Alternative Energy and Environment Committee - Regular Meeting

Fabulous. Thank you. Great. We're gonna call this meeting to order, Thursday, 04/23/2026, 9AM, the alternative energy and the environment committee. And I am still pulling it up because that's all I see right now. We will move to additions and corrections to the agenda.

Yes, chair. There is one correction to the staff report regarding match funds, and I will call that out when we get there in the presentation later.

Okay. That's great. And we're going to open the public comment period on items that are not on today's agenda. Is there any public comment for items not on the agenda?

No hands on Zoom and no one is present in the room.

Thank you. Okay. We'll close the public comment period. There's no one present in this room either. And we'll go to the approval of the minutes for the AEPC meeting on 03/27/2026. Comments or questions on the minutes? I'll open public comment on the draft AEE minutes. Is there any public comment?

No hands on Zoom.

Alright. I will close public comment. Supervisor Askew? No comments. I'm happy to

All right.

So we'll move by consensus, and we'll move to the regular agenda. And this is item number two, consider recommending that the Board of Supervisors authorize the county contracts purchasing officer or designee to enter into agreement with the California Air Resources Board as the lead applicant for the Regional Climate Project Working Group for an award of $10,019,303 for electric vehicle procurement planning and training. And we are also considering recommending that the Board of Supervisors authorize the County Contracts Purchasing Officer or designee to enter into agreement with the California Energy Commission as the lead applicant for the Regional Climate Project Working Group for an award of $5,688,125 for electric vehicle charging station installation, and we will provide additional direction to staff as needed.

Thank you, chair. So I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen, and we can start our presentation. Okay. Can you see that alright? Yes. We can. Perfect. Then we I will move your faces where I can see you a bit better. Perfect. Okay.

So thank you, chair. We'll go ahead and get started. So, as we just heard, our title today is to consider entering into agreement with both the California Air Resources Board for a grant award of around $10,000,000 and the California Energy Commission for a grant award of $5,600,000 for EV charging installation and also EV procurement. So our quick agenda, we'll do a tiny bit of background on this grant. We will cover the scope, discuss matching funds, and then move into next steps.

So some background. So the county of Monterey participates in the regional climate project working group. So those member agencies are the counties of San Benito and Santa Cruz as well as Monterey County and the cities of Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Watsonville. Salinas is a new member. We are proud to report.

We've also had interest from other agencies in the county of Monterey in local jurisdictions, so that does include the city of Monterey is interested in becoming a member. We've also been having discussions with the city of Soledad and also Marina. So the board of supervisors authorized the sustainability program to apply for this grant way back in 2023 as the lead applicant for the Regional Climate Project Working Group. The official title of this grant is the Monterey Bay Municipal Fleet Electrification and Workforce Accelerator. And we've just been calling this green zones for short because it is part of the advanced technology demonstration green zone program, and it's just much easier to say.

So the award was successful in the amount of 15,707,000, And this is a joint grant from the California Air Resources Board. They are covering the electric vehicle charging of the scope and the California Energy Commission who is covering the EV charging portion of the scope. So here is our grant scope. So our goal is to accelerate the introduction and deployment of zero emissions technologies to meet California's long term air quality, carbon neutrality, petroleum reduction, and climate change targets by focusing on the barriers and solutions and the transfer of these lessons learned to municipal fleet stakeholders in the region and the state. So our tasks are these four tasks that we see below.

So task one is on project management's planning, barrier identification, and solution development. So what this will look like is there will be a project management team. This will be led by the county and sustainability program as well as hired consultants to facilitate and be stakeholder experts as well as in coordination with other county departments. And then we'll also be holding a community of practice. So this is a larger forum where fleet management staff, mechanics, EV users across the regional climate project working group will come together to understand the barriers to EVs, what is causing hang ups.

