City Hires its Office of Sustainability Manager
The City of Tacoma passed a resolution in October that created an Office of Sustainability. The office would serve as something like an “environmental auditor,” reporting to the City Manager on the City’s sustainable practices.
Fast forward to now – City Manager Eric Anderson announced last week that Kristin Lynett will become the City’s new Office of Sustainability Manager beginning on June 1, 2009.
Lynette currently works for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife where she serves as Resource Conservation Manager/Sustainability Coordinator. She has a Masters Degree in Environmental Studies, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science as well as a Sustainable Building Advisor Program national certification.
“Kristen has a wealth of experience and a solid educational background that we believe will be a great foundation for building this new office,” said City Manager Eric Anderson. “She will help us become a more sustainable and environmentally aware City.”
As the Sustainable Development Manager, Lynette will be responsible for working to balance the City’s commitment to manage environmental impacts; planning and implementation of the five-and 10-year sustainability goals for City government and the community; as well as the refinement and implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan. She will also be charged with integrating sustainability and environmental values into City plans, programs and policies.
We look forward to seeing what comes out of this office.
Welcome to the neighborhood!
Filed under: General
28 comments
J jamie from thriceallamerican May 11, 2009
Kristi is a longtime T-Town resident and a close friend. She totally embodies sustainability. Amazing fit for the position, I was really excited when I heard that she’d gotten the job.
E E May 12, 2009
Give me a break….
I’m sure Kristin is a great person and only has the best intentions for our city. But do we really have the money to create an “office of sustainability”???? I’m sure there’ll be a dozen employees in a couple of years.
I see it as just one more bureaucratic government agency looking over our shoulders.
We should make sure she knows that Commencement Bay coffee might be roasting a couple pounds of beans so she can “study” and “regulate” such terrible environmental offenses.
Small business is doomed.
D dolly varden May 12, 2009
@2: Right on. Tacoma shouldn’t be spending a cent to help combat global warming, save salmon, improve air quality, improve transit, provide new bike trails and bike lanes, build sidewalks, stop invasive plants, and clean up Puget Sound. Stupid bureaucrats, who needs ‘em?
T Thorax O'Tool May 12, 2009
It’s a fine balance to walk.
You don’t want to be so Draconian that all small to medium businesses suffer, but you can’t exactly let folks dump indiscriminately in the Sound (like they did back in the day).
I hope she can do the job well enough to keep us halfway between a California and a Texas.
M Mofo from the Hood May 12, 2009
What do you get when you create a synthesis of Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Orwell’s “1984?”
M MattonGrant May 12, 2009
Congratulations Kristi! Best of Luck with the new position.
V Visitor May 12, 2009
I hope that those of you attacking this position realize that sustainability can actually save your city money. It’s not only about the environment. But go ahead, keep assuming that every government action means the end of the world.
T TacoMan May 12, 2009
While I am strongly in favor of happy salmon, tasty air, teeming riparian habitats, arsenic-free soil, etc. I am ambivalent about this office for two reasons.
First is that it will almost inevitably become like other such offices in other such cities – over-politicised, underfunded, and apt to focus mainly on a limited number of pet projects once it becomes (even more) clear that this isn’t the way that the supposed principles of sustainability become integrated into city activities. The first step towards sustainability is to acknowledge that sustainability doesn’t exist — except in academic theory and environmental studies programs.
My second reason is that, for all of the areas mentioned before, air, salmon, transit, etc., there are already substantial regulations and agencies that deal with these. I’ve found that staff at the city level are already quite conscious of environmental methods but often lack the funding (rather than the wisdom or collaboration) to accomplish these (urban waters = notable exception).
D dolly varden May 12, 2009
@4: We all need to go way beyond what California’s environmental policies if we’re going to do our share to stop global warming, protect the Sound and its species, etc. Visitor is exactly right that sustainability and a healthy economy will be two sides of the same coin in the future. (If Visitor read my obnoxious comment @3 as an attack on the new office, my grumpy, just-got-home-from-work sarcasm may not have been clear enough…)
M Mofo from the Hood May 12, 2009
I’m not interested in sustainability.
I’m interested in truth.
Climate Action Plan? People control climate? People go t 4 p 3 s the True sustainability coordinator. Let’s not confuse som le in city government with what they actually do.
Excuse me, . “Hello, Office of Sustainability? Right. Will you be able`ZD ? I p i; \@sitors to Tacoma that I would arrange for blue skies and sunshine.”
V Visitor May 12, 2009
TacoMan,
Of course the city’s employees are conscious of environmental methods, that is why they are hiring someone to concentrate on that specific task. Just because people are conscious of something doesn’t mean they have the experience and education to actually complete the job.
