Sea Level Rise Executive Committee approves proposed work plan and budget for 2024

The Sea Level Rise Response Collaborative Executive Committee approved the 2024 Workplan on Friday, which essentially continues the initiatives laid out this year.

The committee also approved the requested budget of $180,000 for 2024.

Olympia Climate Program Manager Dr. Pamela Braff discussed the work plan for next year, which includes Phase 2 and Phase 3 work items to continue the implementation of projects in 2023.

The work plan includes continued monitoring for the land subsidence survey. "We need three years of continuous data to get reliable results of any subsidence measurements."

The other item in the approved work plan is to continue implementing the groundwater study.

Phase 3 of this study includes conducting a groundwater gauging event at the end of the wet season and creating a groundwater model to evaluate sea level rise impacts on groundwater levels.

The other work item includes establishing a public financing ad hoc committee to evaluate the outcomes of public financing and governance evaluation and create recommendations on moving forward with the options developed during Phase 1.

The proposed 2024 budget also includes costs for administrative support provided by Olympia:

• Executive meetings (four meetings per year). It includes meeting logistics, agenda setting, public notice, note-taking, and record-keeping.
• Technical Workgroup meetings (12 meetings per year). These are meeting logistics, agenda setting, notetaking, staff team coordination, and other necessary tasks.
• Project Management and Technical Support (ongoing). These are development, coordination, and oversight of annual work plans and budgets, grants management; reporting and communications, and others.

Braff said the total estimated cost for each of the work plan activities for next year is $50,000, and $30,000 for administrative support.

Braff noted that Olympia is responsible for 50% of the costs of implementing work plan items, while LOTT and Port of Olympia each shoulder 25%.