Green Committee Holds First Meeting

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Supervisor Matthew Veitch today held the inaugural meeting of the Saratoga County Green Committee at 7pm in the Gannett Auditorium located at Skidmore College.  Supervisor Veitch, as Chairman of the Committee, joined other members of the committee to listen to residents, local business owners, and “green” experts on their ideas and proposals for how Saratoga can become a leader in being an environmentally friendly County.  The meeting tonight was sponsored by Skidmore College’s Government Department.

“This was an excellent opportunity to hear our community members thoughts and ideas on how we can improve and build upon our foundation as being an environmentally responsible County,” Veitch continued, “there were also some ideas presented that will provide us with significant economic savings over a longer time period.”

The Green Committee is charged with the task of reviewing different opportunities and proposals that would be environmentally friendly and could potentially be applied at the county level. These could range anywhere from retrofitting existing County structures to achieve energy efficiency and cost savings, to purchasing hybrid vehicles for the County fleet to save money on fuel without emitting harmful greenhouse gases.  The committee has the task of listening to these proposals, and preparing a report for the County Board of Supervisors at the end of the year, at which time the Board may formally adopt the proposals of the committee.

“We need to ensure that our County is successful by having the foresight to recognize projects that are both economically and environmentally conscientious, so that we provide future generations with the same positive opportunities that were provided to us.  In addition, running our operations in an environmentally friendly way is just simply the right thing to do,” concluded Veitch.

For further information on the Green Committee, or to request to be a presenter at a future meeting, please contact the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors at 885-2240, or go to the Saratoga County website at www.saratogacountyny.gov.