An interactive map on maine.gov shows the communities participating in the state’s Community Resilience Partnership. Green indicates a service provider partnership community, like West Bath, and blue shows direct partner communities. Courtesy of maine.gov via screenshot

Municipalities in Sagadahoc County are taking decisive action on climate change through Community Resilience Partnership initiatives open to all municipalities, federally recognized tribes and unorganized territories in Maine.

West Bath is participating in the partnership through a Service Provider Grant awarded to the Midcoast Council of Governments, a nonprofit planning and economic development district serving 66 communities. As a service provider, MCOG will use the grant funds to work directly with communities at no cost to help them pursue climate resiliency.

In February, Gov. Janet Mills announced a $5 million investment into Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership. The surge in funding came after a recommendation from Maine Won’t Wait, the state’s four-year climate action plan.

Organizations awarded the Service Provider Grant must work with at least two towns to qualify for the funding, according to Max Johnstone, senior planner for MCOG.

“What [the grant] does is it allows me to come into West Bath at no cost to the town, and I work with volunteers, department heads and anyone who is willing to talk to me in West Bath,” Johnstone said. “I help develop their resolution and strategies for making West Bath a more resilient community.”

MCOG was awarded $60,000 in the spring of 2024 to cover administrative work and travel expenses for providing a comprehensive climate resiliency plan to five different communities: West Bath, Searsport, Union, Warren and Washington.

To be climate resilient means more than one thing: constructing energy-efficient buildings, putting heat pumps in public buildings, installing electric vehicle charging stations and educational courses with local schools teaching people about invasive species, to name a few.

West Bath will get access to a Community Action Grant once the service provider work has been completed for the town, with some municipalities able to work together to get more funding for cooperation projects, Johnstone said. To get to this step in the process, Johnstone will help the town identify its resilience and climate action goals through a community self evaluation checklist.

The service provider grant lasts one year, but Johnstone hopes it doesn’t last that long. Once the work is done, the West Bath Select Board will pass a community resiliency resolution and give a rough idea of the big goals the town wants to pursue, along with a project list in line with the town’s priorities.

“I’d love for [West Bath residents] to be part of this ad-hoc group that hopefully won’t last longer than December,” Johnstone said.

Volunteers can visit the West Bath Town Office to sign up with the town administrator to be part of the ad hoc volunteer group or contact Johnstone at mjohnstone@midcoastcog.com. Johnstone will go through a state checklist with the group, and West Bath will be going through its priorities for resiliency.

The West Bath emergency department heads and volunteers will help with going through the documents to see where West Bath is now on resiliency, followed up by a public outreach later in the year — depending on the size of the volunteer group — to double-check what the top priorities are for the community. Workshops on resiliency will be held at a later date.

Johnstone helped West Bath complete its comprehensive plan earlier this year, and it was approved at the West Bath Annual Town Meeting on May 16. Johnstone has an open invitation to find volunteers to help MCOG find resiliency options that make sense for the area.

Bath has already passed its climate resiliency resolution, with Regional School Unit 1 passing a climate resolution on June 24. Other communities surrounding West Bath, like Brunswick, Arrowsic and Woolwich, have also passed climate resiliency resolutions.