and it returns between $3,000 and $6,000 annually in revenue for excess energy.

Prior to my retirement from Mill Valley we had also begun the work to expand our solar program to the community center. Now five years later, we are finalizing the construction of a parking lot solar array at the community center to be installed in 2016.

Mill Valley has a goal of "zero waste" by 2025 + ambitious, but possible, if we work together. We also have an obligation to continue to look at new technology and invest into our infrastructure that not only keeps Mill Valley's charm, but also provides multi-modal transport options, EV charging stations and more efficient wastewater plant operations. This includes modernizing our aging plant to be more efficient and meet stringent EPA requirements, working with residents to address aging sewer laterals that overwhelm our network during heavy winter storms. Let's not forget our local wastewater sewage plant provides much needed reclaim water for our parks and an untapped source of methane that could be used to generate power.

Mill Valley has seen how we can work together to improve our environment while providing emergency access paths through our SLP programs and reduce traffic with funding for safe routes to school programs. Through communication, collaboration and cooperation, we will continue to be the leader in working toward our goal of reducing climate change in our region.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 19, 2015 13:28
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