Staff Report Item 6
Staff Report Item 6
TO: East Bay Community Energy Executive Committee
FROM: Alex DiGiorgio, Public Engagement Manager
SUBJECT: City of Stockton Community Advisory Committee (CAC) seat and term extension for current regional members
(Informational item)
DATE: June 7, 2023
__________________________________________________________________ Recommendation
1) Consider creating an interim CAC seat to represent the City of Stockton; 2) Consider a six-month term extension for current CAC members, extending their term through December 2023
Background and Discussion
On October 21, 2020, the Board of Directors approved updates to the CAC Guide and Appointment process. These updates were made to ensure proper representation and engagement of the CAC, particularly given the inclusion of EBCE’s new communities in the cities of Newark, Pleasanton, and Tracy. The updates included the following: The addition of three seats (increasing the size of the CAC to twelve active seats to address the voting shares); configuring the apportionment of CAC seats to EBCE Service Area Regions; appointing one Alternate Member for each EBCE Service Area Region, for a total of five; and engaging the Mayors’ Conference to appoint two at-large Members.
Since then, the CAC has been composed of twelve active seats (“Members”) and five alternate seats (“Alternates”).
As reflected in the table below, the CAC seat allocations approximate the voting shares percentage of each member jurisdiction:
Staff Report Item 6
EBCE Service Area Region JPA Vote Share CAC Seat Allocation Alternate Seat Allocation
NORTH
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland,
Emeryville, and Piedmont
30% 3 1
EAST
Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton
14% 1 1
SOUTH
Fremont, Union City and Newark
27% 3 1
CENTRAL
Hayward, San Leandro, and
Alameda County Unincorporated
23% 2 1
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
Tracy
6% 1 1
At-Large N/A 1 N/A
At-Large N/A 1 N/A
By assigning seats to EBCE Service Area Regions, EBCE can engage the city/county Board members for outreach and appointment nominations. This regional apportionment was also intended to ensure equitable representation of all EBCE communities on the CAC.
The CAC currently has eleven members serving (i.e., nine Regional members and two At-Large members) with two Member vacancies (one vacancy for the South region and one vacancy for the San Joaquin region). All five Alternate seats are currently vacant.
Below is a table with the current make-up of the CAC:
EBCE Service Area Region Current CAC Representation
NORTH
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland,
Emeryville, and Piedmont
Anne Olivia Eldred (Chair)
Cynthia Landry (Member)
Lisa Hu (Member)
[Alternate]
EAST
Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton
Joel Liu (Member);
[Alternate]
SOUTH
Fremont, Union City, and Newark
Shiva Swaminathan (Member)
Vijay Lakshman (Member)
Priya Talreja (Member)*
[Alternate]
CENTRAL
Hayward, San Leandro, and
Alameda County Unincorporated
Ernie Pacheco (Member)
Lorraine Souza (Member)
[Alternate]
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY Harman Ratia (Member)
Staff Report Item 6
Tracy [Alternate]
At Large Ed Hernandez (Vice Chair)
At Large Jim Lutz (Member)
*CAC Member Talreja declined to continue serving on the CAC beyond June 2023.
All other Regional CAC members have communicated with staff to confirm their desire to remain on the Committee if a six-month extension is approved by the Board.
Recommendation: Consider the addition of a new, interim CAC seat to represent the City of Stockton via Resolution at the June 21 Board of Directors meeting In March 2023, EBCE received the California Public Utility Commission’s (CPUC) certification recognizing the City of Stockton (“Stockton”) as a member of EBCE’s Joint Powers Authority (“JPA”). This came in response to EBCE’s timely filing of an updated Implementation Plan to include Stockton within EBCE’s service area. Shortly thereafter, Stockton City Council Member Dan Wright was sworn in to represent Stockton among EBCE’s Board of Directors.
Per Sec.4.9 of EBCE’s Joint Powers Agreement, the Board is entitled to establish a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to advise Board members on a wide range of subjects. As EBCE’s service area has expanded to include new jurisdictions, the CAC’s size and structure has been adjusted by the Board to accommodate appointments by incoming Board members representing these new communities.
In anticipation of EBCE's inclusion of Stockton, and since Stockton’s JPA membership became certified by the CPUC, Stockton’s elected officials and community members have requested that a seat be created on the CAC to represent Stockton’s interests and perspective (please refer to the attached 5/19/23 email from Councilmember Wright). In response, EBCE staff proposes the Board consider approving an additional, interim seat to be filled by a representative appointed by Stockton through whatever process Stockton’s staff and elected leaders deem appropriate.
The additional seat is proposed to be interim because current CAC members have previously been appointed on a regional basis (aside from the two At-Large members), rather than by individual jurisdictions. As discussed below, EBCE staff intend to consider proposing additional structural adjustments, and/or expansions of the CAC, in anticipation of future service area expansion (e.g., staff may recommend each individual EBCE jurisdiction is entitled to appointment a CAC member, instead of regional appointments). Any future adjustments to the size and/or structure of the CAC will regard the City of Stockton’s representation as a high priority and will be undertaken with the involvement of Stockton’s Board member/Alternate.
Recommendation: Consider a six-month term extension for the CAC’s current Regional members via Resolution at the June 21 Board of Directors meeting Staff Report Item 6
As mentioned above, staff also propose extending the terms of current Regional CAC members1 by at least six months (i.e., through December 2023). The terms of current Regional Members are set to end on June 30th. EBCE staff have communicated with the current CAC Chair and every Regional Member to confirm their desire to continue serving in their current capacities through December 2023. All but one of the current Regional members have expressed their desire to continue serving on the CAC should a six-month extension be approved by the Board of Directors.
