Mayor appoints ‘resiliency officer’

Mayor Kirk Caldwell selected Joshua Stanbro to lead the city’s new Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency, on Thursday.

Stanbro will take the role of the “chief resilience officer” for the agency, which was created after 59 percent of Oahu voters approved a measure in November to create an office that would oversee and coordinate citywide efforts to reduce and fight the effects of climate change.

Stanbro is walking into a office in jeopardy of losing its city funding. City Council members said Tuesday the new office would be cut if the city doesn’t get its funding for rail.

Stanbro’s position is funded by a $135,000 annual grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Before his appointment, Stanbro served as the program director for the Hawaii Community Foundation since 2009. He previously served as project manager for The Trust for Public Land-Hawaii.

“Josh’s extensive knowledge of environmental issues, infrastructure, cultural land preservation, and community issues at federal, state, and city levels ensures he will be an effective advocate on issues surrounding climate change, resilience and sustainability here on Oahu,” Caldwell said in a statement.

Stanbro will serve as part of Caldwell’s Cabinet and oversee the development of a resiliency plan for the city, focusing on coastal and economic challenges related to climate change as well as potential “shocks” or natural disasters.

Stanbro’s office will take up a study that will model the effects of sea-level rise along the Oahu coastline, for which the Council approved adding $100,000 of funding. The Council also set aside $150,000 for a visitor census and carrying capacity study for high-­demand areas such as Waimanalo and Kailua.

Six employees still need to be selected to the Climate Change office. The Council this week cut $134,694 from the office’s proposed $404,388 budget.