===================================
“I’ve found that staff at the city level are already quite conscious of environmental methods but often lack the funding (rather than the wisdom or collaboration) to accomplish these (urban waters = notable exception).”
Posted by TacoMan | May 12, 11:16 AM
E EcoGuy May 13, 2009
I am sure Ms Lynett is a fine person and she has the right credentials. However, when I googled her name I found nothing. No written reports, articles, books, no awards/honors, conference presentations, committee-professional association leadership, or newspaper articles on her projects. Even the WA F & W web site shows no leadership. For a salary range of up to $95k/yr, ina recession, they couldn’t find someone who has left a bigger impression in the world?
S Sven Anderson May 13, 2009
There is nothing sustainable about modern society. If we want to be real about this whole sustainability bull-honkey, we need to drop world population to pre-industrial era levels. Odds are, you and I are among the 6,000,000,000 people who would have to die.
That is neither realistic nor ethical. The first step towards making a dent at least is not paying her $95K. If we put a salary cap of $50K for ALL city employees, cops, firemen, and our elected officials. Use the money saved for trolleys and light rails.
N notme May 13, 2009
I just Googled your name EcoGuy and I found nothing on you either. Give me a break, Ms. Lynett is a fine person and a state employee. Very few state employees publish papers or write articles. Unless they happen to be a professor, scientist or researcher, that kind of stuff just isn’t in the job description. She has just be doing the work at a large state agency for many years. And no, if you wanted the City to hire same “name” or famous sustainability expert- if there are such people- you wouldn’t get them for $95K.
C crenshaw sepulveda May 13, 2009
Where is the outrage?
J J. Cote May 13, 2009
I don’t think that the issue is whether or not Ms. Lynett is a fine, capable, upstanding person, as I’m sure she is.
The issue from my perspective is whether or not we NEED anybody at all to perform this function.
In reading the brief CV that was provided above, I saw a near six-figure salary. What the hell are we doing hiring more high end employees in the middle of a recession and double digit unemployment?
Do we not have a bazillion potholes that need fixing, sidewalks in disrepair, parks that require maintenance, along with the basic needs of the poor? Where are the priorities of this Council and Manager?
I’m just waiting for the headlines to pop up saying that the City made mistakes, the recession really DID have an effect on the budget and they need to lay off hundreds.
Is that outrage enough, Crenshaw?
C crenshaw sepulveda May 13, 2009
That is some good outrage, J. Cote. The city must have hired a Seattle consultant for $200k telling us to create such a position and fund it during this economic climate. This is beyond absurd.
E EcoGuy May 13, 2009
I disagree with all you folks that think this is a waste of money. In a large org like the City all it takes is automating lights and monitors to save that much money.
As for “notme”, what I expect for my tax dollars is not some big name. I never said that, but rather someone whose work is so outstanding that their own organization is proud enough to highlight it. Or local news picks it up, or their professional organization. Anything. Also, this job is an educational position, so I do expect to find some kind of paper trail of writings, even if it is only newsletter articles. But again, I found bupkus. Nada. Zilch.
S siwel May 13, 2009
Sorry crenshaw and cote, it was not a “Seattle” consultant (oooh, evil) but the good citizens of Tacoma that suggested creation of this position. It was one of many recommendations of the Greenribbon Commission. And hiring a person who has been actually doing the work of sustainability to apply her knowledge on reducing the carbon footprint of our community is a good thing to do regardless of the economic climate. I hope you’re not saying we should reduce environmental regulations or relax enforcement based on flucutations in the economy.
S siwel May 13, 2009
Thanks for the clarification EcoGuy. That helps. I just think you are expecting too much. There are thousands of hard working and dedicated government employees who just do great work and have a lot to offer and by the nature of their position never get highlighted, noticed, acknowledged or appreciated, zip, nada, bumpkis.
J jamie from thriceallamerican May 13, 2009
There are thousands of hard working and dedicated government employees who just do great work and have a lot to offer and by the nature of their position never get highlighted, noticed, acknowledged or appreciated, zip, nada, bumpkis.
Especially at WDFW, which I understand to be something of a mess even beyond other entities in the vast bureaucracy.
EcoGuy, try Googling “Kristi” instead of “Kristin” for more hits.
E EcoGuy May 13, 2009
Oh, that worked much better! Being a long time state employee that has left lots of bread crumbs to find me on the web, I disagree that I expect too much for this level of a position. However, I see now that she has left a wake in the world, after all.
Unlike the knee-jerk anti-gov folks above, I can now rest easier that my tax dollars are being well spent.
