Agenda - 06-07-2022; 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

48 1 time and actually take her away from her job working on climate. She said that is when the 2 alarm bells were going off for her and she realized it was time to reorganize this group. 3 Commissioner Richards said the abstract does talk about the accomplishments of the 4 council. She said that what the recommendations are trying to do is take those things and 5 focus the charge to leverage and engage with the community, to gather and exchange 6 information, promote communication between county and municipalities on future opportunities, 7 and provide feedback on public education. She said that it is oriented on how we engage the 8 community and staff. She said that the goal is to take the strong things the council 9 accomplished and put the focus on actions that can move the needle and collaborating with the 10 community. She said the hope is to take the achievements and leverage them moving forward. 11 Commissioner Fowler said she wanted to acknowledge the accomplishment that council 12 members were able to achieve. She said when she first joined, she was trying get started on 13 the county's climate action plan. She said a climate action plan is foundational and they need 14 to know this before collaborating and complimenting others' work. She said they have not made 15 progress because they do not have their own plan. She said she found the structure of the 16 Intergovernmental Parks Work Group useful. She said she understood the confusion of who is 17 actually on the council. She said they need an MOU to make sure they are following 18 processes. She said that groups cannot develop their own decisions on how things should be 19 run. She said that council reached a point where they were looking for funding in order to do 20 communications rather than use the county's communications. She said there was a lack of 21 following governing rules that was concerning to her. She said she agreed that climate was 22 urgent and needs to be a focus. She said she finds it hard to collaborate until they have their 23 own climate plan. 24 Chair Price said that over the past year there have been expressed concerns about the 25 climate council. She said that there were concerns about attendance. She said that is why 26 there was a subcommittee formed to look into it. She said the work that has been done has 27 shown the need for a county climate action plan. She said that she has spoken to the County 28 Manager about the Committee for the Environment possibly revising their focus and taking on 29 climate change instead of just environmental protection. She said she appreciates what the 30 subcommittee has done in looking into the group and developing those recommendations. She 31 said that the recommendations seem to be a reasonable way to address climate change and 32 the urgency of it. She said that the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group seems like a 33 reasonable model to follow. She said that some people are wondering if the group needs to be 34 abolished but that for now, she thinks the recommendations are a reasonable solution. 35 Commissioner Greene said she agrees that the county needs to create its own climate 36 plan. She said that she wondered if there should be a council right now or if the people that are 37 engaged should be asked to work with the county. She said that she understands that it is not 38 functioning well, and she is not sure that the solution offered is the best solution. She said she 39 was not sure the recommendations are the right solution. She said this feels like a top-down 40 process rather than a more engaging process. She said she does not have a fully formed 41 decision, but maybe this is not the time for an inter-jurisdictional group to exist since the county 42 needs to concentrate on its own work in creating a plan. 43 Commissioner Hamilton said she wondered why we had a Commission for the 44 Environment and the Climate Council. She said the Commission for the Environment should be 45 the place to give input to the Board because it is a clearly established advisory council. She 46 said when she looks at the things the council has recommended that it really should be the 47 Commission for the Environment. She said if there is a Climate Council to help the 48 municipalities talk then it should be more like the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group. She 49 said it seems like a more efficient way to get the governmental roles on what can be done. She 50 said that she agrees that maybe there should not be a group right now and that it needs to be 51 clear who is doing the work that the board wants. She said it would be nice to get this on a work