City hiring for new position to meet sustainability goals

Taking applications until mid-January for nearly $50,000-a-year Environmental Sustainability Planner.

La Crosse is going all in on sustainability.

The city has pledged to meet sustainability goals in a number of areas by hiring someone for a new position called Environmental Sustainability Planner.

The city is taking applications for the new planner position through the middle of January. Starting pay is close to $50,000.

As the name suggests, the position will have a lot to do with the environment and sustainable planning, but it would take the place of the part-time floodplain manager.

“Everything is interconnected,” La Crosse head of city planning Jason Gilman said. “When we talk about floodplains, often times the conversation gets off to storm-water planning and other issues that we’re also dealing with that affect development, taxes and all those things.”

But, it’s a job largely focused on the city’s floodplain issues – something that’s necessary now with new floodplain mitigation efforts underway – says Gilman.

“Just an acknowledgement that, beyond the floodplain, the city has a lot of other environmental factors,” Gilman said, “and this person could also do some grant writing – and advantage the city in other ways, relative to environmental planning.

“Starting to build up into more than just a part-time position, which is what it is today in the city.”