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Consent-Affiliated Agencies # 38.
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| Board of Supervisors |
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| Subject |
| Approve first amendment of the Valley Clean Energy Alliance (VCEA) Joint Powers Agreement (Agreement No. 16-180) creating an Associate Membership category, waive the 30-day notice for JPA agreement amendments, and waive 45-day notice for City of Winters' joinder of VCEA. (No general fund impact) (Pogledich/May) |
| Recommended Action |
- Authorize the chair to sign the first amendment of the Valley Clean Energy Alliance (VCEA) Joint Powers Agreement creating an Associate Membership category (Att. A);
- Waive the 30-day notice requirement in the VCEA Amendment for the approved amendment; and
- Waive the 45-day notice requirement for the City of Winters' joinder of VCEA.
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| Strategic Plan Goal(s) |
Thriving Residents
Sustainable Environment
Flourishing Agriculture |
| Reason for Recommended Action/Background |
Valley Clean Energy Alliance (VCEA) was created on October 25, 2016, via a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (JPA), Agreement No. 16-180 between the County of Yolo and the City of Davis to operate a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program in those jurisdictions.The City of Woodland was added as a member to the JPA on June 13, 2017. The JPA Agreement provides the purposes of VCEA, which include building a community choice energy (CCE) program and offering clean, cost-effective, and price stable electricity to residents, businesses, and agricultural producers.
Currently, VCEA is investigating the feasibility of acquiring some or all of PG&E’s electric distribution system within Yolo County as part of the PG&E bankruptcy process. VCEA and its members are considering the optimal governance structures that might be implemented if the acquisition is pursued. The most practical structure is for VCEA to be the entity that acquires the system. But in order for VCEA to do so, the VCEA JPA Agreement will need to be amended to add the appropriate powers, and VCEA’s governance would need to be revised to account for different types of membership between jurisdictions that participate in the existing CCA/power procurement business and those that participate in the distribution business.
The VCEA Board of Directors adopted a JPA amendment that would add to VCEA’s powers the ability to investigate, acquire, and operate the electric distribution system (Attachment 1). In addition, the amendment would create an “Associate Membership” for any city in Yolo County that is not already a member of VCEA (i.e. West Sacramento and Winters), should they request to join VCEA for purposes of the local distribution system. The Associate Members would appoint the same number of “Associate Directors” to the VCEA Board as the existing members, but Associate Members would only participate in matters related to the local energy distribution matters. The quorum and vote requirements would also be adjusted for such matters to reflect the modified Board composition.For all matters related to the CCA program, the Board composition and quorum/voting requirements would remain the same as they are now.
In addition, if VCEA conducts its due diligence and investigations and determines that it desires to acquire the electrical distribution system, it may only proceed with the acquisition if each governing body of the Member or Associate Member within whose jurisdictional boundaries the electrical distribution system is located approves of such action. In other words, if a portion of the distribution system to be acquired is within the unincorporated area, VCEA could not proceed with the acquisition of the assets in the unincorporated area unless the Board of Supervisors approves of such action.
Ordinarily, amendments by the VCEA JPA Agreement do not require member approval, and instead simply provide for 30-day notice to members after adopted by the VCEA Board. In this instance, VCEA has decided to seek its members' affirmative approval in lieu of the 30 day notice. Following approval of the JPA Amendment by the VCEA Board on September 12, 2019, VCEA staff is placing the amendments on the agendas of the JPA Members’ governing bodies for approval in the coming weeks (including this recommended action by the Board). If approved by all JPA Member jurisdictions, West Sacramento and Winters would be eligible to join as Associate Members by resolution adopted by their respective City Councils.
In addition, the Member jurisdictions are being asked to waive a 30-day notification requirement by VCEA in order to expedite the establishment and invitation for Winters and West Sacramento to join VCEA as Associate members. Section 7.4 of the JPA agreement addresses the 30-day requirement that the recommended action would waive in this instance:
7.4 Amendment of this Agreement. This Agreement may not be amended except by a written amendment approved by a vote of the Board members as provided in Section 3.7.5. VCEA shall provide written notice to all Parties of amendments to this Agreement, including effective date of such amendments, at least 30 days prior to the date upon which the Board votes on such amendments.
Finally, the proposed changes include a waiver of the 45-day period typically applicable to new members in the event the City of Winters elects to join VCEA as a regular member (as opposed to an Associate Member).
The full JPA agreement is located on the VCE web site at the following link. |
| Collaborations (including Board advisory groups and external partner agencies) |
| The Office of the County Counsel has collaborated with the VCEA staff and the City Attorneys for Woodland, Davis, Winters, and West Sacramento on this item. |
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| Fiscal Impact |
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| Source of Funds for this Expenditure |
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Explanation (Expenditure and/or Revenue) |
| Further explanation as needed: |
| No impact |
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