D David Boe May 13, 2009
To make the Office of Sustainablity meaningful – it needs to have the ability to weigh-in ‘unfettered’ on all projects – be it public works street design standards to pet projects proposed by the City Council or City Manager. Example: If the OOS had existed when the Convention Center was proposed – would it have looked at ways to make the Convention Center more sustainable and ‘green’ – or would it have the clout (and support) to say – NO – the best environmental solution would be to actually put capital investment into the existing T-Dome and Exhibition Center thus not having to tear down all those existing buildings and the impact of the new construction (as well as keeping the two large volumes to a temperate zone – full of conventioneers or not). Sadly I doubt that Ms. Lynette and her office are going to be given that range of influence – and resign myself to the fact that she will most likely be politically compartmentalized to think of creative ways make sure city staff use both sides of a sheet of paper before recycling.
T tom waits May 14, 2009
David@23. I concur with your opinions generally about the convention center, etc., but don’t you think there is a middle ground between czar (or an unelected dictator) and your example of a toothless official who puts up recycling posters here and there.
For instance, many folks talk about environmental sustainability as only one component in a triangle, the others being cultural sustainability and economic sustainability. This acknowledges that none of our efforts will work without at least some consideration of all three factors. No one is going to look at things this way unless they are in a dedicated position and allowed to do so. The green ribbon task force recommendations were pretty broad. And it is worth pointing out that sustainability is a very poorly defined term. How it gets defined will be critical.
There is a lot of room for this discussion to occur and there are a lot of dumb things the city does that are antithetical to sustainability efforts…and that the city’s policies and regulations encourage or force businesses and citizens to do as well. At the very least I’d argue that the benign lack of attention to some of these issues – the stupid things that the city should fix but doesn’t – will be alleviated and that from this point forward, someone will be in charge of taking a comprehensive system wide look at how the city is doing and how it could do better.
H Happy Taco Man May 14, 2009
For the Googlers out there, it would have helped if the city had gotten the name right on the original press release (if you use Kristi Lynett, not Kristen Lynette, you get pages and pages of links to usual (dull?) meetings, conferences, agendas, etc).
Having worked with her as a colleague at another state agency, I would guess she isn’t one to be too interested in creating good PR, but rather in getting her job done effectively. At WDFW this centered around making their business practices “greener” and often creating cost avoidances in the process – for Fish and Wildlife this amounted to savings each year that are many times the high end of her new salary range. (That’s for the money people).
I am positive she will save our city money and make its practices less resource intensive, but I do wonder how much influence her office will get to have on larger (pet) projects. And since it appears this is an office on one, I’m really glad I’m not the person that has to prioritize and implement this broad agenda.
I think this is a position the City can greatly benefit from, and that she is a great fit: All the best!
L Laura Hanan May 14, 2009
When I hear words like sustainability, green, natural (on food labels) I shut down. In my opinion these words, concepts, ideals, goals, or whatever you choose to call them are subjective buzz words frequently used as marketing tools and political rhetoric.
My biggest problem with the word sustainability is that it means different things to different people and is so broad, it would be extremely difficult to focus on anything action-oriented (key word action – getting something done!)
Instead “sustainability” becomes over analyzed rhetoric that wind up being a litmus test for politically correct thinking – this also makes me shut down.
The city’s decision to establish this position seems more like a pro-active move to make sure Tacoma’s public image is as an eco-conscious town. Maybe there’s even government money in it for them.
However not only is establishing this as a specific (well-paid) position premature, it is unwise in this economy.
Sustainability needs to be defined for what it means specifically in Tacoma, then broken down into focused, tangible elements/projects that can be incorporated into the city’s existing departments.
The idea for this new position reminds me of the city’s bloated Economic Development Department. In a city the size of Tacoma this department has way too many employees and I’m still not sure what, if anything, it does, other than occasionally show up to City Council meetings and speak to bless some proposed project. I know they do little to help small businesses, which would seem should be a priority.
J Jesse May 15, 2009
If she saves the city over her $95k (plus benefits) and helps create an image of Tacoma being enviromentally progressive while doing a good job of getting her job done, then she’s worth every penny.
But, isn’t it odd to be discussing her worth here anyways? Interesting…
T tom waits May 15, 2009
i’m actually kind of surprised at the negative reaction here. people are sure grumpy. is it just the economy? i think down times are the perfect times to start planning for the future.
to me there is no question that there is a need for a position like this. as for the pet projects, those are political beasts. what i am more interested in is the policy and procedural foundation that will change the context in which the city does business.
you can see, either by the negative reactions or the predictions that the office will not live up to its billing, that we all have different ideas about what it will mean.
in my opinion this thread is a hell of a welcome to the new employee.