The Douglas County Board of Commissioners voted to authorize the county administrator to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Metropolitan Energy Center (MEC) to participate in a federal planning grant to study clean-energy and energy-efficiency investments across the county.

County sustainability staff told the commission the agreement covers phase 1 — planning and analysis — and explicitly does not include construction or implementation. Jamie Hoffling said MEC will receive the grant funds, will reimburse the county for staff time spent on the project, and has hired consultants including Building Energy Exchange (BEX) and Donovan Energy to provide technical and financial analysis. Hoffling said the work will focus on multifamily properties (especially below-market and affordable housing), nonprofits, government facilities and single-family housing.

Commissioners asked for clarity about objectives and local control. Kim Krainer Rachey, sustainability manager, said the MOU and its appendix are intended as a worksheet to guide deliverables from MEC and to record local roles and responsibilities; she said the appendix remains a template because staff and partners have not yet completed the engagement exercises. Staff said they will bring a completed worksheet back to the commission at the end of phase 1 before any decision to pursue implementation in a later phase.

Several commissioners pressed about who holds decision authority and whether MEC would be defining local priorities. Staff repeatedly emphasized MEC is a partner and the county is the beneficiary; MEC will manage the grant compliance while county staff will guide the work. Commissioners were told the grant term for initial work ends March 31 and that any later ‘phase 2’ implementation would come back to the commission for separate approval.

Commissioners approved the MOU with revised language to refer to “potential public–private partnership opportunities” and to reframe the document as a framework rather than an action plan. The motion passed with a recorded tally of yes: 4, no: 1, abstain: 1 (as announced at the meeting).

Next steps: staff will produce the completed worksheet and return it to the commission for review at the close of the planning phase; any move to implementation would require additional authorization and a separate funding decision.

Quote: “This is a planning grant…there’s no development, there’s no construction as part of the MOU or the grant deliverables,” Jamie Hoffling said during the discussion.