Consideration of a Contract: Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc. for Climate Action and Adaptation Plan consulting services.

In an effort to better prepare for predicted climate changes in northern Arizona, as well as to achieve the City Council’s goal for strong climate action, City staff have created a planning process for the development of Flagstaff’s first community Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (Plan). The Plan will be centered on mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation strategies to address community vulnerabilities, and a prioritized list of actions.
 
Specifically, the Plan will:

• Set a goal to reduce Flagstaff’s community greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• Outline the specific steps that our community will need to take to reduce GHG emissions.
• Outline actions to prepare for and adapt to climate changes.
• Focus on implementation, alignment with other City efforts, and return on investment.
• Build partnerships with community organizations and institutions.
• Draw on of the wealth of indigenous and scientific knowledge in Flagstaff and the technical expertise of City staff.

The Purchasing Section issued a Request for Statement of Qualifications and six (6) respondents come forward for consideration.  Cascadia Consulting's submittal was awarded the highest score of the six and a contract with Cascadia Consulting is being presented to Council tonight for further consideration and possible award.

The consultant will provide facilitation, technical, and plan-writing expertise. During the Fiscal 18 budget hearings, up to $100,000 was identified to pay for consulting services. The FY2018 Sustainability Section budget (214-06-170-0661-0) includes $62,615 for this contract, and the remaining $30,030 is budgeted in the Non-departmental (001-09-402-1310-1).

The Plan must align with existing City and community plans and programs including the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030, the Flagstaff Zoning Code, the Municipal Sustainability Plan, the Flagstaff Airport Sustainability Plan, the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project, City Council Goals, and the Regional Transportation Plan – Blueprint 2040.  The Plan will identify mitigation and adaptation strategies that will have an impact on City policies and programming.

COUNCIL GOALS:
Take meaningful climate action

REGIONAL PLAN:
Policy E&C.2.1. Encourage the reduction of all energy consumption, especially fossil-fuel generated energy, in public, commercial, industrial, and residential sectors.
Policy E&C.2.2. Promote investments that strengthen climate resiliency.
Policy E.1.10. Incentivize energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in construction projects.
Policy E.2.1. Promote renewable energy sources that reduce demand upon fossil fuels and other forms of generation that produce waste.
Policy E.2.5. Pursue, promote, and support utility-scale renewable energy production such as biomass facilities, solar electricity, wind power, waste-to-energy, and other alternative energy technologies.

 Staff presented an update on the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan to City Council on August 21, 2017.

The Climate Action and Adaptation Plan effort was developed in response to City Council’s goal of taking meaningful climate action. The Plan will help to organize current efforts and provide new strategies for City operations and community-scale objectives.  Without this Plan, staff will not have a framework to utilize and have no feedback from the community.

1) Approve the contract for consulting on the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan with Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc.
2) Do not approve the contract and repost a new Request for Statement of Qualifications.
 

The Sustainability Section's past work in support of climate action has positioned the city to move quickly on a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.  Current work ranges from projects at the airport, energy efficiency workshops in the community, and forward-thinking projects by water services. 

While there is uncertainty around the exact, future impacts of climate changes, we already are seeing changing weather patterns, and anticipate that Flagstaff will continue to see changes in precipitation, including more extreme storms and increased flooding. Drier forests will contribute to changing fire regimes. Flagstaff will see the impacts of climate change throughout our economy and community. It is much more cost-effective to be prepared for climate change than to try to respond to climate change’s impacts.

The Purchasing Department posted a Request for Statement of Qualifications to the Planetbids website on June 8, 2017. The RSOQ closed as of July 27, 2017, at 3:00 pm. The City of Flagstaff received six (6) proposals. Seven evaluators were selected to review the proposals. Once all evaluators had scored all of the proposals, a meeting was held and it was decided at that time to move forward with the highest scoring firm which was Cascadia Consulting. Attached is a copy of the contract and the scoring totals for all six vendors.

As part of the Sustainability Section's goal to incorporate community feedback from the beginning, staff held a stakeholder meeting in March 2017 to learn about priorities for the Plan. Following staff convened a stakeholder group in April 2017 to develop the consultant’s scope of work.

In order to develop a climate plan that serves the community, staff intends to hear from Flagstaff residents prior to the plan-writing process. Community engagement will start this fall and will be designed to better understand community priorities for climate action, as well as their concerns about climate change and vulnerabilities in their neighborhoods. Based off of this community feedback and technical analysis, the Plan will be developed and completed in late spring of 2018, and then go out to public comment and council approval in the summer of 2018. 

Staff will provide City Council with quarterly updates on the Plan.

A plan that is line with Council goals on Climate Actions.

Steering committee made up of City of Flagstaff employees as well as community members.