From improbable to ingenious, Florida Keys Mosquito Control Director Michael Doyle says employees offered up hundreds of ideas during this week's two-day sustainability summit in Marathon. </p><p>"A big part of the summit was getting information from the whole staff," Doyle said. "I think there were 340 ideas or something; it was a lot. The second day was the big, putting everything into practice day."</p><p>Many ideas likely won't see the light of day, though they weren't lacking in creativity. That includes remote control helicopters and dispensing larvicide in hard-to-reach places via paintball guns. </p><p>"That was a popular one," Doyle said of the paintball idea. "And they said crazy ideas, think of anything you want...because sometimes the crazy idea will be the path to an idea that works."</p><p>Plenty of doable ideas were brought up as well, including rainwater collection to use washing vehicles and lower the district water bill. </p><p>"It might cost $1,500, but we pay it off in a few months. We also talked about possibly solar panels on the roof in Marathon," Doyle said, referring to the district office on 107th Street. </p><p>Doyle said he plans to form employee committees to help implement the most attainable goals brought up at the summit. </p><p>David Cooperrider, from the Weatherford School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, will help with the process. He hosted the summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.</p><p>"We have monthly meetings for the next several months where they'll help us organize. It's easy to go back to business as usual. I talked with them last night about how to organize these groups of employees and establish goals and dates," Doyle said. </p><p>Other short-term goals could include switching from gas-guzzling pickup trucks to some type of electric cars to use with domestic programs. </p><p>In addition, if the district ends up moving from its city of Key West-owned lot on College Road, it could aspire to build a "zero energy" building elsewhere in the Lower Keys. Key West Sustainability Coordinator Alison Higgins offered up ideas for such a building during her Wednesday speech. </p><p>"She gave us all types of practical information for grants and energy credits. The goal would be a no energy cost facility," Doyle said.</p><p>Other ideas included reducing time field inspectors spend inputting data on handheld devices, and partnering with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office to clean up areas where mosquitoes could breed. </p><p>Sheriff Rick Ramsay has made it a goal to clean up problem areas up and down the Keys. Much of that includes clearing tires and other garbage off vacant lots, which often make for fertile mosquito breeding grounds. </p><p>"It exceeded my expectations," Doyle said. "The job now is to whittle down which projects we can do quickly and which ones are long term, and decide which ones we'll put in this year's budget and which ones will be for future years."