BOARD MEETING DATE: September 7, 2007
AGENDA NO. 11

PROPOSAL:

 Approve the Appropriation of Funds Designated for Permit Streamlining to AQMD’s FY 2007-08 Budget

SYNOPSIS:

On November 3, 2006, the Board approved the appropriation and expenditure of $650,000 for Professional and Temporary Services in AQMD’s FY 2006-07 Budget from the $2,000,000 specifically designated for permit streamlining as part of the June 9, 2006 approval of the AQMD’s FY 2006-07 Budget. The Permit streamlining designation was to fund a series of staffing and program enhancements to increase permitting efficiency and customer service. Staff has begun implementation of these permit streamlining enhancements as part of the AQMD’s FY 2006-07 Budget appropriation and used $420,000 of the $650,000 with the remaining unused portion at the end of FY 2006-07 being returned back to the General Fund Designated for Permit Streamlining. This action is to request appropriation of $230,000 to AQMD’s FY 2007-08 Budget to further implement these permit streamlining enhancements.

COMMITTEE:

Administrative, July 20, 2007, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Appropriate $230,000 from the General Fund, Designated for Permit Streamlining, to Engineering & Compliance’ FY 2007-08 Budget, Services and Supplies Major Object, Temporary Services account $150,000 and Professional and Special Services account $80,000.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer


Background

As part of the FY 2006-07 Budget, the Board approved a designation in the amount of $2,000,000 to fund permit streamlining measures based on suggestions received from the business community, specifically the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance (CCEEB), Regulatory Flexibility Group, Southern California Air Quality Alliance, and Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA).

On November 3, 2006, the Board approved the appropriation of $865,000 from the designation for permit streamlining to fund a series of permanent and temporary staffing and system enhancements which included adding two new permanent engineers for the Permit Streamlining Team, a permanent systems analyst for system development, hiring temporary engineers and clerical staff, staff training, enhancement of existing application forms and redesigning the permitting section of the Intranet. Of this appropriation, a total of $650,000 was designated for Professional and Temporary services in AQMD’s FY 2006-07 Budget.

Upon approval of this appropriation, staff began the implementation of all the permit streamlining measures in FY 2006-07. AQMD has used $420,000 of the $650,000 designated for Professional and Temporary Services in FY 2006-07. The unused portions of the permit streamlining funds were returned to the General Fund Designated for Permit Streamlining at the end Fiscal Year 2006-07.

In order to continue implementation of the Board approved permit streamlining activities in FY 2007-08, it is necessary to appropriate these unused portions from the General Fund Designated for Permit Streamlining to AQMD’s FY 2007-08 Budget.

Proposal

Staff seeks the Board’s approval to appropriate $230,000 to continue the following permit streamlining enhancements:

  • Temporary Engineering Services: The Board approval provided $249,600 to hire up to four temporary permit processing engineers to work on reducing the permit backlog. Due to limited availability of qualified air quality engineers familiar with AQMD’s permitting process, only two temporary engineers worked for the entire six month period, leaving approximately half of the initial funding unused. Appropriation of the remaining unused portion of this designation will allow further use of temporary engineers in FY 2007-08. The cost is estimated to be $125,000.
     
  • Temporary Clerical Services: The Board approved $45,400 to hire up to two clerical staff to reissue approximately 8,000 permits for emergency internal combustion engines for compliance with Rule 1470. Two clerical staff were hired and trained to reissue the permits. Approximately 3,500 permits have been issued to date. However, due to staff turnover, and the hiring and retraining of new clerical staff, another three months will be needed to reissue the rest of the permits. The cost is estimated to be $25,000.
     
  • Application Form Improvements: This activity would update application forms currently available on AQMD’s website. The selected contractor would be responsible for expanding the functionality of the existing forms and providing staff with the necessary training that would allow AQMD staff to make all future form modifications. The work on this project has started and a Request for Proposal is expected to be issued and a contractor selected in 2007 to begin working on the forms redesign. The contract amount specified for these tasks is $40,000.
     
  • Permitting Section of the Intranet: This activity would redesign AQMD’s existing permitting section of the Intranet. The permitting section of the Intranet provides permit processing engineers easy access to timely information and permitting resources to assist in permit processing. The work on this project has started and a Request for Proposal is expected to be issued and a contractor selected by September 2007 to begin working on the Intranet page development. The amount budgeted for this activity is $20,000.
     
  • Staff Training: The selected contractor(s) would instruct permitting staff on the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs), Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT), dispersion modeling and health risk assessment topics. It was also suggested by the Permit Streamlining Task Force Subcommittee members that permit processing training be made available to the regulated community. Staff is in the process of identifying the training needs and finding qualified contractor(s) to conduct the training sessions in 2007. The estimated cost of this training is $20,000.

Resource Impacts

Sufficient funds are available in the General Fund, Designated for Permit Streamlining.




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