HomeMy WebLinkAboutResponse to Constituent Letter - Mail Packet - 04/08/2025 - Letter from Mayor Jeni Arndt to Energy Board re City of Fort Collins Grant Funding Resources (2)
Mayor
City Hall
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.2154
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
April 3, 2025
Energy Board
c/o Christie Fredrickson, Staff Liaison
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
Dear Chair Smith and Board Members:
On behalf of City Council, thank you for providing us with the April 1, 2025 memorandum
regarding the Board’s recommendation that the Council evaluate the benefits of adding
additional dedicated grant support staff to bring in additional funds to the City, given that there
may be additional grant money available if the City had more resources dedicated to pursuing it.
Thank you for the expertise and perspectives that you bring to the Board and share with City
Council.
Best Regards,
Jeni Arndt
Mayor
/sek
cc: City Council Members
Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Utilities – Energy Board
700 Wood St.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6702
970.416.2208 - fax
fcgov.com
M E M O R A N D U M
DATE: April 1, 2025
TO: Mayor Arndt and City Councilmembers
FROM: Brian Smith, Energy Board Chairperson
RE: City of Fort Collins Grant Funding Resources
BACKGROUND
At our regular meeting on February 13, 2025, the Fort Collins Energy Board received a
presentation by Kerri Ishmael, Senior Analyst, Grants Admin on citywide grant funding. The
presentation provided a high-level overview of types of grants that are available, the sources of
these grants, and an update on grants awarded to the city.
ENERGY BOARD DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS
The Energy Board has considered Citywide grant funding as presented by its staff in
accordance with our chartered duties and functions, specifically:
(2) To advise the City Council and staff in developing City policies that encourage the
incorporation of energy conservation and efficiency, carbon emissions reduction, and renewable
energy into the development and provision of City utility services, the design and construction of
City transportation projects, and the way in which the City impacts the overall built environment
within the City.
(3) To advise the City Council and staff regarding the alignment of energy programs and policies
with City, ratepayer and community values and service delivery expectations;
(6) To advise the City Council and staff regarding budgetary, rate-making and operational
matters related to the electric utility.
OBSERVATIONS
Certain city operations such as transportation are dependent upon “Federal Formula
Grants.” Regardless of millions of dollars received from Federal Formula Grants there are
still funding gaps that the city needs to meet. The pursuit of these funds is managed by ded-
icated Full Time Equivalents (FTE’s) in the Transportation department.
The City also pursues Competitive Grants to support funding gaps and other city priorities.
These competitive grants are available from State and Federal government agencies. The
pursuit of these funds is not managed by dedicated FTE’s across departments. However,
grant support comes from a Grant Administrator and a third-party consultant is often need-
ed.
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Key grant highlights from the year 2024:
o The city identified a total of 26 “energy” related funding opportunities with more
than $71M in grant funds available.
o This city pursued 13 of the identified “energy” related funding opportunities with
more than $52M in grant funds available.
o The city was awarded 9 of the “energy” related funding opportunities (70% of the
total grants pursued) for more than $31M in grant funding.
The Energy Board is impressed with the City's high success rate in securing grant awards
and praises the Grant Administrator and staff for their significant achievement.
Based on the Energy Board limited knowledge of Federal & State grants dollars available
(e.g. $82B in energy grants from the Inflation Reduction Act alone), we believe there may be
opportunities to secure significantly more in grant awards if the city had addit ional resources
to pursue.
The Energy Board acknowledges the current uncertainty related to Federal appropriations.
We remain optimistic that some Federal grants, as well as grants from other funding
sources, will continue to be obtainable or will become accessible in a reasonable period of
time.
RECCOMENDATION
Given the total Federal & State grant dollars available and the city’s past grant success rate, the
Energy Board respectfully recommends in the City Council evaluate the benefits of adding
additional dedicated grant support staff. An evaluation of adding grant staff to identify, qualify,
and pursue grant funding compared to forecasted grant awards will demonstrate the potential
return to the city and value to the citizens. We expect the outcome of such an evaluation will
demonstrate that adding grant support staff can result in securing additional grants representing
millions of dollars for the city.
As always, the Energy Board is grateful for the opportunity to provide comments and appreci-
ates City Council’s consideration.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Energy Board,
__________________________
Brian P. Smith
Energy Board Chairperson
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