Environmental advocates worry that move of KC office could weaken local climate efforts
Kansas City’s Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ) promotes ways to shrink municipal government’s carbon footprint, from expanding the city’s electric fleet, to placing solar panels on city buildings to telling the auditor to turn off the lights in unused areas of his office.
In 2020, the City Council passed a resolution to update the city’s Climate Protection and Resiliency Plan, centered on the goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 for city operations and citywide by 2040. OEQ, tasked with drawing up the plan, is finishing a draft now.
OEQ has been housed for years in the city manager’s office. But under the city’s proposed new budget, scheduled for adoption on March 24, it would be moved into the Neighborhood Services Department.
Chris Hernandez, a spokesman for the city, said no changes in staffing or funding will accompany the move. But local environmental groups are upset by what they see as the possible “siloing” of an office that touches every corner of the city. They said moving it into a single department could limit its scope.
Michael Kelley, a member of the city’s Environmental Management Commission and Vice Chair for the Climate Protection Steering Committee, both of which are under the OEQ, said its presence in the city manager’s office sends an important message: “Sustainability work needs to happen across departments.”
Carol Adams, chair of the Environmental Management Commission, said that she strongly believed the OEQ would be most effective remaining in the city manager’s office.
Adams said much of the work of the OEQ, including city compliance, procurement, planning and regional environmental issues, are outside the purview of the Neighborhoods Dpartment, according to minutes of a December meeting, which happened a month after the City Council declared a climate emergency.
“The vision of neighborhoods is in the process of being re-imagined, which could be why the city manager wants to move OEQ. This could end up putting more pressure on neighborhood associations or other key stakeholders,” she said according to the minutes.
Just as troubling to advocates is the city’s lack of transparency around the move.
Billy Davies, conservation program coordinator with Sierra Club’s Missouri Chapter, said there hasn’t been open communication.
“I think the real concern is that the city’s talking about collaborative leadership and centering community voices and being transparent,” he said. “This misses the mark.”
Maggie Green, a spokeswoman for the city, said in a statement that the goal of moving the OEQ is to “expand its role to be more closely aligned with implementation of initiatives and direct engagement with communities and neighborhoods rather than just the current internal research, compliance and advisory role.”
Green said sustainability is a new focus of the Neighborhoods Department, which is responsible for implementing and overseeing community improvement projects.
“This move emphasizes the importance of engaging with residents across the city for these priority sustainability programs,” she said.
When asked for comment, the OEQ’s chief environmental officer, Andy Savastino, sent The Star’s request to the city manager’s office. Green said the city’s statement is representative of the entire city team.
“We hope the environmental management commission and other key stakeholders will focus less on the reporting structure for staff inside city hall and more on pursuing these actual sustainability initiatives - as they have said directly, we don’t have time to wait,” she said.
Committee members have cited recent surveys shared by the Heartland Conservation Alliance which show that sustainability managers across the country prefer to be in the city manager’s office or in a department of their own.
Rachel Krause, an associate professor at the University of Kansas’ School of Public Affairs and Administration, has spent the past decade looking at how cities organize their environmental work. Kansas City was among the locations she studied closely.
While she can’t say whether the proposed change will result in less effective sustainability or environmental work, she said it leaves the perception that city officials are deprioritizing the environment.
And, she’s found, granting environmental quality and sustainability units regular access to senior city officials and department directors, which she calls “being in the shadow of authority,” gives “that additional gravitas to the mission and the efforts.”
“It’s really important for environmental sustainability to lead, to be involved early in conversations about project ideas, as opposed to being brought in for review after project ideas are largely formulated,” Krause said. “Policy and good policy is only as effective as its ability to be implemented.”
She said her recent research confirms what the city touts: Kansas City’s Office of Environmental Quality is impressive.
“I hope that city leaders in doing this are aware and appreciate what a standout that department was nationally,” Krause said. “They’ve done really impressive things over the past decade, and I hope this move doesn’t hinder that in the future.”
Jack Niemuth, 22, a volunteer with Sunrise Movement KC, a climate activist group built by young people, said that for his generation, there’s often a sense of existential dread coupled with powerlessness when it comes to climate change. That’s why he spoke up at a recent public budget hearings in support of the OEC staying in the city manager’s office.
“It’s kind of a proxy issue for the bigger problem, which is we just want them to put the climate issue front and center and really make that their main priority in the coming decade,” Niemuth said.
