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Receive and consider approving the draft workplan on the Lead-based Paint Hazard Mitigation Program; Provide direction to staff on proposed methodology to administer the program; Delegate authority to the County Administrator or designee to execute Appropriation Transfer Requests within budgeted appropriations; and Delegate authority to the County Administrator or designee to execute agreements as necessary to administer the program
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Published Notice Required? Yes ___ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ___ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Departments of Resource Management and Health and Social Services (H&SS) recommend that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Receive an update on the Lead-based Paint Hazard Mitigation Program;
2. Consider approving the draft workplan, direct staff to implement the program, and provide direction to staff on proposed methodology to administer the program;
3. Delegate authority to the County Administrator or designee to process Appropriation Transfer Requests (ATR) within budgeted appropriations to complete transfers to other funds and Departments within the $4,986,945 dollars available from the Lead-based Paint Abatement Settlement Agreement; and
4. Delegate authority to the County Administrator or designee to execute agreements as necessary to administer the program including project management, education and outreach efforts, and soliciting and hiring contractors for lead assessment and abatement to perform work.
SUMMARY:
After a 19-year legal effort, Solano County, along with nine other counties and cities, reached a settlement agreement with three major paint companies (Sherwin-Williams Company, ConAgra Grocery Products Company, and NL Industries Company) for abatement of lead-based paint hazards in homes in August 2019. The settlement provides a total of $305 million dollars paid in installments over a six-year period and provides flexibility to each of the 10 jurisdictions to develop and implement their own program within the time frames they chose to address lead-based paint hazards in their communities. Based on the terms of the settlement, Solano County will receive $4,986,945 through 2025 for use toward a local lead paint abatement program. To date the County has received $1.84 million dollars, which has been placed into a separate fund for use in a lead paint abatement program. It is anticipated that staffing and program delivery costs will account for approximately 15% of total costs, or $750,000, leaving approximately $4.2 million to address and abate lead hazards in homes. Of this amount, staff estimate that $1 million dollars will be required for assessment, leaving the remaining $3.2 million dollars for direct abatement activities.
Solano County’s Environmental Health and Public Health Divisions have been meeting routinely and have collected information from other jurisdictions involved in the settlement agreement to develop a draft Lead-based Paint Hazard Mitigation Program work plan for Solano County (Attachment A). The draft work plan establishes a proposed methodology to identify, prioritize and remediate lead-based paint hazards in houses built before 1978 across Solano County to utilize the settlement funds for the benefit of Solano County residents. Staff has also developed an outline of the program identifying roles and responsibilities to assist the Board with understanding the framework of the Program (Attachment B). Additional policy direction on the draft work plan’s methodology is requested from the Board and discussed further below since funding from the lead-based paint program is inadequate to fully abate potential lead hazards in all the estimated 47,218 pre-1978 homes existing in Solano County.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
To date the County has received $1.8 million of the $4.99 million settlement. The Departments of Resource Management and Health and Social Services will budget the expense for administering and implementing this Program with the offsetting revenue from the settlement funds in upcoming fiscal years beginning with the FY2022/23 Requested Budget. There is no additional financial impact to the County General Fund. The cost of preparing this report are minimal and included in the Department of Resource Management’s FY2021/22 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of lead in the body. Children 6 years old and younger are at higher risk for lead poisoning, because they are growing and because they often put their hands and other objects into their mouth. In addition, children living at or below the poverty level and some ethnic groups are at greater risk of lead poisoning because they tend to reside in older housing communities. According to the National Safety Council, children that are typically poisoned by lead-based paint and lead contaminated dust are exposed in older homes built before 1978. To fully utilize the settlement funds in Solano County, staff have developed a Lead-based Paint Hazard Abatement Workplan for the Board’s consideration. This draft workplan is based on input from other counties, staff identified issues with lead based paint in Solano County, and state laws governing abatement activity.
Lead-based Paint Hazard Mitigation Program workplan
The draft workplan developed by staff has the following broad components:
• Guidelines for the Lead-based Paint Hazard Abatement Program implementation;
• Standards (based on state laws and regulations) for abatement program eligibility and prioritization;
• Detailed working procedures for lead-based paint hazard assessment and removal in pre-1978 residential units;
• Operational and coordinating functions and responsibilities of Environmental Health and Public Health Divisions and private contractors; and
• Guidelines for outreach and education about lead hazards to our Solano County communities
In developing the workplan, staff contacted other jurisdictions involved in the settlement agreement to determine their implementation efforts. