Charlottetown urged to expand green staff

Sustainability officer hoping council will make outreach position permanent

Image | pe-hi-edible-landscape-8col

Caption: The city won an award from the P.E.I. Association of Planners for its vegetable planters program. (City of Charlottetown)

Charlottetown's sustainability officer is asking that a temporary outreach officer position be made permanent.
The city has had an outreach officer for sustainability for the last 18 months. Sustainability officer Ramona Doyle has asked council to put money for a permanent position in next year's budget.
The list of outreach activities the city is doing continues to grow, Doyle said. It includes Fix-it-Fairs, the Cycle Out City event, vegetable planters in parks, the micro-grant program, and educating people about — and enforcing — the city's cosmetic pesticide ban.

Image | Ramona Doyle

Caption: Ramona Doyle will be including a permanent sustainability outreach co-ordinator in her budget proposal for next year. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)

Doyle said it is important to keep the public informed about these projects.
"That's a really important part of what we do," she said.
"We want to engage the public and let them know what we're working on and help them find ways for them to get involved."
Doyle will submit her final budget requests next month, and a decision would be made by council likely sometime in March.