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Council establishes Climate Action and Resilience Committee with youth seats and approved FY25–26 work plan
Summary
The council voted Sept. 8 to create a seven-member Climate Action and Resilience Committee plus two youth voting seats, approved a FY2025–26 six-point work plan and directed staff to return with ordinance language to align term rules and staggering.
The City Council adopted a resolution Sept. 8 establishing a Climate Action and Resilience Committee (CARC), approving a fiscal year 2025–26 work plan and directing staff to prepare conforming ordinance language to accommodate youth terms.
Staff presenters described CARC as an advisory body to the council to oversee implementation of the Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP). The proposed committee will be composed of seven voting adult members plus two full voting youth members aged 14–25, meeting monthly. The council amended the staff proposal on the record to set adult terms at four years and youth terms at one year with the option to renew up to a total of four years; staff said staggering of initial terms will be handled at appointment to ensure continuity.
The council accepted a six-item inaugural work plan drawn from the CARP: orientation and training for members; set-up of tools and tracking progress; development of a check-in calendar with staff; attendance at regional meetings and trainings; maintenance of a public CARP web page with home energy resources; and preparation of recommendations for a February report to council ahead of strategic goal setting. Staff said Community Development will provide administrative and technical support, with a CivicSpark fellow assigned full time to CARP implementation for the coming year and a program manager dedicating a large portion of time.
Council discussion covered term lengths, youth participation and staffing. Councilmembers proposed and supported (and the resolution adopted) two designated youth voting seats and one-year renewable terms for youth to permit more youth participation and turnover. Staff said recruitment would open immediately and that appointments would be scheduled for a regular October council meeting. The resolution passed unanimously; the council directed staff to return with an ordinance amendment to reconcile municipal-code term language with the committee’s youth-term provisions.
