Amid extreme heat, widespread drought, destructive wildfires and smoky skies, the Whitefish City Council recently was asked to consider creating a staff position dedicated to implementing the city's sustainability and climate change resiliency goals.

During an Aug. 2 work session, members of the city's Climate Action Plan Standing Committee asked the council to reaffirm its commitment to sustainability, and said the city needs someone on the payroll who could take the lead on climate initiatives — an ambitious effort that's currently spread across city departments, with no single official in a coordinating role.

Among other goals, the city's 2018 Climate Action Plan aims to reduce carbon emissions from city facilities by 26% by 2025, using 2016 emissions as a baseline.

"A sustainability coordinator full-time position with the city would be able to advance the goals of this Climate Action Plan faster and more cohesively between departments," said Casey Lewis, a member of Whitefish's climate committee who also works as an environmental coordinator for the city of Kalispell.

A report released Aug. 9 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — based on more than 14,000 scientific studies and approved line-by-line by 195 national governments — makes clear that human-generated greenhouse gases have warmed the planet to a crisis point, and that world leaders must take rapid, dramatic steps to reduce carbon emissions to stave off the most dire consequences.

The report emphasizes that no community in the world is immune from the effects of climate change, be they heat waves, droughts, wildfires, dwindling snowpack, rising sea levels or extreme weather events such as dust storms and tropical cyclones.

KATE MCMAHON, a planning consultant who serves on Whitefish's climate committee, said the city already has implemented several of the most attainable objectives identified in its Climate Action Plan.

Those actions, which McMahon described as "low-hanging fruit," included upgrades to the city's wastewater treatment plant, the installation of more energy-efficient streetlights, a water conservation ordinance and, most recently, the council's decision to launch a curbside recycling program.

Now the committee's top priority is the hiring of a sustainability coordinator, who could serve as a liaison between the committee, the City Council and city departments, and perform important duties such as writing grant applications. Last year, some of that work was performed by five interns from the Montana Energy Corps, but that program was dissolved at the start of this year.

Committee member Ryder Delaloye, a Whitefish School District administrator, said businesses, nonprofits, school districts and municipalities across the U.S. have seen progress after creating sustainability-focused jobs.

"They recognize that if they want to achieve those outcomes, they're going to identify an individual who will be accountable for those outcomes," Delaloye told the council. "We cannot put more on people's plates that are already full. But what we can do is, if we prioritize this, we can allocate a position for it."

The cities of Bozeman, Missoula, Red Lodge and Helena each have at least one sustainability-focused position, as do Missoula County and the cities of Moscow, Idaho; Breckenridge, Colorado; and Moab, Utah.

MEMBERS OF Whitefish's climate committee also asked council members to reaffirm their commitment to mitigating climate change, prompting several members to say they take the crisis seriously.

"I think it's an emergency that we're in," council member Rebecca Norton said.

Council member Frank Sweeney said implementing the Climate Action Plan remains "a high priority" for the council, but he voiced reservations about the proposal to hire a sustainability coordinator.

"On a personal level, I still question the need for a coordinator position. I just do. I think this is a responsibility we all have," Sweeney said.

"I think if we have a coordinator, my personal view is it becomes their job and not ours. And it has to be our job, as a collective," he said. "Based on what I know so far and what I've seen, the most effective way for us to make climate action a reality is to make it everybody's responsibility."

Council member Ben Davis, meanwhile, said the coordinator position "seems like something worth considering.”

Council member Steve Qunell suggested changing the potential job title to "climate change resiliency coordinator," noting the word "sustainability" can be interpreted broadly.

Committee members acknowledged the city's budgeting process already was too far along to add funding for the position this year, and they asked the council to consider establishing the job in fiscal 2023.

In a recent letter to the council, however, City Manager Dana Smith noted the city's fiscal 2022 budget includes many other sustainability-focused items, including various infrastructure improvements, the purchase of a hybrid patrol vehicle for the Whitefish Police Department and the continuation of the city's Aquatic Invasive Species Program to preserve water quality in and around Whitefish Lake.

Assistant editor Chad Sokol may be reached at 406-758-4439 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com.