Central Coast Community Energy fighting over policy change critics say would ‘censor’ voices
Central Coast community advocates for energy-related climate action say a proposed change to the bylaw policy of a local energy agency would stifle their voices.
The dispute arose over a debate on how policy discussions are set at meetings of the Central Coast Community Energy’s (CCCE) Board of Directors.
CCCE is the agency established to source clean and renewable electricity for Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz and much of San Luis Obispo County — which many local leaders say is a key to helping meet climate action goals.
Each of the seven San Luis Obispo County city jurisdictions have signed on, but the county has not. The board is made up of elected officials from various represented jurisdictions.
As part of the agency’s policy-making process, the Community Advisory Council (CAC) currently has power to present discussion items and initiatives for CCCE board discussion and in-depth review as part of the agenda at meetings.
After a lengthy discussion at a Wednesday meeting held by the agency’s policy board — which acknowledged growing conflict between staff and community advisors about the decision-making process — the board was tied on a proposed bylaw amendment that would take away some legislative authority from the Community Advisory Council (CAC).
Ultimately, eight board members voted in favor, and eight members against.
“I oppose the bylaw changes,” San Luis Obispo City Councilmember Jan Marx said. Marx is a regional director on the CCCE policy board. “It’s important for communication to take place ... this is an effort to essentially censor the CAC.”
But at Wednesday’s meeting, Director Das Williams, a Santa Barbara County supervisor, supported the bylaw change, saying that an “enormous amount of conflict between CAC and staff” is getting in the way of doing business that helps promote clean energy goals.
Due to the tie, the board then decided to form an ad hoc committee, with representatives of opposing sides holding meetings in coming weeks to try to resolve policy-setting differences between agency staff and advisory body members.
Officials divided on how, when to pursue new policies
The issue seems to have arisen in the wake of a presentation by a labor, climate and environmental justice coalition, in February.
The coalition, which included the Let’s Green CA! campaign, presented a proposal to the CCCE Community Advisory Council for workforce and environmental justice standards.
The CAC agreed to host a workshop with those groups during their next meeting in April to continue discussion of the proposal.
But a week later, the proposed bylaw change came out, according to Let’s Green CA! Communications Director Andra Belknap. Belknap said the revised bylaws seem clearly intended to “marginalize and exclude community voices from CCCE policy discussions.”
“That has huge ramifications for all community members who have enrolled in CCCE,” Belknap said.
CCCE officials wrote in a staff report that CAC policy initiatives have been misdirected at times and differences of opinion about how to proceed have distracted staff from other duties. Policy programs require extensive research and vetting in a high technical industry, and staff is stretched thin, officials said at the meeting.
Williams said the policy debates have taken away focus in areas such as reducing greenhouse emissions and battery storage initiatives, among other matters.
According to the staff report, the proposed bylaw change was recommended due to “elevating crowd-sourced proposals (that lack staff analysis) directly to the policy board regardless of whether such proposals support or further board direction and goals.”
Conflict over bylaws taking up board time
Marx encouraged better communication and is hopeful the differences can be resolved, but opposed any rules changes.
“It’s important for communication to take place,” Marx said. “I don’t want to sweep the problem under the rug. I’d be in favor of tabling discussion. I just feel like this is being rushed. This feels top down and authoritarian. I’m disturbed that CAC itself didn’t have a chance to consider changes in the bylaws.”
Williams said addressing the issue has taken up several meetings and caused time-consuming internal discussions.
The bylaw change would still allow proposals to be put on the agenda through the directors, with public input, but streamlining is needed in line with how county and city government jurisdictions operate, Williams said.
“A lot of oxygen in the room is taken away by this conflict,” Williams said.
After the ad hoc group meets, a CCCE policy board meeting in the spring will address the issue again.
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