How Green Can Decatur Be? Commission To Discuss Sustainability Report

The Decatur City Commission has set aside an hour Monday night, starting at 6:30 p.m., to talk about .

The 36-page documents lists long- and short-range courses of action. To view the entire report, go to the city website and click on "materials package." Some of the ideas include:

• Exploring starting a municipal electric utilty.

• Supporting the use of fat, oil and grease from restaurants to use in bio-diesel vehicles.

• Restoring stream flows to mimic pre-development flows more closely.

• Creating parking incentives for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles.

• Supporting the installation of alternative fuel source stations in public or semi-public places.

• Creating a program to encourage more community gardens, composting and farmers markets.

• Expanding recycling options to include commercial properties and hazardous waste such as pain, motor oil and electronics.

• Locating recycling bins with public trash cans.

• Installing more pet waste bag stations.

• Discouraging the use of disposable food and beverage containers.

• Launching a "Green Restaurant" designation program.

The report also has some metrics, such as consumption of gallons of potable water, 726,899,325 in 2011, 698,297,000 in 2010; wastewater generated by Decatur residents, 676,016,372 in 2011 and 649,416,000 in 2010; and tons of curbside recycling collected, 2,106 in 2011, 2,077 in 2010.

The city is also scheduled to vote at its regular meeting on signing a three-year, $1-per-year lease on two acres at the .

The land, located outside the city limits, would be turned into under the guidance of the and .

The commission members start the night with a dinner session at 5:30 p.m. They will discuss the sustainability report in the work session, which starts at 6:30 p.m. The regular meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

City commission meetings (but not work sessions) are broadcast live on Comcast channel 25. They are rebroadcast at 2 p.m. the Saturday after the meeting.