City introduces climate manager; energy-fund report shows solar array revenue and a revolving fund used for small projects and EV procurement

The council on Feb. 3 introduced Bettina Megez as the city's first climate action manager and received a briefing from energy staff on the city's energy and revolving fund activities.

City Manager Jesse Baker and Megez described her background and noted she will coordinate the city's climate-action priorities with departments and external partners. Megez said she will review existing work and prioritize actions from the Climate Action Plan.

Lou (last name on file), the city's energy project manager, briefed council on how the city tracks savings and uses a small revolving energy fund. Lou said the largest recurring income source into the revolving fund is the landfill solar array, which he stated produces roughly $100,000 per year in revenue that flows into the fund. He also described a rooftop (Market Street) array that provides recurring revenue to the city; transcript remarks about the precise annual amount were unclear and are not reported here.

Lou described how the fund is used: small equipment and efficiency projects (for example, replacing gasoline-powered tools with electric alternatives), engineering studies and to cover the incremental cost between conventional and electric vehicles when the city purchases EVs. He said the city has ordered four electric vehicles; the incremental extra cost for EV purchases has been covered in part from the revolving fund and in part from other budget sources and program funds.

Councilors asked for clearer, line-item accounting of funding sources and of the projected and realized savings for major projects; staff agreed to provide more detailed financial reconciliations and project payback estimates for future meetings. Lou said staff will post energy dashboards and continue to publish project-level data for transparency.