Call for additional sustainability language in Strategic Plan
On Friday, November 12, Novato City Council released its draft Strategic Plan, which will be discussed at the meeting this Tuesday, November 16. We have sent the below follow message to City Council, the City Manager Adam McGill and Sustainability Coordinator Gretchen Schubeck agreeing with their prioritization of sustainability measures and recommending edits to the text. We encourage our members to do the same.
Dear Members of the City Council:
We appreciate that draft Strategic Plan Item 9 addresses the Council’s priority to respond to the oncoming climate crisis. We agree that the City must prioritize mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from both City operations and from the community at large. And we believe that creation of an online Sustainability Dashboard will add transparency and publicize the City’s success in meeting its goals. We suggest that the text also call for active implementation of the prioritized measures and we strongly believe that the creation of a Sustainability Commission would greatly benefit the City by capturing community interest and expertise towards implementing the adopted Climate Action Plan.
We recommend the following edits to the draft Strategic Plan:
Strategic Plan Item 9: Identify priority sustainability actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in City operations and the larger community and address and actively implement these measures to meet the challenge of our changing climate. Publish a Sustainability Action Dashboard that tracks City and community progress on key success indicators (metrics) on an annual basis. Facilitate regular community engagement on sustainability issues. Consider creation of a Sustainability Commission to benefit from community expertise and energy to monitor and publicize progress on implementation of the Climate Action Plan.
Stefana is a new member of the Novato community and attended her first board meeting before she finished unpacking the moving boxes. As a communications consultant, she regularly works with organizations addressing the health and equity impacts of the climate crisis. She is passionate about issues of environmental justice and working toward a healthier and more equitable future for everyone, and joined the board in the hopes of making an impact in her new home.