Subject
title
Ratify and Approve the City Manager to Execute Maryland Energy Administration FY 2026 Local Government Energy Modernization Program (LGEM) Grant Agreements
end
Department
PW - Environmental Management
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council ratify and approve the City Manager’s earlier execution of three Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) Local Government Energy Modernization (L-GEM) grant agreements (Attachment 1) between the Mayor and Council of Rockville and MEA.
Discussion
The Maryland Energy Administration awarded the City of Rockville a total of $454,000 in Local Government Energy Modernization (L-GEM) grant funding to advance energy-efficiency, renewable-energy and electrification projects at City Hall, the Swim and Fitness Center, and the Rothgeb Maintenance Facility. The L-GEM program, formerly the Clean Energy for Local Government/Maryland Smart Energy Communities Grant program, provides funding to Maryland local governments for clean-energy planning, design, and implementation projects. Rockville has successfully executed several similar MEA grant agreements to upgrade facilities since 2014.
The City submitted L-GEM grant applications for a coordinated package of projects that support the City’s Climate Action Plan and are aligned with the City’s Building Efficiency Performance Improvements FY27 Capital Improvements Program (GA27). The projects are intended to reduce facility energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions, improve operational data and controls, advance compliance planning for State and Montgomery County Building Energy Performance Standards, expand on-site renewable-energy generation, and support future municipal fleet electrification.
The executed grant agreements provide funding for the following projects:
• City Hall energy sub-metering, design for domestic-hot-water heat-pump conversion and building automation system modernization with office water-sourced heat-pump integration.
• Swim and Fitness Center energy-efficiency design, including design for domestic-hot-water and pool-boiler heat-pump retrofits and energy sub-metering to support future building-performance improvements.
• Rothgeb Maintenance Facility energy design, including planning and design for Solar PV, battery-energy-storage-system microgrid and direct-current fast-charging infrastructure. This work will support long-term planning for electrification of the City’s medium- and heavy-duty fleet and potential integration with future on-site solar generation.
The L-GEM grant agreements required prompt execution to secure the City’s grant awards and enable the City to meet MEA program deadlines and project-delivery milestones. Staff was unable to bring this item before this agenda because the associated grant execution deadlines did not align with the Mayor and Council agenda schedule. Ratification and approval will formally confirm the City Manager’s execution of the agreements and authorize continued grant administration and project implementation in accordance with the agreements.
Mayor and Council History
This is the first time this item has been brought before the Mayor and Council.
Fiscal Impact
MEA awarded Rockville LGEM grants in three areas of interest (AOI) for a total of $454,000. Each AOI has an individual grant agreement with similar terms and conditions. The City’s total cost share is approximately $246,000 for projects totaling $700,000. The three grants include the following estimated project funding structure.
|
L-GEM Area of Interest (AOI) / Grant Agreement |
Project Description(s) |
Project Funding |
|
|
|
MEA Funding |
City Share |
TOTAL |
|
L-GEM AOI2 - Design |
Rothgeb Maintenance Facility: Design for battery-energy-storage-system microgrid with integration of solar PV and direct-current fast-charging infrastructure |
$202,500 |
$22,500 |
$225,000 |
|
|
City Hall: Design for energy sub-metering, domestic hot water heat pump retrofit, water sourced heat pumps and building automation system (BAS) integration |
|
|
|
|
|
Swim and Fitness Center: Design of domestic hot water and pool boiler heat pump integration system |
|
|
|
|
L-GEM AOI3 -Energy Efficiency Implementation |
Swim and Fitness Center: Installation of energy sub-metering and building automation system (BAS) integration |
$64,000 |
$36,000 |
$100,000 |
|
L-GEM AOI4 - Core Electrification Implementation |
City Hall: Installation of domestic hot water heat pump retrofit, office water-sourced heat-pump integration, and building automation system modernization |
$187,500 |
$187,500 |
$375,000 |
|
TOTAL |
$454,000 |
$246,000 |
$700,000 |
City matching funds are available in the Building Efficiency Performance Improvements (GA27) CIP (Attachment 2). The adopted FY 2027 budget appropriated $1,540,000 for facility energy projects.
Next Steps
If ratified and approved by the Mayor and Council, staff will continue administering the MEA L-GEM grants, including executing project procurement activities as authorized, coordinating design and implementation work, documenting City cost-share expenditures, submitting required invoices and reports to MEA, and monitoring project schedules and grant-compliance requirements.
Staff anticipates completing design work by December 2027, completing construction and installation activities at City Hall and the Swim and Fitness Center by March 2028, and submitting final invoices and reports to MEA by April 2028, subject to the terms of the executed grant agreements.