Sandpoint Sustainability Committee maps steps toward a June 2026 plan; public workshop and baseline data flagged as priorities

The Sandpoint Sustainability Committee on Sept. 23 set internal goals and next steps for developing a city sustainability plan, with committee leadership saying the group aims to submit a draft to city officials by June 2026 and to hold at least one public scoping workshop in January.

Committee Chair Christine Moon framed the timetable as a submission goal rather than a guarantee of council approval. “Goal 1 is to submit a sustainability plan by June 2026,” Moon said. She and other members emphasized that the plan must be consultative and tightly coordinated with council and other local committees.

Committee members discussed sequencing: draft internal work now, structured public engagement in January and further revisions before submission. Several members said a January scoping meeting should be well organized — with exercises such as breakout tables or post‑it clustering — so public input can be converted into defined priorities rather than a long list of disparate suggestions.

Members raised the need for baseline data (for example greenhouse‑gas or water quality baselines) to inform measurable goals. Moon and others said city staff time is limited: “We have also been told by the mayor and by Jason Welker that there's basically 0 funding,” Moon said, noting the committee may rely on volunteers, university partnerships or other outside help for technical data gathering.

Volunteers and next steps identified at the meeting include: - Mary Wilkos said she will review the Whitefish, Mont., sustainability plan and make it available to the committee for comparison. - Deborah Dickerson said she ran a comparative query and recommended the committee narrow to two or three peer towns to study in depth before the October meeting. - A committee member volunteered to gather water‑quality baseline data from regional sources such as Idaho Conservation League (ICL) contacts.

Members proposed a January public workshop and discussed logistics and city support. Staff cautioned that any special meeting or public workshop requires legal noticing and staff support; one staff member said notices must be posted roughly three weeks in advance and the city’s notice calendar operates on Tuesdays, which effectively requires planning about a month ahead.

Committee members also suggested low‑hanging public projects to raise the committee’s visibility while the plan is developed: battery and small‑electronics recycling drives, tree‑planting projects or a recurring monthly sustainability column in local papers. The committee agreed to compile reading links to three peer towns’ plans (Whitefish, McCall and Moscow) and asked volunteers to review them in advance of the October meeting.

The committee discussed outreach to regional universities for technical help; Chair Moon said she had spoken with city staff about at least one regional university contact who might connect the committee to graduate programs for research assistance.

Members agreed to return in October with proposed plan categories, suggestions for the format of a January public meeting and proposed January dates. The committee recorded no formal vote on the plan timetable at the meeting; the June 2026 target was framed as a submission goal and contingent on public engagement, staff capacity and subsequent council review.