Sitka’s newest commission has bitten off a lot, but not more than it can chew. When the Sitka Assembly met on Tuesday, it heard an update from the Sustainability Commission on progress on its 2024 goals, and plans for the next year. Commission Chair Katie Riley said they were big goals, and they’d made a bit of progress.
“Does anyone have a good joke about eating elephants, perhaps assembly members? We’ve taken a couple bites, I’m glad to report,” Riley said. “Got a couple more bites to go.”
Riley said last year’s goal they’d taken the most “bites” out of was developing a community renewable energy strategy, with the help of a federal ETIPP grant. They’d made slower progress on the second and third goals–developing a strategy for diverting Sitka’s solid waste and helping the city transition its vehicle fleet to electric. All three top goals are being tweaked and rolled over to the next year in the commission’s work plan.
Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz wondered how a shift in the demand for electric vehicles would affect the commission’s third goal.
“It seems to me that manufacturer support for electric vehicles is starting to wane. It is not as hard charging as it was perhaps a year ago,” Eisenbeisz said. “Do you think that that is going to affect the implementation of item three, and how are you going to navigate that as we go forward?”
Riley said she didn’t anticipate changes in the market changing the commission’s plans.
“Electric vehicles are still a great option, especially for a community with 14 miles of road in Southeast Alaska, where you can really get everywhere you need to go without range anxiety,” Riley said. “So I don’t think those broader market trends will impact our community’s ability to transition, but definitely something to keep an eye on.”
Several assembly members, including Tim Pike, recognized that the process to meet the first three commission goals would take some time, and congratulated them on the work they’d done so far.
“I was glad to see that you at least consumed some of the elephant so that’s a great thing,” Pike said. “I think you guys are on a great track. I think the EV conversation is a good one to have going forward. There certainly are increasing options,” he continued. “And I look forward to seeing that because, yeah, I mean, we do have good hydropower.”
The assembly unanimously approved the commission’s goals and work plan for 2024-2025.
