Area municipalities are being asked to make a commitment to sustainability.

The Dayton Town Board was the first in the county to approve a sustainability resolution, according to Working Together for Waupaca County, a nonpartisan group committed to the principles of sustainable growth.

In July, a sustainability resolution went before the Waupaca Common Council and was forwarded to the city’s Finance Committee.

Kari Esbensen is a member of Working Together for Waupaca County and resident of the city of Waupaca.

She asked the Waupaca Common Council to adopt a sustainability resolution and said the group’s goal is to encourage every municipality in the county adopt such an ordinance.

Doing so will poise the county to become a leader, she said.

Also speaking in favor of such an ordinance at last month’s council meeting was Bill Zimmerman, who owns Office Outfitters in downtown Waupaca.

He said Waupaca is a community that has a vibrant downtown, which is something all would like to see maintained.

The arts is also part of that economy, Zimmerman said, and he would like to see sustainability encouraged downtown.

The resolution going before the city – like that adopted by the town of Dayton – states that the community declares sustainability to be a goal of the city and that it commits itself to creating conditions necessary for a sustainable future.

Zimmerman told the Waupaca Common Council that the discussion also needs to include building an awareness about what it means to shop locally.

“People don’t understand the impact,” he said of shopping locally versus shopping in Stevens Point or the Fox Valley. “When you spend locally, dollars can change hands five to seven times.”

The proposed sustainability resolution is scheduled to be on the city’s Finance Committee agenda when it meets at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10, in the council chambers at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.