Draft Minutes
Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee
Meeting
Monday, September 8, 2025
3:30 pm
In Person:
Rotunda Building
Large Conference Room
300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612
Or from the following locations:
• Clipper Club, 5 Captain Drive, Emeryville, CA 94608
• Milk and Honey Cafe, 34265 Fremont Blvd Fremont, CA 94555 • 35653 Scarborough Dr, Newark, CA 94560
• Oakland City Hall, 2nd Floor, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612 • The Westin San Diego Bayview, 1051 Columbia St, San Diego, CA 92101 • 34009 Alvarado-Niles Road, Union City, CA 94587
Via Zoom:
https://avaenergy-org.zoom.us/j/83599993289
Or join by phone:
Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 301 715 8592 or 888 475 4499 (Toll Free) or 877 853 5257 (Toll Free) Webinar ID: 835 9999 3289
Meetings are accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals who need special assistance or a disability-related modification or accommodation to participate in this meeting, or who have a disability and wish to request an alternative format for the meeting materials, should contact the Clerk of the Board at least 2 working days before the meeting at (510) 707-1764 or [email protected].
If you have anything that you wish to be distributed to the Finance, Administration and Procurement Subcommittee, please email it to the clerk by 5:00 pm the day prior to the meeting.
1. (0:19) Welcome & Roll Call
Present: Directors: Morada (Dublin), Keng (Fremont), Brown (Oakland), Del Catancio Ava Community Energy
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(Newark), Sakakihara (Union City) and Chair Kaur (Emeryville).
2. (0:58) Public Comment
This item is reserved for persons wishing to address the FAP Subcommittee on any Ava-related matters that are not otherwise on this meeting agenda. Public comments on matters listed on the agenda shall be heard at the time the matter is called. As with all public comment, members of the public who wish to address the Board are customarily limited to three minutes per speaker. The FAP Chair may increase or decrease the time allotted to each speaker.
There were no speakers for public comment.
3. (1:06) Approval of Minutes from July 9, 2025 (Action Item) Director Morada (Dublin) motioned to approve the minutes. Director Keng (Fremont) seconded the motion, which passed 6/0/0/0/0.
Yes: Morada (Dublin), Keng (Fremont), Brown (Oakland), Del Catancio (Newark), Sakakihara (Union City) and Chair Kaur (Emeryville).
No: None.
Abstain: None.
Recuse: None.
Not Present: None.
There were no speakers for public comment.
4. (2:57) Credit Card Policy Amendment (Informational Item) Proposed amendments to the Credit Card Policy.
Jason Bartlett presented proposed updates to Ava’s Credit Card Policy, recommending expanding eligibility for executive cards to SVPs and above, allowing additional cards when needed, and raising the monthly limit from $60k to $100k.
There were no speakers for public comment.
Selection of topics discussed by subcommittee members:
• Whether the monthly limit of $100k is sufficient
• The Policy’s cautious limits due to credit card fraud concerns • Acknowledgement that future limit increases may be needed as operations and social media spending grow
5. (13:50) Rate Stabilization Fund (Informational Item) Proposed Rate Stabilization Fund Policy.
Russell (Rusty) Mills reviewed Ava’s budget stabilization and proposed formalizing it as a Rate Stabilization Fund with clearer policies aligned to industry standards. He highlighted the staff’s recommendation to allocate the full $107M FY24-25 surplus into the fund to prepare for the future budget pressures, particularly from the PCIA reform.
Ava Community Energy
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Selection of topics discussed by subcommittee members:
• Whether to adopt the policy before allocating the $107M surplus • Allocation options of 100% which was recommended by staff due to PCIA uncertainty, 90/10, and 80/20
• Likelihood of using funds tied to prior resolutions
o High for clean energy PPAs and low to medium for solar/storage and budget stabilization
• Clearer mid-level policy details
• Possibly separating allocation and policy into distinct board action items • Informal order for fund drawdowns could be codified as guidance while keeping flexibility
(50:17) Public Comment - Ann Harvey expressed concern that maintaining reserves equal to 70% of annual revenues is higher than other CCAs, which could keep customer rates elevated longer to reach those targets.
(51:26) Public Comment - Jessica Tovar urged Ava to revisit last year’s request to allocate $15M of the surplus toward community resilience hubs as a resilience stabilization fund. She also emphasized that community suggestions deserve further consideration alongside the rate stabilization fund and asked what the agency has done recently for environmental justice.
6. (53:11) Line of Credit (Informational Item)
Review of Line of Credit for Board approval.
Russell (Rusty) Mills outlined Ava’s $200M credit facility with U.S. Bank, which expires in October, and the plan to replace it with a $300M facility to support growth, cash flow needs, and market volatility risks.
There were no speakers for public comment.
Selection of topics discussed by subcommittee members:
• Support for the selection of PNC Bank
• Whether Ava had drawn on the $200M US Bank facility
• Clarification on a liquidity covenant vs. Debt service coverage covenant • Whether the $300M facility appears on the balance sheet
7. (1:03:17) Committee Member and Staff Announcements including requests to place items on future Board Agendas
• Howard Chang announced that all future Ava meetings will be held at its headquarters, following staff’s return from the remote period during TI work.
8. Adjourned at 4:37pm.
Ava Community Energy
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The next Financial, Administrative and Procurement Subcommittee meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 7, 2025 at 3:30pm.
Ava Community Energy
Altamont Conference Room
1999 Harrison Street, Suite 2300
Oakland, CA 94612
Minutes Written by Raïssa Ngoma