Flagstaff City Council declines to look for a bank other than Wells Fargo and renews two year contract

by Celia Bartoz, Former Flagstaff Vice Mayor and Councilmember

The Flagstaff City Council has declared a climate emergency and adopted two plans intended to significantly slow climate change. Unfortunately, at its March 14 work session, the Flagstaff City Council declined to direct city staff to put out a new request for proposal (RFP) to see what options the city has for a servicing bank other than Wells Fargo, one of the world’s most aggressive lenders to the fossil fuel industry. 

After listening to many in our community, including high school and NAU students, speak eloquently about why the city should put out an RFP, the council engaged in little discussion or debate. The rationale for declining to look for another servicing bank expressed by some council members was that the city doesn’t have enough staff to put out an RFP. Mayor Daggett didn’t speak to the ostensible staff shortage, and instead requested that the city manager work on aligning the procurement code with the city’s values, although it isn’t clear exactly what this means. 

Although it wasn’t stated at the council meeting, the city has renewed the Wells Fargo contract for two years, which means that the contract will expire in June 2025. Therefore, in about one year the city will be required to release an RFP for a servicing bank. In this intervening time, Fossil Free Arizona will continue to educate the public and members of city council about the importance of Flagstaff joining the worldwide divestment movement, and about the innovative new research described in The Carbon Bankroll, which for the first time makes it possible to calculate “financed emissions” – greenhouse gas emissions generated by an organization’s cash and investments. This new methodology should allow Flagstaff to concretely understand the climate impact of where it banks, connecting its choice of a servicing bank to the city’s carbon neutrality goals. As the UN General Secretary said just days after the council decision, “our world needs climate action on all fronts – everything, everywhere, all at once.”