Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	David L. Corliss, City Manager
FROM:	Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Eileen Horn, Sustainability Coordinator
DATE:	October 19, 2011
RE:	Reallocation of EECBG Grant Funds

Included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is an appropriation of funding to the Department of Energy (DOE) for formula-based grants under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program.  On September 29, 2009 staff was notified that the City was awarded $858,600 in grant funds.  The grant award includes the following funding: 

• up to $100,000 for a Sustainability Coordinator to be jointly funded with Douglas County;
• $550,000 for HVAC and lighting upgrades at the Lawrence Public Library; and,
• $208,600 for replacement of lights along Massachusetts Street to LED. 

Expenditure Update

The Sustainability Coordinator began work with Lawrence and Douglas County in late April 2010.  Per the terms of the Cooperation Agreement approved by both the City and County Commissions, this position is a County employee supervised by the County Administrator with direction from the City Manager, or designee, for approximately 40% of the employee’s work time on projects and tasks related to sustainability and energy conservation on behalf of the City.  The City shall pay 100% of the costs of the Sustainability Coordinator, including County benefit expenses related to the employment, up to $100,000.  Final payment for this position was made to the county in August.  A total of $97,242 was expended for this item.

As has previously been reported, the City spent $436,424 for improvements to the existing library HVAC system, which were completed earlier this year. 

This summer, 115 LED streetlights were purchased at a total cost of $171,229 for replacement in downtown.  A total of 102 lights have been installed and, based on utilization prior to installation and records for utilization the first month following installation, an estimated 16% savings in energy use has been realized due to the change of lighting.

A total of $704,895 of the grant funds have been expended to date. 

Expenditure of Remaining Funds

Obligation of funds was federally required by March 28, 2011, with 100% of expenditure required by September 28, 2012.  In February, the City Commission obligated funding for remaining projects, which at that time included library lighting and the downtown streetlight project.  The City has worked with the design team on the library project to incorporate the lighting upgrades into the expansion/renovation project.  However, delays in completion of the design affect our ability to design, order and install appropriate lighting at this time and would further delay expenditure of the federal grant funds. 

A total of $153,705 in grant funds remains unspent at this time.  Staff has confirmed with the supplier of the LED lights that they will honor earlier pricing through the end of this year and we could purchase approximately 100 additional lights to complete the Massachusetts portion of the downtown streetlight project.  Staff has also confirmed with the Department of Energy representatives responsible for administering the EECBG grant that reallocation to an existing project would be an acceptable amendment to the grant funding.  The project coordinator has also expressed an appreciation for the City attempting to identify ways to expend the grant funding more expeditiously. 

Action Requested/Recommended

At this time, staff recommends amending Resolution 6919 with Resolution 6955 to reallocate expenditure of the remaining $153,705 of EECBG funds to the downtown streetlight project.