Perhaps it's EV charging that the software is being, a bit difficult to understand. The county has been going through a lot of these conversations recently with the expansion of our EV chargers, at the government center, the ITD Building, and the Tifedad Medical Center, and there are a lot of lessons to be learned from that process. So this task is essentially going through all of that together as a region and finding the best path forward, and then the idea is for the state to take those lessons learned and for other jurisdictions in the state to learn from them. And then the last part of this is to do fleet electrification tool planning. So this will take a broader look at the county's fleets of vehicles, and we'll map out scenarios and transition timelines and the associated costs and trade offs with meeting those goals.

So we'll have a better plan for how we can move all electric for our fleet. The second task is for workforce development.

Corey, sorry to interrupt. Can I just I'm just trying to look for a clarifying point on so this is the scope of the grant? The item that's in front of us is to accept the grant that was awarded in 2023.

So good clarification. We'll we'll go back to our background. So we applied in 2023. We were essentially the runner-up as our grant application. So there were five grants awarded by the states. The county's award was number six. So we were then told in 2025 that we were able to receive the award and that we had been awarded essentially. So in 2025, we started doing the process of looking at our application and revising the scope of work based on what our departments needed at that time.

At that time. Okay.

And then we had to go through a contracting process with both the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission. So that results in attachments you see today for the separate agreements, and those have both been approved by the business meeting for the Energy Commission and the board for the Air Resources Board. So it's been quite a long process to get to this point since 2023.

Got it. I think that's the piece that I was missing in the staff report was so we applied in 2023. We didn't receive the grant in '23. We're now being we're now eligible to accept the grant that we'd applied for in 2023. So this is so the the staff the the required motion from us is gonna be to accept it and take it, move it along to the board. But the presentation is on the details of what's in that scope. Am

I Correct.

Okay. Thank you for the clarification. I was a little bit I was like, wait a second. I'm not tracking, but thank you. Sorry for interrupting.

No. No. Thank you, supervisor. That's a very good point. So back to our our scope.

So the our second task is around workforce development. So this is going to provide training for EV users, mechanics, and maintenance staff to work on electric vehicles and also electric vehicle charging stations. And, also, these learnings will be shared with the Monterey Bay Area Climate Justice Collaborative to increase the number of electricians who have completed the electrical vehicle infrastructure training program. Basically, we are working on how to develop consistent training across the region for EVs and EV charging stations, and we want to make sure to share that with the wider community to help facilitate the EV transition across our region. And then our third task is actually purchasing the electric vehicles and installing the electric vehicle charging stations.

We'll also be doing data collection of these vehicles that we understand how they are being used during the grant period, which is until June 2028. And then our last task is for grant administration, so that will be done by the county sustainability program. So here's our specific infrastructure and hardware based task for the county. So we would be purchasing 55 electric vehicles and installing 46 EV charging stations across the county in collaboration with public works facility parks and our other county departments. So those are our separate scopes.

They are about $3,000,000 each for both of those items. And for our data collection, we will be installing telematics in all the EVs so that we can have a better understanding of how they're being used in that first year and any barriers and opportunities that we can learn from that data will be rolled into our report. So in our original scope, these are the departments that were included in the grants. So our agricultural commissioner's office, the communications bureau, public works facilities and parks, the health department, information technology departments, Monterey County Free Libraries, and Natividad Medical Center is included some. There's room for them to expand and social services.

So, again, the full award size is 15,700,000 with a one for one match. So the county's match portion that we are doing as our lead applicant is $12,256,000, and we are able to use the existing solar projects that we have going on at one sixty eight West Allisouth, the information technology department, and the Tivada Medical Center as match funds because those are eligible for the solar components, what we call distributed energy resources in the field, and also the EV charging stations that are associated with those projects. And then other jurisdictions from RCPWG are providing that remaining $3,400,000 in match as well. So that brings us to our total of $15,000,000. So we don't have a budgetary impact on the county for this, and this was the addition and correction from earlier.

