Chairman Ball and Members of the County Council:

The League of Women Voters of Howard County supports County Council Bill 78 establishing a 13 member Howard County Environmental Sustainability Board. All Board members will be Howard County residents. Seven Board members will have specific expertise, one member will be a student under the age of 19 and the remaining members shall represent the general public and have an interest in the environment.

The Board duties include recommendations on policy and funding proposals concerning the sustainability of the County's natural resources, evaluating environmental policies, advocating for environmental and sustainability programs, monitoring and evaluating progress in achieving environmental sustainability goals, providing an annual report to the County Executive and County Council as well as receiving other directives from the County Executive or County Council.

The League's support for this legislation comes from our Land Use position " to support creating better governmental structure to ensure environmental quality" adopted in April 2007. We urge favorable action by the County Council.

Grace Kubofcik
Co-president