By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly on Tuesday passed on first reading an ordinance to create a new city commission dedicated to “proposing solutions to environmental, social and economic concerns” in Sitka.
The ordinance calls for a sustainability commission with seven members that will meet once a month and will work “towards catalyzing a healthy community now and into the future....,” the ordinance says.
The ordinance received unanimous approval on first reading and will be up for final reading on Sept. 13.
The sustainability commission will replace the Sitka Climate Action Task Force, which for the past two years has been working with the Assembly on recommendations to mitigate the causes and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
During this year’s budget process the Assembly approved hiring a sustainability coordinator who will work in the planning department.
The ordinance introduced on Tuesday was a substitute for an earlier one that was withdrawn when questions were raised about certain aspects.
“I feel like we’ve captured the concerns the Assembly brought up and I hope it passes,” said Kevin Mosher, who, along with Rebecca Himschoot, co-sponsored the ordinance. “The purpose of this is to sunset the climate action task force and turn this into a permanent commission. The purpose of this commission is to help the Assembly on these kinds of issues, with their expertise, hopefully from a wide variety of backgrounds.”
The new commission is to have at least one member with background or training as a sustainability professional and “at least one individual of Alaska Native heritage with understanding and appreciation of the historical importance of sustainability on Tlingit Aaní.”
The commission is to present annual goals for Assembly approval in areas such as fossil energy use reduction, development of local renewable energy sources; responsible use of natural resources; and strengthening Sitka’s supply chain.
Other possible areas for the commission are food security enhancement; sustainable transportation options; solid waste - composting, recycling, and re-use; and robust and healthy local ecosystems and natural communities.
Three members of the climate action task force spoke in favor of establishing the commission.
“I really appreciate this dedication to continued action on climate change that our community has invested in through several recent investments, including budgeting for sustainability coordinator, passing several resolutions in support of increasing our renewable energy supply, and decarbonizing municipal operations,” Katie Riley said. “And I think this is the logical next step to continue to support municipal action on climate change.”
She said the establishment of a commission speaks to the “ongoing long-term nature of the climate crisis.”
“This is not something we can write a report on, make some suggestions and say ‘cool, we dealt with it,’” Riley said. “This is something our community’s going to be dealing with in my generation and the generations that come after me, for all the years to come. This is the reality now.”
She also noted that with the commission in place, Sitka is in a good position to take advantage of opportunities offered in the federal Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which has provisions for clean energy.
Mosher highlighted some of the sections that were changed after questions were raised when the ordinance was first presented.
“I think this could be a good thing for a lot of the reasons people mentioned,” Mosher said.
Thor Christianson said:
“I fully expect them to come up with some ideas and plans that will help us become us more sustainable, help us become cleaner, and I look forward to seeing that.”
Dave Miller spoke in favor of the commission, and said he hopes it will explore multiple solutions to every problem to make sure it’s best for Sitka.
“In a lot of the issues that you’re involved in there are 1,001 different ways to look at them - no matter who you talk to has got some little version of a different way of doing it,” he said.
Mayor Steve Eisenbeisz said he appreciated the work that went into the ordinance, which included input from the Assembly and more work by co-sponsors before it came back with revisions.
