Memorandum
Date: June 28, 2022
To: The Honorable Lake County Air Quality Management District Board of Directors
From: Douglas Gearhart, Air Pollution Control Officer
Subject: Sitting as the Lake County Air Quality Management District Board of Directors, Approve Carl Moyer Program project funding approval for Middletown Unified School District, and a request to authorize the APCO to sign the agreement.
Executive Summary:
The District received $175,000 in Year 20, $175,000 in Year 21, and $175,000 in Year 22 Carl Moyer Program (CMP) project grant funds from the State Air Resources Board (ARB). The funding proposed herein would utilize the remaining Year 20 funds, Year 21 funds, and some of Year 22 funds. Year 20 project funding must be obligated by June 30, 2022. School Bus replacement funding is capped at $400,000.00 per diesel fueled to electric school bus replacements.
District staff has been soliciting applications and providing program descriptions for a number of years, but few local projects qualify. With the passage of SB 513 in 2015, ARB was able to rewrite the guidelines for the grant program with a lower cost effectiveness limit for School Bus projects. With these new guidelines, we are able to qualify more projects and use the funds locally.
Currently the Middletown Unified School District has 2 mini buses that have met all requirements to qualify for replacement with electric buses under the CMP grant program. But funds available can only support 1 bus at this time. The project proposed below has been determined to be viable and able to meet all necessary requirements of the grant program within the timeframe for this funding cycle and are recommended for approval at this time:
Contract # CMP 2021-02 - MUSD Bus 16 $304,624.76
MUSD Charging Infrastructure. $29,722.00
Replacing a 2003 Thomas E-450 bus with a 2022 or 2023 Micro Bird G5 Ford 200 Battery Electric School Bus.
The above project CMP 2021-02 will be funded with Year 20, Year 21, and Year 22 funds currently held by the District. Any Year 20 funds not obligated by June 30, 2022 must be returned to the state. The California Air Resources Board has requested we expedite this project to ensure funds remain local, and are not returned to the State. They have expedited this project review and approval so that we could get this project to your Board for consideration before the end of the Fiscal Year.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Consistency with Vision 2028 (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:
The Board of Directors approve the project and authorize the APCO to sign a Funding Agreement between the LCAQMD and the Middletown Unified School District.