SPOKANE REGIONAL CLEAN AIR AGENCY BOARD MEETING MINUTES June 4, 2015 9:30 a.m. Spokane Clean Air s Conference Room at 3104 E. Augusta Ave. BOARD MEMBERS: Commissioner Al French (Chair) Alternate Karen Corkins Mayor Patrick Rushing, Airway Heights (VC) Council Member Bill Bates, City of Spokane Valley (Absent) Alternate Rod Higgins Carmen Nezat, City of Spokane (Absent) Tom Brattebo, Member at Large STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Julie Oliver, Executive Director Barbara Nelson, Finance/Personnel Admin. Matt Holmquist, Compliance Administrator Lisa Woodard, Public Information Officer April Westby, Engineer II Mark Rowe, Air Quality Technician Jacob Blanchette, Engineer I Michelle Fossum, Legal Counsel Mary Kataoka, Secretary II WORK SESSION: Commissioner French called the work session to order at 9:30 a.m. 1. Special Project Reserve Account Future Direction Julie Oliver Julie gave a presentation of the Project Reserve Account and moving forward. The presentation included the following: Summary of the project reserve account, likely changes to how the account is used going forward, looking ahead at the fiscal year 2016, Vehicle Emission Repair Program (VERP) background and recommendations moving forward, yard waste collection events background and recommendations moving forward and future considerations. Discussion ensued between the Board, Julie and Matt on the VERP. BOARD MEETING: Commissioner French called the board meeting to order at 10:08 a.m. 1. Advisory Council Report Julie Oliver for Bud Leber The Advisory Council (AC) reviewed the various current special funding projects with respect to how they would be funded in the future. Two projects were the focus of the majority of the discussion, the vehicle repair program and the composting events. The AC recommended that the limited funding be focused on the vehicle repair program as it can generate lower cost emission reduction (dollars per ton reduced) relative to the composting events and has some additional social
Page 2 impacts that would benefit low income car owners. The AC did suggest that if the composting events could get some level of financial support from the interested parties, then any available funding should be used for those events where the participants are willing to put some skin in the game. 2. Executive Director s Report for May Julie Oliver An update on the Finding of Inadequacy ( SIP call ): On May 22, 2015, EPA signed the original action in response to a petition for rulemaking to ensure states State Implementation Plans (SIPs) in place that are fully consistent with the Federal Clean Air Act (FCAA) and recent court decisions concerning startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM) operations. EPA found that the SSM provisions in Washington and 35 other states approved SIPs do not meet the requirements of the FCAA and issued a SIP call for each of the 36 states. As part of the SIP call, EPA directed the states to correct specific provisions in their SIPs. The FCAA allows a maximum of 18 months to submit a SIP revision. The SIP submission deadline for each of the 36 states is November 22, 2016. In the SIP, SRCAA relies on Ecology s rule. Ecology will revise their rule and the SIP to comply with the SIP call. SRCAA will need to revise our regulation for consistency and compliance with the federal requirements. In anticipation of the SIP call, Ecology held a meeting on May 20, 2015 to gather input from the local air agencies. April Westby attended the meeting and provided input. The presentation about SRCAA to the City of Airway Heights City Council was rescheduled to June 15, 2015. Julie has two tentative dates for giving a presentation to the City of Spokane Valley City Council. Two items of note, we are working on the building roof specs to go out for bid and there has been an upswing in bad behavior in the neighborhood (drugs, angry individuals, etc.). A Crime Check Officer is going to give staff a presentation for safety in the neighborhood and Crime Check has been very responsive to our phone calls. 3. Activity Reports Public Information/Education Update for May Lisa Woodard Community and school presentations, programs and events Outdoor environmental programs at Liberty Lake and Medical Lake, open houses at Fire District 5 and 8, University Elementary School s Science Night, a presentation to the Marijuana Business Association, presented at the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, hosted a group from Leadership Spokane at our office for a tour and presentation, co-coordinated the Spokane STEMposium at the U-District campus, and attended the Turnbull Wildlife Refuge Festival. Print, online and media Updated and reprinted Welcome to the Neighborhood cards to addin information about asbestos and home improvement/remodeling projects, reordered magnets, On
Page 3 The Air spring / summer newsletter developed, updated and reprinted our Asbestos in Your Home brochure. The Constant Contact E-mail lists had 148 new subscribers for May. Compliance Assistance Asbestos updates e-mail outreach continues, the Compliance Assistance Newsletter articles are underway we have a feature article on the Spokane International Airport s VALE project in both of our newsletters and worked with SIA for information, quotes and photos. Upcoming items to note: Website assessment and possible enhancements and branding our social media tools with our website. We are planning a mid-july launch of our Facebook and YouTube, with Twitter to follow. Over the next several months we ll be producing 1.5-3 minute video clips to cover different aspects of who we are and what we do. These will be posted on our various social media channels. The Mead School District 5 th grade outdoor education program at Bear Lake continues today through next Thursday. We will be at the Fire District 9 Community Fair on June 6 and presenting at the Nevada-Lidgerwood Neighborhood Council meeting on June 10 th. Compliance Activity for April Matt Holmquist Matt pointed out that outdoor burning complaints have been relatively steady since last month. Dust has also been a problem since the weather has been hotter and dryer this spring. Four of the five odor complaints were marijuana related and there may be more complaints