To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): County Administrator’s Office: Climate Action and Resiliency Division
Staff Name and Phone Number: Marcus Clarke, 707-565-5272; Barbara Lee, 707-565-2510
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Execution of Caltrans Grant for Equitable Electric Vehicle Charging Plan for Sonoma County
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
A) Adopt a Resolution delegating authority to the County Executive Officer to enter into a funding agreement with the California Department of Transportation to accept and expend $247,000 of State funds, and authorize County Executive Officer, or designee, to carry out the Equitable Electric Vehicle Charging Plan for Sonoma County.
B) Adopt a Budget Resolution to program revenue and expenditure appropriations in accordance with the Grant Agreement.
(4/5 Vote Required)
end
Executive Summary:
The County of Sonoma secured a $247,000 grant from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Sustainable Communities Grant Program to fund a $275,331 project. The grant will develop an Equitable Electric Vehicle Charging Plan for Sonoma County (the Equitable EV Charging Plan), aiming to facilitate and promote electric vehicle adoption equitably across Sonoma County. The County of Sonoma will provide in-kind matching funds of $28,331 through staff time already funded by the General Fund, and all activities must be completed by June 30, 2027.
Board approval is requested to delegate authority to the County Executive Officer to enter into a funding agreement with Caltrans to accept and expend $247,000 of State funds; to authorize the County Executive Officer, or designee, to carry out the Equitable EV Charging Plan; and to adopt a Budget Resolution to program the revenue and expenditure appropriations in accordance with the Grant Agreement.
The grant includes two sub-applicants, the Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) and Latino Service Providers (LSP). Both organizations agreed to partner in the Equitable EV Charging Plan upon grant submission and will provide services as outlined in the Discussion below. The County will oversee service contracts for both agencies, and each agency will consent from their Boards of Directors in December 2024 or January 2025 to initiate work in Spring, 2025.
The Plan will be considered in early 2026 by the County Board of Supervisors and shared with the Regional Climate Protection Authority and jurisdictional partners also for consideration. Staff anticipates that the plan will be folded into other regional greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction efforts and leverage implementation resources in the future. Further, the Plan aligns with community progress measures outlined in the Climate Resilience Comprehensive Action Plan (as proposed September 10, 2024).
Discussion:
The Notice of Funding Opportunities for the Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grant program was announced on July 10, 2023. This program provides funding to support local and regional sustainable transportation planning efforts that align with the State's climate goals, enhance multimodal transportation, and promote healthy, vibrant communities.
The Grant Award:
On July 11, 2024, the Climate Action and Resiliency Division (CARD) in the County Administrator’s Office, received a notice of conditional award for the full amount of the grant request of $247,000, pending submittal of a Board Resolution accepting the grant and authorizing a contract with Caltrans. The award will fund a collaborative project to develop a countywide electric vehicle charging infrastructure plan.
The primary deliverable of the project is the Equitable EV Charging Plan, which will feature a prioritized list of strategic infrastructure locations, a replicable equity analysis, and a comprehensive plan ready for adoption, implementation and funding by the County and project partners. The Equitable EV Charging Plan will address countywide gaps in EV charging infrastructure, including: (1) the presence of “charging deserts” throughout Sonoma County, limiting EV adoption; (2) the lack of a comprehensive plan for the County or its jurisdictions to strategically plan for EV charging locations; and (3) the absence of extensive or documented studies involving the county’s Spanish‐speaking, Latinx and/or disadvantaged communities in EV adoption/infrastructure planning.
Project partners include CARD as the lead, sub-applicants RCPA and Latino Service Providers (LSP), and a yet-to-be-selected lead consultant to produce the overall plan. Grant management will be overseen by the CARD Grants Analyst within the County Administrator's Office. This position will contribute approximately 206 hours of staff time, already funded by the General Fund, as part of the in-kind matching fund requirement of the grant. Matching funds, totaling $28,331 are 11.47% of the total project cost and will be provided through County of Sonoma staff time over the 32-month grant period. The award funds plus the matching funds bring the total project cost to $275,331.
As the lead recipient and fiscal manager of the grant, the County’s Grants Analyst will ensure that all project activities align with the project’s Scope of Work, submit quarterly progress reports on time and monitor the project’s progress and expenses. Additionally, the Grants Analyst will oversee the lead consultant and sub-applicants, ensuring their work complies with the terms of the agreement. The Grants Analyst will also maintain close coordination with Caltrans throughout the project’s duration.
The County will issue a comprehensive Request for Proposals to select a lead consultant to develop the overall Equitable EV Charging Plan for a not-to-exceed amount of $165,000. This will include conducting a detailed analysis of existing EV infrastructure and "charging deserts," performing public outreach and conducting siting and infrastructure analyses to identify strategic locations for new EV charging stations. An external consultant is essential for their specialized expertise in EV infrastructure, including load capacity analysis, ADA-compliant site selection, integration of new technologies for public accessibility, and aggregation of data to inform county-wide future site selection. This expertise enables in-house staff to focus on administrative tasks of the grant and to provide the lead consultant and sub-applicants any support needed for their respective responsibilities.
The lead consultant will prepare a comprehensive plan that includes a replicable equity analysis, economic and funding strategies, and actionable recommendations for implementing EV infrastructure across the county. The contract with the selected consultant will return to the Board for approval.
Sub-applicant RCPA will be awarded $25,000 to lead coordination efforts on the plan with the Stakeholder Advisory Group, leveraging their expertise in climate protection and collaboration across Sonoma County to ensure the Plan's successful implementation.
Sub-applicant LSP will receive $40,000 to lead the community engagement effort, focusing on Sonoma County’s Latinx, Spanish-speaking, and disadvantaged communities. LSP will utilize its experience working countywide with these communities to understand the challenges, opportunities, and solutions around EV adoption.
Final Deliverable:
The Equitable EV Charging Plan is intended to be relevant and useful for jurisdictions in the region to strategically locate and plan for implementation of EV charging stations. Part of the analysis identified in the scope of work will explore strategic locations for infrastructure as they relate to current and planned multimodal hubs, housing nodes and transportation network system improvements. The final plan will delineate the type, quantity, and prioritized locations for infrastructure deployment, actionable by the governing bodies of RCPA, each of the cities, and the County. Staff will present the plan to your Board for consideration and intends to use the plan to support future funding applications for implementation.
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Climate Action and Resiliency
Goal: Goal 2: Invest in the community to enhance resiliency and become carbon neutral by 2030
Objective: Objective 1: Support carbon eliminating microgrid technology in communities and energy grid resilience to reduce impact of power loss during power shutdowns and natural disasters (floods, fires, earthquakes) through education and legislative advocacy, prioritizing critical infrastructure and vulnerable populations.
Pillar: Climate Action and Resiliency
Goal: Goal 3: Make all County facilities carbon free, zero waste and resilient
Objective: Objective 2: Invest in electric power resiliency projects at County facilities, including Veteran’s Buildings, used for evacuation sites, warming/cooling centers, or as alternate work facilities for delivery of critical services.
Racial Equity:
There are nearly 132,000 Latinx residents in Sonoma County and an estimated 38,500 are undocumented immigrants. Approximately 50% of Sonoma County’s 11th graders and 62% of 7th graders identify as Latinx (California Healthy Kids Survey, 2017-2019), while 42% of Santa Rosa Junior College and 36% of Sonoma State University students identify as Latinx (DataUSA, 2019). Although not all of the Spanish-speaking and Latinx population are living in disadvantaged communities, there are LatinX communities in Sonoma County with concentrated pockets of poverty.
Sonoma County has over a dozen Census Tracts that can be considered disadvantaged. Data demonstrates that these communities are challenged with a variety of climate-related vulnerabilities. In more than one of these communities, however, residents have indicated that they would like to play a larger role in forwarding climate action and resiliency goals. One of the obstacles shared amongst these residents and other Latinx community members, is the lack of EV charging infrastructure in their residential locations and places of employment. This project, with the support of LSP’s expertise, will address such opportunities and challenges in developing the Equitable Infrastructure Plan.
LSP will employ a variety of strategies such as: (1) Contributing to ideas around strategic locations for DAC communities and DAC workplaces (2) Offering research/ideas regarding the relationship between EV charging facilities and local gentrification potential, and (3) Assessing current trends, perceptions, realities of EV ownership, interest, and barriers to EV adoption by members of identified DACs. The above can be done by a variety of means - interviews, surveys, workshops, and partnering with Latinx CBOs. In addition to LSP’s toolkit of strategies for community engagement, they will also refer to and incorporate the guide of resources found in the Caltrans Application Guide, including outreach practices during the current era of COVID-19.
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
The Equitable EV Charging Plan aligns with community progress measures outlined in the Climate Resilience Comprehensive Action Plan (as proposed September 10, 2024).
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY24-25 Adopted |
FY25-26 Projected |
FY26-27 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$8,000 |
$38,875 |
$27,625 |
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
$172,500 |
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$180,500 |
$38,875 |
$27,625 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
$180,500 |
$38,875 |
$27,625 |
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$180,500 |
$38,875 |
$27,625 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
Taking into consideration the Scope of Work and Project timeline outlined in the grant proposal (Attachment A), the projected expenses align with the tasks and responsibilities assigned to the lead consultant and sub-applicants, RCPA and LSP.
The FY24-25 appropriation request of $172,500 is intended to encumber up-front start costs for the lead consultant and sub-applicants. Each phase of the project, from project administration and lead consultant procurement to stakeholder engagement, public outreach, and infrastructure analysis, has been budgeted to ensure that the necessary resources are available at the appropriate stages of the project. The County of Sonoma will provide in-kind matching funds of $28,331 through staff time already funded by the General Fund, which is in addition to the $247,000 grant award.
The grant will reimburse the CARD Grant Analyst for a total of $17,000 in salary and benefits cost over the term of the project. Of this amount, $8,000 is already included in the FY24-25 adopted budget. The grant’s staff reimbursement will therefore reduce the General Fund net cost by $8,000 in the FY24-25 CARD budget.
This is a reimbursable grant. The lead consultant and sub-applicants will submit progress reports and invoices on a quarterly basis. The grant manager will review the progress reports, invoices, and supporting documents within 30 days, ensuring they meet the agreement and applicable terms. Once verified, the County will submit a Request for Reimbursement to Caltrans, with reimbursement generally expected within 45 days.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
1. Conditional Award Letter
2. Resolution for Authorization
3. Resolution for Budget Adjustment
4. Restricted Grant Agreement (RGA) Boilerplate
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
A. County of Sonoma Proposal for Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grant Program