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Chief Administrative Office, Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Preparedness and Response Division, recommending the Board:
1) Approve the use of the Fiscal Year 2020 Community Power Resiliency Allocation ($199,745) as recommended by the El Dorado County Continuity Coordination Implementation Group and Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services; and
2) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign the attached budget transfer, increasing revenues and appropriations in the Sheriff's Office and the Chief Administrative Office (4/5 vote required).
FUNDING: California Office of Emergency Services Community Power Resiliency Allocation.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the electrical power provider for the County’s West Slope, implemented its “Public Safety Power Shutoff” policy in 2019. This policy provides for de-energization of PG&E’s service areas when gusty winds and dry conditions combine with a high fire risk. In 2019 and 2020, El Dorado County experienced a number of multiple-day power shutoffs, some of which affected more than 50,000 customers within the County.
In 2019, recognizing how these power outages can affect local governments’ ability to serve the public, the Governor and Legislature included a one-time $75 million dollar allocation in the 2019 State Budget to provide funding to support state and local government efforts to improve resilience in response to the PSPS events. Half of the funding was allocated to local governments, and El Dorado County’s allocation was $399,490.
On October 2, 2020, El Dorado County was notified that the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services approved the FY 2020-21 Community Power Resiliency allocation to El Dorado County in the amount of $199,745. Per the notification, at least fifty percent of the allocation ($99,873) must be utilized to support one or more resilience areas: schools, election offices, food storage reserves and/or COVID-19 testing sites.
Allowable uses in...
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