Sustainability Director Jim Caldwell Retires

In late 2006 the environmental community was pushing to elevate the environment inside Howard County government. A blue-ribbon panel was appointed and Jim Caldwell, former head of the Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection was named head of the governance committee – which was charged with recommending how the government should organize its environmental work.

Jim articulated the pitfalls of a massive reorganization to create a new Department and instead suggested the creation of a small policy office that could work closely with administrative leadership and across departments. Shortly after his recommendation – the Office of [Environmental] Sustainability was created.

A few years later Jim was hired to manage the County stormwater program. After a change in Executive leadership, he managed the Office of [Community] Sustainability for the last four years, before retiring last month. There is simply no way to overstate how critical Jim has been to instituting a culture of sustainability in County government and in the entire Howard County community.

But for Jim Caldwell, the Sustainability Office would have faltered or collapsed
But for Jim Caldwell, our water quality initiatives would have stagnated
But for Jim Caldwell, our work supporting local food producing farms would never have thrived
But for Jim Caldwell, our work combatting climate change would have all but disappeared.

His retirement is well earned, and we wish him the best, but the entire Howard County community will miss his daily input terribly.

Joshua Feldmark
Director, Office of Community Sustainability