To: Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
Department or Agency Name(s): Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
Staff Name and Phone Number: Misti Arias 565-7360; Julie Mefferd 565-7368
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Amend the Department Allocation List for the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a resolution amending the Department Allocation List for the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District to add one (1.0) full-time equivalent (FTE) APOSD Senior Planner, add 0.5 FTE APOSD Planner, convert 1.0 FTE Time-Limited APOSD Planner to ongoing, add one (1.0) FTE APOSD Community Relations Assistant, add one (1.0) FTE APOSD Assistant Planner, and delete one (1.0) vacant FTE APOSD Technician, effective April 19, 2022.
end
Executive Summary:
The Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (Ag + Open Space) is requesting to add a net of two and a half (2.5) positions, excluding the Time-Limited APOSD Planner slated to expire on June 30, 2022, to Ag + Open Space’s allocation list. These positions will provide the critical capacity needed to achieve Ag + Open Space goals in land conservation, stewardship, and public outreach.
To fully realize Sonoma County’s land conservation vision as presented in the Vital Lands Initiative, Ag + Open Space must focus staff resources towards quickening the pace of land and conservation easement acquisitions, more fully supporting and engaging our community in the protection and stewardship of conservation easement lands, and facilitating a healthier, more diverse and inclusive relationship with our county’s natural and working lands.
The proposed staff positions will support this work through:
• Dedicating additional staff time to the Matching Grant Program as well as providing other grant funding support to the community, while at the same time freeing up an existing acquisition specialist position to focus on negotiating new conservation easements and transferring existing fee land holdings
• Devoting additional staff time towards addressing outstanding easement violations and enhancing the use approval process, and supporting new easement acquisitions
• Providing additional opportunities for the community to engage in the work of Ag + Open Space as volunteers, through on-land and online programming, and through collaborative stewardship partnerships paying particular attention to historically underrepresented communities
If approved, the impacts of these changes will allow Ag + Open Space to achieve the Board-approved Vital Lands Initiative goals. The impacts of not approving these changes will affect our ability to achieve the ambitious goals outlined in the Board-approved Vital Lands Initiative. Acquisitions would not have the needed capacity to increase by 25% in the Vital Lands Initiative. Landowner support and community efforts to enhance land management and agricultural practices for climate resiliency and wildfire mitigation would not have sufficient programming or dedicated staff support. The ability to utilize outside funding opportunities to leverage Measure F funds for increased land conservation would not exist. Current timelines for acquisitions and related processes would not be streamlined. Outreach and education efforts for community access to natural and working lands would remain at the existing levels.
Discussion:
The Vital Lands Initiative sets Ag + Open Space on an ambitious path for conserving natural and working lands in Sonoma County. In addition, the state and the country have elevated the importance of land conservation in building resilience to climate change. Conserving land is just the first step in ensuring that natural and human communities can adapt to climate change; we also need to enhance our land management efforts and agricultural practices to ensure conserved lands can sequester carbon, mitigate the effects of wildfire and drought, and allow for migration of human and natural communities. Land conservation provides a multitude of benefits to our community including providing clean air and water, locally grown healthy food, scenic landscapes, resilience buffers, and outdoor recreation and education. We need to ensure that these benefits are provided broadly to all members of our community in an inclusive and equitable way. Ag + Open Space staff has worked closely with our Board of Directors to identify a work plan that accelerates our ability to meet ambitious land conservation goals while also encouraging enhanced land management practices and providing equitable access to natural and working lands. This expansion of our role in adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, along with our commitment to streamlining our processes to acquire and steward more land and conservation easements, necessitates additional staff.
Ag + Open Space investigated utilizing its existing staff, reprioritization of work, and consultants to fulfill these critical needs. As a result, effective July 1, 2022, existing staff will be reorganized into four functional program areas to streamline efforts to meet the priority actions of the Board-adopted Vital Lands Initiative and 18-month work plan. The roles of the four programs will be administration and fiscal services, land acquisition and planning, land stewardship, and community resources.
To quicken the pace of land acquisition, enhance stewardship on conserved lands, and more fully engage and support the community in a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive way, we recommend these positions:
• 1.0 FTE Senior Planner to support the Stewardship Supervisor by focusing on addressing outstanding easement violations, coordinating and enhancing the use request approval process, assisting with review of new easement language, and supporting development of programs that encourage enhanced land management and agricultural practices. Currently, the Stewardship Supervisor provides supervision of four technician positions that are dedicated to monitoring conservation easements and fee land properties, as well as overseeing the day-to-day work of conservation easement program that consists of use request approvals, amendments, and enforcement matters. With more easement acquisitions planned, there will be more stewardship responsibilities. Devoting additional senior planner-level time towards addressing outstanding easement violations and expediting the use approval process, and supporting new easement acquisitions will allow the Supervisor to focus on enhancing and streamlining processes to better support easement landowners.
• 1.0 FTE Planner (with conversion of 1.0 Time Limited Planner, currently scheduled to sunset on 6/30/22, to an ongoing allocation) to coordinate the Matching Grant Program would be assigned to the Community Resources Program. Currently, Matching Grants are coordinated by an acquisition specialist, who is responsible for oversight of the program, including outreach, grant management, and acquisition-related work. Having additional staff resources dedicated to implementing and on-going enhancement of the Matching Grant Program, as well as providing other grant funding and programs support to the community, will free up the existing acquisition specialist position to focus on negotiating new conservation easements and transferring existing fee landholdings.
• 0.5 FTE Planner to provide technical assistance and assistance with identifying and securing grant funds for landowners, facilitate the use of best management practices on the ground (healthy soils, rangeland management, habitat restoration and wildlife corridor protection, and fuels management), as well as assist on easement stewardship work. This position would reside in the Stewardship Program but serve to connect and support policy development and programs with work happening on the ground.
• 1.0 Assistant Planner (with deletion of a vacant 1.0 Technician). Ag + Open Space is implementing a remote monitoring program that will allow staff to monitor properties using aerial imagery and remote-sensing technology that makes our goal of monitoring all of our 330 easements within 18 months possible. This improvement, along with streamlined data collection and reporting for our in-person monitoring visits, means that we can redirect staff resources from a technical level position towards an assistant planner position to provide enhanced technical support to our easement landowners, in addition to the 1.5 FTE Planner positions described above.
• 1.0 Community Relations Assistant to provide additional opportunities for the community to learn about and engage in the work of Ag + Open Space as volunteers, through enhanced and expanded on-land and online programming and resource sharing, and through collaborative stewardship and community partnerships with local business, non-profit, educational, and governmental entities. The additional Community Relations Assistant will also help us increase diversity, equity, and inclusion activities within the agency, as well as increase and enhance outreach and engagement with historically excluded communities in Sonoma County.
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 21-22 Adopted |
FY 22-23 Projected |
FY 23-24 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
|
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
53,772 |
645,267 |
664,625 |
|
Total Expenditures |
53,772 |
645,267 |
664,625 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
53,772 |
645,267 |
664,625 |
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
53,772 |
645,266 |
664,625 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
These positions will be funded by Measure F sales tax revenue. Appropriations are requested for FY 22-23 Budget.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
APOSD Senior Planner |
8,136.29-9,891.21 |
1.0 |
|
|
APOSD Planner |
6,777.92-8,240.65 |
1.5 |
|
|
APOSD Community Relations Assistant |
6,278.75-7,633.64 |
1.0 |
|
|
APOSD Assistant Planner |
5,936.12-7,216.22 |
1.0 |
|
|
APOSD Technician |
5,181.28-6,296.15 |
|
1.0 |
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
There are no staffing impacts associated with the addition of these positions. Ag + Open Space will work with Human Resources to fill these new positions once they have been approved.
Attachments:
1. Resolution
2. Organizational Chart
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None