Email: astarr@grantspassoregon.gov
Title: Sustainability Planner
Organization: City of Grants Pass (Public Works Department)
Community: Grants Pass
Population: 37, 938 (as of 2020 data)
Counties Served: Josephine County

Meet Allegra Starr:

Allegra was raised among the agricultural lands of Yolo County in Northern California. After spending a year living in rural Southern Italy and Argentina to work on human rights issues, she relocated to Salem, Oregon. While in Salem, she attended Willamette University where she graduated with a triple major in Economics, Public Health, and Politics, Policy, Law and Ethics, with minors in Environmental Science and Sustainability. She also worked in the Oregon House of Representatives for the chair of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She is excited to be working in the Public Works Department of the City of Grants Pass as their Sustainability Planner, which aligns perfectly with so many of her professional passions.

Allegra felt immediately at home in Grants Pass, picking blackberries along the Rogue River while watching her Australian kelpie mix, Mango, trying to hunt the ducks. She enjoys exploring the farms, creameries, vineyards, and ski slopes of Southern Oregon from her current location in Grants Pass.

Community and Organization:

Grants Pass is a vibrant city and tourist destination situated on both I-5 and the Rogue River, between Medford and the Oregon coast. Aptly boasting “It’s The Climate,” the city offers year-round outdoor recreation, cultural events, a farmer’s market, outstanding parks and green spaces, and a historic downtown with a remarkable variety of drinking and dining establishments. It has proudly been designated as a Tree City USA since 1987. The city of 38,189 is also the county seat for more than 87,000 Josephine County residents. The City of Grants Pass Public Works Department manages the community’s water, wastewater and drain systems, and 175 miles of streets and rights-of-way, with the goal of providing a healthy and environmentally safe life for its residents.

Project:

As the Sustainability Planner for the City of Grants Pass, Allegra is working with the recently-established Sustainability and Energy Action Taskforce (S.E.A.T.) to create a Sustainability and Energy Action Plan for the City’s municipal operations. Allegra’s role is to manage the S.E.A.T. and distill their recommendations into a cogent Plan that serves three main objectives: to save the City money, to build resiliency into City facilities and operations, and to reduce emissions (with a goal of net zero emissions by 2045). Ultimately, the Plan will provide City staff with a clear road map of viable strategies to pursue and projects to implement to improve energy efficiency and transition to renewable sources of energy in order to meet these objectives.