The Village of Delhi has recently formed a Climate Smart Task Force, as part of New York State’s Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program. The purpose of the task force is to plan and implement actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve community resilience to the worsening impacts of climate change.
The kickoff meeting was held at Delhi Village Hall on Friday, October 20th. In attendance were Kristina Zill (Climate Coordinator) and Sofia Pappas (Southern Tier 8 Regional Board Representative) among other Village elected officials and community members.
One of the main goals of the task force is to achieve bronze level certification by accumulating points based on the CSC action list. During the meeting the action list was reviewed, and the members identified plans that were already formed in the Village to complete the Climate Adaptation Plan, like the Flood Mitigation Plan, and which plans still needed to be revised or worked on. Kristina Zill addressed items on the action list that were also part of NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities (CEC) initiatives that are called crosswalk action items, which the task force will likely focus on. Ideas for future projects were discussed, like brownfield site reclamation for solar arrays, installing electric vehicle charging stations, and solar panels on covered parking lots. The group also discussed community education ideas like an EV showcase and more repair cafes.
The task force is scheduled to meet once a month, with their next meeting on the calendar for Friday, November 17th.