City staff presented a plan to pilot electrification at five city facilities and to release a design request for proposals (RFP) early next year, saying the work will help the city align equipment replacement cycles with decarbonization goals.

Brad Eggleston, director of public works, introduced Kimberly Guerrero, the city engineer assigned to facility electrification, who summarized a facility condition assessment completed in 2024. Guerrero said the assessment covered 53 buildings (leased and city-maintained), identified 26 buildings that still contain gas-burning equipment totaling 159 units and found that roughly 40% of those buildings contain systems with an average remaining useful life of about three years or less. "This became an important factor in shaping our approach, both in terms of timing and in identifying where early electrification efforts would be most practical and cost effective," Guerrero said.

Staff recommended a pilot group of five sites chosen for manageable complexity and operational alignment: the Golf Course Pro Shop, College Terrace Library, Downtown Library, Art Center and Ventura Community Center. Guerrero said utilities calendar-year 2024 data for those pilot sites showed about 21,000 therms of gas consumption, which the city estimated equates to roughly 110 metric tons of CO2. The RFP is for design consulting only — not programming or project management — and will request detailed assessments of remaining useful life, infrastructure needs, potential electrical upgrades and cost analyses.

Guerrero said the RFP is on track to be released early next year and that staff expects design work through 2026, with construction on larger projects likely in early 2027. Assistant Director Holly Floyd said that if funding is available, staff feel confident the pilot work could be finished in fiscal year 2027.

During public comment, resident Stephen Rosenblum urged the city to consider pilot projects that use remotely monitored and controllable appliances so they could function as a "virtual power plant" to reduce peak demand. Staff answered that larger building systems typically sit on building management systems and can be remotely controlled, but smaller, residential-scale water heaters usually are not; the utilities department has participated in demand-reduction programs in the past.

Council members pressed staff about whether pilot sites would be fully electrified; Guerrero said the RFP will analyze whether full electrification is cost-effective and that some pilot sites could be made fully electric if all gas units are replaced. Council members also questioned whether the city should build more in-house design capacity rather than rely on consultants. Guerrero said the city lacks in-house staff who prepare design drawings, Title 24 energy analysis, structural and acoustical studies and other specialized engineering; she noted the RFP includes a base-services budget estimate for design consulting of about $200,000 and that the contract would allow task orders for additional projects.

On funding, staff said an established capital improvement program project includes funding for city facility electrification and that some projects with measurable energy-efficiency benefits may qualify for public-benefit utility incentives; utility staff said they are actively studying boundaries for which programs can support electrification measures. "There are situations where it makes sense to have some of that come from the public benefits energy efficiency bucket," a utility representative said.

The committee did not take formal action Tuesday; staff said the next procedural step is releasing the RFP early next year, with a contract expected to come back to council for adoption in spring.