❒ Community Sustainability Commission initiatives get nod

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

The Benicia Community Sustainability Commission won unanimous City Council approval Tuesday both for a contractor to overhaul its website and for funds to hire a Climate Action Plan coordinator.

Money for both items will come from the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement, not the city’s General Fund.

The account was established for city and Benicia Unified School District use through the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement. The city, the school district, Valero Benicia Refinery and the Good Neighbor Steering Committee agreed to the settlement, which is like a contract for the money’s disbursement.

Use of the money is restricted and can only be used for projects or expenditures specified in the agreement document.

In the original 2008 agreement, the refinery and the steering committee agreed that of the $14 million settlement account, $200,000 should be spent on air quality monitoring; $50,000 for hybrid cars; $700,000 for trees; $1 million each for a refinery buffer and watershed acquisition; $400,000 for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by Benicia Unified School District; $10 million for water conservation; and $600,000 for Climate Action Plan projects.

In 2010 the pact was modified to allow $2.85 million for the Community Center, $1 million for the BUSD and Liberty Campus Community Center, and $1.4 million for the Valero Condensate Recovery Phase 1 to save 23 million gallons of water per year.

In lieu of attorney fees, $150,000 also was earmarked for community gardens, a renewable energy manager, energy conservation, a school horticultural program and bicycle racks.

This is the second time the Council has heard contractor recommendations for the Sustainability Commission’s website. The original request came April 19, but the Council rejected the proposals, including from Plumbline Studios of Napa, which the CSC originally suggested had the best bid.

The Council told staff to rewrite the request for proposals (RFPs), and said when it issued the request, it should make sure local consultants are advised of the opportunity to bid.

The revised proposal request was released June 15, and of the bids received, Lucita of Sunnyvale, a new entry, was recommended by staff and the commission.

The company bid $11,500 for the job; Plumbline bid $12,000. An additional $2,500 would be earmarked for unanticipated services, and $3,000 more would be spent on security updates and up to three years’ maintenance.

“Lucita is very 21st century, very sustainable, with a strong portfolio,” said Charlie Knox, director of Public Works and Community Development.

Councilmember Mark Hughes joined the rest of the Council in supporting the award but said he remained troubled. He had opposed the rebidding decision. “I’m going along with it, but I don’t feel it was a fair process.”

Christina Strawbridge, chair of the city Economic Development Board and a member of the Tourism Committee, said she hoped the new website would be linked with the tourism website, and that both would be tied to the city’s website.

The Council also agreed to earmark $150,000 of Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee funds for a two-year contract with a Climate Action Plan coordinator, and authorized an RFP to seek candidates for the job.

The decision wasn’t an easy one for Hughes.

Not only did he struggle with adding a consultant to help an advisory panel, he worried about the message it would send to employees who were taking pay cuts to help the city balance its budget.

In the end, he joined the rest of the Council in its 4-0 vote; Councilmember Mike Ioakimedes was absent because of family concerns. After the vote, however, Hughes said, “Not everybody in the community is passionate about climate change. That decision was not simple for me. That RFP and contract better be really, really tight.”

In introducing the topic, Knox reminded the Council Tuesday night that the city’s last sustainability coordinator was Mike Marcus, who helped Benicia become one of the first cities to adopt its own Climate Action Plan.

Marcus left Benicia Feb. 2, 2010, to join Renewable Funding, an Oakland-based firm that pioneered the administration of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs that let property owners finance energy and water improvements by making repayments as part of their property tax bills.

Those programs were poised for expansion until the Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a policy statement last year that blocked federally backed mortgage loans for properties that have PACE program assessments. Litigation and new legislation were initiated in response, but the matter has not been settled.

Marcus left just as the CSC was being seated as the advisory panel assigned to implement the Climate Action Plan’s 120 measures, monitor its effectiveness and evaluate and prioritize the city’s conservation and greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

That left Knox and members of his department to work with the panel. Since that time, five part-time employees who had been assigned to the commission were let go through budget cutbacks.

That meant goals set by the CSC aren’t being met, even though, “in my mind, we’re doing quite a bit,” Knox said.

Benicia is in an unusual position compared to other cities with climate plans, Knox said. Most have staff but no money to bring their plans to life. Because of the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee funds, “We have money, but no staff.”

Constance Beutel, vice chair of the CSC and regular contributor to The Herald, said 2010 greenhouse gas emission reductions have not been figured because of a loss of staff time, and a coordinator is needed as well to provide an accounting for the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee monies spent and how effectively they’ve been used.

She said the coordinator also would help with sustainability advocacy, and the person’s grants leveraging would make the settlement money go even further.

Spending that money in Benicia, as well as reducing energy expenses, would put money in Benicians’ pockets, she said. “It could help the local economy.”

Resident Bob Livesay said he didn’t approve of hiring a coordinator, and said staff should be reshuffled to provide the commission the help it needed. He said he would rather see the money spent on saving water, energy and bringing in “green” jobs.

He reminded the Council it approved the Climate Action Plan. “You made a commitment,” he said. “You should honor it.”

Resident Grant Cooke told the Council the city needs a coordinator who could build the settlement money through matching grants and other funding.

The settlement money was “designated for sustainability,” he said. “You need to use it wisely, nurture it, make it transparent to the community.”