Environmental Sustainability Board Meeting - February 19, 2026
Environmental Sustainability Board Meeting - February 19, 2026
The Los Alamos County Environmental Sustainability Board convened on February 19, 2026, at 5:30 PM in the Council Chambers and via Zoom. The meeting focused on finalizing and approving the Fleet Conversion and Community-Wide Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Plan, appointing liaison assignments, and receiving updates on sustainability initiatives. The board unanimously voted to support the plans as presented and forward them to the County Council.
Consent Calendar
- The board approved the agenda and the minutes from the January 15, 2026 meeting unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made on items not included on the agenda.
Discussion Items
- Fleet Conversion and Community-Wide EV Charging Plan (Presentation by Stantec Consulting): Stantec presented the final versions of both plans, which included revisions based on public comments, board feedback, and feedback from the Board of Public Utilities. Key changes included adding charging locations in residential areas and White Rock, and improving clarity on prioritization of multifamily housing. The fleet conversion plan analyzed two scenarios: continuing the current policy of converting two vehicles per year (EV Policy, reaching 31% electrification by 2050) and an accelerated scenario aligned with the Climate Action Plan (CAP Policy, reaching 86% electrification by 2050). The CAP Policy scenario would reduce cumulative greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2050 but carries a 33% higher total cost of ownership compared to a business-as-usual ICE-only scenario. Financial modeling showed negative net present value (NPV) for generic pre-loaded scenarios, but Stantec emphasized that the accompanying Excel tool allows the county to evaluate site-specific returns on investment. Board members discussed the financial viability, noting that public charging investments may not always yield positive returns but can enable equitable EV adoption. The board also discussed Section 5.3.2 of the EV charging plan regarding updating building codes to incentivize EV-ready construction; some members proposed revising it to align with existing codes, but the final motion accepted the plan as presented.
- Liaison Assignments: The board reviewed and approved liaison assignments: Sue Barns and Shannon Blair as co-liaisons to the Board of Public Utilities, Sue Barns as liaison to the Los Alamos Sustainability Alliance, and Joseph Chandler as liaison to the Parks and Recreation Board. David Hampton will continue as liaison to the Transportation Board and Planning and Zoning Commission.
Key Outcomes
- The board unanimously passed a motion to "support the fleet conversion and community-wide electric vehicle charging plan and recommend forwarding this plan to council as presented." The motion was made by Sue Barns, seconded by Jack Grow, and passed unanimously.
- Liaison assignments were approved as described.
- The board acknowledged the need for ongoing site-by-site financial analysis using the tool provided by Stantec.
Reports
- Chair's Report (David Hampton): Thanked new members for attending. Noted that Councilor Riedy raised questions about green building codes during Council's February 17 meeting; staff are reviewing code alignment with efficiency standards.
- Board Liaison Reports:
- Sue Barns and Shannon Blair reported no update from the Board of Public Utilities meeting as both were out of town; they will review the recording.
- David Hampton had no update from the Transportation Board.
- No update from Parks and Recreation Board.
- Council Liaison Report (Councilor Melanee Hand): Reported on the February 17 regular Council session, including recognition of the Government Finance Officers Association Triple Crown award, approval of a budget revision for NMDOT grant funds ($435,388), and issuance of bonds for the broadband project. Welcomed new board member Carly Blair (appointed by Council).
- Working Groups:
- Bee City Los Alamos: No representative present; noted a wildflower seeding class on February 28.
- Los Alamos Sustainability Alliance: No meeting in January.
- Education and Outreach Work Group: Sue Barns is a member; the county hired Firebrand consulting for climate marketing and education campaigns. Focus groups are planned for the coming week to test messaging.
- Staff Report (Sustainability Manager Angelica Gurule):
- February sustainability newsletter focused on fast fashion; subscribers increased to 126 with a 75% engagement rate.
- EV Charging Infrastructure: Six Level 2 chargers installed at the Municipal Building; over 400 unique charging sessions in the first month. Two DC fast chargers at Mesa Public Library are in design; a budget revision was approved by Council.
- Firebrand will be on-site next week for community engagement.
- The county was selected to receive a $1.2 million EPA grant for a food composting program (currently on hold due to site constraints).
- Jemez Mountain Trail Run zero-waste station volunteer opportunity on May 9 (sign-up via Kristine Coblentz).
- Commuter Trip Reduction research is a new project; volunteers welcome.
- Presented the January 2026 Residential Sustainability Report: 20% diversion rate (recycling and yard trimmings); 83 tons recycled, 91 tons yard trimmings; 20 trucks of trash sent to Valencia Landfill costing $38,321.60.
- Preview of Upcoming Agenda Items:
- Possible presentations from Mozart DEVCO and the New Mexico Climate Action Plan (March or April).
- The board's work plan is under review and expected to be finalized by Council on March 3.
Meeting Transcript
I'm calling the meeting to order. Roll call shows Member Chandler, Member Growe, Member Hampton, Member Blair, and Member Barnes in attendance. Members uh Leckle and Blair are absent. Public comment for items not in the agenda. Is there anybody online? Chair, there is no one online. All right, there's no public comment. Is everybody okay with the way the agenda looks? Or do you have any suggested modifications? All right, the agenda is approved unanimously. Approval of the minutes. Minutes are approved unanimously. So give me one second. They are not finding the Zoom link, so just make sure that they have it. If not, we can just go to liaison assignments and yeah, that would be great. All right, well, we're waiting for the consultants drive. We can do a um liaison assignments. So we try and liaison with currently with five other boards, uh, planning and zoning, parks and recreation, transportation, public utilities, and um it's not a county board, but the Los Alamos Sustainability Alliance. I think Sue wants to be uh member Barnes wants to be sustainability alliance, right? Yes, Chair. I already uh attend those meetings, so that makes sense. Um I uh and Shannon Blair and I have worked out uh co-liaisoning schedule for Board of Public Utilities for this year. So I would say that we're both willing to continue in that position. Um if someone has a burning desire to take on liaison positions, um we could negotiate that. It's also possible, maybe even likely that our new members don't necessarily know what liaison positions entail. Maybe you could outline that for them so that they'd understand what they're getting into. Good idea. Um so our liaisons attend the other board's meetings and report back to us what happens and uh bring work back to us if there's if there's something they want us to do for them. Um it's pretty fun. I'm uh I'm actually on two of the other boards, transportation and planning and zoning, so I could do liaisons there. Um so BPU BPU, where we don't have a liaison or someone who's attending that meeting right now. That's probably the biggest lift. I think they meet twice a month. Yeah, uh Shannon and I are our liaisoning to them together. I thought sustainability lines, I'm sorry. I do I do both, but Shannon and I are also our are liaison to BPU, and we've worked out a schedule where we're doing um alternate months basically. The other thing I'd like to point out is that um all of the county, I believe all of these board meetings are recorded, and so if you can't actually attend one of them, um for some reason you can uh you can watch the recording. You can also watch they're also live streamed, so you could participate um as uh as a participant as a liaison um uh remotely if you can't make it to the meeting. Those are all options. Thank you. So the only one we're desperate for is parks and recreation. And they meet once a month on the second Thursday. I can help you on parks and rec. Excellent. And should we make nominations? I'm also curious not to take that away from Joe or anyone else that's interested, but sometimes it's helpful. Like if our counselor is a liaison to another board, they could provide updates as well. I'm not sure what other board you're liaison liaising to. Oh, Health Council. Okay.
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