Sustainable Monroe Township chairman wants township to lead the ‘green’ pack
In a world that’s ever-changing and looking toward a “green” future, Patrick McDevitt is looking to push Monroe Township ahead of the curve.
McDevitt, the chair of Sustainable Monroe Township, takes sustainability very seriously. When he’s not moonlighting with Monroe officials to make Monroe sustainable, he’s the program coordinator for energy efficiency for SJ Gas which means he’s constantly finding ways for municipalities to be more energy efficient.
“I always had some sort of interest in conservation and clean energy,” McDevitt recalled. “I didn’t have any real education or training but when I saw this Sustainable Jersey thing happening in other towns I thought ‘Oh, maybe I can get our town involved.’”
That he did. He took his concept to the next council meeting and from there he was put in charge. Council advised him to join the environmental commission, which he did, in addition to serving on the open space committee. At the start of 2018, he resigned from both of those groups to solely focus on Sustainable Monroe Township.
Sustainable Monroe Township, while certainly affiliated with the township, is on a different playing field than the environmental commission and open space committee.
“The main difference is they are a town-initiated board and commission,” McDevitt described. He added that because Sustainable Monroe is not town initiated it has a little more freedom in reference to requirements that other two boards have to adhere to.
Sustainable Monroe Township started in 2013 with the goal to become certified with the Sustainable Jersey program.
“It took us a couple of years and a couple tries,” he said. “We received our certification in 2016.”
Monroe Township earned a bronze certification that expires at the end of 2019. McDevitt, trying to think one step ahead, wants to recertify sooner.
“We’re trying to recertify this year as bronze to extend our certification for a few years then pursue a silver certification,” he said.
To be certified as bronze, a municipality needs to do certain green actions to receive points — 150 points worth of actions leads to a bronze certification. To be certified as silver, Monroe Township needs to up its point total to 350.
“We try to engage in town committees, planning, zoning,” McDevitit said. “Even Kevin [Heydel] the business administrator, they’re doing things already we can get points for.”
As a reward for his efforts, McDevitt was named a “Sustainability Hero” by Sustainable Jersey in December 2016.
“It showcases someone who might be active in the program,” he said. “I was happy to get it. It gave some credibility to our efforts.”
He added Sustainable Jersey has a similar program for schools that the middle school is certified for.
One of the goals McDevitt discussed was wanting to be involved with more businesses, especially Monroe’s own breweries and wineries.
“We hope to engage with more businesses in the community,” he said. “Businesses like the breweries and wineries can help with the certification.”
In the vein of current projects, he added Sustainable Monroe Township is officially affiliated with the Williamstown Bike Party. The affiliation will include using bicycles as an avenue to explore bike infrastructure for Main Street and working with the bike path in town.
The next event Sustainable Monroe Township is hosting is a harvest party on Oct. 28 from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the community garden by the library. McDevitt said the event is free and open to the public in celebration of the harvest season. The garden will officially close for the winter in November.
Sustainable Monroe Township is always looking for people to join. The group meets on the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the town hall. If you have any questions, email McDevitt at [email protected]. For more information, Sustainable Monroe can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sustainablemonroe/ and the guidelines for Sustainable Jersey can be found at SustainableJersey.com.
At the end of the day, sustainability is paramount and McDevitt understands that.
“If you look anywhere, companies are talking about it,” he said. “It’s becoming common place that you have to pay attention to this for all sorts of reasons, not just for environmental reasons, but cost saving and quality of life. These practices help in those areas. We’re trying to be a conduit for education and a resource for the town and residents.”
