City commissioners are ready to make the city a little greener.

Commissioners at their weekly meeting agreed to formally create the new position of Sustainability Coordinator.

The new job will be shared with Douglas County, and will draw a salary of about $60,000 per year, commissioners were told.

The new employee will be responsible for helping the city and county figure out how to save energy, reduce the community’s carbon footprint and look at green issues like locally produced foods.

The city will pay for the first $100,000 worth of costs related to the program with a grant the city received as part of the federal stimulus program. After the grant money is exhausted, the county will pay for 60 percent of the position’s costs and the city will pay for 40 percent.

One of the first jobs for the new position will be administering a project to improve energy efficiency of the lighting and heating and air conditioning systems at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt. That $550,000 project also will be paid for with federal stimulus money.