WATERVILLE, Maine — The City of Waterville will host a community resilience workshop Tuesday evening to further their commitment to reduce the impact of climate change.
The workshop is part of the city’s efforts to join the State of Maine Community Resilience Partnership formed as part of Gov. Janet Mills' four-year Climate Action Plan.
The first step to joining the partnership required the city council to adopt a resolution to join the partnership. According to Assistant City Manager William Post, Waterville had to fill out a self-evaluation to see where it is at with climate change efforts. Tuesday's citywide workshop is the last requirement, and will allow city officials to hear from residents on their concerns about climate change.
"Climate change is evident everywhere we go," Post said. "You see flooding from heavy rainstorms, or we see street flooding from rainstorms that overwhelm storm drains. It is time for the city to pay close attention to what the city can do to help reduce carbon emissions."
The city's stated goals include cutting down on carbon emissions and a transition to clean energy, installing solar panels on city-owned buildings, adding electric vehicles for some of the city’s fleets, and installing more EV chargers in public parking areas.
Once the city completes the steps to join the statewide partnership, officials hope to receive grants from the state to fund some of the issues discussed during the meeting.