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Home My WebLink About255748 03/01/16 (9, CITY OF CARMEL, INDIANA VENDOR: 366912 ONE CIVIC SQUARE ROB DEROCKER CHECKAMOUNT: S•'•"10,000.00" CARMEL, INDIANA 46032 3 WARNER LANE CHECK NUMBER: 255748 TARRYTOWN NY 10591 CHECK DATE: 03/01/16 DEPARTMENT ACCOUNT PO NUMBER INVOICE NUMBER AMOUNT DESCRIPTION 1203 R4340401 32713 2/25/16 4,979.69 PUBLIC RELATIONS 1203 4340401 33445 2/25/16 5,020.31 PUBLIC RELATIONS ROB DEROCKER & ASSOCIATES 3 WARNER LANE TARRYTOWN, NY 10591 917-658-4653 INVOICE Date: March 1, 2016 Client: City of Carmel For: Public Relations Services, Feb. 1-29, 2016 Professional Fees: $109000.00 TOTAL: $109000.00 CITY OF CARMEL MONTHLY REPORT - FEBR+UARY 2016 ROB DEROCKER & ASSOCIATES 3 WARNER LANE TARRYTOWN, NY 10591 917-658-4653 Public Relations Program for the City of Carmel, IN Monthly Report, February 2016 Media Results Inside EPA, Jan. 29, 2016: "GOP Mayor Emerges As Unlikely Trailblazer Pushing States On ESPS, Climate." Nearly 1700-word story resulting from mid-January interview in Washington with writer Abby Smith. Among other references to Carmel was this: Brainard adds that U.S. cities' ability to serve as a model extends well beyond the state and even the national level. He described a process he's implemented in Carmel, an Indianapolis suburb, in which the city captures methane that is a byproduct of sewage treatment and uses it as power, while turning processed sewage into fertilizer. The strategy, by which the city lowers its emissions of methane, the potent GHG, and reuses the energy, caught the attention of a local leader in Germany, who Brainard says called him last week in hopes of borrowing the idea. "We have 1,200 laboratories around the country, each one being a city, doing things that are good for the environment," Brainard says, noting that any one of cities' programs can serve as a model. (Full text of the story copied at the end of this report). Advertising Equivalency (est.): $3,500 Editorial Impact (est). 17,500 Cumulative Program to Date Ad Equivalency: $868,103 Cumulative Program to Date Editorial Impact: $4,336,015 1 �o� DE�oc�c�R Activities • Followed up with writers met with in January: o Evan Lehman, Climate Wire o Abigail Smith, Inside EPA • Shared the "Inside EPA" story with multiple media, including the following: o The New York Times o U.S. News and World Report o The Wall Street Journal o Bloomberg News o The Washington Post o National Geographic o Governing o The Guardian o National Public Radio o Climate Wire o Roll Call • Shared, with national sports and other media, news of the Carmel High School girls' swimming team breaking the national record for consecutive state championships (surpassing President Obama's high school in Hawaii with 30). • Recommended outreach to the White House to invite the team noted above for a Presidential ceremony. • Continued follow up with prospective speaking venues, including the CityAge conference in San Francisco and the Future Cities 150 Conference next fall in Lisbon (which has issued an official invitation for the Mayor's participation). • Participated, initially, in the follow up for the Monon Bridge Case Study for Phillips. 2 ROB DE-ROCKER March Work Plan • Continue to follow up with media met and reached out to in Washington during the US Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting • Further merchandise recent stories on Carmel in attempt to generate additional media coverage • Continue outreach to site consultants with Carmel and an invitation for them to consider Carmel for the corporate expansions and relocations they are managing. • Share (with the Mayor and Nancy Heck) appropriate media leads that come my way; follow up appropriately. • Continue outreach for potential speaking engagements for the Mayor and/or other Carmel representatives in business and economic development forums, including the CityAge Conference in the Spring. • Pursue the Monon Bridge Case Study. • Pursue prospective invitation for a White House ceremony for the Championship Carmel Girls High School Swim Team. 3 ROB DEROCKER GOP Mayor Emerges As Unlikely Trailblazer Pushing States On ESPS, Climate January 29,2016 James Brainard,the Republican mayor of Carmel, IN, has emerged as an unlikely trailblazer on climate issues, urging local leaders to use their significant leverage to provoke action on climate change from state and federal officials, even as his state and others staunchly resist EPA rules to curb greenhouse gases and his party resists the administration's climate policies. "Local leaders have tremendous influence on state legislation. Cities have been leading the way on climate change issues and protecting the environment for years," Brainard,a five-term mayor,said in an interview withlnsideEPA/climate last week on the sidelines of the U.S.Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, D.C. He added: "We have the ability to put tremendous pressure on our state representatives and governors to make changes that make a real difference." Brainard,who has been consistently active and outspoken on climate change issues, may seem like an anomaly in the current Republican Party,which is embroiled in a presidential primary full of candidates who dismiss scientific evidence that anthropogenic GHGs are causing climate change. The Indiana mayor served on the Obama administration's year-long State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience,which provided recommendations to the administration on how the federal government can appropriately aid communities in dealing with climate change effects. He also serves as co-chair to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force.And he traveled to India late last year on behalf of the State Department, encouraging local leaders there to lobby their government to act ahead of international climate negotiations in Paris. But Brainard doesn't consider himself an anomaly,and that was part of his message to relay to local leaders in India,to counter the dominant message portrayed by international media that all Republicans deny climate change science. "I pointed out that'no,the majority are concerned about climate change based on the polling,and its a relatively small portion of the Republican Party that is very loud,"' Brainard says."I don't know a Republican or Democrat that wants to drink dirty water or breathe dirty air." Brainard's message--he supports EPA's power plant GHG rule--echoes efforts by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and other top agency officials who are encouraging mayors to continue to take steps to reduce GHGs that could assist their states in complying with EPA's GHG standards for existing power plants. Speaking last week to the mayors, McCarthy and acting air chief Janet McCabe called on local leaders to join state-level conversations as states work to develop their compliance plans,and offered up help and agency resources even in states where there is significant opposition to the rule. "We're here to help, and the mayors want to help because we are dealing with this every day. How can we directly work with EPA if our states are not willing to work with us?How can we directly work with EPA on these issues?"asked Mayor John Dickert(D)of Racine,WI,a state that is part of a 27-state coalition challenging the rule in court. McCabe, in response,said that each EPA regional office has identified a local liaison to work with state and local officials to help implement the rule and noted that mayors can also play an important role in the development of clean energy resources needed to comply. EPA's Rule Such assistance could help mayors like Brainard,whose home state is part of the state coalition, led by West Virginia,suing over the rule. Indiana's Republican Gov. Mike Pence is a staunch opponent of the rule, threatening non-compliance in a letter to EPA prior to the final rule's release"absent demonstrable and 4 ROB DEROCKEFt significant improvement in the final rule."Since the rule's promulgation, Pence has been relatively mum on the state's position,though he has reiterated his disdain for the rule and backed the lawsuit. But Brainard says he supports EPA's existing source performance standards(ESPS), citing opportunities for the Hoosier State to convert its coal-fired power plants to lower-carbon natural gas and to build out renewable generation, including exploring the potential of nuclear energy. He agrees that mayors should get involved in ESPS stakeholder discussions, noting that local leaders will continue to act on climate despite states'opposition to EPA's GHG rules. "It's important to remember that 85 percent of our population lives in cities. . . .So yes, cities can make a huge difference on their own,without the states,"Brainard says. "It's wonderful if the states come along to do it. Some will;some won't, at different levels. But we're not waiting for that. Mayors aren't waiting for that. Mayors have been taking action for 20 years, and they will continue to." Brainard tells InsideEPA/climate that mayors are acting without the help of states or the federal government to curb carbon emissions and to strengthen their cities'climate resilience. Cities are the leaders on the issue,as more than half of states are vigorously fighting in court the ESPS--the centerpiece of President Obama's Climate Action Plan—and as the GOP-controlled Congress refuses to take up climate legislation. Obama has acknowledged progress at the local level. Speaking to a U.S. Conference of Mayors climate award ceremony last June, he said, "A lot of cities have gone far ahead on this issue,along with states. "You're making a difference right now,"he added."You're not waiting for Congress." McCarthy in recent remarks to the Conference's Environment Standing Committee also praised local leaders for progress in mitigating cities'GHG emissions,which she says has helped the United States stake out a leadership position internationally on climate action. "We would never be where we are today if it weren't for the innovation and the investment and the drive and the energy that