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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 12092008 - C.47 sE-L TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CLi ��• �-��' Contra FROM: David Twa, County Administrator c � Costa DATE: December 9, 2008 County sra c6un t t SUBJECT: PROPOSED ECONOMIC STIMULUS PROPOSALS SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS) AUTHORIZE the Chair of the Board,.Federal D. Glover, to sign the attached letters to the County's congressional and state legislative delegations regarding proposed economic stimulus programs and suggestions for including and expediting local projects in any programs, as recommended by the Legislation Committee. FISCAL IMPACT There is a possibility that Contra Costa County may benefit from a federal or state economic stimulus proposal, but the impacts are as yet unknown. BACKGROUND At their October meeting, the Legislation Committee requested that staff draft a letter to our 2 CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR ❑ RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE L'J" L7 APPROVE ❑ OTHER SIGNATURE(S): , ACTION OF BO ON APPROVED ON ❑ O-YM AER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS: I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND UNANIMOUS(ABSENT nOhe, ) ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF AYES: NOES: SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ATTESTED: Dec. 9, 2008 Contact: L. DeLaney, CAO's 5-1097 DAVID TWA,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF cc: SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Julie Bueren, PW Director n By: � Deputy Page 2 congressional delegation regarding the County's interest in participating in a federal economic stimulus program. County staff had suggested that there were steps Congress could take to facilitate expediting local transportation and other infrastructure projects. At their November 17, 2008 meeting, the Legislation Committee reviewed and approved the draft letter to the County's congressional delegation and recommended that a similar letter be prepared for our state legislative delegation. CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT (Oplinnul) CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION The VBoard of Supervisors Contra Costa John Cullen County Administration Building - Clerk of the Board 651 Pine Street, Room 106 and Martinei,California 94553 Count County Administrator Y (925)335-1900 John Gioia, 1"District 5---- Gayle B. Uilkema,2 n District f Mary N. Piepho,3d District Susan A.Bonilla,4`h District , Federal D.Glover,5`h District November 19, 2008 The Honorable Dianne Feinstein The Honorable George Miller United States Senate U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Barbara Boxer The Honorable Ellen O. Tauscher United States Senate U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Gerald McNerney U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC-20510 RE: Expediting Economic Stimulus Promects Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Representatives Miller, Tauscher, and McNerney: We understand that discussions are underway at both the federal and state level to develop an economic stimulus package. Contra Costa County has evaluated our capacity to deliver projects suitable for such a package, and we have developed a list of projects totaling $135 million. Many of these projects could be under contract within 3 to 6 months and all within a year. Our current project list is broken into several categories and includes: • $6.4 Million in Community Development Block Grant projects focused on increased pedestrian access for communities in the County's most economically challenged areas; • $114 Million in Transportation Capital Projects where the design is complete and large construction dollars can be spent with a visible outcome to the communities; • $7 Million in Capital Replacement Proiects where large dollars can be spent countywide and environmental impacts are minimal; • $2.6 Million in Park and Trail enhancements that improve quality of life to communities; • $5.4 Million in Flood Protection projects which focus on regaining flood capacity or repairing flood damage. Given this menu of project types, it is important to acknowledge that it will be difficult to meet the accelerated schedule of project delivery if we are required to follow current federal funding oversight processes. Contra Costa County is hopeful that formulation of this legislation will include some relief to the federal processes or provide additional resources to expedite necessary approvals. Some suggestions that would assist in delivery are: • Distribute funds directly to .the jurisdictions with audits to be conducted after the contract award so that funds can be accessed quickly while holding agencies accountable to the processes we have been trained to execute. • Many of our projects already have CEQA clearance; however, the federal funding would require we also comply with NEPA. Accepting CEQA clearance to satisfy NEPA or processing Categorical Exclusions under NEPA quickly for projects