Title
Approval of a Resolution Authorizing an Interlocal Agreement between Thurston County, City of Lacey, City of Olympia, and City of Tumwater to Support Regionally Coordinated Implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve a Resolution authorizing an interlocal agreement between Thurston County, City of Lacey, City of Olympia, and City of Tumwater to support regionally coordinated implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan.
Report
Issue:
Whether to approve a Resolution authorizing an interlocal agreement between Thurston County, City of Lacey, City of Olympia, and City of Tumwater to support regionally coordinated implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan.
Staff Contact:
Pamela Braff, PhD, Director of Climate Programs, Office of Community Vitality, 360.753.8249
Presenter(s):
None - Consent Calendar Item
Background and Analysis:
Regional Climate Mitigation Planning
In 2018, Thurston County and the cities of Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater began working with Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) to develop the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan (TCMP). As part of the first phase of the project, the jurisdiction partners adopted a mutual emissions reduction goal, which is to:
Reduce net communitywide greenhouse gas emissions 45% below 2015 levels by 2030 and 85% below 2015 levels by 2050 to ensure that our community does its part to keep the global average temperature from rising more than 2° Celsius (3.6° F) above historic levels.
The partners agreed that regionally coordinated action is essential to the most efficient and effective deployment of the plan’s actions. In 2021, all partner jurisdictions accepted the TCMP as the regional framework to significantly reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and approved a Phase III Interlocal Agreement to move the TCMP into implementation over the next year. Phase III was intended to serve as a bridge year, during which the partners would further develop implementation details and longer-term strategies for governance, monitoring, and outreach to support a coordinated regional approach to climate mitigation.
Revised Approach to Regional Coordination
TRPC continued to provide administrative and technical support for implementation and regional coordination from 2021 - 2023. During that time, the jurisdiction partners also began hiring dedicated staff to support implementation of the TCMP. With increased staff capacity, the Climate Action Steering Committee (CASC) and multijurisdictional staff team determined that a new approach to regional coordination was needed.
In October - December 2022, staff from the four partners met to outline expectations for regionally coordinated implementation of the TCMP, with greater clarification of roles and responsibilities. In January 2023, the CASC held a retreat to review and discuss a staff proposal for improved regional coordination of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan. This discussion led to agreement among the CASC and multijurisdictional staff team on key issues of structure, roles, process, and logistics.
Based on this discussion, staff developed a new Interlocal Agreement (ILA) that better reflects this new structure and a Regional Implementation Guidance document that outlines expectations, roles, responsibilities, and activities under the new agreement.
Revised ILA and Regional Guidance Document
The proposed approach clarifies the roles and relationships among the different groups involved in implementation, recognizes the increased staff capacity now present to lead implementation within each jurisdiction, and provides increased opportunities for the Community Advisory Workgroup to provide feedback on the climate mitigation actions of individual jurisdictions, in addition to regional items.
The new structure establishes the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative (TCMC) as an umbrella term for the partnership, and renames the groups involved in implementation to better reflect their clarified roles: Jurisdiction Parties, an Executive Committee (replaces the Climate Action Steering Committee), a Staff Team (replaces the Multijurisdictional Staff Team), and a Community Advisory Workgroup (replaces the Climate Advisory Workgroup).
The attached Interlocal Agreement includes three elements:
• Interlocal Agreement. The agreement lays out the terms of the collaboration, including its purpose, scope, funding commitment, and process for amendment. The ILA is proposed to run through December 2030, to coincide with the interim goal for emissions reductions.
• Regional Implementation Guidance (Exhibit A). This document outlines expectations for regionally coordinated implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan under the structure proposed in the ILA. It includes more detailed information on the process of implementation; roles and responsibilities of the groups involved; and activities including the annual retreat, process for identifying regional initiatives, facilitation of the Executive Committee and CAW, and regular greenhouse gas inventories.
• TCMC Budget (October 2023 - December 2024; Exhibit B). This document provides a 15-month budget for regional coordination of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative, as described in the Interlocal Agreement and Regional Implementation Guidance. The proposed budget includes administrative support for facilitating meetings, producing an annual progress report, and developing and maintaining a new website for the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative, and regular greenhouse gas inventories. The proposed budget does not include costs for implementation of TCMP strategies.
Climate Analysis:
Approval of a new ILA for regional coordination of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan will not result in a direct reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, improved regional coordination of the TCMP will support a long-term reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by maintaining momentum for local climate action, supporting the development of efficient regional solutions to implement mitigation strategies, and providing accountability on progress towards achieving regional climate targets.
Equity Analysis:
The revised approach for regional coordination provides greater opportunity for community input on climate mitigation action through the Community Advisory Workgroup (CAW). The purpose of the CAW is to provide a range of community perspectives on climate mitigation action. The TCMC intends to appoint CAW members whose interest, life experience, or work experience provides unique and varied viewpoints to improve the implementation of the TCMP, with an emphasis on both lived and professional experience.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
During the TCMP planning process, many stakeholders and community members voiced support for taking significant action to reduce the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. These community members expressed the importance of both development and implementation of the TCMP, and have continued to express their support for regionally coordinated action and investment in climate mitigation.
Financial Impact:
The anticipated cost for regional coordination from October 2023 - December 2024 is $47,500 per partner. Sufficient funds are contained within Olympia’s 2023 and proposed 2024 climate budget for year 1 (October 2023 - December 2023; $17,500) and year 2 (January 2024 - December 2024; $30,000).
In subsequent even-numbered years, the Staff Team will provide a proposed biennial TCMC budget for review by the Parties, by no later than June 1, for the subsequent two calendar years. For the purposes of this Agreement, the approval and adoption of the respective annual budgets by the Parties will serve as the commitment to fund each Party’s share of the TCMC for the subsequent two years.
Options:
1. Approve a Resolution authorizing an Interlocal Agreement with Thurston County, City of Lacey, City of Olympia, and City of Tumwater for implementation of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan.
2. Modify the Interlocal Agreement. Work with regional partners to modify the Interlocal Agreement to address City Council concerns.
3. Do not approve the Interlocal Agreement. The City would no longer work regionally on the implementation of the TCMP. The City would move forward on its own to implement TCMP actions.
Attachments:
Resolution
Agreement