Thanksgiving Holiday
November 24-25, 2016 Christmas Holiday December 23 & 26, 2016 New Year's Holiday December 30, 2016 and January 2, 2017
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2017 City/County Conference
March 16-17, 2017 |
This is a joint publication of the Council of Governments and Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.
For more info regarding Council of Governments activities please contact Duane Baker.
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The Future of the San Bernardino Associated Governments as the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority and San Bernardino Council of Governments
Earlier this year the agency sponsored Senate Bill 1305, consolidating the Transportation Authority, Transportation Commission, Congestion Management Agency, and Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies into a new statutory entity; the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA). In anticipation of the signing of SB 1305, the Public Affairs team contracted with Celtis Ventures, Inc., a professional marketing and branding firm, to help drive a research study and brand exploration exercise for our agency.
In August we received word that the Governor had signed SB 1305 with an effective date of January 1, 2017. With that date in mind, the Public Affairs team moved forward, seizing the opportunity to develop and launch a new brand concurrently with the effective date.
On November 2nd, the Board approved and adopted the new brand identity for the SBCTA and the San Bernardino Associated Governments acting as the Council of Governments (SBCOG).
Our goal with the new brand is to have a true brand identity, something the public will see and relate back to our projects and services. With the signing and execution of SB 1305, we have the opportunity to really connect the dots between our agency and our projects and services for those living in and traveling through our county - having a more active voice and increasing awareness.
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HERO Program Impact Update
The HERO Program celebrated its third anniversary with the San Bernardino Associated Governments in October. Since the program began three years ago, 15,615 projects valued at more than $294 million have been completed. These improvements will help residents save a combined 112.6 million kWh which is a $15.8 million savings on their combined utility bills. These improvements will also save residents 55 million gallons of water annually and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30,761 tons annually.
In addition, the HERO Program has made improvements to its disclosure documents to make them fully compliant with new state requirements to make the terms of the HERO assessment even clearer to property owners. HERO has also started the practice of calling all homeowners before finalizing a contract to verbally confirm all of the terms, costs, fees, and other conditions are understood. This practice was previously limited to senior citizens.
There are 4,180 contractors registered to use the HERO Program in Southern California and 680 of those are located in San Bernardino County. During the past year these local San Bernardino County contractors completed 2,789 projects valued at $57.4 million, both here and in other counties. These same contractors currently have in progress 321 projects valued at $7.8 million with roughly half of these projects located within our county.
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Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Update and Workshop Scheduled
The agency recently received direction from the Board of Directors to study the feasibility of brining Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) to our region. CCA is a program authorized by the legislature allowing all cities, counties, or groups of cities and counties to provide electric power to customers within their jurisdictions that are currently served by an Investor Owned Utility (IOU) like Southern California Edison (SCE). CCA is a customer opt-out program where the CCA provides the power supply and behind the meter services, like energy efficiency programs, and SCE provides the transmission and distribution (wires) service. A draft of the CCA Feasability Study and Busienss Plan has been distributed for review to the County and all cities and towns.
We collaborated with the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) and Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) and retained a consultant, EES Consulting, to conduct the analysis and prepare a business plan. As a collective, we undertook this effort to explore the possibility of saving residential and business customers money on their electric bills compared to what they are currently paying SCE. We also wanted to explore if we could increase or accelerate the amount of renewable energy in our portfolio over what the state mandates. This has been the experience of operating CCAs in Marin County, Sonoma County, and the City of Lancaster.
The San Bernardino Associated Governments will host a workshop to provide an opportunity for questions and comments on the CCA Feasability Study and Busines Plan. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, November 29, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the San Bernardino Associated Governments located at 1170 W. 3rd Street in San Bernardino.
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 This last year, the San Bernardino Associated Governments Board of Directors supported the Vision2Read initiative. In support of the Countywide Vision and the regional goal of supporting every child from cradle to career, the Vision2Read initiative was a year-long effort to raise awareness of the importance of literacy in our communities. During the Summer of 2016 participation in summer reading programs was up 28.3% with 47,632 participants and the number of library cards increased by 14.5%.
One of the elements of this initiative last year was to encourage everyone to "Add-A-Book" when giving gifts to family and friends. We are once again encouraging everyone to Add-A-Book to their holiday gift giving. Our agency is once again hosting a book drive in support of the Inland Empire Children's Book Project (IECBP). The IECBP distributes gently-used and new books to teachers, schools, and organizations that serve children in need. A box is provided in our lobby for donations.
To learn more about the IECBP visit their website at IECBP.org.
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Local Universities to Partner with Brookings Institution
 The Brookings Institution has offered their expertise to help a local coalition led by UC Riverside to study our local economy and develop a strategy of how our regional advantages can be better leveraged to increase economic opportunity for the many individuals and families in the region struggling to get ahead. The effort will include targeted research on the economic and demographic dynamics of our region that we will be able to use in focusing public policy efforts on improving economic opportunities. In the coming months, UC Riverside will be giving a presentation to the Board on this effort.
