How much effort went into the planning process of your sustainability goals?

Our Comprehensive Plan is a large document that spans many areas. It's been a multi-year process to keep that document updated. The resolution we passed in 2020 encompassed several months of working with community members.

Describe your community's efforts in reaching these sustainability goals.

The community is very supportive of these goals. With the carbon-free resolution, several community groups, such as UW-Stout students, are active in their campaigning efforts. We have a good base in Menomonie that wants sustainability efforts to be prioritized and are fairly vocal about it.

Describe your relationship with your utility.

Xcel Energy recruited us to participate in the Partners in Energy Program. We started by creating an Energy Action team of stakeholders across many sectors, including city staff, council members, and representatives from UW-Stout and the Menomonie Area School District. We also brought in smaller businesses, commercial and industrial businesses, and regular residents. The Chamber was also involved.

It was a two-year program, so we spent the first six months gathering stakeholder feedback, writing the energy action plan, and then we had 18 months of implementation. We had bi-weekly check-ins, and Xcel Energy motivated us to push forward. We formed a relationship with our Focus on Energy Advisor, who became a trusted resource throughout the process. Without the Partners in Energy Program and these valuable relationships, we wouldn’t have been able to develop a plan with that level of detail in that amount of time.

Describe your Energy Action Plan.

The plan we wrote includes the following priorities:

• Make homes and businesses more energy efficient to save money on energy bills.
• Support energy-burdened and under-resourced households.
• Inspire future generations and protect our natural resources.

Within that plan, we focused on the following groups:

• Public Buildings – Municipal facilities in both the city and county.
• Local Businesses – Small-medium and large-commercial/industrial sectors.
• Residents – Split between single-family homes and multi-family rentals.
• Education Institutions – Public and private schools and the local university.

Our overarching goal was to:

• Increase energy savings for our community's residential, business, and education sectors by 30% and double renewable energy program participation by 2030.

How often is the plan reviewed and updated?

The plan was approved and implemented in the spring of 2021, and we are about two years into it. As funding opportunities arose, we've stayed on schedule and pursued new tactics, such as street lighting and HVAC controls.

How does your municipality seek out funding opportunities?

Our projects are on a five-year capital improvement plan. We typically borrow money to complete these projects or seek grants. Because budgets are tight, we are always looking for additional funding opportunities. Xcel Energy has shared grant opportunities with us. We've also joined newsletters from both the State and National Energy Offices.

How does Menomonie prioritize energy-saving opportunities?

Because our 2050 goal is specific to municipal facilities and operations, we focus our time and money there. We purchased the city hall building three years ago. It was built in the 1960s and has outdated heating and cooling equipment. Menomonie is applying for grants to update it with variable frequency drives and temperature controls, and sensors that can be operated remotely. We also received funding from the Public Service Commission's Energy Innovation Grant Program, which will allow us to complete a large portion of this project in one year instead of three.

Learn more about the City of Menomonie and its Energy Action Plan by visiting menomonie-wi.gov.