Larimer County updates internal climate action plan with facility, fleet and purchasing steps

Larimer County commissioners heard a mid‑year update on the county’s internal climate action, resilience and education plan, known as I‑CARE, at a July 13 work session in the county administrative building.

Abby Stapleton, sustainability coordinator in Larimer County’s Office of Sustainability and Climate, told the board the plan organizes county actions across four sectors and tracks progress with a traffic‑light system. “If it’s in green, that means it’s on track,” Stapleton said, adding the county has set a goal to cut facility greenhouse‑gas emissions 62% by 2030.

Stapleton highlighted recent facility projects including an unplanned direct‑air (DX) HVAC upgrade at the county jail to comply with a federal mandate on inmate cell temperatures. She said facilities funded that work from existing component replacement dollars and that the jail already meets state 2030 energy‑intensity targets for residential buildings.

The presentation also covered ranch operations, where staff are installing energy‑efficient roofs and rolling out battery‑powered landscaping equipment. Chris, the ranch project lead, described three robotic mowers (one named “RoboChop”), battery blowers and EV golf carts; he said grant funding reduced unit costs and that the ranch is piloting reflective white roofing for improved efficiency.

Mobility and trails updates included a county engineering accomplishment on widened shoulders and completion in June of a 1.5‑mile Poudre Trail connector, which Stapleton said now allows a continuous 45‑mile route from Bellevue to Greeley. Stapleton said a Loveland sidewalk project added about 1.25 miles of sidewalk by the Walmart area, connecting mobile‑home communities to bus stops; Shelly Barre Devolo of county engineering confirmed the sidewalk connects directly to at least one school bus stop.

On transportation and fleet policy, Stapleton said the county had six fully electric light‑duty vehicles and 26 hybrids (roughly 9% of the light‑duty fleet, up from a 4% baseline in 2021), with three EVs added last year and two more planned for 2026. She described a free technical assistance engagement with the National Laboratory of the Rockies to analyze fleet data and produce department‑level recommendations for electrification, lifecycle costs and charging needs.

Stapleton outlined sustainable purchasing work — she said eco‑friendly product purchases increased 5% by item count even as total Amazon/Office Depot spending dollars fell, and that 26% of RFPs included sustainability criteria in the most recent year (down from 76% in 2024). To help employees access sustainable options, she described efforts to share Amazon/Office Depot business logins and internal training on sustainable purchasing and event planning.

Natural‑resource and water projects showed measurable savings from turf replacement and irrigation retrofits. Stapleton reported county‑managed sites used roughly 12,000,500 gallons of water in 2021–2023 and that 2024–2025 averages dropped by about 1,000,000 gallons after several turf‑to‑native conversions and drip‑irrigation retrofits; she cited project estimates such as 6,000 gallons/month saved at a behavioral‑health site and 3,000 gallons/month at the sheriff’s admin site.

Stapleton also described employee engagement measures: a sustainability education series with a points/reward structure and an employee e‑waste drive that collected about 1,300 pounds of electronics and 78 pounds of household batteries. Commissioners praised the work and asked for continued documentation of annual cost savings tied to investments.

The work session produced no formal actions or votes. County Manager Lorinda Volker and several commissioners thanked the I‑CARE team for the progress and the chair adjourned the meeting at 11:04 a.m.