The city’s preservation infrastructure may finally be getting back on its feet after chronic understaffing and uneasy relations with preservation groups.

Brian Swett, Boston’s new Chief Climate Officer of the Environment, Energy and Open Space cabinet, held the first in a series of “listening sessions” on July 16. Focusing on the historic preservation aspect of his broad role, the forum had around 20 attendees feeling out Swett’s approach to the job.

Swett has been in his role for around a month at this point and will also be taking the position of executive director of the landmarks commission on July 19.

He said he wants to remember the parts of preservation outside of just protecting physical buildings, as well as bringing a focus on sustainability from his past work experience.

“Preservation isn’t solely about the buildings and artifacts, it’s about how we tell the story so that people are aware of why a building is important,” he said. “Boston’s older buildings are also a resource in our journey toward sustainability. Older buildings aren’t less sustainable, they were built before mechanized HVAC and have better bones and passive cooling strategies.”

That said, much of the work confronting him when it comes to preservation is rebuilding the preservation framework that has fallen prey to institutional neglect. Neighborhood historic district commissions, a key element in the development process, are today so understaffed they often have difficulty even reaching quorum to function.

Swett said he does plan on restocking those to get them back up and running, though he went out of his way to say he doesn’t necessarily see bureaucracy as an end unto itself.

“Efficiency and effectiveness of the process is a priority, but I fully appreciate the time the commissioners and our staff put in. The desired outcome is historic preservation, it is not more process. I want to make sure we’ve efficient and effective with everybody’s time, and that we’re accomplishing historic preservation as an outcome,” he said.

That did prompt some concern from attendees who have been contending with a lack of functional process for years. Mark Kiefer, chairman of the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, said that while he’d have been grateful for a more streamlined process when they were filling vacancies, he doesn’t want that to come at the expense of the commission system.

“Candidly, when I hear you talk about emphasizing outcomes rather than the number of commissioners, I get a little nervous. We should be sure not to take authority away from local commissions, not just because of their local experience but as a layer of transparency and public input,” he said.

Swett clarified that he fully intends to restore existing infrastructure to capacity, and the tone of the meeting did remain encouraging throughout.

Another question is the backlog of capital funding applications and landmark designations, which Swett says will need several years to work through. The city won’t be taking them on a first-come first-serve basis, instead pulling high-risk projects and buildings of special importance to the front of the queue.

“We want to co-develop that prioritization with the community, I’m not going to do that in a vacuum. We don’t want to overweight how old an application is, we want to weight it based on the historic preservation outcome,” he said.

The Office of Environment, Energy and Open Space will be conducting a series of these “listening sessions,” though Swett did not say when the next meetings might occur. The follow-ups will be done in person and neighborhood by neighborhood, addressing each of the office’s aspects in a given area at the same time.