Sustainability director layoff is ‘shortsighted’

I was extraordinarily disappointed to see that the town has eliminated the sustainability director position in the name of budget tightening. Having worked in government and non-profits my entire career, I understand the need to trim costs and that hard decisions must get made. But I also know that budgets reflect values, and this feels like a very big step backward as far as Acton’s commitment to fighting climate change.

I moved here almost two years ago and wanted to learn more about Acton’s sustainability efforts, and Eric Simms took the time to meet me for coffee and share ways to get involved. As I learned more about the work, it became clear that even with the sustainability director position, the town staff had real capacity constraints when it came to researching, analyzing, and acting on various potential sustainability measures. 

Without Eric’s role, we lose the ability to tap into volunteer help from the community, to proactively pursue private and public funds for the work, and have a centralized way to prioritize sustainability actions town-wide. 

At this moment when the federal government is taking us in exactly the wrong direction on climate, we need to step up and take leadership on something that affects us all — now and into the future. We have so much to gain and build on by maintaining this critical role, and I sincerely hope Acton leadership may reconsider what seems to me a very shortsighted decision.

Jennifer Peck

Main Street