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 Over 40 representatives from local governments and transit agencies in San Bernardino County participated in a grant workshop last month. The participants received guidance on best practices for winning grants and received a list of notable grant programs available in a variety of subject areas such as planning, public safety, parks and recreation, and transit. The workshop was conducted by our grant consultant, Blais & Associates.
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SAVE THE DATE - 2017 City/County Conference Dates Announced
The 2017 City/County Conference is scheduled for March 16 - 17, 2017 at the Lake Arrowhead Resort. Watch for registration materials in the coming weeks.
The conference will feature a presentation from Dr. Lucy Jones on earthquake risks and recovery strategies and panels on economic development, regional disaster preparedness and trauma network, intergenerational communication, and 21st century communication and new media. The conference will also have our annual legislative reception and a legislative update from both the California State Associations of Counties and League of California Cities.
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Battery Powered Trucks to Be Delivered
As the lead agency in a partnership with BNSF, Daylight Transportation, and BYD for a $9.1 million grant from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), we are excited to demonstrate zero-emission battery electric technology through the replacement of two of the most common trucks at freight support facilities across the US, class 9 yard trucks and class 5 service trucks.
Estimated delivery of the first phase of trucks is mid-January 2017. The first phase will include 3 yard trucks and 1 service truck for the San Bernardino BNSF facility and 3 yard trucks and 1 service truck for the Daylight Transportation facility in Fontana.
These facilities are currently working with SCE to install the EV Charging stations needed for these new trucks.
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Grant Collaboration with BIA and Morongo Basin
We are currently developing a grant application in conjunction with the Building Industry Association (BIA) on Public/Private Initiatives for Sustainability and Housing Production. The intent is to craft win-win scenarios in which builders can expedite the production of housing while at the same time advancing greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals.
We are also submitting a grant application on behalf of the jurisdictions in the Morongo Basin to develop the Morongo Valley Active Transportation Plan to address issues related to bicycles, pedestrians, safe routes to school, as well as connections to transit and the Joshua Tree National Park.
These grants are being submitted as part of the SCAG 2016 Sustainability Planning Grants.
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Public Health is Focus of Collaboration
Both sides of the Riverside/San Bernardino County line are partnering to address community issues surrounding public health. The partnership between our agency, WRCOG, San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, and Riverside County Department of Public Health will focus on setting goals and performance measures to improve health outcomes in both counties. The joint project will build on healthy community initiatives already underway in both counties.
In Riverside County the focus will be on development of checklists for incorporating healthy design into existing and new communities. In San Bernardino County the focus will be on evaluating the Healthy Communities Program and developing a Healthy Communities Strategic Plan. Since both projects have already been funded and are well underway, the key element of the joint project will be to establish a shared vision and policy framework applicable to both counties. With the joint framework in place, the project will strive to establish a healthy communities toolkit for cities to implement that identifies many of the projects/plans/programs that have already been developed by each agency that are related to Healthy Communities.
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San Bernardino Regional Energy Partnership Update
In 2016, six new members joined the San Bernardino Regional Energy Partnership (SBREP) bringing the partnership total to ten members. For the ten member cities, the SCE 3rd Quarter update reflects the SBREP achieving 5.2 kW Demand Savings and 30 MWh Energy Savings for SBREP municipal facilities.
Also in 2016, the SBREP participated in three community outreach events which provided energy efficiency resources and community savings to residential customers. The 4th Quarter Dashboard update is expected to be received in early 2017 which will show the overall accomplishments of the SBREP for the program year.
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2016 SCE/SoCalGas All Partners Meeting
On October 24, 2016, Southern California Edison (SCE) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) hosted the 2016 Local Government Partnership (LGP). Staff from the San Bernardino Associated Governments and four SBREP members participated in the event, which featured presentations from SCE and SoCalGas on the updated Energy Leadership Model, Strategic Planning funding, and the California Public Utilities Commission Business Plan. Presentations were also given by LGPs across the State and featured information and best practices for implementing Zero Net Energy Buildings, creating Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund, and how to take advantage of On Bill Financing.
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Holiday LED Light Exchange and Complimentary Energy Efficiency Starter Kits
Once again, the SBREP will spread the joy this holiday season by offering SCE customers the opportunity to trade in their old incandescent holiday lights in exchange for energy efficient LED holiday lights. In addition, complimentary Energy Efficiency Starter Kits will be distributed. This is a NO COST opportunity for residents to cut the cord on outdated and inefficient holiday lights and make small energy efficiency improvements around the home! Click the image below to locate an event.
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Institute for Local Government features Agency Programs
 Our Battery-Electric Pilot Truck program and our Regional Energy Partnership (SBREP) were featured during a Cap and Trade Climate Roundtable hosted by Senator Connie Leyva and the Institute for Local Government. Our programs were featured as examples of successful partnerships at the local level to promote sustainable practices and reduce GHGs. The roundtable also explored current cap and trade policies at the state and ways to improve those policies to make them more equitable for our region.
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