Staff Report Item 5
Staff Report Item 5
To: Ava Community Energy Authority
From: Cait Cady, Sr. Coordinator, Public Engagement
Subject:
Seeking feedback on Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Guide Updates Date: October 1, 2025
__________________________________________________________________ Summary/Recommendation
Receive staff report and provide feedback on proposed updates to the Community Advisory Committee Guide as outlined below and in Attachment A. The purpose of these updates is to include unincorporated San Joaquin County into the CAC seat allocation methodology and further maximize operational efficiency ahead of the CAC’s next appointment cycle.
Financial Impact
This proposal includes adding another seat to the CAC, which would result in a modest financial impact due to an additional stipend and possible parking reimbursements. Current stipends are $128.00 per meeting, which amounts to approximately $1,408 per year per member, if members attend eleven meetings (i.e., one meeting per month, less the August recess). CAC Members are also reimbursed for their parking to attend meetings, which amounts to $30 per meeting, per Member. With the inclusion of a new Member, the approximate maximum annual budget would come out to $25,000.
Analysis and Context
Section 4.9 of the Joint Powers Agreement called for the Board of Directors to establish a Community Advisory Committee. On November 20, 2019, the Board of Directors approved the first Community Advisory Committee Guide and appointment process, which outlined membership qualifications and the process to appointment new Members.
Staff Report Item 5
On October 21, 2020, the Board of Directors approved updates to the CAC Guide and appointment process. These updates were made to provide proper representation and engagement of the CAC, particularly given the inclusion of Ava’s new communities in the cities of Newark, Pleasanton, and Tracy. The updates included the following structural changes: the addition of three seats (increasing the CAC to twelve active seats, corresponding with the concept of “voting shares” in Sec. 4.12.2 of Ava’s JPA Agreement); configuring the apportionment of CAC seats to Ava Service Area Regions; appointing one Alternate for each Ava Service Area Region, for a total of five; and engaging the Alameda County Mayors’ Conference to appoint two At-large Members.
On December 20, 2023, the Board of Directors approved additional updates to the Guide to incorporate Stockton and Lathrop and make several administrative updates. These updates included: setting a limit of two terms for At-Large members, assigning the Board of Directors the authority to appoint At-large members, providing that vacancies are to be filled on a semi-annual basis, establishing staggered terms, and instituting a six-month residency ‘grace period’ when Members move outside of the service area.
Under the CAC’s current structure, 10 of the 12 seats are distributed regionally across Ava’s service area in Alameda and San Joaquin counties. There are five regions (North, East, South, and central Alameda County, as well as San Joaquin County). There are five Alternates with an Alternate representing each of the five regions. Additionally, the Committee includes two (2) At-Large Members, bringing the CAC to a total of 12 seats and 5 Alternates. Each region is allocated its number of seats according to its approximate, cumulative electricity load. As previously noted, this corresponds to the JPA’s allocation of Voting Shares votes among the Board of Directors (per JPA Sec. 4.12.2 and Exhibit C).
Recommendation 1: Update CAC Regional Seat Allocations
With the addition of unincorporated San Joaquin, the San Joaquin County planning region’s combined JPA Vote Share increases to 29.5%, the largest of any planning region. To avoid removing seats from other regions and ensure an equitable distribution of seats across Ava’s service area, staff’s recommendation is to add a seat to the Committee and allocate it to the San Joaquin County region. This would bring the total number of CAC seats up to 13.
Approval of the proposal will be followed by a CAC Member application period, in which Ava staff will work with Board Members to solicit potential applicants, facilitate nominations by regional Board Members, to fill this proposed new seat for San Joaquin County, as well as any other vacancies.
Table 1: Proposed CAC seat allocations with the addition of Unincorporated San Joaquin County
Region JPA Vote Share CAC Seat
Allocation
Alternate Seat
Allocation
North
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland,
Emeryville, and Piedmont
25.6% 3 1
Staff Report Item 5
East
Dublin, Livermore, and
Pleasanton
11.1% 1 1
South
Fremont, Union City and
Newark
17.6% 2 1
Central
Hayward, San Leandro, and
Alameda County
Unincorporated
16.3% 2 1
San Joaquin County
Tracy, Stockton, Lathrop,
and San Joaquin County
Unincorporated
29.5% 3 1
At-Large 2
Recommendation 2: Administrative Updates to CAC Guide
To further optimize efficiency and better reflect current operating procedures on the Committee, staff recommend the edits in the redlined CAC Guide attached (Attachment A).