that have CEQA clearance would help to expedite project delivery. • Capital replacement projects are generally found to be exempt from CEQA and/or excluded from NEPA requirements as the work is conducted within the existing infrastructure footprint. Expediting this approval process would be critical to successful project delivery. In addition, the delivery of projects at this level is dependent upon clear authorization of funds and should require no local match. We are very much interested in participating in a stimulus package and believe that local agencies in California are in a good position to deliver projects quickly if the right processes are in place. Furthermore, we would advocate that the highway portion of the stimulus package come through the Surface Transportation Program which would allow flexibility in project eligibility. We welcome the opportunity to invest in infrastructure which would not only benefit the public but would provide much needed economic stimulus. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, F DERAL D. GLOVER hair, Board of Supervisors cc: Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors David Twa, County Administrative Officer Julia Bueren, Public Works Director Paul Schlesinger, Alcalde & Fay 2 ' The Board of Supervisors Contra Costa John Cullen County Administration Building Clerk of the Board 651 Pine Street, Room 106 and Martinez,California 94553 County County Administrator (925)335-1900 John Gioia, 1s'District Gayle B.Uilkema,2nd District Mary N.Piepho,3'd District Susan A.Bonilla,4'"District d Federal D.Glover,5`"District November 25, 2008 The Honorable Mark DeSaulnier The Honorable Tom Torlakson California State Senate California'State Assembly Sacramento, CA Sacramento, CA The Honorable Loni Hancock The Honorable Nancy Skinner _California State Senate California State Assembly Sacramento, CA Sacramento, CA The Honorable Joan Buchanan California State Assembly Sacramento, CA RE: Expediting Economic Stimulus Projects Dear Senators DeSaulnier and Hancock and Assemblymembers Torlakson, Skinner, and Buchanan: We understand that discussions are underway at both the federal and state level to develop an economic stimulus package. Contra Costa County has evaluated our capacity to deliver projects suitable for such a package, and we have developed a list of projects totaling$135 million. Many of these projects could be under contract within 3 to 6 months and all within a year. Our project list is broken into several categories and includes: • $6.4 Million in Community Development Block Grant projects focused on increased pedestrian access for communities in the County's most economically challenged areas, • $114 Million in Transportation Capital Projects where the design is complete and large construction dollars can be spent with a visible outcome to the communities; $7 Million in Capital Replacement Projects where large dollars can be spent countywide and environmental impacts are minimal; r • $2.6 Million in Park and Trail enhancements that improve quality of life to communities; • $5.4 Million in Flood Protection projects which focus on regaining flood capacity or repairing flood damage. The Governor's proposal for economic stimulus does not provide new funds for transportation but, rather, would advance the Proposition 1 B funds and accelerate the expenditure timeline. This would not allow us to deliver the types of projects discussed above and would create some issues for Contra Costa. We intend to use our Proposition 1 B funds for much needed safety projects, and we anticipated having the three years to expend the funds. These projects cannot be easily advanced, and if the timeline is accelerated, we would have to substitute with a list of maintenance type projects that could be delivered more quickly. This may delay the delivery of some of our critical safety projects. It is also important to note that our ability to contract projects is dependent upon certainty in our other revenue streams for operation and maintenance. We count on the uninterrupted receipt of our monthly gas taxes and continued flow of Proposition 42 funds for our local transportation maintenance needs. The condition in the Governor's proposal that at a given point in time we can onlx have 3 months of gas taxes and Proposition 42 funds in reserve to access the accelerated Prop 1 B monies is a problem. We naturally accumulate revenue over the winter months outside of the construction season. We also use our gas tax funds to match federal grants and need to hold those match funds in reserves. The nature of road expenditures is such that balances are never flat, but can fluctuate substantially as we accumulate and then expend on large contracts and maintenance activities. We would welcome the opportunity to invest in infrastructure which would not only benefit the public but would provide much needed economic stimulus. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, F DERAL D. GLOVER Chair, Board of Supervisors cc: Board of Supervisors David Twa, CAO Julia Bueren, PW Director Cathy Christian, Nielsen Merksamer p 2