Fiscal Note
Estimated cost is $190,000
Budget authority is available in Account 11362-401-200: 54645 (96153).
Title
Establishing a voluntary energy benchmarking program
Body
Whereas, the City of Madison approved “The Madison Sustainability Plan: Fostering, Environmental, Economic and Social Resilience” June 12, 2012 RES-12-00434, and;
Whereas, goal #2 of The Madison Sustainability Plan calls for systematically upgrading existing buildings, equipment and infrastructure, and;
Whereas, the action items under Goal #2 call for the city to work with the private sector to promote and incentivize upgrading existing commercial and residential building stock to improve energy efficiency, indoor air and building environment quality; including creating policies with incentives and energy performance targets to foster upgrades of existing buildings ultimately reducing energy consumption of 50% by 2030, and;
Whereas, on September 10, 2014 an order for the formation of a Benchmarking Ad Hoc Committee file #35501 was issued under Section 33.01(4)(a) of the Madison General Ordinances appointing 10 members recommended by (then) Council President, Alder Chris Schmidt, and;
Whereas, the Ad Hoc committee began meeting on September 22, 2014 and had three consecutive monthly meetings (that included a meeting where property owners were invited to participate) before agreeing to form a small working group of the Ad Hoc Committee that would include two outside experts on facility management from large property owners, and;
Whereas, the working group was charged with coming back to the Ad Hoc Committee with direction/suggestions based on their detailed discussion, research, and;
Whereas, the working group met three times with open discussion and listening/learning from each other and the experts at the table, and;
Whereas, the working group produced a report that reflected their findings identifying important features of both a mandatory and a voluntary program and sent those to the full Ad Hoc committee on June 1, 2015, and;
Whereas, there was open robust discussion at the full Ad Hoc committee with a 7-3 vote to move forward with a voluntary process for benchmarking that would include education, incentives for energy efficiency upgrades and support from the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce;
Whereas the City of Madison adopted a Voluntary Energy Use Benchmarking Program on September 1, 2015 that when combined with other efforts, will work to reduce overall building energy consumption of 50% by 2030 in public and private sector buildings;
Whereas the Program will include an outreach/education plan, incentives for compliance and upgrades, and a third party private entity that will collect and store the data;
Whereas the Program has ambitious goals to achieve 90 percent participation, by Dec. 31, 2020, of commercial buildings in the city larger than a minimum target that falls between the range of 25,000 sq. ft. to 50,000 sq. ft. with an exact minimum to be determined using the Assessor’s Office report;
Whereas the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Madison Inc. and Smart Growth Madison have committed to fully supporting the implementation of the Program through targeted promotion and education to the business community to meet the program’s objectives of working collaboratively with businesses to reduce energy consumption and related business costs;
Whereas a group of prominent, experienced and local organizations has developed a comprehensive approach to fulfilling the 2016 Voluntary Energy Use Benchmarking Program objectives by engaging property owners, property managers, tenants and occupants in energy efficiency and management while maintaining strict confidentiality of any identifying or proprietary data for commercial entities;
WHEREAS, under MGO 4.26(4)(b), if a service contract exceeds $25,000 and the contract was not subject to a competitive selection process, the contract shall meet one of the requirements of sec. 4.26(4)(a) and be approved by the Common Council, and signed by the Mayor and Clerk; and
WHEREAS, this contract meets section 4.26(4)(a)7. which provides that a contract may be approved without a competitive selection process if the contractor has performed similar services in the past and it would be economical on the basis of time and money to retain the same firm. Cool Choices has recently performed energy efficiency marketing and this project is similar in that as a voluntary benchmarking program, effective marketing regarding energy efficiency will be key; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the city of Madison will authorize a $190,000 sole-source contract with Madison-based nonprofit, Cool Choices, Inc. to implement the a comprehensive Voluntary Energy Use Benchmarking Program in collaboration with Seventhwave, Rapid Improvement Associates and Sustain Dane to ensure the timely delivery of energy management services.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Mayor and City Clerk are authorized to execute contract document(s) as needed with Cool Choices, Inc. at the price and for the purposes set forth above.