Mayor’s sustainability office seeks operating funding for air‑quality sensor software and partial FTE transition

Sustainability staff in the Mayor’s Office briefed the Common Council on Oct. 13 on two supplemental requests in the 2026 executive operating budget related to the city’s community air‑quality sensor network and staffing for building decarbonization work.

Jessica Price described two software expenses previously funded by an EPA grant that ends in 2026: the AQ Cloud operator service (QuantiQ) and the Love My Air platform that displays air‑quality data on dashboards used for community outreach and school‑age programming. Because the federal grant is ending and continued federal support is unlikely, the sustainability office proposed shifting those software costs into the operating budget.

Price also proposed moving 65% of an existing position’s costs from capital into operating to transition an LTE into an ongoing position. The position leads residential energy‑efficiency and decarbonization work, operates the air‑quality monitoring network in partnership with UW scientists, coordinates community outreach and supports resilience hubs and heat‑related responses.

“This position is the team's lead on our energy efficiency and decarbonization work in residential buildings,” Jessica Price said, describing how the role supports partnerships such as the Efficiency Navigator program and integration with city housing and procurement efforts.

Sustainability staff said the move would maintain the city’s sensor‑network operations and preserve outreach and resilience work as federal grant funding ends. No formal committee vote occurred during the Oct. 13 briefing.