Sustainability committee OK'd

SANDPOINT — City staff are in the process of organizing a sustainability committee to bring increased environmental and financial security to local resources.

After first proposing the idea in August of last year, city officials are turning a new sustainability committee into a reality. With the committee approved by council action last month, the next step is to fill it with community residents and a liaison from the city.

Designed to act as an advisor to the mayor and City Council, the committee will be comprised of between five and nine members, including one non-voting council member who will act as a liaison. The committee is meant to promote good stewardship of resources and ensure that they’re handled with an eye toward the long term.

Committee members will serve a term of three years and will elect amongst themselves a chairperson and vice chairperson. The body will meet at least four times a year, during which members will consider the long-term impact of city policies on the economy, local population and natural resources. The committee will also provide a forum for public dialogue and research data for any recommendations sent on to the council.

The notion of generating new sustainability ideas came about in the fall of last year. At the time, council members proposed hiring a consultant to generate a guiding plan for the city. When the money for such an endeavor fell through, council members decided to turn to the community members, many of whom have talents and professional skill sets that would be useful for the committee.

“There’s a lot of legwork that can be done on the grassroots level with local input and we have a lot of local area expertise that I think could come to the table,” Councilwoman Jamie Brunner said at a planning session for the committee.