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Helena sustainability staff report compost and food-waste pilots, solar projects and planned EV purchase; federal EV tax credit available to city purchase
Summary
City sustainability staff updated commissioners on food-waste diversion pilots (including a backyard chicken pilot), solar installations, an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant project, a glass crusher procurement and a Ford Lightning Pro purchase that may qualify for a federal commercial vehicle tax credit of about $7,500.
Sustainability staff updated the Helena City Commission on Oct. 1 on multiple waste-diversion and renewable-energy initiatives, including a food-waste pilot using backyard chickens, a business food-waste composting pilot funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, solar array installations and a planned municipal electric vehicle purchase.
Sustainability and recycling coordinator Jacobson summarized the chicken pilot (phase two) and an earlier business pilot (phase one) funded by USDA grants. “Every homeowner who participates gets 4 chickens, a coop, a bag of feed, and a kitchen scale,” Jacobson said, adding the program partnered with the Boy Scouts of America for coops.
Jacobson said she did not yet have full August and September weights for the chicken pilot but reported about 58 pounds diverted from 10 homeowners for August. Jacobson also said the broader pilot with local businesses had diverted “13.4 tons” of food waste (no additional detail was provided in the meeting about the businesses’ pilot timeframe or participants).
On energy and infrastructure, staff said the city received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant that will fund upgrades to the methane piping system at the wastewater treatment plant and add funds to a residential energy efficiency and renewable loan program. Staff also reported new and ongoing solar projects, including an array at Bill Roberts Golf Course; staff said a missing transformer damaged in transit is delaying full activation and that a replacement part is roughly 10–11 weeks out.
The commission was told the city has ordered a 2025 Ford Lightning Pro as a municipal electric vehicle from Helland Motors with a bill date in November. A staff member said the federal tax incentive for some individual EV purchases expired the prior day but the city’s purchase of a Ford Lightning Pro qualifies as a commercial purchase and may qualify for about a $7,500 tax credit: “we are still looking at getting about a $7,500, rebate for, the purchase of the Ford Lightning Pro,” the staff member said.
Staff also said they are preparing a request for bids for a glass crusher at the transfer station and noted other outreach events such as a pumpkin smash, paint exchange and renewable energy loan activity.
Why it matters: The pilot and grant-funded projects advance the city’s diversion and energy-efficiency goals; the EV purchase and potential tax credit affect municipal vehicle acquisition costs and budgets.
Details and data: staff provided partial diversion totals for the pilots (58 pounds from 10 homeowners in August for the chicken pilot; 13.4 tons for the business pilot) but said full August/September chicken pilot totals were not yet available. The transformer delay for the Bill Roberts solar array was described as about 10–11 weeks out.
No formal decisions requiring commission votes were recorded on these items at the Oct. 1 meeting.
