Staff Report
DATE: March 31, 2022
TO: Clean Energy Alliance Board of Directors
FROM: Barbara Boswell, Chief Executive Officer
ITEM 5: Consider Options and Provide Direction Related to In-Person Meeting Location for Clean Energy Alliance Board and Community Advisory Committee Meetings and Consider Rescheduling April 28, 2022 CEA Regular Board Meeting
RECOMMENDATION:
1) Consider options and select a location for in-person Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) Board and Community Advisory Committee meetings should CEA be required to return to in-person meetings and authorize the Chief Executive Officer to execute a reimbursement agreement with the selected City. 2) Consider rescheduling the April 28, 2022 CEA Regular Board Meeting to another date; direct staff to Post Notice of cancellation of April 28, 2022 CEA Board Meeting and Notice of Special Meeting for new Meeting Date, pursuant to the Brown Act.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
Pursuant to Government Code Section 54943(e), Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) has been holding its Board and Community Advisory meetings remotely via video and telephonic means. It is unknown when the state of emergency will be lifted, with the option to meet remotely being eliminated and a need to return to meet in-person pursuant to the Brown Act.
Prior to March 2020, when the current remote meeting policy began, CEA’s Board meetings were rotated between the then three member agencies of Carlsbad, Del Mar and Solana Beach. While this provided the ability for the public to attend a meeting in their home city, there were some challenges with this practice. They include:
• Lack of consistency of broadcasting meetings
o Meetings were broadcasted via the host city’s channels, resulting in each meeting being broadcast on a different network causing confusion for the public desiring to watch the live meeting broadcast
• Lack of consistency of agenda posting
o The physical agenda was posted in a different location each meeting based on where the meeting was being held, resulting in the public not easily finding the physical agenda
March 31, 2022
In-Person Meeting Location
• Different procedures needed to be followed by CEA staff for agenda preparation o Each host city had its own requirements for agenda preparation that CEA staff needed to follow, complicating the agenda preparation process.
In preparation for the potential return to in-person meetings, and in light of the expansion to the cities of Escondido and San Marcos, the CEA Board identified the cities of Carlsbad and San Marcos as top options and directed staff to meet with these cities to further evaluate the feasibility of CEA’s meetings being held at each location.
Priorities for CEA in selecting a location include:
• Geographic proximity to all member cities
• Broadcast capabilities to allow for broadcasting on CEA’s YouTube channel • Appropriate meeting space to hold public meetings pursuant to the Brown Act • Cost to CEA and impact to hosting city staff
With the direction provided, staff met with both the cities of Carlsbad and San Marcos to evaluate the feasibility of those cities hosting CEA’s meetings. Summaries of those meetings are provided below.
City of Carlsbad
After careful consideration and discussion, it was determined that Carlsbad could host CEA’s meetings with livestreaming through CEA’s YouTube channel. This would be accomplished by CEA acquiring the needed equipment to enable the signal from Carlsbad’s audio-visual equipment to be sent to CEA’s YouTube channel. CEA would provide support staff through their contract with Tripepi Smith for the LiveStream and Carlsbad’s audio-visual consultant would be on site to ensure all equipment is working properly. Below is a summary of related costs.
PROCEDURE COST EST. COST
PER
MEETING
NOTES
Carlsbad AVI Support provided
through Carlsbad’s consultant
$125/hour $500 CEA to reimburse
Carlsbad at their
costs
TS Support – LiveStreaming
and Camera Operationa
$825
Equipment to enable
LiveStreaming to YouTube
No Charge Tripepi Smith to
provide
Equipment
TOTAL EST. COST PER
MEETING
$1,325
March 31, 2022
In-Person Meeting Location
EST ANNUAL COST – BOARD &
CAC MEETINGS
$23,850
City of San Marcos
The City of San Marcos is set up to stream meetings from their broadcast equipment to YouTube, so no additional equipment purchases are needed
PROCEDURE COST EST. COST
PER
MEETING
NOTES
San Marcos support would be
provided through San Marcos’
consultant
$40/hour $160
CEA to reimburse
San Marcos at
their costs
Camera Operation Included above
To be provided by
San Marcos
consultant
Equipment to enable
LiveStreaming to YouTube N/A Already in place at San Marcos TOTAL EST COST $40/hour/meeting $160
EST ANNUAL COST – BOARD &
CAC MEETINGS $2,880
While both Carlsbad and San Marcos options are viable, San Marcos offers the most turn-key option at the lowest on-going cost for hosting of CEA’s public meetings. In either option, CEA would reimburse the host city for costs related to CEA’s meetings, which would be memorialized by execution of a reimbursement agreement between CEA and the selected agency.
There is no current plan for CEA to return to in-person meetings while the current state of emergency is in effect and Government Code Section 54943(e) findings can be met. Continuing to meet remote allows members of the public to participate in CEA’s meetings without traveling to the in-person location, as well as eliminating the impact of CEA Board and staff traveling to the location.
Reschedule of April 28, 2022
Due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts, staff is requesting CEA Board consideration of rescheduling the April 28, 2022 meeting. Options for Board consideration:
• Thursday April 21, 2022; 2pm
March 31, 2022
In-Person Meeting Location
• Tuesday April 26, 2022; 2pm
• Wednesday April 27, 2022; 2pm
• Other Date as determined by CEA Board
FISCAL IMPACT
The estimated annual cost for CEA public meetings to be held at the City of Carlsbad is $23,850 and to be held at City of San Marcos is $2,880. Funding is available in CEA’s adopted FY 21/22 budget and will be included in the proposed FY 22/23 budget.
ATTACHMENTS
None