has happened with mayors. It is the local level that we are building on as states have touted their success and the U.S. has been able to tout its leadership[abroad],"McCarthy said in her Jan.21 remarks. '1,200 Laboratories' Beyond making progress on their own, mayors can provide examples of successful GHG mitigation efforts that states can look to as they develop ESPS compliance plans, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions President Bob Perciasepe told the mayors conference last week. "It's important for mayors to participate"in the state ESPS planning process,said Perciasepe,a former EPA deputy administrator, adding that"you don't want the state to have to reinvent the wheel to get this done"if a city already has a successful climate program that could serve as a model. Brainard adds that U.S.cities'ability to serve as a model extends well beyond the state and even the national level. He described a process he's implemented in Carmel, an Indianapolis suburb, in which the city captures methane that is a byproduct of sewage treatment and uses it as power,while turning processed sewage into fertilizer. The strategy, by which the city lowers its emissions of methane,the potent GHG, and reuses the energy, caught the attention of a local leader in Germany,who Brainard says called him last week in hopes of borrowing the idea. "We have 1,200 laboratories around the country, each one being a city,doing things that are good for the environment,"Brainard says, noting that any one of cities'programs can serve as a model. And Perciasepe,speaking to mayors last week, encouraged them to increase their ambition, as ramped up climate action from local leaders could help the United States meet its Paris emissions reduction commitment. "If the work of mayors can accelerate"the energy efficiency and renewables developments needed to meet the nationwide ESPS target,"if they can do it by 2025,"it would mitigate 210 million metric tons of emissions, Perciasepe said,taking a significant chunk out of the gap remaining between the administration's existing GHG reduction policies and the U.S. pledge of emissions reductions between 26 and 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Most mayors back the global climate agreement, showing their support during a local leaders summit hosted in Paris in conjunction to the international talks. Brainard says his task force to the U.S. Conference of 5 ROB DEROCKER Mayors has worked to circulate the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, an initiative mirroring commitments made internationally in the Kyoto Protocol, and has received signatures from"almost 99 percent of the mayors in the country--both Rs and Ds." Conservative Roots But the bipartisan support for climate change policy does not extend much beyond the local level,something Brainard recognizes and identifies as a problem for the Republican Party. Most importantly, he says, Republican Party leaders need to stop questioning the science and build a substantive policy platform around climate and energy issues. "Even for those who question the science,true conservatives would err on the side that the scientists may be right, and they'll have their bases covered, in essence,and do everything we can to mitigate," Brainard telislnsideEPA/climate. He adds that any policy"needs to recognize that the Republican Party has a history of environmentalism and that we ought to be conserving our natural resources. It's the root of the word conservative." He says Republicans can build a climate policy that approaches the issue in a"business-friendly way," crafting regulations that offer incentives as opposed to punishment and providing for the re-training of coal industry workers. Still, climate issues surface rarely in the Republican presidential primary debates, something Brainard says is due to a"lack of leadership"from the candidates. "Local leaders have a role to play there,too,to push the candidates. People forget this is a representative government.The candidates are going to talk about what people want them to talk about,and what we push them to talk about," Brainard says. He added:"Local leaders have a huge role to play there to help focus the candidates on both sides of the aisle to talk about issues that are important to people in their cities,and climate is one of the important issues."--Abby Smith(asmith(a)iwpnews.com) 6 Prescribed by State Board of Accounts City Form No.201 (Rev.1995) ACCOUNTS PAYABLE VOUCHER CITY OF CARMEL An invoice or bill to be properly itemized must show: kind of service,where performed,dates service rendered, by whom, rates per day, number of hours, rate per hour, number of units, price per unit,etc. Payee Purchase Order No. Terms Date Due Invoice Date Invoice# Description Amount Dept. Fund# (or note attached invoice(s)or bill(s)) 03/01/16 INVOICE $5,020.31 1203 101 03/01/16 INVOICE $4,979.69 1203 101 I hereby certify that the attached invoice(s),or bill(s), is(are)true and correct and I have audited same in accordance with IC 5-11-10-1.6 20 Clerk-Treasurer