Letter to the Editor: CCC Board needs to hear from citizens

While I am on Flagstaff’s City Council, I am writing this urgent letter as a private citizen. I say “urgent” because the Coconino Community College (CCC) Board of Directors seems prepared to allow the architect and design companies to specify natural gas (methane) furnaces and electric air conditioners in the two new, large buildings that are being paid for with the $100-million bond just approved by the voters.

There is a narrow time frame (2 weeks) in which the board could instead, specify heat pumps which would accomplish both the heating AND the cooling functions. But the board needs to hear an outcry from the citizens of Coconino County who will be paying the interest, over the next two decades, on this bonded expenditure. I call for this outcry because heat pumps are significantly more cost-effective based on operating and maintenance costs over that 20-year bond payoff period. The upfront cost is only modestly greater than the gas furnace plus air conditioner. In addition, as our electricity grid becomes greener, the climate benefits will accrue.