As council is poised to consider renewing its Climate Change Advisory Committee (CCAC), Tantramar’s climate change coordinator position has ended, with no replacement in sight. Janie Brooks, the most recent part-time climate change coordinator for the town, wound up her work at the end of March.
A permanent and full time climate change coordinator was one recommendation from the CCAC back in 2022, when Tantramar’s first budget was being created by the province. And although Tantramar’s first budget did include funding for a full-time coordinator, the position was never created, because a part-time, temporary funding arrangement through EOS Eco Energy and the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund was already in place.
Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne told CHMA by email that there is still salary allocated for an additional position in the Community and Corporate Services department where the climate change coordinator works, but that position is, “under review for the best resource to support the department.”
Borne went on to say that “in general terms, we have an internal process that we must strictly adhere to with respect to a union environment in order to add positions.”
CCAC chair Doug Bliss was before council in late March to present renewed terms of reference for the committee, as well as a climate priorities plan for the municipality. Though he didn’t specifically mention the coordinator position to council, Bliss told CHMA that the committee has long advised that an effective climate response requires dedicated staff time and adequate resources, and the committee “encourages the Municipality of Tantramar to create a full-time permanent position to advance its Climate Change goals backed with appropriate budgets.”
Renewed CCAC for amalgamated municipality
On Tuesday, Tantramar council will be asked to approve new terms of reference for the CCAC, which has been operating under its previous town of Sackville rules and mandate ever since amalgamation.
The CCAC started in 2021, growing out of the much larger and more open Mayor’s Roundtable on Climate Change, which was struck in response to youth climate strikes in Sackville in 2019. On April 9, Tantramar council will have the opportunity to officially incorporate the committee into the new municipality.
Though the committee has faced some pushback in the past, councillors only proposed housekeeping amendments to the workings of the committee at their meeting in March.
In June of last year, Councillor Matt Estabrooks temporarily derailed committee appointments over concerns about process, and over what he called conflicts of interest in members who actively work or earn a living in the environmental and climate change adaptation and mitigation sectors. Estabrooks had also suggested that the appointment procedure for the committee include a required public call for applications. But Estabrooks didn’t bring up those suggestions or concerns at the March meeting.
CCAC presents three year plan
At that meeting, CCAC chair Doug Bliss presented council with a three year “strategic priorities for climate response” plan for council’s approval. “The steps forward are not necessarily difficult or complex,” said Bliss, “but there are many steps that have to be put together in some sort of organized fashion.”
The priorities plans includes the setting of GHG emissions targets for the municipality, the conducting of energy audits and retrofits to the town’s buildings, the updating of municipal plans, liaising with other major emitters like Mount Alison University, and also working with Plan 360.
Bliss also talked about more immediate recommendations for this year’s $35,000 climate initiatives budget. Director of community and corporate services Kieran Miller said that one of the recommended projects, a public facing dashboard to track solar production at Bill Johnstone Memorial Park’s solar array, will be installed later this spring. The dashboard will cost $5,000 to $8,000, and will also be able to be used for other messaging from other town departments, said Miller.
Another recommended initiative is the hosting of a public climate forum event, to echo one hosted in February 2020 by the original Mayor’s Roundtable on Climate Change. Miller told council the expected costs were between $2,000 and $3,000.
Neither of those projects requires explicit council approval because of their size, but the third initiative will be up for council approval on April 9: energy audits for some of Tantramar’s largest buildings, including the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre, the Dorchester Veterans Community Centre, and the Tantramar Engineering and Public Works depot. The three audits are expected to cost from $20,000 to $26,000.
