1-year pause mulled to streamline award process

Benicia Community Sustainability Commission on Monday will consider suspending its grants program for a year.

Using money from the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement fund, the panel has recommended for City Council approval grants to underwrite multiple projects.

Past grants have funded puppet shows, seminars and other programs to teach children and adults about sustainable practices; expansion and continuation of Benicia Community Gardens; tree plantings; efficient and improved lighting at the Benicia Historical Museum; and the associated surveys for the city’s application to join Marin Clean Energy community choice aggregation power agency.

But next week, according to the commission’s agenda, the panel will discuss whether the program should be suspended for a year so members can streamline the process and evaluate criteria for awarding grants.

At the same meeting, interim Community Development Director Dan Marks will give the commission an update on its request to the Council about grants and fundraising.

In other business:

• Commissioner Sharon Maher will lead a commission discussion about its priorities for 2015 and its annual work program that the panel will submit to the Council.

• Climate Action Plan Coordinator Alex Porteshawver will give oral reports on property assessed clean energy, the city’s water incentive program, traffic signal timing, community choice aggregation, an electric vehicle grant update, the Sept. 24 BayREN forum on regional energy matters, and on Civic Spark, a Local Government Commission partnership with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research that’s described as a nonprofit dedicated to fostering innovation in local environmental sustainability, economic prosperity and social equity.

• The commission will hear information about the state’s severe drought and how well Californians and Benicians in particular are conserving.

• The commission will hear updates from two of its work groups, describing outreach plans, educational events and measurements on its goals and finances, and from its ordinance subcommittee.

• Representatives of the Benicia Arts and Culture Commission will describe the status of “Wind, Water, Land,” the public art project that received a CSC grant. Once completed, the artwork and an accompanying informational display will be installed in the Benicia Community Center.

The Community Sustainability Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.

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