Title
Body
MEMORANDUM
TO: Lake County Air Quality Management District, Board of Directors
FROM: Douglas Gearhart
Air Pollution Control Officer
DATE: June 26, 2018
SUBJECT: (Sitting as LCAQMD, Board of Directors): Adopt Resolution authorizing participation in Woodsmoke Reduction Pilot Program, and authorizing the APCO to sign the MOU and all program documents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The Woodsmoke Reduction Pilot Program (WRPP) was established in FY 2016/2017 with funds appropriated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for a statewide program replacing uncertified inefficient wood burning devices with cleaner burning and more efficient devices, resulting in greenhouse gas reductions with a co-benefit of reducing particulate and toxic pollutants.
The WRPP is an overly paper heavy and legalistic process to implement and administer due to the funding source and reporting requirements of the State. The program originally was setup as a reimbursement program, so all projects had to be funded by the District, and then we could seek reimbursement. But, significant progress was made with the State Department of Finance, which will now allow the project funds to be paid prior to funding projects, but our administrative fees won’t be paid until we expend all project funds. This is not a situation we like or agree with, but the benefit of the program to our County is significant and we recommend accepting the program, but continuing to fight for full prepayment of funds for District’s to run these types of grant programs.
The program is designed to help low income and environmental justice areas. Under the state definition, we do not have any EJ areas, but we do have low income. With that we will concentrate the program on low income and seniors living on small parcels where woodsmoke can be a significant impact. For these we have set an initial voucher maximum of $5,000 with the option to increase that to $8,000 if extraordinary conditions are found. The program can fund the full amount of the installation in some cases. But we do not recommend allowing more than $8,000 per project, as it will significantly reduce the number of projects we can complete. The goal is to get this funding source continued, so we could do more projects in future years.
The District has identified one installer locally who is willing to take this program and work with us to expend the funds efficiently. We anticipate that once the projects start moving, other installers who can qualify for the program will sign up providing more options for those receiving grants.
Attached are draft program documents, agreements, etc. required by the program. We will be submitting these with the signed MOU for final approval to start up the program. If the State does not approve the guidelines as written, we will have to make some minor changes, but we will keep them as close to our preferred language as possible to ensure the maximum benefit to the low income applicants.
FISCAL IMPACT: __ None _X_Budgeted __Non-Budgeted
Estimated Cost:
Amount Budgeted:
Additional Requested:
Annual Cost (if planned for future years):
FISCAL IMPACT (Narrative):
STAFFING IMPACT (if applicable): Potentially significant, will evaluate this first year
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adopt Resolution authorizing participation in Woodsmoke Reduction Pilot Program, and authorizing the APCO to sign the MOU and all program documents.