To: Board of Supervisors
From: John Kopchik, Director, Conservation and Development
Report Title: ADOPT Resolution authorizing the creation of the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement Review Panel.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ADOPT Resolution authorizing the creation of the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement Review Panel.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The costs associated with appointing and annually convening the Review Panel will be covered with funds from the Community Benefits Agreement.
BACKGROUND:
On December 17, 2024, the Board of Supervisors (“Board”) adopted Improving Our Communities: Vision and Guidance for Distributing Community Benefit Funds from Two Renewable Fuels Projects. This report summarizes community priorities and ideas for how to distribute funds from the Community Benefits Agreements (“Agreements”) for the Marathon and Phillips 66 renewable fuels projects. The report includes recommendations on the process for soliciting applications for projects that would be funded by the Agreements, including the creation of community review panels to evaluate applications for each Agreement.
The report outlines the composition of the review panels. The review panel for the Marathon Agreement will be comprised of seven voting members representing at-large community seats. These individuals will have knowledge of the unincorporated community most proximate to the Marathon project area, either through living in or doing work that serves in the community.
The Marathon Project review panel will be made up of individuals who live or work in the unincorporated communities most proximate to the Marathon Project area, with two individuals who live or work in Clyde, two individuals who live or work in Pacheco, two individuals who live or work in Vine Hill, and one individual who is knowledgeable of the needs of the entire area surrounding the Marathon Project.
The review panel members will have staggered appointments of four-year terms, with a two-term limit. The initial review panel members will have two- or four-year terms, and subsequent review panel members will have four-year terms.
Conflict of interest bylaws will be developed to ensure that individuals serving on the review panel with any affiliation with an entity applying for funding will recuse themselves from the scoring of that entity’s application. The review panel will be subject to the Brown Act.
The District 5 Supervisor’s Office will review applications to serve on the review panel and make recommendations on appointments for approval by the full Board. There will be a recruitment effort to ensure the review panel is diverse and representative of the community, including efforts to recruit youth members. The review panel will also have one staff representative from the Department of Conservation and Development and one representative from the District 5 Supervisor’s Office, both as non-voting members.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to authorize creation of the review panels will impede the disbursement of funds from the Community Benefits Agreements.
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
and for Special Districts, Agencies and Authorities Governed by the Board
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IN THE MATTER OF the establishment of the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement Review Panel.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
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1. Establishment of the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement Review Panel
Pursuant to the Board’s action on December 17, 2024, to approve the recommendations of the Improving Our Communities: Vision and Guidance for Distributing Community Benefit Funds from Two Renewable Fuels Projects report, the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement Review Panel (Marathon CBA Review Panel) is hereby established. The Marathon CBA Review Panel will have duties and powers as enumerated in Paragraph 4 below.
2. Membership
The Review Panel shall consist of seven (7) voting members in the following four categories:
Category A: Two (2) individuals who live or work in the unincorporated community of Clyde;
Category B: Two (2) individuals who live or work in the unincorporated community of Pacheco;
Category C: Two (2) individuals who live or work in the unincorporated community of Vine Hill; and
Category D: One (1) individual who is knowledgeable of the needs of the entire area surrounding the Marathon Project.
The County Board of Supervisors shall make voting member appointments based on recommendations from the District 5 Supervisor’s Office.
The Review Panel shall have one (1) staff representative from the County Department of Conservation and Development and one (1) representative from the District 5 Supervisor’s Office, both as non-voting members.
3. Term of Office
Four members of the Review Panel shall serve an initial two (2) year term and three members will serve four (4) year terms. Of the persons serving an initial two-year term, one shall be from Category A, one from Category B, one from Category C, and one from Category D. All subsequent terms shall be for four (4) years. All persons on the Review Panel will be subject to a two-term limit.
4. Review Panel Duties and Powers
Following the annual Community Benefits Agreement solicitation cycle, the Review Panel shall review and evaluate the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement funding applications. The Review Panel shall make non-binding funding allocation recommendations to the District 5 Supervisor using the scoring criteria established in the Improving Our Communities: Vision and Guidance for Distributing Community Benefit Funds from Two Renewable Fuels Projects report.
It is understood that the Board of Supervisors is the final decision-making authority with
respect to issues concerning the Marathon Community Benefits Agreement funds and that the Review Panel shall serve solely in an advisory capacity.
5. Compensation
Review Panel members shall serve without compensation of any kind and the Board shall not provide funds for the payment of Review Panel meeting stipends or reimbursement of Review Panel members' expenses.
6. Staff and Financial Support
a. The County Department of Conservation and Development will provide staff support to the Review Panel in coordination with the District 5 Supervisor’s Office.
b. County staff will provide the Review Panel in a timely manner with information and reports related to the Review Panel Duties and Powers enumerated in Paragraph 4.
7. Review Panel Operation
Within the parameters of this Resolution, the Review Panel may organize itself and operate as it determines. Meetings shall be held at such other frequency as the Review Panel deems necessary at an established time and place. The Review Panel’s open public meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the "Brown Act" (Government Code sections 54950 ff.), including the pre-meeting posting of meeting calendar notices, and the Better Government Ordinance (County Ordinance Code Division 25, commencing with Section 25-2. 202). The Review Panel shall comply fully with the Board of Supervisors' policy concerning conflict of interest and open meetings (Resolution No. 2002/376) and the Political Reform Act (Government Code sections 81000 ff.) as applicable.
8. Review Panel Dissolution
The provisions of this Resolution shall be of no further force and effect once all Community Benefits Agreement funds have been expended, unless prior to the expenditure of all Community Benefits Agreement funds, the Board of Supervisors has taken action to extend the Review Panel's existence.