City staff updated the Governmental Operations and Standing Committee on the Joint Energy Team’s work on energy savings, sustainable design standards implementation, and the green-fleet transition.

Laura Thomas, director of the Office of Sustainability, and Donna Lehi, the city’s energy program manager, presented JET accomplishments, noting the interdepartmental team of more than 100 staff formed in FY24. The presenters said JET has helped the city capture operational savings, standardize asset nomenclature for better maintenance tracking, deploy electric-vehicle (EV) charging contracts for multiple departments, and adopt an Energy Management Administrative Regulation to set citywide expectations for conservation.

Lehi said the municipal electricity portfolio is now about 56 percent renewable and the city’s first city-owned on-site solar installation is now operating at T. V. Smith (as presented). She described partnerships to reduce energy burden in low-income housing, including a project with Viridian, the housing department, the Healthy Homes Initiative, and the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Thomas announced Richmond’s selection as one of eight jurisdictions accepted to the Urban Land Institute’s Net Zero cohort; technical assistance will support implementation of the Sustainable Design Standards (SDS) adopted by the council in November 2024. Thomas said the ULI award includes a technical advisory panel to convene in spring and will help staff identify barriers and accelerate SDS implementation.

Gail Johnson, director of General Services, introduced Jason Arnn, fleet operations manager, who described the city’s green-fleet transition and recent additions: 48 hybrid vehicles, 25 electric vehicles (including Ford Lightning and a recently added E-Transit van), and progress on EV technician certification. Arnn noted constraints: higher upfront EV purchase prices, limited medium-/heavy-duty EV availability, and facility infrastructure limits in older buildings. The fleet team reported declining fuel usage over recent years and said replacement decisions follow a data-driven decision tree that evaluates need, potential downsizing, and drivability requirements.

Johnson also reported on responses to an auditor’s fuel-card audit: nine recommendations were accepted and five have been closed; four remain open. The department has developed a fuel-card policy, identified software enhancements for better controls, created a Learn platform training module for fuel-card users (to go live in November), and is completing a fuel-dispensing log for review by the auditor’s office.

Committee members asked for further detail on sustainable design thresholds (the SDS threshold varies by project type: large horizontal projects have a higher dollar threshold; the presenters said one threshold is $5 million for many projects and larger thresholds apply to major infrastructure), the number of staff trained in LEED/Envision, suburban and right-of-way EV curbside policy work and on-bill financing discussions with the Department of Public Utilities. Thomas and Lehi said staff are developing a curbside EV permit policy and are working with DPU on possible on-bill financing and other customer-facing efficiency programs.

No formal action was taken; the presentation concluded with requests that staff return with more detailed proposals on on-bill financing, the SDS implementation plan backed by the ULI technical assistance, and follow-up on fleet facility infrastructure needs.