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In most cities around the country, you will find boards and commissions. They are created or established to advise and guide city governments on various municipal issues.
According to the League of Oregon Cities, municipal commissions play an important role by assisting city governments in addressing specific issues by providing professional advice and research, as well as giving citizens an opportunity to offer input and help to the decision-makers in city government.

On the website for the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, it states that boards and commissions “increase community input and participation in City government and to enable the City Council and other policy makers to gain additional knowledge, perspective and guidance on important issues as part of their decision-making process.”

Ann Arbor has a Sustainability Commission which advises the City Council on the city’s sustainability goals, which includes their efforts to achieve carbon neutrality citywide by 2030 and the “preservation and enhancement” of the water, air, land and public health.

In Spokane, Washington, the Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board, which was created in 2024, has 12 citizens who collectively provide advice and recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on various actions to help achieve the city’s sustainability and climate goals.

On Feb. 12 of this year, the board recommended climate policies to their Plan Commission that focused on climate policy development for what they call 11 sectors that included Economic Development, Emergency Management and Ecosystems.

Right now, Duluth has 33 boards and commissions, and the Energy Plan Commission is only required to meet four times a year.

The city does not have a board or commission that specifically addresses climate change and sustainability. And after approving the 2026 city budget for city government in December of last year, the city has still not hired its sustainability officer.

Back in the fall of 2025, when it appeared that our current mayor was going to remove the position of a full-time sustainability officer from the city government budget, a group of citizens – including myself – decided to organize a lobbying campaign to encourage the mayor and city council that Duluth needed a sustainability officer and must address climate change.

It was because of that effort, which helped convince the mayor to reinstate the position in city government, that we decided that our city needed a voice and forum for the citizens to come together to discuss and consider public initiatives and actions to help Duluth address climate change and become a more resilient and sustainable city.

So, in January 2026, a group of citizens created the Duluth Citizens Climate Commission. And in just six months, we have been able to reach out and engage a number of citizens and groups around the city who want to offer their ideas and input on how our city could move forward.

We’ve heard from community activists, students, healthcare providers, educators, small business owners, mental health professionals and public policy advisers.

One of our plans for 2026 is to organize Climate Week on September 14-20 and during that week host a Climate Town Hall. The commission hopes to collaborate with the public library, local bookstores, high schools and colleges, community organizations, churches, local media and healthcare organizations to coordinate a citywide climate education campaign and to invite the citizens to share their thoughts and reflections on how Duluth responds to and addresses climate change.

The Commission would like to hear from you. As a citizen of Duluth, you are welcome to join the Commission at our monthly meetings or through any of our community outreach initiatives.
With the growing impacts of climate change in our city, the citizens need a place or public forum where we can come together and collectively explore what all of us can possibly do at this critical time.
Drop us an email at risson1954@gmail.com.