Substantive updates include:
• Add flexibility to recruitment windows: The current Guide requires filling vacancies on a semi-annual basis. This requirement appears to be both unnecessary and overly prescriptive. Facilitating CAC application and appointment processes require a great deal of staff and Board Member capacity. Updating this to occur on an annual basis, but with the option to facilitate additional recruitment as needed, gives staff and the Board more flexibility.
• Remove language establishing staggered terms: The current Guide mentions the establishment of staggered terms, which was a reform the Board approved in 2023.
However, the staggered terms have proven difficult to implement on an equitable basis, complicated to maintain if/when CAC members resign, and unnecessary to maintain consistency on the Committee. Therefore, staff recommend eliminating this language and keeping member terms consistent with one another.
Attachments
A. CAC Guide with proposed updates and redlines
B. Presentation
1 Community Advisory Committee Guide
Purpose
Advise the Board of Directors on all subjects related to the operations of the CCA program as set forth in the work plan adopted on October 18, 2019
Authority
Established by the Board of Directors. See JPA section 4.9 Agency
Ava Community Energy (Ava)
Qualifications
Ava service area resident or shall have owned or and actively operated a business in Ava service area for a period of at least 5 years prior to appointment and shall do so for the entire period of appointment. Applicants will be considered with an interest in maintaining diversity of representation by geography, population, work experience and community.
If a sitting Member moves out of the service area, they will have 6 months to reestablish residency before no longer meeting eligibility requirements.
Staff Person
Adrian Bankhead ([email protected]) and Cait Cady ([email protected]) The Clerk of the Board and Ava's Public Engagement team (contact: [email protected]).
Composition
The Advisory Committee consists of 110 planning areregionala seats and two (2) at-large seats for a total of 132 seats. The 101 seats each represent the following areas:
Region JPA Vote Share CAC Seat
Allocation
Alternate Seat
Allocation
North
Albany, Berkeley, Oakland,
Emeryville, and Piedmont
27.725.6% 3 1
East
Dublin, Livermore, and
Pleasanton
12.811.1% 1 1
South 20.117.6% 2 1
Attachment Staff Report Item 5A
2 Fremont, Union City and
Newark
Central
Hayward, San Leandro, and
Alameda County
Unincorporated
18.516.3% 2 1
San Joaquin County
Tracy, Stockton, and
Lathrop, and San Joaquin
County Unincorporated
20.9%29.5% 32 1
At-Large 1
At-Large 1
Application Process
Any person residing or owning and actively operating a business in the Ava service area interested in serving on the Advisory Committee should complete the Advisory Committee application during the specified application period. Ava will announce the start of the application window via meeting announcements, Ava email distribution list, and the Community Advisory Committee
site: https://avaenergy.org/governance/. The application period will be for at least 30 days from the first announcement of the vacancy.
Applicants will receive an automated email response to their application submission with the appointment target date. Ava staff will review applications for completeness and qualifications.
Once the applications have been reviewed, applicants will be notified via email if they will or will not advance.
The Executive Committee and/or an ad hoc committee of the Board will recommend the appointment of members to the full Board for approval. Once selected applicants have completed the interview process, interviewees will be notified of their appointment status.
If a selected applicant declines the appointment invitation, another candidate may be selected from the same pool of interviewees. Applications will be retained for 30 days after appointments are made. In the event a vacancy is created during these 30 days, Ava may use the same pool of applicants.
No applications will be retained for future application periods. Applicants not selected may resubmit an application when the next application period opens.
Appointment
The Committee is appointed by the Board of Directors based on the qualifications outlined above.
Term
Appointments shall be for two (2) year terms. With the exception of the initial committee which Attachment Staff Report Item 5A
3 had three (3) members serving a shorter term to stager the term end dates. Members in regionally allocated seats may serve up to four (4) full terms or any combination thereof for a total of eight (8) years, or at the pleasure of the Board, from the date of appointment. No appointee shall serve more than a total of eight (8) years, with the exception of those assigned an extra year to establish staggered terms. At-large Members may serve up to two (2) consecutive terms and a region cannot be represented in an at-large seat for more than two (2) consecutive terms.
Chair and Vice-Chair
The Committee shall elect a new Chair and Vice-Chair annually at the June meeting. Members may serve as Chair or Vice-Chair for one (1) year and for no more than two (2) consecutive years.
Ex Officio Board Member
The Committee Chair will serve as a non-voting member of the Board of Directors as described in section 4.2.2 of the Joint Powers Authority Agreement. The Ex Officio Board member may not serve on the Executive Committee or participate in Closed Session Meetings of the Board.
