Late last year, the City of Fort Collins received the Clean Air Champion award from the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) for Winter 2020. This award is given out twice a year and the recipients receive a $500 donation to a non-profit of their choosing.

The City has been actively involved in addressing air pollution at a local level and working regionally to address air pollution on a larger scale for more than 25 years. At the community level, the City supports efforts related to transit and electric vehicle readiness for the community. At the municipal level, the City organization strives to lead by example in efforts to improve local air quality by reducing emissions from its own operations.

Some key efforts specifically related to electrification of operations for the City organization include:

• Municipal Lawn and Garden Equipment Replacement. Since 2017, the City has leveraged $55K in grant funding from the RAQC to pilot the use of commercial grade electric lawn and garden equipment and accelerate progress toward a full fleet of electric powered equipment for municipal lawn and garden maintenance.
• Municipal Fleet Electrification. The City has a strategy to “Increase electric vehicles in the organization’s fleet by making 100% of light duty vehicle purchases plug-in electric by 2025.” In addition to vehicles, purchases have included an electric ice re-surfacer and an electric street sweeper.

The City chose to donate its award money to Meals on Wheels. To learn more about the City’s efforts to promote clean air in the Northern Colorado region, visit: fcgov.com/airquality.

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