East Windsor Mayor Janice S. Mironov and Green Team members were presented with the Sustainable Jersey Silver Level Certification award at the May 17 council meeting by Sustainable Jersey Associate Director Renee Haider.
Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities that want to go green, save money and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term. Launched in 2009, Sustainable Jersey is a 100 percent voluntary certification program for municipalities in New Jersey.
East Windsor, one of only 33 Silver Level Certified towns statewide, was approved for Silver Level Sustainable Jersey Certification with 34 actions in 14 categories for a total of 355 points.
The township earned silver certification action points for many programs and actions undertaken by Mayor Mironov and council members. Among those were the creation of a farmland preservation plan; development of an open space plan; inventory and upgrade of municipal buildings for energy efficiency; community recycling/paper shredding events; business recognition programs; the “Cut it and Leave it” program; the Backyard Composting program; a tree protection ordinance; an environmental assessment ordinance; a sustainable land use commitment; a green building policy; and community outreach programs.
Ms. Haider praised East Windsor for its active sustainability efforts and for reaching this level noting that only 33 municipalities statewide have achieved Sustainable Jersey silver certification.
“This certification recognizes the township’s efforts in recycling, environmental resource protection, energy conservation, sustainable land use practices and furthermore enables East Windsor Township to be eligible for future grants and funding opportunities,” said Mayor Mironov.
The members of the East Windsor Green Team are: Chairman Ronald Balint; Mayor Mironov; Deputy Mayor Peter Yeager; council member John Zoller; John Donnelly; Gary Fournier; Edward Kelley; Lenox Ng; Patrick Condon; Public Works Director William Askenstedt; Municipal Utilities Executive Director Richard Brand; and student members Virpartap Grewal, Rithesh Neelamagam and Jay Vaingankar.
