COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

DATE:

January 7, 2008

BOARD MEETING DATE:

January 29, 2008

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Supervisor Richard Gordon, Chairman

Supervisor Jerry Hill, Vice Chairman

Environmental Quality Committee

SUBJECT:

County membership in ICLEI

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution approving County membership in ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and in support of the ICLEI Cities and Counties for Climate Protection Campaign

VISION ALIGNMENT:

The recommended action furthers the following commitment and goal:

Commitment : Leaders work across boundaries to preserve and enhance our quality of life.

Goal 23: Leaders throughout the County provide the impetus for broader regional solution in land use, housing, childcare, education, health and transportation.

BACKGROUND:

In October of 2007, your Board adopted the Cool Counties Declaration. The Declaration committed the County to developing a greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventory for County operations and an emissions reduction action plan. The County also committed to supporting regional GHG reduction targets, measuring our progress toward those goals and advocating for federal action on climate change.

To complete the GHG inventory, staff recommended that the County contract with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, an international nonprofit based in Berkeley. ICLEI charges communities $25,000 to conduct a GHG inventory. Silicon Valley Joint Venture, through their Climate Protection Task Force, arranged for a group rate with ICLEI of $13,000 per community. In December, the San Mateo County City and County Association of Governments (C/CAG) approved a matching grant program to cover 50% of the ICLEI inventory cost for members. With the C/CAG grant, the ICLEI inventory is now $6,500. To participate in the Joint Venture program and get the benefit of the C/CAG matching funds, San Mateo County must first become a member of ICLEI.

DISCUSSION:

ICLEI membership dues are based on population. For communities between 50,000 and 100,000, which is the category for the County unincorporated area, the annual dues are $1,200.

In addition to paying dues, ICLEI membership requires adoption of a resolution in support of the ICLEI Cities and Counties for Climate Protection Campaign. The ICLEI Campaign requires government entities to commit to undertaking five steps to reduce GHG emissions throughout their community. Those steps are:

●

Conduct a GHG inventory in the jurisdiction

●

Establish a GHG emissions target

●

Develop and action plan that when implemented will meet the GHG target

●

Implement the plan

●

Monitor and report on progress

Furthermore, the resolution states that the County will request assistance from ICLEI as we progress through these steps.

San Mateo County committed to the requirements in the ICLEI campaign as they relate to the County Government Agency emissions when your Board adopted the Cool Counties Declaration. Expanding that work to include the unincorporated area is the next step in the process. Staff are working on a communitywide inventory for the unincorporated area through the Bay Area Air Quality District and will be developing a work plan for communitywide GHG reductions later in 2008. Therefore, the ICLEI campaign commitments are consistent with prior Board action and work staff has planned.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The adoption of the Cool Counties Declaration included $13,000 for the GHG inventory from the County General Fund, which at the time was the cost of the ICLEI inventory through Joint Venture. The C/CAG matching funds reduce the cost of the inventory to $6,500, plus $1,200 in ICLEI annual dues, which brings the total cost to $7,700 in County general funds. We request that the balance of these funds be used to work on the county agency and community wide climate action plans.