We had some match funding coming from county staff time, but I was able to confirm with the state this week that we can actually just use our entire match funding from the existing solar projects so that reduces any budgetary constraints for the county. So for next steps, we will be confirming scopes with individual departments that we called out earlier. We'll be collaborating more with public works facilities and parks on this, most notably so that the EV charging stations can be rolled into the in capital improvement program and that we're really discussing the facilities involved with them so that we can be aware of any hurdles and try and move this more into the general public works workflow. And also with fleets because, obviously, this concerns, fleet operations quite deeply, and we'll want to make sure that all of our county departments are coordinating with fleet and public works. So then we'll be moving to the capital improvements committee and the budget committee because there are appropriations involved with this and also infrastructure projects before heading to the board of supervisors for approval.

Once we get to that stage, we are able to sign our contracts with the Air Resources Board and the Energy Commission. And one of our first task to do is to reconfirm the grant scope because things have changed from 2023. They've changed from 2025. So we want to make sure that we're taking an accurate look at the needs of our departments and what vehicles they need us to procure, where they need us to put charging stations, and going through that with the states to confirm the scope there. So for now, the scope that goes to the capital improvements committee as far as where we are installing infrastructure is subject to change, and that is in partnership with the states.

So that brings us back to our title to consider recommending to enter into this award and to provide direction to staff. Thank you very much. I will pass it back to our chair and the public for questions.

Thank you. Supervisor Askew, do you have any further questions?

Yeah. Just so in terms of the the the locations that we're looking at scoping for the, EV chargers, is that focused on serving county fleet needs or serving public needs or some combination of the both?

It's a combination of both depending on the location. I think I can just go ahead and share my screen once more. Again, these locations are subject to change, but this is where we are thinking about our initial scope of EV charging stations. So we're looking at the health department HQ, the Ag Commissioner's main office, 2620 Marina for social services. We are getting funding for some of our charging projects that we have ongoing at the Castroville and San Lucas libraries.

These replacements that you see are something that we mentioned last month for our EV charging item where we are replacing the level two chargers that we have that are not able to charge for their services because they are outdated. So we're including that in this grant. So we're doing that at the Schilling Place and also at the government center. We have a site in King City that we're looking at either the District 3 office or, looking at the public works yard there, the health department's building on Sanborn, and also some of our fast chargers for 168 West Alliselle.

And so only on county property. Are we limited to only on county property? Or if we had a partner location, would that be an option? And then, also, are we locked in once we submit it, or is there flexibility as we figure out what works best and is affordable? So

the thing that we are locked in on is the amount that we are spending and the number of charging ports and EVs. Okay. That does not require require an an amendment. So if we want to say, actually, our health department installed five charging stations at their HQ, so now they only need five more. We're able to shift those five somewhere else without an amendment with the states. If we need to change the amount of charging stations, like, if we need five more than what we propose here or five less for whatever reason, that just requires an amendment, but it we are not necessarily locked in. It just takes some time in working in collaboration with our state partners.

Okay. And then you said we had some city partners too. So is it the total within the cities? So, like, maybe we figure out, oh, Salinas actually needs, you know, couple more. And so we we within that whole amount, we've got some flexibility.

Exactly. So Okay. Awesome. Rebalance our whole scope. And for your other question, demonstrating site control is a component of the grant, so that would reduce us to county or city owned facilities. We could potentially explore investing resources in a rented building or a partner building if it primarily serves municipal fleets, but the idea for this grant is that it would be a municipal fleet electrification grant.

Okay. So far, no municipal. Okay. Got it. And then just going back to the process wise, I we made some changes to budget committee process. So maybe just double check-in. May not have to go to budget committee if there's no general fund request, but check with let's see Debbie on the call so she could just just verify on that point. You may not and maybe you're able to streamline your process moving forward. Those are all

my questions. Thanks. Thank you, supervisor. I have one question regarding the workforce development scope of the grant. So is all of the training that's going to be needed training of county staff and the individual jurisdictions staff that are participating?

Yes. So that is for, participating staff across the regional climate project working group. And that includes people who are working on our charging stations. It includes people who'd be servicing the electric vehicles themselves. It also includes training for people and departments who we expect to be major users of EVs because there's a bit of a learning curve to understand how you operate the stations, how you think about battery maintenance, and those kinds of things.

