Memorandum 08-89

To: Homer City Council

From: Francie Roberts

Re: AML Communities Conference on Climate Change

I attended the AML Communities Conference on Climate Change from May 28^th until May 30^th in Anchorage.

The topic is of great interest to a wide variety of entities. Speakers at the meeting ranged from federal officials to municipal officials. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Mayor Mark Begich, Mayor Jim Whitaker of Fairbanks, Mayor Bruce Botelo of Juneau, Senator Johnny Ellis of Anchorage and Larry Persily, Governor Palin’s DC representative, addressed us. Attendees at the conference represented rural and urban municipalities along with people representing many state entities such as the University of Alaska and Alaska Power Authority.

I attended a breakfast for ICLEI members on Thursday morning. Amy Shatzkin wanted input on how ICLEI could better serve Alaskan communities given there is no employee physically present in Alaska for ICLEI.

Presentations during the conference varied from adaptation to paying for new energy solutions to helping local residents cut energy costs and emissions. Anne Marie Holen also attended the conference and I tried to pick different sessions than her so the City of Homer would be sure to get as much information as possible.

To conclude the conference, the group made recommendations to AML to consider for state and federal actions in the future to assist cities in achieving mitigation and adaptation goals.

During the conference wrap-up, it was notable one of the participants commented Anne Marie Holen’s presentation, on the process Homer has gone through to date with addressing climate change, was the most valuable presentation of the 3 days.

Francie Roberts