A cou­ple of weeks ago the Sus­tain­abil­ity Board and the Office of Envi­ron­men­tal Sus­tain­abil­ity released our annual report.  I am sure you have all had a chance to read through it, but just in case I’m think­ing I will spend a cou­ple of posts high­light­ing par­tic­u­lar pieces that I think are of note.  Let me start with what is, pos­si­bly, the most basic ques­tion: “Why would two sep­a­rate groups sub­mit one report?”

Well, if you would have read the report like I asked you would have seen this para­graph in my intro­duc­tion letter:

“We are doing so because the mis­sions of the Office and the Sus­tain­abil­ity Board are closely inter­twined.  Both are work­ing every day to cre­ate a cul­ture of sus­tain­abil­ity through­out Howard County and focus all areas of County gov­ern­ment on the many facets of sus­tain­abil­ity.  Com­bin­ing the two reports gives the clear­est vision of the work of both institutions,which while sep­a­rate enti­ties, are part of the same whole.”

At the end, it comes down to silo bust­ing.  To quote myself again (man am I vain) “Though not meant to dis­par­age any of our exist­ing gov­ern­men­tal bod­ies, the knock on gov­ern­ment is so often about the large bureau­cratic silos that com­pete with each other and make progress so difficult.”

If two gov­ern­ment enti­ties like the Envi­ron­men­tal Sus­tain­abil­ity Board and the Office of Envi­ron­men­tal Sus­tain­abil­ity can’t embrace our over­lap­ping mis­sions and work col­lec­tively, what pos­si­ble hope would our office have in col­lab­o­ra­tion and unity with Pub­lic Works, Plan­ning and Zon­ing or Purchasing?

When you get a chance, go ahead and check out the report and let us know what you think.

JD Feld­mark