RICHMOND, Va. — A Richmond City Council committee advanced a proposal Wednesday to install solar panels on up to 39 city buildings, but not before some members raised significant concerns about the proposed contract and the timeline for approval.
Mayor Danny Avula's administration wants the city to enter into a 25-year agreement with the company Secure Solar Futures.
The company would install the panels at no upfront cost to the city.
In return, the city would purchase the electricity generated by the panels at a locked-in rate lower than what Dominion Energy charges.
City officials estimate the arrangement would save them $19.3 million in energy costs over 25 years.
Clean energy advocates packed council chambers in support of the deal.
"This is an opportunity for the council and the City of Richmond to meet the moment of climate change and energy efficiency and increased energy rates," Lee Williams, with the Sierra Club, said.
"This makes demonstrated real progress on reducing carbon emissions, and it does it at a cost savings to the city," Dave Evans, member of the city's Sustainability and Resilience Commission, said.
Some council members, however, expressed deep skepticism.
"I have concerns about the contract," City Council member Kenya Gibson said.
Council members Sarah Abubaker and Gibson raised concerns about the speed at which the council was being asked to act.
They said they received the formal ordinances on Monday, giving them one week to make a decision.
"Now, we're being asked to turn around a 25-year commitment ... in seven days. There's just nothing in my person that has ever been in favor of that," Abubaker said.
"This notion of having to rush ... should immediately give us pause," Gibson said.
The administration and Secure Solar Futures CEO Tony Smith said their discussions began in March, and the compressed timeline is driven by expiring federal tax credits.
Smith said if the city doesn't act now, the loss of the credits would make the deal much less desirable.
"The reason it's rushed is because of the imminent loss of investment tax credits. If we were not able to pass along those savings to the city, it would translate to zero savings to the city," Smith said.
Council members were also alarmed by a risk assessment from an insurance broker who reviewed the deal.
Abubaker read the broker's written opinion aloud: "I consider this an extremely one-sided contract that is not in the City of Richmond's favor. It's actually the reverse of what we normally see."
A policy advisor to Mayor Avula, Sarah Carpenter, however, said she disagreed with that characterization.
"I don't think that's supported in the contract the way I read it," Carpenter said.
Council members said the risks revolved around high termination fees should the city want to exit the agreement early and the city being on the hook for costs to remove and reinstall panels should it need to make repairs on a roof.
"This is very classic City of Richmond, where we very much desperately want to do this great, well-meaning, beautiful thing, and we have not properly budgeted for it. We later, down the road, get hit with something that we have to unexpectedly come up with," Council member Stephanie Lynch said.
A Sept. 11 email from Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald highlighted "potential negative outcomes" surrounding questions of who's responsible if a roof or equipment fails, if there is an accident related to the infrastructure, or if the company struggles financially.
On Wednesday, however, Donald told the council committee that since he sent that email, he's had verbal discussions with the company that eased his concerns.
"I'm comfortable with where we are now, willing to sign off on it because I think it is an appropriate investment," Donald said.
Smith told CBS 6 that no contract language changed during the period in which Donald shifted his position. Instead, he said, the city developed a better understanding of the existing terms.
"There was no new language being written. It was just a matter of people had raised a lot of questions about X, Y, and Z risks, and they wanted to assure themselves that those risks were being addressed," Smith said.
Smith told council members he would be open to making amendments to the contract after the body adopts it.
"I would just hope that the council members place a lot of trust — the word trust again — that the administration has done all the homework," Smith said.
The question now is whether those assurances will be adequate to satisfy the skeptics on the council.
"I was always taught trust but verify, trust but document. This is the city. This is taxpayer dollars that we are talking about," Abubaker said.
After hours of discussion, Council member Katherine Jordan moved to advance the measure with a recommendation of approval. Her motion did not gain support from the other members on the committee, Gibson and Abubaker.
The three members ultimately voted to move the measure forward with no recommendation to approve or reject it.
The full council will now vote on the proposal on Monday.
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