Montgomery County, Maryland, has a skyrocketing crime problem (particularly among its youth), its vaunted public schools are collapsing in quality, and everyone agrees it is a bad place to do business.

Yet County Executive Marc Elrich is focusing the county’s efforts on climate change.

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Here was Elrich’s explanation for why the county government should have a climate czar:

“Addressing climate change and designing and implementing effective environmental policy are top priorities for us. I am pleased to welcome Sarah Kogel-Smucker to our team. We are looking forward to her using her experience and passion to help us reach our goal to achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2027 and a 100 percent reduction by 2035. As a county, we cannot solve the problems created by climate change but we can be a leader and a model for other jurisdictions, and Sarah's work will be an important part of those efforts.”

As a refugee from Montgomery County, I can say that the county did almost nothing to make the areas where I lived more walkable, which would seem like a climate priority. County zoning laws banned stores and restaurants in huge swaths of residential neighborhoods. My former street lacked a sidewalk for a majority of it.

So Kogel-Smucker will have her work cut out for her. In fact, she will have to work against Elrich, who opposes efforts to reduce car dependency in the county.

One might ask why a county government should dedicate a staff position — and presumably cede some influence — to a climate officer. Elrich’s implied argument is that climate change is so serious that the county should rearrange many parts of its governance to address it.

Fine, but what about another serious problem the country is facing: The Baby Bust. Shouldn’t counties appoint Family Formation Officers? Montgomery County ought to set a goal of reversing its Baby Bust by 2028 and having a Total Fertility Rate above replacement level by 2038.

His Family Formation Officer should study what the county can do to encourage couples to have one more kid and to encourage more and earlier marriages.

That’s because we have a crisis of collapsing birthrates in this country, and the long-term harms will be dramatic. A world with fewer children is a sadder world, a less innovative world, and for at least a couple of generations, it’s a world of shortages and inflation.

Americans still want to have kids, but they aren’t, which suggests our society is doing something wrong.

Maryland's birth rates are below the national average and are at record lows. Montgomery County’s birthrate has dropped by 10 percent in just five years.

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The County should do everything it can to turn this around. Make communities more walkable so that parents don’t have to drive their kids everywhere. Transform its daycare subsidies into child allowances so that parents who don’t use daycare can also benefit from them. Repeal the brand new taxes on buying a home so that new couples can more afford starter homes. And liberalized the building of homes.

Democratic politicians are focused on the climate crisis. They should worry about the family formation crisis.