Sammamish commissioners back streamlined, $20,000 contract for Sustainability Ambassadors

The Sammamish City Sustainability Commission discussed and endorsed a streamlined one-year contract with Sustainability Ambassadors, reducing the proposed amount to $20,000 and narrowing the group’s scope to emphasize specific events and climate-action-plan tasks. City staff said they plan to execute the contract in August so student interns can onboard before the school year begins.

Commissioners said the commission should get clearer performance measures tied to the city’s climate action plan. Rose, the city staff lead on the item, said the revised scope “calls out specific climate action plan actions under each section that the sustainability ambassador scope of work aligns with” and that the city will request a progress update next spring so staff and the commission can see how student projects advance the CAP goals.

The commission discussed how ambassadors typically report student impact in CO2 calculations or engagement counts and noted that single-project metrics are useful for storytelling but hard to scale directly to a citywide greenhouse-gas inventory. Commissioners suggested requiring students to specify boundary conditions for their projects so the city can better interpret and, where possible, aggregate results.

Members also clarified program structure. Staff said Sustainability Ambassadors identify a small set of paid student leaders who receive stipends while the city’s contract pays the external program; the city is not directly paying individual interns. Commissioners heard that last year the program included student interns from multiple Sammamish-area schools and that the deliverables combine public-facing outreach (town halls, market tabling) with student impact projects.

On procurement, staff confirmed the contract amount is below the council review threshold and may be approved by the city manager; commissioners noted that if the broader sustainability budget goes to council, the council may request a more detailed budget breakdown.

The commission asked staff to bring Ambassadors back to a joint meeting in late summer or early fall so the new cohort can introduce itself and commissioners can hear early progress reporting. The city will also ask Sustainability Ambassadors to emphasize accessible outreach formats and to provide alternative (ADA-compliant) versions of media the students produce.