The mayor said it is his responsibility to decrease water usage at county facilities. To achieve this, he wants to expand on water conservation programs initiated at county golf courses in 2002 to the whole county. Corroon requested and received $250,000 for a watering system that will allow staff to flip one switch to stop watering at one or all parks and recreation facilities. The system is expected to cut the water bill at those facilities by 20 percent, Corroon said.

Corroon said something must be done about the county landfill before it fills up. He said county residents continue to send huge amounts of waste to the landfill each year, although much of that waste could be recycled. In his policy plan, the mayor introduced a recycled paper pilot program in which the county purchasing department will use recycled office paper for six months and report the results. If the program succeeds, Corroon wants to expand the program throughout county government.

Corroon also pledged to follow environmentally sound construction standards for the county's public buildings by following Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The county will team up with Salt Lake City to host a one-day conference on green building standards Feb. 23.

In his fiscal year 2006 budget, Corroon proposed an additional $1 million to purchase open space in Salt Lake County. Corroon said he is committed to funding open space initiatives over the next three years to purchase watershed land threatened by development and land that will provide natural corridors of travel for pedestrians and bicyclists.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com