Consent Item 12. CAC Appointments — Ava Community Energy Board of Directors, March 20, 2024

Consent Item 12
Consent Item 12
TO: Ava Community Energy Authority
FROM: Cait Cady, Public Engagement Coordinator
SUBJECT: 2024 Community Advisory Committee (CAC) appointments (Action Item)
DATE: March 20, 2024
__________________________________________________________________ Recommendation
Adopt a Resolution approving the appointments of new Community Advisory Committee (“CAC”) Members to fill current vacancies.

Background and Discussion
On December 20, 2023, the Board of Directors approved a series of updates to the CAC Guide and Appointment process. The impetus for these updates was the recent inclusion of two more San Joaquin County communities within Ava’s Joint Powers Authority (JPA)—i.e., the cities of Stockton and Lathrop. The updates included the following:
• Adjustments to the CAC’s regional seat allocations to include Stockton and Lathrop (see below);
• Establishing that vacancies on the CAC will be filled on a semi-annual basis; • Staggering terms for current and future CAC Members;
• Providing a new appointment process and term limits for At-large Members; and • Other administrative updates.

Consent Item 12
The CAC is composed of twelve active seats (Members)—ten of which represent specific Service Area Regions, and two of which serve as At Large members representing the entire service area—and five alternate seats (Alternates). Each Service Area Region is allocated seats based on cumulative electricity load, which corresponds with each jurisdiction’s JPA vote share. The current composition and regional seat allocations are summarized in the table below:

Table 1: Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Seat Allocations Ava Service Area Region JPA Vote Share CAC Seat
Allocation
Alternate Seat
Allocation
North
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland,
Emeryville, and Piedmont

27.7% 3 1
East
Dublin, Livermore, and
Pleasanton

12.8% 1 1
South
Fremont, Union City and
Newark

20.1% 2 1
Central
Hayward, San Leandro, and
Alameda County
Unincorporated

18.5% 2 1
San Joaquin County
Tracy, Stockton, and
Lathrop

20.9% 2 1
At-Large 1
At-Large 1
The last open application period for vacant CAC positions ended in February of 2021, and the Board of Directors approved the corresponding appointments in April and May of 2021. At this time, the CAC has the following vacancies:

Ava Service Area Region
Number of
Vacant Member
Positions
Number of Vacant
Alternate Positions
North
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, and
Piedmont
1 1
East
Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton 1 1
South N/A 1
Consent Item 12
Fremont, Union City and Newark
Central
Hayward, San Leandro, and Alameda County
Unincorporated
N/A 1
San Joaquin County
Tracy, Stockton, and Lathrop N/A 1
At-Large N/A
At-Large N/A
Total Vacancies 2 5
In December of 2023, Ava staff created an online application for members of the public interested in applying for the vacant CAC seats in their region(s). The application period was open from December 23, 2023 through March 4, 2024. When the application first opened in December 2023, the deadline to apply was February 2, 2024. With the anticipated opening of an additional seat in the North County region, the deadline was extended to March 4, 2024. During the application period, Ava staff completed an additional round of outreach to announce the opening of the North region position and the extended deadline for all applicants.

The application period was announced through multiple communication channels, including, but not limited to, the following:
• Emailing all Ava Board Members and Board Alternates draft language and links to the application to disseminate to their constituents; • Creating a pop-up announcement on Ava’s website/homepage from early January to the March 4th deadline;
• Including a description and link to the application in the January edition of Ava’s Direct Current Newsletter;
• Posting about the opportunity on Ava’s social media channels (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and X);
• Announcing the application period to Ava’s municipal staff partners in every JPA member-jurisdiction, and creating outreach materials that cities could use in their newsletters and social media channels;
• Email outreach to Community Based Organizations (CBOs) across Ava’s service area, including Ava Local Sponsorship recipients;
Ava received 21 completed applications by the end of the application period. These applications included 12 from the North region, 3 from the Central region, and 6 from the East region. No applications were received from the San Joaquin County region or the South region.

