Mayor’s Message: Bernie Platt
The township recently received wonderful news on our ongoing sustainability efforts.
As of this month, Cherry Hill has earned Sustainable Jersey’s Silver Certification — the highest level of recognition from the statewide nonprofit group that works to push municipalities to a higher level of sustainability.
This is a tremendous honor, and one that required we as a municipality meet a set of rigorous requirements outlined by the Sustainable Jersey program.
Of New Jersey’s 566 municipalities, just 96 towns are Sustainable-Jersey certified, and just eight towns have received the silver designation.
Cherry Hill was one of the inaugural members of Sustainable Jersey, jumping on to the program in late 2008 with the help of a group of dedicated township employees, and citizen volunteers in Sustainable Cherry Hill, led by Lori Braunstein, who has been a tireless advocate for sustainability and a tremendous resource for those of us in town hall through the years.
With the help of these individuals, in the last three years, Cherry Hill has grown to become a true leader in municipal sustainability. And while there remains much work to be done, I am so proud that we’ve made such progress in such a short amount of time.
The township achieved its first Sustainable Jersey certification, at the bronze level, in November 2009 — just our first year in the program. We proved then that we could work quickly and effectively make a difference, and in just those first twelve months, we racked up a total of 100 qualifying points through the Sustainable Jersey program, as well as conducted an energy audit in our municipal building, and measured our carbon footprint.
To qualify for this latest certification, the township submitted documentation showing that it had completed a balance of the required sustainability actions set forth by the program, meeting a minimum of 350 points — more than triple what we’d completed just two years ago.
Additionally, we’ve now completed three of seven “priority actions” identified in the program — the municipal energy audit, carbon footprint measurement, and an inventory of our municipal vehicle fleet.
Our new silver certification — which was officially awarded at a Sustainable Jersey luncheon last week in Atlantic City — is proof that Cherry Hill has excelled in areas such as energy efficiency, health and wellness improvements, waste reduction, protecting our natural resources, and addressing diversity and equity. These are all key action points we’ve successfully met as part of the program.
Certification at any level is quite an accomplishment. But the silver-certified towns, such as Cherry Hill, are truly first-rate leaders in sustainability, true models for towns not just here in New Jersey, but across the United States.
This was noted very clearly by U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, in August, when he selected Cherry Hill as the backdrop for announcing his own plans for a Sustainable States Act — legislation that would roll out the Sustainable Jersey model on a national level, incentivizing sustainability on the local level, nationwide. In choosing Cherry Hill for his announcement, he made it clear that our township stood out as a national example of good government at work, leveraging the power of green to benefit both the environment and our taxpayers. It’s been amazing for me, as mayor, to see how this program has grown over the past three years. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, thanks in no small part to the work of our Green Team members and Sustainable Cherry Hill — but as I noted before, there is still much more to be done. I look forward to seeing this continued progress as we move into the future.
