Council narrows solar proposals to three and directs staff to schedule developer interviews

A council subcommittee reported it had narrowed responses to three solar developers and recommended next steps for presentations and interviews.

Council members debated whether to schedule three separate meetings, add presentations to regular council meetings, or hold a single special meeting where each proposer would have a set presentation slot. Concerns included fairness (one proposer seeing another’s presentation), public access (whether proposals and presentations should be made available in advance), and the logistics of adding multiple presentations to regular meeting agendas.

Tony Stauffer and staff agreed to provide copies of the proposals to council members and to return with calendar options; members signaled a preference for separate sessions but left final scheduling to staff. Council emphasized that presentations may be public but that any follow-up negotiation steps would be handled consistent with procurement law and closed-session rules as necessary.

Staff will circulate proposer materials to help council prepare questions and will propose dates for presentations, likely evening sessions to allow public attendance.