Memorandum
Date: August 22, 2024
To: The Honorable Lake County Air Quality Management District
Board of Directors
From: Douglas Gearhart, Air Pollution Control Officer
Subject: Notification of Office Closure and Reduction of Services.
Executive Summary:
The Lake County Air Quality Management District (District) has had significant staffing issues for a number of years. We have been notified that our Senior Air Quality Engineer is taking a position with another Air District due to increased pay, benefits, and a lower cost of living. This will leave the District with 2.8 FTE (APCO, Deputy APCO, and a recently hired Administrative Assistant) of 6 positions.
As a result of the loss of staff, the District must implement immediate measures to ensure statuary mandates are complied with. The District’s highest priority is to maintain the air monitoring program and our attainment status designation. We anticipate that 50% to 70% of our total staff time will be dedicated to the air monitoring program to ensure we do not lose our attainment status. Monitoring requires regular equipment checks, maintenance, cleaning, calibrations/verifications, data processing (one minute data for 24/7 operations for multiple instruments results in extremely large data sets for processing, review, and certification), and a number of other mandates related to State and Federal quality assurance requirements. With the remaining staff time, the essential basic District functions, budgets, bills, and permitting will take up the remaining staff time.
The result of this is that many non-mandatory activities will be put on hold or dropped until our staffing issue is resolved. These include grants, MOU’s with the State, complaint response (general complaints), wildfire/emergency response, non-mandatory air monitoring, and other assistance which is not mandated by law. Effective immediately, all pass through grant programs with funds that are not currently under contract will be suspended and notifications will be sent to appropriate parties informing them of the grant program suspension. Unexpended grant funds will be returned to the State as appropriate. MOU’s with the State for landfill gas enforcement and prescribed fire will be put on hold and the State will be notified that no further work will be performed by the District until further notice.
Starting September 3, 2024, the District office will be closed to walk-in traffic, as there will not be adequate staff available in the office. The District will now be requiring appointments for all in-person services until further notice. Partial closures have been ongoing for the past two years, so the public is generally aware of the recommendation to make an appointment. Please note that due to the threats we have received over the past couple years, the District has already initiated safety protocols including closing the office to the public unless a minimum of 2 staff are available in the office.
The District is pursuing contracts with consulting firms that specialize in air district related issues to assist with emissions inventory, air toxics reporting, health risk assessments, reporting, enforcement, air monitoring, equipment maintenance, and any other assistance necessary for mandated activities. The District is negotiating with other nearby air districts for limited assistance when possible.
The District has completed two recruitment's this year to fill an engineer vacancy, with no success. District staff is working with Human Resources and County of Lake Administration to develop options for a path forward. A public information release regarding the office closure and appointment requirement will be forthcoming.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Purchasing Considerations (check all that apply): ☐ Not applicable
☐ Fully Article X. <https://library.municode.com/ca/lake_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH2AD_ARTXPU_S2-38EXCOBI>- and/or Consultant Selection Policy <http://lcnet.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Intranet/Policy/Policies+$!26+Procedures+Manual/Ch4_2021v2.pdf>-Compliant (describe process undertaken in “Executive Summary”)
☐ Section 2-38 <https://library.municode.com/ca/lake_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH2AD_ARTXPU_S2-38EXCOBI> Exemption from Competitive Bidding (rationale in “Executive Summary,” attach documentation, as needed)
☐ For Technology Purchases: Vetted and Supported by the Technology Governance Committee <http://lcnet.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Intranet/Intranet+Forms/Information+Technology/AdvPlan.pdf> (“Yes,” if checked)
☐ Other (Please describe in Executive Summary)
Consistency with Vision 2028 <http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/Directory/Administration/Visioning/Vision2028.htm> (check all that apply): ☒ Not applicable
☐ Well-being of Residents ☐ Public Safety ☐ Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Recovery
☐ Economic Development ☐ Infrastructure ☐ County Workforce
☐ Community Collaboration ☐ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake
Recommended Action:
Informational only, no action at this time.