Consent Item 12
Staff distributed the completed applications and solicited appointment recommendations from the Board Members representing the CAC region of each respective applicant.

Appointment recommendations from Board Directors are summarized below:

Ava Service Area Region Appointment Recommendation
North
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, and
Piedmont
Indira Balkissoon (Member)
Peter Weiner (Alternate Member)
East
Dublin, Livermore, and Pleasanton
Pete Stephenson (Member)
Jill Gile (Alternate Member)
South
Fremont, Union City and Newark
Central
Hayward, San Leandro, and Alameda County
Unincorporated
Rachel DiFranco (Alternate Member)
San Joaquin County
Tracy, Stockton, and Lathrop
Fiscal Impact
There is no new fiscal impact to approving the appointment of new CAC Members and Alternates. The current CAC stipend budget is $20,400 and current stipends are $123.55 per meeting.

Committee Recommendation
The appointment recommendations of Board Members from each respective Ava service area region are summarized in the table above.

Attachments
A. Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Ava Community Energy Authority to Authorize the Appointments of New Community Advisory Committee Members and Alternate Members
Attachment Consent Item 12A
RESOLUTION NO. R-2024-xx

A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OF AVA COMMUNITY ENERGY AUTHORITY TO APPROVE THE APPOINTMENTS

OF NEW COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND ALTERNATE

MEMBERS
WHEREAS The Ava Community Energy Authority (“Ava”) was formed as a community choice aggregation agency (“CCA”) on December 1, 2016, Under the Joint Exercise of Power Act, California Government Code sections 6500 et seq., among the County of Alameda, and the Cities of Albany, Berkeley, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Piedmont, Oakland, San Leandro, and Union City to study, promote, develop, conduct, operate, and manage energy-related climate change programs in all of the member jurisdictions. The cities of Newark and Pleasanton, located in Alameda County, along with the City of Tracy, located in San Joaquin County, were added as members of Ava and parties to the JPA in March of 2020. The city of Stockton, located in San Joaquin County was added as a member of Ava and party to the JPA in September of 2022. The city of Lathrop, located in San Joaquin County, was added as a member to Ava and party to the JPA in October of 2023. On October 24, 2023, the Authority legally adopted the name Ava Community Energy Authority, where it had previously used the name East Bay Community Energy Authority since its inception.

WHEREAS, Section 4.9 of the JPA Agreement established the Community Advisory Committee to advise the Board of Directors on subjects related Ava’s operations, and Members are appointed by the Board and will represent diverse cross-sections of the service area.

WHEREAS, when Ava’s service area expanded to include the San Joaquin County cities of Lathrop and Stockton, staff sought direction from the Board of Directors on updates to the Community Advisory Committee Guide and Appointment Process (“Guide”) to include representation for customers within the new jurisdictions.

WHEREAS, at its meeting on December 20, 2023, the Board of Directors approved updates to the Guide to include the new service area, as well as various process updates.

WHEREAS, from December 22, 2023, to March 4, 2024, Ava hosted an online application where members of the public could apply to be considered for a vacant position on the Community Advisory Committee and appointed by Ava’s Board of Directors.

WHEREAS, twenty-one completed applications were received during the application period; including twelve from the North region, six from the East region, and 3 from the Central region.

Attachment Consent Item 12A
WHEREAS, the Directors from each Ava region reviewed the applications from their respective planning areas and recommended the applicants to be considered for appointment by the Board of Directors.

NOW, THEREFORE, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF AVA COMMUNITY ENERGY AUTHORITY DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. The Board of Directors hereby authorizes the appointments of the following Community Advisory Committee Members and Alternate Members, as identified by the Directors from each respective planning area:

Jack Balch, Chair
ATTEST:

Adrian Bankhead, Clerk of the Board

Ava Community Energy Board of DirectorsMarch 20, 2024

Ava Community Energy Board of Directors
March 20, 2024