Designated Employee Locations:  

Each City Department in the CMGC and Old City Hall, CMPD –Trade Street, Fire Department Headquarters, CMUD (Hwy 16)

Purpose: 

This summer the City is once again participating in an Ozone Action Day program.  OADs refer to days of summer when the ozone is forecast to be code orange, red or purple by the North Carolina Department of Air Quality.  These color codes indicate conditions when unhealthy air quality exist and will signal Clean Air Champions (CAC) to notify employees to enact their OAD plan.  Being alerted, the employees will make a conscious effort to reduce harmful emissions on the OAD, when pollution reduction is most critical.  This is the basic objective of the program.

Why Ozone Action Days?
 

• Because Mecklenburg County has exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) standards for acceptable levels of ozone and other pollutants, and is in violation of the Clean Air Act.
   

• To avoid potential economic consequences such as the withholding of $6 billion in road and transit funding, the halting of new construction projects, the slowing of new and existing business expansions, and other federal sanctions
   

• Most importantly, to improve the quality of the air we breathe, reducing the risks of respiratory-related illnesses and/or deaths caused by polluted air.

CAC Responsibilities

First, recruit a back-up Champion and assist your KBE in deciding what actions are reasonable for employees in your KBU on OADs (i.e. carpooling, riding CATS or biking, walking, working flex hours, telecommuting, using approved leave hours or days, etc.).

Second, send information to co-workers in your department and get their commitment to develop an action plan for Ozone Action Days.  The employee action plan is what they commit to do or not do on Ozone Action Days to improve air quality  -carpooling, riding CATS, biking, walking, working flex hours, telecommuting, etc.   Employee action plans should be returned to you (preferably by email or inner-office mail).

Third, collect and total the modes of commuting and “actions” on OADs from your employees.  Send these totals to Lavernia Stoneman, lstoneman@ci.charlotte.nc.us, 704 336-3898.

Lastly, when you receive an alert of an OAD
 (for the following day), immediately communicate
with your employees and instruct them to follow
their predetermined OAD plan.  Also, answer any questions for employees or refer them to CATS
Customer Service for information on how to ride the
bus or for carpool/vanpool matching at 704 336-RIDE.