recommendations and other worthwhile funding requests and make funding decisions based on its priorities.
The Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Office has been operating with three full-time staff positions (2 permanent and 1 temporary) since 2018. The current staffing contingent is insufficient to maintain the current workload and the growing Corporate and Community expectations much less to undertake the ambitious acceleration of actions detailed in this report. In order to carry on work, it is recommended that in the 2021 budget the Community Energy Plan Administrator position be filled permanently and that sustainable operating and capital funding be provided in order to ensure action and create opportunities to leverage grant dollars. Currently the Community Energy Plan Administrator position has one-time funding to carry on for 2020.
In addition to the recommendation to establish the Community Energy Plan Administrator as a permanent, full time position, additional funds of at least $42,000 annually will be required in the near term to accelerate climate action and enhance community engagement on an annual basis. As mentioned above, the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Office currently operates with minimal discretionary funds to implement actions in the Environmental Master Plan, Community Energy Plan, Corporate Climate Action Plan and Climate Change Adaptation Plan. These funds have historically been used to host the City’s annual Earth Day event, host Community stakeholder workshops, development of limited promotional /education materials (generally one new topic per year), advertising, and support climate change workshops/training for corporate staff.
The following table outlines the preliminary estimates of additional near term funding requirements. Administration will bring forward the identified operating budget needs as part of the 2021 operating budget development process for council’s consideration.
Table 5: Increase in Operating Costs to allow for an enhancement to the annual Community Engagement and Education on Climate Action
| Community Energy Plan position (wages and benefits) Administrator | $91,480 |
| Overtime salary | $2,000 |
| Program Supplies | $12,000 |
| Promotional Material and Product | $11,000 |
| Graphic Design | $10,000 |
| Advertising | $5,000 |
| Business Expenses | $2,000 |
| Annual Reserve Transfer to Climate Change | $150,000 |
| Increased Annual Operating Funding Requirements Budget | $283,480 |
The Climate Change Reserve Fund in the table above is a new reserve that as noted would require permanent ongoing funding allocations in future years. Seed money to initially fund the reserve can be obtained this year from a higher than expected yearend