Almost every week this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read the packet and agenda yourself.

Remember that event down at Washington Center where we spend $25,000 to hear a forum on climate change? I'm a big fan of Terry Tempest Williams, but it didn't seem much like a forum (more like a sermon) to me.

Now it looks like the city council is ready to shelve the eventual end result of that forum, which would have been a city committee to look at climate change.

Staff report:

In April 2008, the General Government weighed all the climate change work already moving forward and contemplated whether establishing a Citizen Advisory Committee is the most effective use of City resources at this time. Attachment 3 summarizes the General Government Committee’s discussion. Their recommendation is that the City Council not move forward with the taskforce at this time and instead reserve the money for sustainability efforts yet to be define.

The original proposal came from former city councilmember TJ Johnson:

But, based on the conversation at the last general government committee, it looks like the plan is being shelved:

Chair Kingsbury said his preference is to save the money. He feels that the City has already initiated several community education efforts and done its fair share, and we are investing $250,000 to develop an action plan to mitigate sea level rise and a $65,000 investment in green power.

Councilmember Strub said that she was invited to a meeting of individual interested in a regional effort to implement the Task Force concept outlined in former Councilmember Johnson’s memo.

Councilmember Ottavelli said he has had conversations with individuals interested in the concept of a more diverse effort than the task force as proposed in the memo. He indicated his support for moving forward with the efforts underway at the City, and not forming a task force at this time. His preference is to reserve the $30,000 at this time. He expressed support for tangible activities.

Councilmember Strub suggested earmarking the $30,000 for LEED efforts with the new City Hall.

Following discussion, Committee members agreed that it is their recommendation that the City Council not move forward with the task force at this time and to instead reserve the money for sustainability efforts yet to be defined.

Why does this need to cost money and why does it need to be sponsored by the city? Ok, city sponsorship assumes that the city is taking climate change seriously, but I could see a handful of local organizations recruiting a dozen or so people from a cross section of Olympia to do this work. $30,000 in staff time probably couldn't be totally made up by sweat equity, but it could be close.