BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — The village has approved the appointment of a new coordinator and a new task force to the joint Climate Smart Communities Task Force it shares with the town.

Trustees and the mayor signed off on the appointments at their regular meeting Feb. 21.

The appointments are part of mandatory actions the village and town must take to be able to re-certify their “bronze” status in the state’s Climate Smart Communities program.

The village board voted unanimously to appoint Fred J. Hanss, the municipality’s planning and development director, as coordinator of the CSC task force for a one-year term.

The town and village initially received bronze status certification in the state’s CSC program in October 2021 after the committee met numerous state benchmarks and climate-related project work.

The municipalities became Climate Smart Communities in 2018, joining 300 other participating communities across the state.

The Climate Smart Communities Certification program gives participating municipalities like Potsdam’s town and village a framework to address climate action items.

As part of that process, the municipalities are directed to form a local task force to tackle the program’s action items, which include measuring carbon footprints and potential greenhouse gas emissions among others.

The group is traditionally comprised of various community members, local college faculty, business members and other stakeholders.

The new 2024 task force approved by the village board at its Feb. 21 meeting includes:

Erik Backus, town resident, P.E., Clarkson University; Karen Bage, town resident, Community Coordinator St. Lawrence Health Initiative; David Bradford, village resident; Mark Cornett, town resident; Jan DeWaters, village resident, Ph.D., Clarkson University; Alex French, village resident; Lynn Hall, village resident, town coordinator, town council; Frederick Hanss, village coordinator, Village of Potsdam Planning & Development Office; Louise Jensen, village resident, Northern Power and Light Community Energy Advocate; Carlie Leary, ANCA; Chip Morris, town resident, co-chair; Thomas Ortmeyer, village resident, Ph.D., Clarkson University; Christine Paige, town resident, town council; Susan Powers, village resident, Ph.D., Clarkson University; Lauren Prentice, St. Lawrence Health; Rose Rivezzi, village resident, co-chair; Carol Strome, village resident; Monique Tirion, village resident, Potsdam Village Board; and Eileen Visser, town resident, Ph.D., St. Lawrence University.

Since forming, Potsdam’s task force has developed greenhouse gas emissions reports for both the town and village, initiating a grant application with Clarkson University to pay with community food waste, forming a climate vulnerability report, and developing a community greenhouse gas inventory.

Other sustainability projects the committee has worked on include local forestation efforts, zoning issues, measures to encourage public transit, infrastructure planning and forming a Complete Streets group.

A list of all the possible actions community task forces can take to meet the state’s initiative can be found at: https://climatesmart.ny.gov/actions-certification/actions/ .

To learn more about the work of the task force or to join visit https://www.potsdamny.us/community/climate-smart-community.html .

Local advocates of the CSC program have said that some of the reasons why the municipalities participate in the program include saving money, being able to obtain grants, cutting emissions and pollution and recognizing infrastructure (like the Crosstown Canal) that might be vulnerable to extreme weather events potentially caused by climate change.

The town board is expected to approve the appointments as well.