Environmental post would benefit town


To the editor:

We are writing in support of Mary Meagher’s opinion piece in the March 2 edition of The Jamestown Press explaining the need for additional staff in the town administration, specifically an environmental coordinator.

Back in 2017, the planning office, under Lisa Bryer’s direction, introduced the Sustainable Jamestown initiative with the intent to be an umbrella organization for all townwide sustainability programs.

While the intention was well meant and needed, it also continues to require a fair amount of work which falls to the planning office. With the growth the island is experiencing, the office is kept increasingly busy with its regular workload.

We are familiar with the legwork and time involved to keep these various programs on track, as we have worked in the past with Lisa (and Clean Ocean Access, a Newport nonprofit) on the plastic bag ban, as well as a potential townwide composting project.

This position also could cover the newly adopted Jamestown Energy Plan, as well as lend support to the all-volunteer conservation commission, and other organizations, including ours (protecting pollinators), that are focused on environmental impacts on Conanicut Island.

At a sustainability workshop at Roger Williams Park in 2021, several of us met sustainability managers from several New England towns, including Portland, Maine, and Greenfield and New Bedford, Mass. This position quickly has become a necessary addition to most town administrations, and all of those attending the workshop had at least one qualified person in that specific role. It would seem now is the time for Jamestown to consider hiring someone for this role.

Sue Maffei Plowden
Calvert Place
On behalf of the Friends of Jamestown Bees


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