Amador County - The Amador County Board of Supervisors expressed frustration Tuesday over the arduous process of obtaining federal grants for local energy efficiency projects, but ultimately approved the grant when considering the necessity of the upgrades.

The Department of Energy allocated approximately $49.6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding to the California Energy Commission (CEC), which in turn allocated $132,564 to Amador County. That amount was reduced to $122,922 after the cost of hard estimates for local implementation were developed.

Jon Hopkins, General Services Director, expressed frustration over the many “hoops” his department had to jump through over the course of a year to acquire the grants, including numerous online workshops, face-to-face meetings with state officials, mountains of paperwork and a consultant who lives in Florida.

To complicate matters further, he said the CEC now has further requirements before Amador County can start spending the grant funds. These are a waste management plan and a supporting wage rate determination assuring compliance with federal law.

Hopkins said “timing is critical” because the board authorized in December 2009 to take money out of the general fund to cover the project cost. The funds were taken out of the budget by the Auditor’s office. Therefore, re-budgeting these funds is necessary to carry the project forward.

“If we had known in 2009 that it would have taken all this work, we would have never taken this path,” said Supervisor Ted Novelli.

Hopkins said there are a number of “necessary upgrades,” specifically the 30-year-old air-conditioning units at the Sheriff’s office. He estimates an annual costs savings of $23,152 once the funds are reimbursed and upgrades are made. “Overall operating costs will be significantly reduced, which saves the taxpayers a lot of money,” he said.

Hopkins said grant acquisition is much easier for larger counties and population centers, which also receive the majority of the funding. He said he does not know why small counties were targeted for a different, more complicated process. “Whatever the case…we could use the $122,000,” he said.

“We would waste a lot of staff time that has already been expended if we didn’t move forward,” said Supervisor Richard Forster.

The board approved 5-0 a motion to have Jon Hopkins and staff move forward with the project and solicit bids. Hopkins said the solicitation process usually takes three to four months.

Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.