Stipends
Committee members are eligible to receive a $123.55 128.00 stipend per meeting with a maximum of four meetings per month.
For Committee members to be eligible for stipends, the Committee must have a quorum and members must arrive no later than 30 minutes after the meeting start time. Please see Board of Directors’ Resolution R-2018-17 for additional information.
Attendance
Members are expected to attend up to two (2) meetings per month. Members must inform the Clerk of the Board of a planned absence.
Absences may not be communicated through the Chair, although the member should include the Chair in any attendance communications with the Clerk. Members are also expected to coordinate directly with the Alternate for their region when they cannot attend a meeting.
Members with excessive absences may potentially be dismissed from the committee. The decision to dismiss a member will be made by the Board of Directors.
Vacancies
Vacant Regional and At-Large seats on the Committee will be filled on an annual basis, or more frequently when Vacancies will be filled on a semi-annual basis, from the time the vacancy occurs, unless required necessary to achieve quorum. When there is a vacancy on the committee duringDuring an semi-annual recruitment windowapplication period, Ava will announce the vacancy and the start of the application windowperiod via meeting announcements, Ava email distribution list, and the Community Advisory Committee site:
avaenergy.org/governance/. If the seat vacated is a regular seat, an alternate may be appointed immediately following the vacancy announcement to fill the seat and complete the remaining term.
Removal from Committee
Attachment Staff Report Item 5A
4 A member of the Community Advisory Committee may be removed by the Board of Directors for any reason by majority vote. See JPA section 4.9.
Attachment Staff Report Item 5A
Community Advisory Committee
Guide Updates
Executive Committee | October 1, 2025
Attachment Staff Report Item 5B
Community Advisory Committee (CAC): Background
• Established in Section 4.9 of Ava’s Joint Powers Agreement • Function: To advise the Board of Directors on subjects related to Ava operations and act as a liaison between the Board and community stakeholders
• Structure: 10 regionally allocated seats, 2 at-large seats, and 5 Alternates (one Alternate for each region)
• Current vacancies: 1 Regional Member (San Joaquin County) and 3 Alternates
• The CAC meets every month on the Monday before Board meetings 2 Recommendation: Add a Committee seat to the San Joaquin County region and approve administrative updates to the CAC Guide.
Attachment Staff Report Item 5B
CAC
Guide
Overview
3 Board of Directors approves first CAC Guide, which outlined membership qualifications and process for appointing Members
The Board of Directors approved first round of updates in order to include the new communities of Newark, Pleasanton, and Tracy. Structural changes included: adding three new seats, configuring the allocation of seats to service area regions, appointing Alternates for each region, and requiring engagement with the Alameda County Mayors’ Conference to appoint At-Large Members
The Board of Directors approved additional updates to the Guide to include the new communities of Stockton and Lathrop. The following administrative changes were also included: setting a limit of two terms for At-Large members; assigning the Board of Directors the authority to appoint At-Large members; providing that vacancies are to be filled on a semi-annual basis; establishing staggered terms; and establishing a residency ‘grace period’.
2019
2020
2023
2024 Unincorporated San Joaquin County joined JPA
Attachment Staff Report Item 5B
CAC Seat
Allocations
4 Regions *Current*
CAC JPA Vote
Share
*Current*
CAC Seat
Allocation
New JPA
Vote Share
Proposed
New CAC
Seat
Allocation
Alternate
Seat
Allocation
North
Albany, Berkeley,
Oakland, Emeryville,
Piedmont
27.7% 3 25.6% 3 1
East
Dublin, Livermore,
Pleasanton
12.8% 1 11.1% 1 1
South
Fremont, Union City,
Newark
20.1% 2 17.6% 2 1
Central
Hayward, San Leandro,
Unincorporated Alameda
County
18.5% 2 16.3% 2 1
San Joaquin County
Tracy, Stockton, Lathrop,
Unincorporated San
Joaquin County
20.9% 2 29.5% 3 1
All 2 2
100% 12 100% 13 5
Attachment Staff Report Item 5B
Recommendations Recommendation 1
Update CAC Regional seat allocations to include
unincorporated San Joaquin County, which results in allocating an additional Committee seat to the San Joaquin County
region.
Recommendation 2
Administrative updates to the CAC guide, as stated in the redlined CAC Guide, including:
▪ Add flexibility to application periods (e.g., up to two times annually)
▪ Remove language establishing staggered terms
5 Attachment Staff Report Item 5B
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6 Attachment Staff Report Item 5B