Tumwater staff unveil interactive Green Team dashboard; recommends fleet electrification and decarbonization targets

Alyssa Jones Wood, Green Team staff lead, presented Tumwater’s Green Team 2024 annual report in a dashboard format the city will host online. The presentation covered city‑operation sustainability metrics including fleet fuel mix, water use, building energy, waste diversion and tree canopy. "We transitioned our underground diesel storage tanks for our fleet vehicles to renewable diesel," Jones Wood said, and a 2024 fuel pie chart showed gasoline represented roughly 74% of fleet fuel use, with diesel and renewable diesel making up the remainder. The dashboard includes a fleet‑purchase policy that directs replacement of light‑duty vehicles with electric or hybrid units unless there is "a really, really, really good reason why." Jones Wood said the city’s average cost per EV charging session for fleet or public chargers was about $1.50. On water use, the report notes the golf course uses reclaimed water for irrigation and that reclaimed and potable water volumes were roughly equal in 2024. Jones Wood said city operations are diverting about 50% of waste from landfill based on container counts and pickup frequencies and that a full waste audit has not been completed. The presentation also summarized a newly completed tree‑canopy assessment for city‑owned properties. Staff recommended actions including adoption of the fleet electrification memo with specific percentage goals for police and non‑police vehicles, funding projects identified in an investment‑grade audit of city facilities, seeking grants for solar plus storage at the library, city hall and fire stations and increasing drought‑tolerant plantings and irrigation efficiency. Council member Lietta Dalhoff praised the dashboard format, and no formal council action was taken at the presentation.