Newton's Office of Sustainability will be absorbed into the Department of Public Works under a restructuring Mayor Marc Laredo announced in an Aug. 13 memo to city councilors, consolidating the city's climate and waste-reduction work under a single agency for the first time.
The reorganization splits the existing DPW deputy commissioner position into two new roles and reshuffles the sustainability office's leadership. Co-director Ann Berwick is leaving city government, and co-director Sam Nighman will move to a newly created citywide position.
No council vote is required. The changes will be funded with DPW salary money freed up by unfilled vacancies, according to the Newton Beacon, which first reported the reorganization on Monday, Aug. 24.
What changes
Bernie McDonald, who has served as DPW deputy commissioner, will become deputy commissioner of operations. Waneta Trabert, currently director of sustainable materials management, will be promoted to deputy commissioner of sustainability and administration. A new director will be hired to backfill Trabert's current role.
Trabert also chairs the Massachusetts Product Stewardship Council, a statewide body focused on shifting recycling costs from municipalities to manufacturers.
Nighman's new title is director of organizational performance. In the memo, Laredo described the role as providing leadership and management support to departments facing organizational, operational or transitional challenges. Nighman's first assignment will be guiding DPW through the transition. He previously served as acting deputy director of human resources.
Berwick will stay on temporarily to help the team through the changeover. Laredo wrote in the memo that the framework Berwick built for climate action in Newton and the colleagues she mentored will continue to guide the city's work.
Why now
The Office of Sustainability had 3.5 full-time employees and a budget focused largely on salaries and consulting for the city's Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance program, according to a May 11 Finance Committee hearing. At that hearing, Berwick said the team was already expanding its responsibilities to include sustainability functions in Newton Public Schools, BERDO oversight and building electrification work with utilities.
A councilor asked at the same hearing whether the office should become a standalone department. Nighman said requirements involved in becoming a separate department had created uncertainty when the idea was first raised.
Laredo's memo frames the merger differently: the city's sustainability mission has grown beyond energy emissions to encompass ecological stewardship, embodied carbon, waste reduction and climate adaptation. Placing it inside DPW, which operates a $111.9 million budget across four funds, gives the work access to a larger operational infrastructure.
DPW Commissioner Shawna Sullivan oversees the department receiving the new responsibilities, though the memo does not describe her role in the reorganization.
No start date for the new positions has been made public. The city has not announced a timeline for hiring Trabert's replacement as director of sustainable materials management.
