Mayor Ed MacDougall gets first PACE program solar installation | Cutler Bay

Mayor Ed MacDougall gets first PACE program solar installation | Cutler Bay

Should the elected leaders leed, or this this case, LEED, by example? There is an important policy question and that is whether leaders should set examples with their money or the community tax dollars? Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall is putting his personal money forward to lead. He is taking the plunge rather than push you into the water from behind.

South Dade Matters raised an interesting issue regarding government purchases of electric cars: PB: Volt Demands Jolt of Reality.  This post was raising alarms about an item on the Palmetto Bay Village Council agenda for January 7, 2012, the proposed purchase of two(2) 2012 Chevrolet Volts from Grand Prize Auto in the amount of $74,300.00.

The article ended with the statements that:

The Village of Palmetto Bay is wasting at least $37,000 so that certain elected officials can run around pretending to be green.

SDM Says: If the village council is so insistent on wasting money on untested technology, please step up to the plate and pay for it with your own money.

Comments to the blog were furious, SDM further commented that:

Here’s the problem: Palmetto Bay’s purchase of two electric vehicles is not leadership; rather, it is following blindly. Worse, it very well may be politics, meaning that some elected officials are purchasing these vehicles for more than twice the cost of a comparable alternative merely to make a political point.

What about it? Should elected official set the policy with the public’s money or their own?  Read where Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall is putting his personal money where his political mouth is in the Cutler Bay News article: Mayor Ed MacDougall gets first PACE program solar installation, by Gary Alan Ruse, Date posted: January 9, 2013

The article reveals that Cutler Bay Mayor Ed MacDougall, an early supporter of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, now has set an example by participating in it. His own home has the first PACE program solar power roof installation in the area.

 “I’m very excited about it,” MacDougall said in an interview on Dec. 27. “Most of the array is on the front of my house. The way they put it on is they first figure what portion of your roof is best angled for the sunlight. Mine happens to be the front of the house.

“There are quite a few panels. They’re arranged where people can see them, which I think is really good because I want people to see them. I want people to think, ‘wow, maybe I should do that.’ I think it’s important that I lead the way. I strongly believe in PACE. I’m very environmental with pretty much everything I do, including the cars that we drive.”

MacDougall’s business, Choice One Companies, uses only Smart Cars for its staff. He said he hopes the new 10,000 kilowatt photo voltaic solar panel system on his home will reduce his electric bill by 75 percent. “My bill already is pretty low,”

Kudos to Mayor MacDougall for setting an example with his own money.  I have not heard whether current Palmetto Bay Mayor Shelley Stanczyk intends to set a similar leadership example or continue to “lead” with other people’s money.