Mayor Ken Jahn released more details about his planned "green initiatives" advisory committee last week.

The committee, which is expected to have an advisory role to the Common Council, will be charged with looking into developing environmentally-friendly policies and actions that can be adopted.

"The question becomes in everybody's mind is that it is easy to talk about going green but how do you put it all together; how do you set up a frame work to bring it all together," Jahn told the city's Plan Commission Monday.

It was during Plan Commission meetings over the last year that city officials began mulling over conversation-minded practices while drafting a new city comprehensive plan.

The comprehensive plan spells out the manner and course of future development in the city over the next 20 years. Many passages in the plan called for environmentally-sustainable practices and specifically for a "green initiatives" committee.

Jahn said that he plans to appoint members to the special committee in January.

The names of some potential members, such as Plan Commission member Peter Tofson, Director of Public Works and Utilities Manager Bob Redelings and Main Street Portage Director Carolyn Roberts, have already been floated.

Jahn suggested that the committee may follow a model called the "Natural Step" approach to study things that could be done in Portage.

The model was adapted by Sustain Dane, a non-profit environmental ground in Dane County, from the book "The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns can Change to Sustainable Practices," written by Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti.

According to literature distributed to the Plan Commission this week, the goals of the Natural Step study circle program are to provide information, motivation and support for individuals in a community to become actively involved in efforts to make their community more sustainable.

As described by the mayor, the process could entail four to five planning sessions over the next year. It could also involve utilizing the UW-Extension as a facilitator, or guide through the process.

Jahn said, "2009 should be our year of work and 2010 I would hope that we can put some of this stuff in place."

The committee could start meeting as early as February.