Who'll be the most effective people at protecting us?

Enlightened municipal employees. Yes, there are more and more!

Ambush? Not exactly. I’m just waiting for the Director of Planning to arrive. And the Superintendent of Water Pollution Control. . . . And, on another matter, I have a bone to pick with the Animal Officer!

Actions against climate dangers need to be local - some at our homes, most at City Hall. Problems from flooding, storms, drainage, drought, sea level rise, and heat are already here, landing on the doormat of City Management. Will they do anything about them?

WHAT’S NEEDED AT CITY HALL
For our town to actually accomplish much in protecting its residents, it will take certain attitudes in the City Council and more importantly, the mayor, city manager, and planning chief. This mindset has several components.

• Beliefs. It may be hard to get some leaders to see and to care about the dangers we face. We probably need the ballot box to achieve this.

• Knowledge of what’s possible. We can, however, help make sure they know about similar protections being created in towns like ours.

• Independence, initiative and guts. We can push city management to show some boldness, an ability to ignore obstacles (financial or human) and the strength to rally others in city government, and city residents in general.

• Skills. Then we can point out how they can strengthen their abilities to manage the project, make the right decisions, take the right steps, and create something that’s built to last.

And we should know that, beyond the bigwigs, the lesser-known city employees may be where these qualities actually lie.

BUDDY SAYS “YEAH, YEAH, YEAH. THOSE ARE JUST WORDS . . .
. . . Add three dollars and you can buy me a rawhide bone. What should those people actually be doing?”

Okay, let’s look first at a few of the imaginative, sometimes difficult actions that thinking/caring town leaders across the country are taking to protect their residents.

Buying floodable properties Neighborhood flooding costs local governments big time: emergency costs, cleanup money, and the indirect costs of a visibly damaged, perhaps blighted, community. Some towns have been overseeing floodplain buyouts of repeatedly floodable properties. FEMA provides the money, and the town takes ownership, disposes of the structures, and usually returns the land to open spaces on which flooding won’t cause problems. We can examine how it worked for the county between Tacoma and Mt. Rainier.

Planting trees to reduce a heat island Roads, sidewalks, and buildings shaded by trees are much cooler than those in the open. Many cities are planting those trees; as they grow there will be big dollar savings in air conditioning, healthcare, road repair and other heat-related costs. Where better than Phoenix to make this happen?

Raising roads above rising waters The Miami area is the poster child for elevating streets to reduce flooding, but the officials of smaller towns like Falmouth, MA are taking steps to protect the town by raising roads, building barrier walls and nourishing some beaches.

Managing retreat Similar to a property buyout is assistance to homeowners and businesses who need to move to more climate-proof locations. The cities of Chesapeake and Newport News, VA are among those working to help residents relocate to more climate-proof neighborhoods or even leave for a safer hometown.

SO HOW ARE CITY STAFF GOING TO KNOW ABOUT ALL THIS?
They can delve into the rich and attractively produced U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. It offers a deep assortment of training courses, case studies, and other resources to help both residents and municipal officials see ways to armor their town against climate degradation and extreme events. We could ask around city hall if anyone uses these tools to develop climate plans for the city and choose initiatives.

We can ask if anyone in city management is a Certified Climate Change Professional (CC-P). This curriculum for state and local planning officials aims to improve planning, infrastructure, emergency management, energy, facilities, resilience, sustainability, environment, and risk management. The latest live online training courses begin this week!

The Environmental Resilience Institute offers a trove of strategies, tools, case studies, and, perhaps most important, funding sources! We wonder if anyone knows about it in our town?

Is anyone here taking Climate Resilience 101 for Elected Municipal Officials? Or reading ideas about how to organize resilience effort, get trained, and attend events developed by Sustainable CT?

Is our city a member of the National League of Cities? Anyone can browse their climate news and resources.

The list goes on. After about fifteen sites, packed with ideas and facts, Buddy packed it in and retired to his bed.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
The key is getting the people in City Hall to do what Buddy did: overdose on the huge number of initiatives across the country, see the extensive training and resources available to them and their staff, and see clearly which actions they can take to similarly help our city - and their career! Here are some steps we can each take in the coming days.

• Research a specific protective action we need our town to take.

• Write to officials with specific requests, mentioning what other towns are doing.

• Walk into City Hall - maybe with our kids! - and ask polite but pointed questions. Leave notes requesting staff look at specific URLs and respond to us.

• Write an upbeat letter to the editor about how other towns are preparing for the same climate threats we face.

• Lead a group of residents - to include municipal staff members! - in taking some courses on climate protections together and discussing them.

• If more pressure is needed, maybe form a Sustainability Advisory Committee, put a citizen referendum on the ballot, or even picket the Mayor’s office.

The panoply of resources - high-quality educational and action-aiding sites, many with interviews, videos, good writing, training courses, even certification - is huge and growing. Our job is to make our town’s hidden middle management familiar with what actions are being taken by their peers out there.

Who should be our targets? With one look at our small city’s website, Buddy found such posts as Utilities Director, City Engineer, Zoning & Inspections Chief, Director of Planning & Economic Development, Community Resilience Specialist, Director of public Services, and more.

Even if we’re pushing those city staff to learn for the first time about specific climate protections, they’re likely aware of the increasingly important job qualification in the municipal market - climate action. It’s hard to imagine those leaders or technical staff reading about other cities and not thinking, “We can do that! My department can design, or lead, or promote such a project! (Hey, maybe it’d be good for my career too!)”

What’s happening in your City Hall? Please let us know.