Petaluma Councilman's Amended Filings Confirm Ownership in Energy Solutions Consulting Firms
Has Councilman Barnacle been approving taxpayer-funded projects with his clients?
After failing to report financial interests to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Petaluma Councilman Brian Barnacle submitted amended filings confirming an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) with the Energy Solutions consulting firm.
The amended filings arose from a sworn complaint I submitted to the FPPC in the fall of 2024 regarding the Councilman’s potential omissions of reportable financial interests.
Barnacle obtained former FPPC Enforcement Chief Gary Winuk, Kaufman Legal, as his attorney.
On April 3, 2025, Councilman Barnacle submitted amended statements of economic interest (SEI’s) to the FPPC.
Amendments for 2024 and prior included an employee stock ownership plan with Cohen Ventures dba Energy Solutions consulting. Their mission is focused on creating large-scale environmental impacts by providing cost-effective, market-based carbon, energy, and water management solutions.
Amendments for 2023 and prior included Councilman Barnacle’s clean energy consulting firm, Outthink LLC. Clients included the Building Decarbonization Coalition, In-Charge US, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, Ryder Systems Inc, Prospect Silicon Valley, Rocky Mountain Institute, etc.
Although Prospect Silicon Valley is one of Councilman Barnacle’s Outthink Consulting clients, they have been leading electrification studies for the City’s Swim Center per the June 2024 claims and bills approved at the September 9, 2024 Petaluma City Council Meeting.
Per the September 9 minutes, Councilman Barnacle did not appear to recuse himself from approving the payments under the consent calendar.
Prospect SV’s website indicates:
The City of Petaluma was facing an end-of-life boiler system that heats its highly popular Swim Center, used year round by local residents. Previous advice had led to a potential $2 Million price tag and extensive rework to replace the boilers with air-source heat pumps. Working with experts from Alter Engineers and IDeAs Consulting, the ProspectSV team was able to identify a far more efficient and economical solution, resulting in a potential cost savings of $1.3 Million and a less expensive electrical upgrade. Using efficient CO2 heat pumps and thermal storage strategies, the system can heat the pool using less power, consuming less energy, and working in a smaller footprint than previous suggestions. The work was performed in a matter of weeks, and is in the hands of the City in time for budgeting discussions.
Project highlights included project management, financial analysis and engineering guidance in partnership with Alter Engineers and IDeAs Consulting for the period of 10/2023–04/2024.
I emailed Petaluma City Attorney Danly & Council the following:
Good Morning,
I am reaching out regarding the studies for the Petaluma Swim Center conducted by Prospect SV. I see that they are a client of Councilman Barnacle.
I would like to confirm their involvement with the City, when the contract was approved, and why the City did not find this to be a conflict of interest. I found payments to the vendor but no records of the initial contract approval. Please send any comments by 2:00 pm, PST today.
Thanks & God Bless.
City Attorney Danly responded as follows:
Ms. Flores,
We will look for City records regarding your request and will provide public records that are responsive.
While we will look for the records promptly, we may not be able to locate them or to respond to you prior to 2:00 p.m. today.
Thank you.
The City was able to provide me with a timely response as follows:
Dear Ms. Flores,
We have researched your inquiry, below, about a contract between the City of Petaluma and Prospect SV, and whether that may have presented a conflict of interest for Council Member Barnacle. We conclude that the contract did not present a conflict of interest, in accordance with the following.
The City entered a contract with Prospect SV for decarbonization services, with a not-to-exceeed amount of $15,000. The effective date of the contract was December 21, 2023, and it expired on June 30, 2024. Like many City service contracts, no council authorization was required to enter the contract, and there was no City Council involvement - by Council Member Barnacle or any other City Council member - in its approval. It was approved administratively in accordance with City purchasing requirements. A copy of the contract is attached.
Council Member Barnacle's Form 700 for 2021 - his entering office Form 700 - lists Prospect SV as a source of income in the income range of $10,000 or more. We understand Prospect SV was no longer a source of income for him effective as of July, 2020. Accordingly, Council Member Barnacle's 2022 annual Form 700 was not required to list and does not list Prospect SV as a source of income.
Based on these facts, we conclude that Council Member Barnacle's Form 700s for 2021 and 2021 are accurate as regards Prospect SV as a source of income for him. We also conclude that when the City entered a contract for decarbonization services with Prospect SV effective December 21, 2023, it did not present a potential conflict of interest for Council Member Barnacle, because Prospect SV had ceased being a source of income for him nearly 3 and a half years earlier. In addition, Council Member Barnacle had no involvement in the City's decision to contract with Prospect SV.