As proposed, a six-month term extension would provide the following benefits:
1. Consistency and continuity during EBCE’s name change and rebrand exploration. In response to EBCE’s expanding service area and inclusion of new communities, EBCE is currently evaluating the possibility of changing EBCE’s name and updating its brand identity. The CAC has provided valuable feedback and insight throughout this process to date. To help ensure robust community input, staff recommends maintaining the same CAC representation until the rebranding exploration is complete.
2. Aligning the service terms of the CAC’s Regional members with At Large members. Unlike the CAC’s Regional members, the Committee's two At Large members are appointed by the Alameda County Mayors’ Conference. As a result, the timing of these appointments is currently misaligned by six months.
By approving a six-month term extension, all CAC members will have terms ending on the same term cycle. These terms can be staggered by future Board action along with any additional adjustments considered by the Board.
3. Providing more time to consider future adjustments to the CAC’s size and structure. By December 2023, EBCE staff anticipate having a clearer sense of what additional cities and/or counties (if any) intend to join EBCE’s JPA. This will help staff advise the Board on how best to restructure the CAC (if at all) so that it continues to effectively represent and accurately reflect the communities EBCE serves.
Fiscal Impact
The addition of one new interim seat for Stockton will increase the CAC stipend budget from $20,400 to $21,900. The additional stipend will be disbursed once the new interim CAC member is sworn-in and begins serving at regular monthly meetings.
Committee Recommendation
All current, Regional CAC members (with one exception noted above) have communicated to staff their desire to remain on the Committee if a six month term extension is approved by the Board.
1. All but one current CAC member communicated to staff their interest in serving an additional six months. If approved, a CAC term extension would not include the one CAC member that does not wish to continue serving on the CAC.
Staff Report Item 6
Attachments
A. May 19, 2023, email to EBCE staff from Stockton City Councilmember and EBCE Board Member Dan Wright requesting Stockton’s representation on the Community Advisory Committee (CAC)
5/31/23, 3:56 PM East Bay Community Energy Mail - CAC Representative https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=b186b7ca9f&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1766360559111870456&simpl=msg-f:1766360559111870456&simpl=m… 1/2 Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]>
CAC Representative
4 messages
Dan Wright <[email protected]> Fri, May 19, 2023 at 2:44 PM To: Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]>
Cc: Adrian Bankhead <[email protected]>, Nick Chaset <[email protected]>, Eliza Garza <[email protected]>, Kevin Lincoln <[email protected]>, Kimberly Warmsley <[email protected]>
Alex,
It was great running into you at the Hydrogen event in Dublin on Wednesday. I'm excited about adding a Stockton representative to the EBCE Citizens Advisory Council. When you folks send the official request for a representative, please send it to our City Clerk, Eliza Garza ([email protected]) with a cc to Mayor Lincoln, Vice Mayor Warmsley, and me. She will be the person to organize the selection process that the Council will utilize to make the selection.
Thanks!
Dan Wright
Council Member, District 2
City of Stockton
[email protected]
(209) 937-8244
https://www.facebook.com/CouncilmemberDanWright
https://www.instagram.com/vicemayorwright/
https://twitter.com/danwrightca
Eliza Garza <[email protected]> Sat, May 20, 2023 at 3:52 PM To: Dan Wright <[email protected]>, Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]> Cc: Adrian Bankhead <[email protected]>, Nick Chaset <[email protected]>, Kevin Lincoln <[email protected]>, Kimberly Warmsley <[email protected]> Received. I’ll be on the lookout.
Eliza
From: Dan Wright <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2023 2:44:54 PM
To: Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]>
Cc: Adrian Bankhead <[email protected]>; Nick Chaset <[email protected]>; Eliza Garza <[email protected]>; Kevin Lincoln <[email protected]>; Kimberly Warmsley <[email protected]>
Subject: CAC Representative
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Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]> Mon, May 22, 2023 at 4:28 PM To: Eliza Garza <[email protected]>
Cc: Dan Wright <[email protected]>, Adrian Bankhead <[email protected]>, Nick Chaset <[email protected]>, Kevin Lincoln <[email protected]>, Kimberly Warmsley <[email protected]>
Attachment Staff Report Item 6A
5/31/23, 3:56 PM East Bay Community Energy Mail - CAC Representative https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=b186b7ca9f&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f:1766360559111870456&simpl=msg-f:1766360559111870456&simpl=m… 2/2 Thank you, Councilmember Wright! It was great to see you last week as well.
Re the City's CAC appointment: I'll be sure to proceed as you describe below.
Eliza, it's a pleasure to be connected with you. I'll be sure to reach out once EBCE's Board takes action and we're ready to coordinate Stockton's CAC appointment.
Many thanks again,
Alex
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Alex DiGiorgio, JD (he/him) | Public Engagement Manager East Bay Community Energy
[email protected] | 510-993-7562
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EBCE respects your privacy. Please see EBCE's customer confidentiality policy at ebce.org/confidentiality.
Eliza Garza <[email protected]> Mon, May 22, 2023 at 8:43 PM To: Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]>
Cc: Dan Wright <[email protected]>, Adrian Bankhead <[email protected]>, Nick Chaset <[email protected]>, Kevin Lincoln <[email protected]>, Kimberly Warmsley <[email protected]>
Sounds good. Thank you.
Eliza
From: Alex DiGiorgio <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2023 4:28:36 PM
To: Eliza Garza <[email protected]>
Cc: Dan Wright <[email protected]>; Adrian Bankhead <[email protected]>; Nick Chaset <[email protected]>; Kevin Lincoln <[email protected]>; Kimberly Warmsley <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: CAC Representative
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the City of Stockton. Do not click any links or open attachments if this is unsolicited email.
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Attachment Staff Report Item 6A