With no one to steer the ship on the town’s new program to tackle climate change, the municipality’s chief administrator says it will be challenging to achieve its goals on schedule.

The town’s climate change adaptation plan was supposed to be spearheaded by an in-house expert, but that position, called the climate change co-ordinator, was axed during council’s budget talks in March.

“When you have a program that you want to put emphasis on, it just helps to have a champion and someone with the knowledge and expertise in the subject matter,” said chief administrator Marnie Cluckie.

They help to keep plans from falling off the rails and they ensure everyone is “rowing in the same direction,” she added.

Coun. Sandra O’Connor agrees, and said as council sorts out its strategic plan this year, it has become “quite clear” climate change isn’t at the top of the list of concerns.

“I don’t feel as if we share the same priorities at this point,” she told The Lake Report. 

She said she could not discuss specifics because the strategic plan is currently being discussed in closed sessions.

Despite no climate change co-ordinator leading the town, Cluckie is optimistic about reaching the adaptation plan’s goals.

Cluckie said the town plans to prioritize climate change initiatives and divide tasks “amongst various people in different departments.”

She added staff assess everything they do through the “lens of environmental stewardship.”

Cluckie acknowledged it was harder to apply this lens without the preliminary expertise.

However, she pointed out the town has some environmental expertise in the operations department thanks to Darren MacKenzie, the manager of public works.

According to his LinkedIn profile, MacKenzie was employed with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority as the director of watershed management before he joined the municipal staff team.

Cluckie said the town would also team up with its community partners and non-profit groups to help reach its goals.

She cited the region’s conservation authority as one of those partners.

The conservation authority provides the town with expert guidance on development proposals impacting environmentally sensitive areas like creeks and wetlands.

This power was restricted to matters of flooding and erosion late in November with the passing of the province’s housing legislation Bill 23.

“I don’t think that the impact of Bill 23 on reviewing development applications has an impact on us continuing with our partnerships,” Cluckie said.

Both staff and the conservation authority are still adapting to the changes of Bill 23, she added.

“We still need to work together,” she said.

The climate change co-ordinator would also have supervised progress on the town’s energy conservation plan, Cluckie said.

“We have historically been delayed in terms of updating our plan and making sure that there’s progress on it,” she said.

Delays could be a “challenge,” she said, for the town’s climate change adaptation plan just as it’s been for its energy conservation plan. 

“It’ll go a little slower, but I’m confident we’ll still make those strides,” Cluckie said. 

O’Connor thinks it needs to be said that “we’re not doing good and we need to do better.”

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority released a report late in March that gave the region a “D” grade for its poor watershed health. 

This report, the 2023 Watershed Report Card, tracks the overall health of Niagara’s forests and watersheds.

“Since 2018, the grades of most watersheds remained consistent and scored a ‘D’ for poor water quality,” a report from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority said.

A map of the water quality by municipality shows the water in Niagara-on-the-Lake is rated ‘F’ for very poor wherever there is enough data to actually rate it. 

The same report shows the region has 17 per cent tree coverage of its watershed land base. That’s almost half of the conservation authority’s recommended 30 per cent coverage.

Cluckie said the town probably won’t be ready to provide an update on the adaptation plan until late fall or winter.