during the outdoor growing season and when they harvest. There was some discussion between the Board and Matt on the dust from dirt roads and open burning. Permitting Activity for May April Westby There were two new applications in May and staff is still working on the ones that came in March and April. Most of the applications are caught up from March and April except ones that are more extensive. Joe Southwell has been working on the marijuana issue to establish what we could consider as a Best Available Control Technology (BACT) dollar per ton for the outdoor grows to maybe enclose them into green houses. One of the biggest challenges for these outdoor grows is determining what we can really do in terms of control. We have been doing a lot of research because this is all new and we have been trying to keep tabs because there are a lot of outdoor grows being proposed. We are also working on some of our Air Operating Permits (AOPs) and getting those caught up. AOPs go through a three month public comment and EPA review before they go final. The AOPs don t get reported on until they are final. There was discussion between the Board, Julie and April on the marijuana outdoor grow operations. Air Monitoring Activity for April Mark Rowe April is typically a clean month for air quality and they were all good days. We had a little rise in pollution levels around the 18 th through the 23 rd ; there was a high pressure ridge over the area. PM 10 levels did rise a little from a wind storm on the 21 st and 22 nd. The highest AQI value for the month was on the 18 th and it was 39 for PM 2.5 here at the Augusta station. CO remained low throughout the month. Financial Status Report for Year-To-Date Barbara Nelson We are still in good standing, you will see a couple of negative numbers and they are grant reimbursable and we will be requesting them in June. We just received the remainder of our CORE state and federal grant money in June but it is not reflected on this sheet. There will be increased
Page 4 budgets for the cost recovery programs and a small reduction in the general fund and these will be specifically for covering the indirect costs using the new calculation method; overall there will be no increase in the budget. 4. Consent Agenda Action Item a. Approval of the May 7, 2015 Board Minutes b. Approval of Vouchers for May 2015 numbered 9301 9370 with claims of $31,338.03 & payroll of $133,792.12 Totaling $165,130.15 Mayor Rushing moved to approve the consent agenda and Alternate Rod Higgins seconded it. Motion passes by a 4 to 0 vote. 5. Resolution No. 15-13 Approving the Rule Writer/SIP Planner Position and Eliminating the Chief of Technical Services Position Julie Oliver Julie stated that the Chief of Technical Services has been vacant and unfunded since 2012, but is still on the books and this resolution would take this position off the books and create the Rule Writer/SIP Planner position. Mayor Rushing moved to approve Resolution No. 15-13 and Alternate Rod Higgins seconded it. Motion passes by a 4 to 0 vote. PUBLIC HEARING ITEM NO. 6: Opened at 11:06 a.m. and Closed at 11:07 a.m. 6. Resolution No. 15-14 Adopt FY-16 Budget Barbara Nelson Revenue projections include estimated beginning fund balances, state and federal grants (planning for the worst case), local assessments and fees for services are budgeted as unchanged. The long range revenue projections include an annual reduction in State and Federal Grants, increase in Local Assessment for FY-17 (10%), registration fees will not cover the cost of the program by the end of FY-18 and asbestos fees continue to cover the cost of the program over this five year period. Staffing details include a total of 18.8 staff members which also includes the new Rule Writer/SIP position, step and longevity pay increases, benefit costs including retirement and medical, FY-16 COLA for all staff at 0.8% (shown on a separate line) and COLA for planning in out years of 1%. General fund expenses include general operations costs, upgrade cell phones, acquire disaster recovery system software, continue with the strategic planning work and increase staff training. Identified program expenses include the education program at the same level plus add a community survey and the monitoring program is at the same level until network assessment is completed. Cost recovery programs are the AOP Title V which is at full cost recovery by regulation, asbestos continues with full cost recovery, registration is not at full cost recovery over the five year period and the Notice of Construction (NOC) is partially funded with the Local Assessment. Barbara then gave an overview of the projected five year out picture, local assessments, salary scale with COLA and new position, longevity and line items budget. Barbara requested approval of all programs for the FY-16 budget of $2,282,075.00. There were no public comments. Mayor Rushing moved to approve Resolution No. 15-14 and Alternate Rod Higgins seconded it. Motion passes by a 4 to 0 vote.
Page 5 7. Strategic Planning Follow-up Julie Oliver The chairs and co-chairs have been selected for the five pillar committees. The initial goals have been set and the five pillars are Agency Excellence, Financial Stewardship, Community Engagement, Clean Air and A Level Playing Field. The Board Members would like to be copied in the e-mails when the different committees are having their meetings so that the Board can have the opportunity to participate or be a spectator. 8. Board Concerns More discussion ensued between the Board, Julie and Lisa on the new wood stove standards adopted by EPA and the SIP revision that incorporated SRCAA s existing regulation into the SIP. The Board would like SRCAA to make sure that the public knows that SRCAA and the Board are not the drivers of changes to the standards for new wood stoves. On the subject of the next board meeting on July 2, 2015, Commissioner French will not be present; Rod Higgins, Mayor Rushing and Tom Brattebo will be present for a quorum. The next board meeting will be on July 2, 2015 at 9:30 a.m. 9. Public Forum There were no public comments. The meeting was moved to adjournment at 11:28 a.m. COMMISSIONER AL FRENCH, CHAIR JULIE OLIVER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR