Title
a. Ratify approval of an award from the California Ocean Protection Council for a grant in the amount of $150,000 for "Collaborative Efforts to Assess Sea level Rise (SLR) Impacts and Evaluate Policy Options for the Monterey Bay Coast";
b. Ratify the authorization by the RMA Director, or his designee, to accept, administer, and execute documents to secure these funds from the California Ocean Protection Council;
c. Ratify the approval of a sub-recipient agreement with Coastal Conservation and Research to undertake the grant work program;
d. Approve an increase in appropriations and estimated revenue in the amount of $50,000 in the FY 2014-15 Adopted Budget RMA Planning 001-3000-8172-RMA001 where the financing source is from grant reimbursements(4/5 vote required); and
e. Authorize the Auditor Controller to modify the FY 2014-15 Adopted Budget to reflect the approved increases in appropriations and estimated revenue.
(Climate Adaptation Planning Grant/REF130044)
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Ratify approval of an award from the California Ocean Protection Council for a grant in the amount of $150,000 for "Collaborative Efforts to Assess Sea level Rise (SLR) Impacts and Evaluate Policy Options for the Monterey Bay Coast;"
b. Ratify the authorization by the RMA Director, or his designee, to accept, administer, and execute documents to secure these funds from the California Ocean Protection Council;
c. Ratify the approval of a sub-recipient agreement with Coastal Conservation and Research to undertake the grant work program;
d. Approve an increase in appropriations and estimated revenue in the amount of $50,000 in the FY 2014-15 Adopted Budget RMA Planning 001-3000-8172-RMA001 where the financing source is from grant reimbursements; and
e. Authorize the Auditor Controller to modify the FY 2014-15 Adopted Budget to reflect the approved increases in appropriations and estimated revenue.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
On July 9, 2013, the Board of Supervisors authorized the RMA Director to submit an application to the California Ocean Protection Council for a grant in the amount of $500,000 (Resolution 13-214). The grant application was developed in collaboration with the County of Santa Cruz, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and the City of Capitola to provide funding for the study of sea level rise impacts on, and policy options for, the Monterey Bay Coast.
The Natural Resources Agency, acting as staff for the California Ocean Protection Council and its partners, approved the grant application in the reduced amount of $150,000 and prepared a grant agreement for Monterey County signature. Due to minimal experience in RMA-Planning with the grant process, the RMA Director signed the grant agreement in September 2014, accepting the grant offer without prior approval by the Board of Supervisors.
As the grant award was designed to pass a majority of grant funds through to Moss Landing Marine Laboratories to administer the work program, staff subsequently prepared a sub-recipient agreement between the RMA and Coastal Conservation and Research (Moss Landing Marine Laboratories' non-profit subsidiary). Again due to an error by the new staff member, the Director of Planning executed the sub-recipient agreement in December 2014 without prior approval by the Board of Supervisors to enable the pass through of grant funds.
In January 2015, Monterey County received an invoice from Coastal Conservation and Research for work completed on the work program and in turn the County submitted its own invoice to the Natural Resources Agency in February 2015 for reimbursement. Monterey County received a check from the Natural Resources Agency in April 2015, and it was during the course of processing this first pass-through payment to Coastal Conservation and Research that RMA staff discovered its error. The action now before the Board of Supervisors is being taken to correct the procedural error.
CEQA
The acceptance of this grant offer would be exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15262, since the project involves only a planning study for possible future actions that the Board of Supervisors has not approved, adopted, or funded.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The proposed project is a collaboration with Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (including Coastal Conservation and Research), the County of Santa Cruz, and the City of Capitola.
FINANCING:
There is an impact to the General Fund. While the grant required no local match, the County of Monterey, the County of Santa Cruz, and the City of Capitola have each offered to participate in facilitating the grant with in-kind labor. The RMA estimates that Monterey County's in-kind labor contribution would be equivalent to $12,500 over the life of the grant period (through June 2016) when staff attends technical committee meetings and hosts a regional panel late in the work program schedule of which $3,000 would be reimbursed. The staff costs have been included in the current FY 2014-15 and recommended FY 2015-16 Budgets for RMA-Planning. All grant funds received would pass through to Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (Coastal Conservation and Research), except $3,000 allocated to the County of Monterey to administer the grant, as specified in the sub-recipient agreement.
Prepared by: Martin Carver, Management Specialist ext. 6049
Approved by: Mike Novo, Director, RMA-Planning, ext. 5192
Carl Holm, Acting Director, Resource Management Agency
This report was reviewed by Jacqueline R. Onciano, RMA Planning Services Manager
cc: Planning File REF130044
The following attachments are on file with the Clerk of the Board:
Attachment A The Natural Resource Agency Grant Agreement
Attachment B Sub-Recipient Agreement with Coastal Conservation and Research