Cloud City Conservation Center reviews 2024 deferred-maintenance spending, outlines programs and saves community solar garden

Cloud City Conservation Center (C4) Executive Director Emily Olsen presented the nonprofit's work to the Lake County Board of County Commissioners during a work session, and described how C4 used county and external funds in 2024 to address deferred maintenance and community energy needs.

C4 framed its work around a mission “that C4 fosters pathways to a healthier planet and community through initiatives that inspire the conservation of our natural environment,” and said its programs focus on energy efficiency, environmental education, waste diversion and sustainable food. The presentation summarized program activity, spending and near-term needs for recycling and community energy infrastructure.

The nut of the presentation was what C4 and staff described as targeted, locally focused investments rather than broad new programs. Christian Nalayel, C4’s community resource navigator, reviewed a 2024 energy-assistance pilot funded in part with ARPA dollars the BOCC granted C4. The program served 88 Lake County households (about 180 residents), providing repairs and direct assistance for emergency home needs; Christian said “everyone basically that came into my door qualified for the program.” Nalayel and Olsen said C4 helped leverage other state and federal programs to supplement smaller awards, and that C4 has invested more than $1,000,000 in local housing improvements since 2020, about three-quarters from outside funding sources.

C4 also reported on its waste-diversion and recycling work. The organization runs zero-waste services for large local events (Leadville Race Series, Boom Days) and operates community composting at Cloud City Farm. Olsen told commissioners the county landfill’s long-term capacity is uncertain and that recycling is limited by contamination and a lack of sorting infrastructure: she said a materials recovery facility (MRF) typically costs “around a million dollars.” C4 said the county and C4 recently applied for an EPA infrastructure grant for recycling and composting in the $4 million–$5 million range and that the county and C4 were accepted into the EPA Sustainable Communities Accelerator Network to develop a community waste-management plan.

Cloud City Farm, C4’s produce operation, typically grows about 3,000 pounds of food on-site and brings another roughly 3,000 pounds from other local farms; the farm runs a donation-based market and participates in SNAP incentive programs that can reimburse up to $60 per month for healthy food for program participants.

C4 described a major action taken in 2024 to preserve community solar. C4 said it purchased the Lake County Solar Garden from its prior owner for $1 after the owner entered bankruptcy and that the BOCC had contributed about $15,000 for legal expenses and roughly $113,000 toward repairs. Olsen said the garden originally cost about $2,000,000 to build across all subscribers; an inverter replacement was the principal remaining repair and had an estimated cost on the order of $250,000. She said the inverter is scheduled to come back online in May and that Cloud City Solar is expected to generate between $60,000 and $75,000 per year to support C4 operations once restored.

Commissioners and staff asked operational questions about oversight and financial controls for C4’s repair and assistance work. Olsen said C4 either pays contractors directly or reimburses participants only when they provide receipts; she said C4 did not use county grant funds to cover organizational overhead for the ARPA-funded energy-assistance pilot and that C4 funded the staff position separately. Christian said C4 requested multiple contractor quotes for major repairs and required financial proof of completed work before reimbursements.

On recycling infrastructure, C4 and county staff told commissioners that drop-site contamination, limited local MRF capacity and space constraints at the landfill constrain potential expansion. C4 said multiple earlier grants (state RREO and other opportunities) had funded equipment and trucks and that, historically, contaminated loads that were hauled to Denver were sometimes rejected — a problem C4 said it and the county have worked to reduce.

The presentation was informational; no formal county vote was recorded during the session. Commissioners asked for follow-up information about program outcomes and grant timelines and indicated interest in continuing coordination on landfill planning, the EPA Accelerator work and the community solar project.

Ending: C4 asked the BOCC to continue collaboration on waste infrastructure, energy-efficiency programming and the solar garden repair timeline; commissioners requested additional program detail and said staff would follow up on grant and procurement timelines.