CforSE supporters are writing the Mayor asking him to direct Fort Collins Utilities (FCU) to research the idea of leasing roof space for the installation of utility owned solar panels, and to explore a partnership with Poudre School District (PSD) to lease their roofs.
This is the response that Mayor Troxell sent to citizens on over a dozen occasions in June:
---------------------------
"Hi (first name). The suggestion that Fred Kirsch, although ambitious, is lacking in specifics and voracity. Please see the attached memo that describes some of the shortcomings of Mr. Kirsch’s concept.
PSD has to be a willing partner and right now they have other issues. I encourage you to contact the PSD Board. From my perspective, the city has higher priorities to integrate a distributed energy system.
Regards,
Mayor Wade Troxell
...2017 Malcolm Baldridge Award - City of Fort Collins recognized for "an unceasing drive for radical innovation, thoughtful leadership, and operational excellence."
----------------------------
There's a few problems with this email. Let's start with grammar. In addition to poor sentence structure, voracity means "with great hunger". The word Wade (probably) meant to use was veracity - truthfulness. So the Mayor is calling me a liar. Yes, it's a personal attack from our Mayor and may amount to defamation. But more importantly, writers are asking the City to research something. How can a request for information be a lie?
The referenced memo and my response are available on our website. It turns out City staff needs a lesson in veracity (and probably voracity). They presented false information to City Council.
The Mayor's next point is that PSD does not want to partner with Fort Collins Utilities (FCU). FCU did ask PSD, "Would you like to lease your roof to us?" and PSD said "no". FCU didn't tell PSD that they could get thousands of dollars per month per roof. FCU admits that they haven't researched anything about a potential partnership with PSD. FCU set the question up for failure, they know it, and have since admitted it.
Wade goes on to tell citizens to take it up with PSD. This is classic passing the buck. Wade's staff hasn't done their job and he is telling us to take it up with someone else.
Wade has a right to his perspective but he has yet to illuminate that perspective and what those "higher priorities" might be. If there is a better way to accomplish our goals, then we are all about it!
Perhaps the most offensive thing about this email is Wade's sign off. The City spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the Malcolm Baldridge award. Their actions and Wade's words do not reflect "thoughtful leadership, operational excellence" and this is the opposite of "radical innovation".
On other occasions (in October) our illustrious Mayor wrote:
-------------------------
"Hi (first name). Thank you for your email. Nice story however CfoSE is not telling you the full story. PSD is not interested is such a proposal at this time. There are other and better options too."
-------------------------
That's the whole email. Again, ad hominem attack and poor grammar. In this case the "story" the writer told was that his daughter goes to school without air conditioning.
The writer follows up, asking Wade what are the "better options too" and why PSD wasn't interested. Wade responds with the earlier email from June. Needless to say the writer and I are not satisfied with the actions of our Mayor.
All of this is publicly available on the City Council email database. I will be taking this up in front of City Council on January 7, 2020, 6:30pm during public comment.