Pleasantville will not meet a goal to become certified as a Climate Smart Community by December. According to Andrew Welch, community coordinator for the Pleasantville Climate Smart initiative, the new goal is to “get Pleasantville to the Climate Smart Certified status in the next year.”

According to Welch, the delays are due to “learning the program, as the Department of Environmental Conservation changed some of the requirements and resources for certification.”

Pleasantville began the process of becoming a certified Climate Smart Community in the spring of 2017. This effort was initiated by students and faculty in Pace University’s Environmental Policy Master Degree Program, who presented the idea to the village’s board of trustees.

Welch said his work will not end once Pleasantville is certified. “Climate Smart certification is not something that is done once and then it’s over. The program requires continual growth and improvement by certified municipalities if they want to remain certified,” he said. Welch said interested residents can contact him at ClimateSmartPleasantville@gmail.com.