Owen Sound city council has decided to hold off adding a new full-time staff member focused on climate change.
In a recorded vote of 5-4 at Monday night's council meeting, a motion brought forward by Coun. Marion Koepke passed to delay the hiring of a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Coordinator pending a better understanding of the position as it relates to the city's environmental strategic goals and for further investigation of potential shared services with surrounding municipalities.
Mayor Ian Boddy, Deputy Mayor Brian O'Leary, and councillors Travis Dodd and Brock Hamley supported Koepke's motion.
Councillors Richard Thomas, Scott Greig, John Tamming and Carol Merton opposed it.
“I've heard from a lot of people — emails, phone calls, right up until before council today. Their concerns are adding this as a permanent fixture on the tax base every year,” Koepke says. “… Some (are) saying Owen Sound is not going to be the be all and end all to fix climate change as well. We need to do our part obviously. But we're not going to solve the world's problems in Owen Sound.”
Council has allocated $105,000 in the 2020 budget for the new position.
Koepke says she wants to to see the city's strategic and official plans set first before moving ahead. The city is updating its 20-year official plan this year and has already started consultations with an online survey and will hold community engagement sessions in March and April. The renewal of Owen Sound's strategic plan will be undertaken this summer.
Coun. Thomas, who opposed the motion to delay, says when it comes to climate change “nobody is doing anything because nobody is doing anything.” He says Owen Sound's role in Grey County is to lead, not to follow or wait.
“There are definitely people in our community who think we're crazy for doing this,” Thomas says. “Is it the majority? I would challenge that.”
In fact, Grey County hired a company in November 2019 to come up with a climate change action plan. Grey County budgeted $50,000 for Toronto-based consultants ICLEI Canada to study ways to make the county more sustainable and climate aware. Their work will include measuring greenhouse gas emissions to get an idea of the level of pollution in Grey County, according to a past Bayshore Broadcasting report.
City manager Wayne Ritchie recommended adding the position at council's Jan. 13 meeting while delivering a report on possible actions to be taken to deal with climate change.
It came in response to a council resolution in December to direct staff to prepare a report detailing actions the city might take to deal with climate change — including a suggested course of action on how it can meet United Nations emissions targets of 45 per cent by 2030 — and net zero by 2050.
Referring to that decision, Coun. Brock Hamley says council unanimously, without much debate, committed to solving a problem that a city of 21,000 people simply cannot solve on its own.
“We did so because 50 people from all over Grey County, a good number who come from outside our municipal boundaries, came to press us on the issue,” Hamley says. “And I buckled. We all buckled.”
“That's not good leadership,” Hamley continues. “And that's not how you run a government.”
Hamley says he thinks the money budgeted can be better used to partner with other municipalities. He says Owen Sound is hardly a place that needs an expert to help implement new climate change initiatives, as it's already being worked on.
Some “green” initiatives the city has taken in recent years include installing solar panels on municipal properties, upgrading the wastewater treatment plant, LED street lighting, making energy efficiency improvements to city hall and installing ice-making equipment at the Julie McArthur Regional Recreation Centre that re-captures heat and to warm the indoor pool.
Mayor Boddy says the resolution doesn't mean the city won't eventually add a new climate change position, this will just to allow council to check all of its options with potential partners such as Grey County or other municipalities.
“Let's step back, make a good decision that's in the best interests of our city. And see if there's a way we can do it better and more efficiently by collaboration,” Boddy says. “If there isn't anything out there then we'll look at that position and decide exactly what it is that we want.”
“It's not saying we're not going to hire them,” Boddy adds. “It's saying let's check all of our options.”
A number of climate activists were on hand at Monday's meeting and dominated the public question period.
Liz Zetlin of the Climate Action Team Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound says they are disappointed with the decision. With the city undertaking official and strategic plan updates this year, she questions how council will come up with the goals and objectives to move forward without the knowledge and expertise a climate change coordinator will provide.
“I think it's a lost opportunity. I hope they will not delay too long,” Zetlin says. “The planning for the next 20 years is happening now and that needs the climate lens.”
*Editor's note: This story was updated from its original version to add information about a Grey County climate change action plan.