On Tuesday, the Carrboro Town Council unanimously voted to join the Intergovernmental Climate Council of Orange County by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Orange County.
Before the vote, Carrboro Sustainability Coordinator Laura Janway provided background on the Intergovernmental Climate Council. She said the climate group was initially created in 2019. In 2021, the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC) formed a subcommittee to assess, review, and consider restructuring the council due to its staff being tasked with the brunt of administrative duties, including managing the meetings’ minutes and agendas. In April 2022, the BOCC suspended its participation in the council and asked its staff to draft an MOU based on the Intergovernmental Parks and Working Group organization.
“The goal was to make the group more of an information-sharing group,” Janway said, “and really create this formal structure for the towns and the county to talk about what we were doing related to climate action.”
“The exchange of information is really the primary goal of this formal body,” Janway continued. “The group also plans to maintain and update an inventory of climate action activities that all of the jurisdictions are undertaking. The group will also really promote communication and provide updates. The meetings will be open to the public, just as the intergovernmental parks work group. Another goal of the council will be to share opportunities for education and outreach.”
The Intergovernmental Climate Council will only represent government entities. Other than the Carrboro Town Council, Chapel Hill Town Council, and the BOCC, several other government organizations will send representatives to council meetings. The Chapel Hill Advisory Stewardship Board, Carrboro Climate Action Team, and Orange County Commission for the Environment are a few of these groups that will be represented. The chart below shows a complete list of member entities.
Orange County and the towns of Carrboro, Hillsborough, and Chapel Hill will be parties of the MOU. The chart lists all other entities that will send representatives to participate in the Intergovernmental Climate Council.
Janway said the Carrboro Town Council last addressed the climate group in 2023. At that time, the council expressed concerns over the proposed climate group’s lack of diversity. Several town council members raised similar concerns about the climate group’s potential diversity during its Tuesday meeting.
“I am, of course, always concerned about diversity and representation,” said Mayor Barbara Foushee, “and when I look at this group right here, I am not so sure whether that will actually happen or not. We talk about climate action, mitigation, and climate change disproportionately impacting our Black and brown communities, and certainly, we want to be at the table for the conversations. What I’ve found a lot of times is that has not been the case. I continue to be concerned about that.”
Though participation in the intergovernmental council is limited to government entities, Council Member Randee Haven O’Donnell said they thought it is important for the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA) to be represented in the council due to its local efforts to prevent environmental changes from disproportionately affecting the Black community.
As described on its website, Rogers Road neighborhood members created RENA in 2007 to mitigate environmental problems landfill causes in the community. RENA has since expanded to community engagement and activism on issues affecting education, environment, and health, while “offering a place to foster relationships in the community.”
“I would see that a very important player for Chapel Hill-Carrboro,” said Haven-O’Donnell, “on this committee would be RENA because of the work that they have done for environmental justice going way back to the landfill. I think with the Greene Tract coming, it’s going to be really important for that voice to be represented.”
Mayor Foushee agreed with Haven-O’Donnell to communicate with BOCC Chair Jamezetta Bedford about involving RENA in the climate council.
Council Member Eliazar Posada added his concerns surrounding the climate council’s membership diversity.
“Similar to the mayor,” said Posada, “I’m looking at the composure, and it’s not that we can’t have a diverse group, but I, too, question the diversity of the council as it stands, without having anyone already appointed. Either way, [I am] just very much concerned with that part. Aside from that, I think this is something that very much falls into the values of Carrboro and to our communities, and I know that this is something that folks have been working on for some time as well.”
With its vote, the Carrboro Town Council agreed that Haven-O’Donnell would represent Carrboro at the environmental group’s meetings. The first Intergovernmental Climate Council meeting is scheduled for July and is expected to meet twice annually.
To watch a video of the full meeting, click here.
Photo via the Carrboro Town Council
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