So my question then becomes, like, where so where we might not have that internal those skills, do we have to look outside for that training? Do we have to bring folks in from the outside to provide that training? I'm just curious how that works.

So that is included in the workforce development task is to bring in an outside educator to help us with that training and develop a curriculum that then the county can use going forward and so can our other jurisdictions. And that's what we want to be sharing with the states and with the region more broadly.

So the reason I ask is I just didn't know if there was any overlap or coordination that could be done with IBEW. I didn't know if know, I know they have all of the Wendy, what's it called? The training programs through the union.

The journeyman's and the apprenticeship.

The apprenticeship programs. And I just didn't know if there was any overlap or if there's work that's already been done on the electrician side that could be helpful or could be in some way incorporated. Just a thought. So I'll just leave that with you to look into, but it may be worth just making a phone call to see if there's any overlap.

Yeah. Thank you, Shiloh.

Great suggestion.

Discussing this with the Monterey County, Santa Cruz County Building Trades Council. And we definitely want to be sharing our learnings from this training with them and probably consult them as well. So we'll be talking to them as well as the Monterey Bay Area Climate Justice Collaborative throughout that curriculum development process so that we can understand the work that they're already doing, how this can be better applicable to them so

that we could increase development into those trades. Thank you. It looks like we have some other questions. Florence Green, you have your hand up. Hello. Good morning.

Good morning. Florence Kobwasa Green, chief of facilities. As you're talking I just wanted to make a point. As you're talking about, you know, selections of sites and final decisions on sites, as PWFP is going to work closely with CORA in the implementation phase, I do want to alert you that one of the decision factors is gonna have to be the nuances of each site and all of the because it's one thing to bring in the charging stations, but we also have to look at the infrastructure associated with those charging stations. So some sites can more easily, you know, bring them on quickly.

Other sites may actually require infrastructure improvements, whether it's electrical, whether it's ADA, path of travel, and all of that can impact, you know, the cost of each each site. So in the interest of staying within the funding that Cora was able to Cora's team was able to get, we wanna make sure and and look at all of those so that we, you know, stay within that funding. So that could impact, you know, the final decision on all of the sites. So I just wanted to alert everybody to that.

Thank you, Florence. Are there any other questions before I go to public comment? All right. We will open public comment on this item, item number two.

There's no one in the room, monerey room, and no hands raised on Zoom.

All right. There is no one in the room in Marina either. So with that, we'll close public comment. Supervisor Askew, is there a motion?

Yeah. I'm happy to make the motion to move the staff recommendation forward.

Great. With that, I think that we can assume we have adoption by consensus.

Alright. Thank you very much, chair and committee.

Okay. And with that, I do not believe there is another item on the agenda. There anything we need to do before we adjourn? Noting, of course, the next meeting is scheduled for 05/15/2026.

That is it on my end, supervisors.

Okay. Before we close, I just wanna look at that just date? That date because I feel like I'm in Sacramento, and I just wanna make sure that that's not the case. So Friday, the May we're talking about May 15. Okay.

I am back on the fifteenth, although we have a hold, and it's getting to be more likely that that will be the day that we have a press conference for the opening of the Highway 1 in in Big Sur. So let's let's put our heads together, Cora. I'm so sorry. I am I am in town. That was an accurate date, but something may be coming up that I won't be able to be available on the fifteenth.

That is okay. We can start reaching out and trying to find another date for that month.

Okay. Thanks so much. Yeah. With that, we be

a hard month to find a date. Do you have do you Carl, do you know that do you have items that are gonna need to come back in May? I just know my May is totally it's ridiculous.

There is a couple things that I think would be coming to committee at the May.

In May. The May?

Mhmm. I let me take another look at that and see if we can push back until maybe early June on some of those, but we can follow-up over email for this.

Thank you. Okay. Alright. With that, we will adjourn this meeting of the Alternative Energy and Environment Committee. Thank you all.

Thank you all.

Thank you.