Specifications include, but are not limited to: The contractor will support and facilitate the Council, including the Council Steering Committee, Subcommittees, and Task Groups to further develop and implement the Plan and public engagement strategy. The contractor will report to the GWSA Director. Specifically, the contractor will: 1. Lead meetings of the Vermont Climate Council and the Council Steering Committee. Prepare for, attend, and facilitate the meetings of the Vermont Climate Council. Plan for up to 20 meetings a year. Each meeting of the Council is planned to last 3 hours and each meeting of the Steering Committee is planned to last an hour and a half. Services are anticipated to include: a. Working with the Steering Committee and the Director to co-design meeting agendas to promote constructive interaction; b. Reaching out to key participants in advance of each meeting to confirm meeting design and to identify key concerns; c. Working with the Steering Committee and Agency staff to prepare any materials necessary to support the successful execution of each meeting’s agenda; d. Facilitating productive conversations at the meetings; and e. Developing concise meeting summaries that are shared with all participants. 2. Support Steering Committee. Support would include providing periodic consultative advice to leadership on process design including managing particularly difficult issues, and handling interactions among the Council, Subcommittees and any related working groups, and the general public. 3. Assist the Director. Assistance would include providing periodic consultative advice regarding meeting content and supporting a deliberative process, steps/sequencing and timeline, managing particularly difficult issues, and ensuring robust public participation. 4. Support public meetings to engage Vermonters in the implementation of the 2021 CAP: The Agency is considering additional broad-based events this year based on discussions with the Steering Committee of the Council. The focus of these “listening sessions” could focus on the substantive areas of ongoing policy work to inform the Plan, anticipated legislative priorities in the next session, implementation of Plan priorities, and other topics identified through public and focused partner engagement. We expect up 6-8 public meetings each year, held most likely virtually but could include in-person meetings. Process support for meetings would include: a. Develop plans for specific public engagement events; b. Designing meetings, together with Agency staff, to promote constructive interaction; c. Reaching out to key participants ahead of time to confirm meeting design and to identify key concerns; d. Assisting Agency staff identifying materials that should be developed and provided ahead of and during the meetings; e. Facilitating productive conversations at the meetings; and f. Developing concise summaries that are shared with all participants.
