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Centre a step towards sustainability

Whistler 2020 will move away from municipality to allow for growth

“Sustainability.” Since the release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth , the term has become a popular buzzword, with governments throughout the world — including Whistler’s own local government — struggling to achieve a balance of economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Whistler has been publicly applauded for its environmental initiatives, winning a $25,000 Green City award from the provincial government back in September.

And it looks like the community is taking another step towards its lofty environmental goals, establishing the Whistler Centre for Sustainability, which has been discussed since around 2000, even before the Whistler 2020 vision for sustainability, and around the same time the municipality adopted The Natural Step framework for sustainability.

The municipality has committed $120,000 a year over five years as seed funding for the centre.

Shannon Gordon, Whistler 2020 Community Initiatives Manager, is working at finally getting the centre off the ground. Though the concept of an independent entity responsible for driving the sustainability initiative at a community level has been around for years, Gordon says the timing is finally right to establish the centre, with the Olympics around the corner to boost their profile.

“We certainly have more support in the community, especially through these task forces, for Whistler’s commitment to sustainability. We have lots of commitment and support for Whistler 2020.”

She pointed out that half of the Whistler 2020 task forces have recommended that a learning centre be established at one time or another, and it’s important that Whistler 2020 continues to grow, which means moving away from the municipality.

“Whistler 2020, to this point, has been led by RMOW staff. But it’s not a municipal plan, it’s a community-wide plan that has the partnership and support of about 30 other Whistler organizations,” Gordon explained.

“By establishing the Whistler Centre for Sustainability, in addition to doing a whole bunch of other things, the community-wide aspects of Whistler 2020 will move to the centre.”

The centre will not only have a business component, but a learning centre, which will allow visitors and individuals to come and learn about sustainability.

“We’ll need to stay leading edge and ahead of the curve with respect to all of these program areas, and keep Whistler as a leader if the centre is to be successful,” said Gordon.

The transition is part of making Whistler 2020 more “arms-length” from the municipality, a move which Gordon says will enable the organization to grow.

“A big part of this is that right now, we don’t have the capacity internally to expand services beyond what we’re doing.”

The goal for Whistler 2020 is to be able to generate revenue through consulting services to local organizations and businesses, and other communities, which isn’t something it can do right now.

By creating this new, separate entity, staff also hope to access financial resources, like grants, which weren’t previously available, to help deliver sustainability support to local businesses.

While the RMOW is leading the set-up of the centre, it will eventually be directed by a board of community members, with the municipality involved in financial decisions, like approving debt and budgets, and helping to appoint directors.

“The municipality has invested so much in Whistler 2020 and Whistler’s community initiatives, and, ultimately now the centre, that we want the centre to be a community-based organization, but we also want to protect those investments,” Gordon said.

While a virtual centre has been launched through a new website, staff working on Whistler 2020 will continue to operate out of municipal offices in hopes that they may be gifted a spot in the village after the 2010 Olympics. Staff recently worked with Deloitte consultants to develop a feasibility assessment, and presented a 39-page report to council in October.

“Once we had the feasibility assessment done, we were ready to actually sort of begin talking about this from a more informed standpoint,” Gordon explained.

Now, Gordon says, it’s critical that they find about seven to nine qualified people who are interested in becoming board directors.

“If this organization is going to be successful, and we’re going to be able to grow and develop quickly and well, we need a certain set of skills sitting around that board table,” Gordon said.

They’re specifically seeking candidates with experience in business, strategic planning, sustainability management, accounting, fundraising, event management, law, human resources, marketing, non-profit organization management, or communications and public relations.

Nominees must be at least 19 years old, and able to commit about 10 hours per month to the centre. In return, directors will be reimbursed for all board-related travel costs, and will receive tuition, education and personal improvement grants for approved programs and courses.

While an official launch date hasn’t been set yet, Gordon hopes to have the board set up by February, and appoint an executive director by the spring. Programs, like consulting services, will gradually be phased in, probably by late 2008.

Anyone interested on being on the board must submit a nomination form by Jan. 18. Forms can be found on the centre’s website at www.whistlercentre.ca.