Lake County commissioners briefed on draft climate action plan, steering committee and contractor staffing option

Consultants from the Brendle Group told the Lake County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 11 that a community‑wide climate action plan (CAP) is underway, based on a contract approved by the prior board, and that a staff or contractor role is needed to coordinate between the county, the city of Leadville and local partners during implementation.

The CAP work is funded by a grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) and includes a 2023 greenhouse‑gas inventory, vulnerability and resilience assessment, community engagement, emissions modeling and a prioritized implementation plan. Jillian Goulet and Imogen Ainsworth of the Brendle Group presented the scope, timeline and early findings, and Anne Schneider, Lake County community planning and development director, described a steering committee that will guide the project.

Brendle presented a community emissions baseline of about 92,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e) for 2023, with transportation responsible for roughly 41% of those emissions and building energy (electricity, natural gas and propane) contributing about 51%. The consultants said the inventory uses standard greenhouse‑gas accounting methods and includes in‑county energy use, vehicle miles traveled occurring inside the county boundary and solid‑waste emissions tied to county waste sent to the landfill. Brendle noted known data limits: several very large industrial energy users did not provide process emissions data voluntarily and therefore are not fully reflected in the inventory.

The consultants summarized a vulnerability and resilience assessment that identified three primary climate hazards for Lake County: wildfire, extreme temperatures and heavy precipitation (short, intense rain or rapid snowmelt causing flash flooding). The assessment cited local factors that amplify risk, including projected population growth, housing affordability and aging infrastructure. Brendle said roughly one‑third of the county population lives in high wildfire‑risk areas and that wildfire frequency and intensity have increased since 2012.

On engagement and next steps, Brendle said the CAP will include in‑person tabling at existing community events, a bilingual (English/Spanish) survey that is already open, and targeted interviews with organizations and staff to shape implementable actions. The consultants and steering committee are discussing scope adjustments to increase local partner involvement in outreach; county staff and the steering committee highlighted that C4 (a local energy/engagement partner) has strong community trust but limited funding, and that subcontracting parts of Brendle’s engagement work to C4 could improve participation among more vulnerable residents.

County staff described a funding‑limited option the steering committee favors: using grant funds to hire a contracted sustainability coordinator (an external consultant under a short RFQ/RFP) rather than creating a new county FTE. That contractor would act as a single point of contact to help Brendle, coordinate departments and the city, lead community engagement logistics, and prepare the county to pursue implementation grants that often prioritize jurisdictions with inventories and action plans in place. Staff said the solicitation could be drafted quickly and routed to legal for posting.

Commissioners and staff discussed related topics raised by the consultants and public‑interest considerations: how airport fuel sales are counted in the inventory (Brendle said the airport’s on‑site fuel sales are used rather than estimating all flights traversing county airspace); whether CAP data could affect insurance (Brendle said the inventory data are public and insurance carriers already access flood‑plain and hazard data; the consultants had not seen CAPs directly trigger denials); the relationship between forest carbon dynamics and wildfire (consultants noted forest‑health and wildfire mitigation planning are complementary to CAP actions); and how the inventory treats large industrial or process emissions when facilities do not report them voluntarily (those emitters can be omitted unless required reporting thresholds are met or they provide data).

No formal board vote was taken during the presentation. Staff and the steering committee said they will: (1) continue community engagement this summer (including tomorrow’s resiliency fair tabling), (2) summarize engagement results and model action impacts, (3) return to the commissioners before adoption so community priorities and board expectations align, and (4) post an RFQ/RFP as soon as possible for a contracted sustainability coordinator to support the final 12–18 months of CAP work and help position the county for state grant opportunities.

The commissioners asked staff to track how CAP deliverables could strengthen the county’s eligibility for upcoming DOLA or state funding rounds that require adopted climate‑oriented policies. Staff said the CAP timeline and some scope elements may shift depending on subcontracting and engagement choices and that the final plan will include an externally facing executive summary in English and Spanish.

The consultants and steering committee emphasized they intend the plan to be actionable and to “not sit on a shelf,” and they flagged that Brendle’s baseline materials and modeled scenarios will be used to prioritize cost, timing and measurable outcomes for recommended actions.

Looking ahead, staff said they would return to the board with the draft RFQ/RFP wording for review, provide links and QR codes for the community survey, and report back on engagement results before seeking final plan adoption.