Thank you.
Eric Danly
City Attorney
As of March 9, 2022, former City of Petaluma Climate Action Manager Rhianna Frank joined Prospect SV’s Emerging Innovation Forum: EV Charging Infrastructure as a Peer Forum Member.
Barnacle’s Energy Solutions was featured as a partner for sustainable procurement within the presentation.
Prospect SV’s Form 990 for the fiscal year ending June 2022 stated the following:
Zero-Emissions Vehicles - ProspectSV was the overall grant and program manager guiding 17 Bay Area communities in planning and installing 152 EV charging ports. Funded by the California Energy Commission, The Bay Area Charge Ahead Project (BayCAP) added electric vehicle charging infrastructure to publicly accessible parking lots throughout the Bay Area. Under the grant, we recruited 17 Bay Area communities, including cities, counties, and universities, and assisted them in planning for and installing electric vehicle charging infrastructures. The project installed 76, 2-port EV charging stations for a total of 152 charging ports in 46 locations around the Bay Area. Project partners included ChargePoint and ABM, and community partners included Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, San Mateo County, Stanford University, Sunnyvale, Benicia, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward, Napa County, Novato, Petaluma, Richmond, San Leandro and Yountville. ProspectSV was responsible for knowledge transfer, convening working groups, and developing white papers, presentations, and reports to highlight project findings.
Prospect SV featured Empower Procurement on their website in partnership with LBNL, Energy Solutions and ZNE Alliance.
The project spanned from 2018-2023 and was described as follows:
Procurement programs drive carbon emissions more than anyone realizes, even when there’s a Sustainability Program that tries to do the right thing. The California Energy Commission EPIC Program provided a grant to launch the Empower Procurement Program, a 5-year effort to bridge the gap between California clean energy companies and institutional and commercial customers that rely on formal procurement processes to purchase clean distributed energy resource (DER) solutions and packages. Along with partners include Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, Energy Solutions, and ZNE Alliance, we’re assessing market needs across statewide institutional sectors, finding buyer interests and requirements, and assisting technology companies to be responsive to market needs. Our Procurement Initiatives are based on the major carbon-producing buying streams such as fleets and building assets, and also include developing purchasing specifications, supporting e-procurement solutions and group purchasing, and challenging California’s institutions to procure emerging DER technologies from California companies.
In September 2023, Councilman Barnacle (Energy Solutions) co-authored the Final Project Report for California Opportunities for Procurement to Accelerate Clean Energy.
The Report abstract stated the following:
California Opportunities Procurement Program Accelerate Clean Energy is a California Energy Commission-funded program designed to accelerate the deployment of best-in-class distributed energy resources (DERs) at the speed and scale required to meet the state's decarbonization goals. Empower Procurement, the program’s market-facing name, bridged the gap between DER "sellers" and California-based "buyer" organizations by improving institutional procurement processes and outcomes.
Led by Prospect Silicon Valley, the primary project partners included Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Energy Solutions, and ZNE Alliance. The four-year, $4 million project created an integrated set of DER Procurement Initiatives: DER Products and Services, Vehicle Fleet Electrification, Building Decarbonization, DER Consulting Practices, and Contract Language. The team engaged client partners from local governments, higher education, and K-12 schools to identify specific measures that addressed procurement barriers, produced measurable energy cost savings and reductions in carbon emissions, and scaled across similar institutions. In addition, a Working Group of expert stakeholders identified measurable and scalable improvements in the design and deployment of Electronic Procurement Systems to improve and standardize DER procurement.
The project team shared insights from these initiatives across public sector institutions by hosting webinars and workshops throughout the grant, and it provided technical assistance for the more complex sectors undertaking fleet electrification and building decarbonization.
The Empower Procurement effort declared a goal of identifying pathways to achieve annual energy savings of $322 million and annual greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 780,000 metric tons of CO2e (MTCO2e). The observations and recommendations of the project initiatives identified pathways to avoid emissions of more than 1 million MTCO2e across the local government, schools, and higher education sectors.
Is Councilman Barnacle approving contracts and/or payments to vendors from his client portfolio to lead electrification projects for the City? Does Barnacle have a financial interest in the procurement activities of City staff, and has Councilman Barnacle’s lack of transparency placed staff in a catch-22?
“Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool.” Proverbs 19:1