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Climate Change Advisory Committee Meeting

Chatham County · Climate Change Advisory Committee
Thursday, September 25, 2025 at 7:00 pm · Virtual Meeting, Virtual Pittsboro, North Carolina 27312

Advisory board meeting Environment and sustainabilityAppointments and personnelComprehensive planGrants and outside fundingPolice and public safetySolid waste and recycling

Agenda document Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved 2Approval of Minutes - August 28, 2025 Approved

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Chatham County's Climate Change Advisory Committee met on 25 September 2025, mostly on the two-day climate retreat the commissioners had approved for 17 October and 6 November. A member presented a set of climate indicators for the county.

The agenda also carried a notice of the county's public input session on the regional hazard mitigation plan, held 30 September at the emergency operations center on Innovation Way.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Nine members made a quorum. The committee welcomed Sharon Garbutt as a new member. The retreat's first day would be education about climate change and climate action plans, the second day specific strategies, with an agriculture professor from NC State and the new head of the state climate office confirmed to speak. The environmental quality director said a request for proposals would go out to hire a consultant to draft the plan, because staff have neither the time nor the expertise to lead it.

A member presented four goals for a county plan — preservation, resilience, a livable climate, and community engagement — with indicators to measure each: tree canopy, farmland, heat exposure, greenhouse gas emissions, and household energy burden. The data showed energy costs falling hardest on low-income residents, and a small rise in emissions and vehicle miles traveled over recent years, possibly a post-COVID driving pattern. About 80 percent of county residents say climate change is happening and affecting the weather.

The environmental quality director reported the $350,000 energy audit grant awaiting board approval in October, the food waste pilot delayed to early or mid-October, and a public hearing on the CPACE program set for the commissioners' 20 October meeting.

Speaking at this meeting

Chatham County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (6)

Procedural · 2Minutes approval · 1Discussion item · 1Presentation · 1Staff or committee report · 1
  1. 1 Certification of Quorum
    Procedural
    Nine members present
  2. 2 Approval of Minutes - August 28, 2025
    Minutes approval
    Approved
  3. 3 Announcements: hazard mitigation plan input session, new member
    Procedural Appointments and personnelPolice and public safety
    A county public input session on the regional hazard mitigation plan on September 30, and a welcome for new member Sharon Garbutt.
  4. 4 Climate retreat planning and the committee's role
    Discussion item Comprehensive planEnvironment and sustainability
    The October 17 and November 6 retreat: speakers, what each day covers, and a request for proposals to hire a consultant to draft the climate action plan.
  5. 5 Chatham County climate change by the numbers
    Presentation Environment and sustainability
    Four goals for a county climate action plan with indicators for each: tree canopy, farmland, heat exposure, greenhouse gas emissions and household energy burden.
  6. 6 Report from the Director of Chatham County Environmental Quality
    Staff or committee report Environment and sustainabilityGrants and outside fundingSolid waste and recycling
    The energy audit grant, the food waste pilot's delayed rollout, the CPACE program, the recycling volunteer program and the solar systems at the environmental quality building.

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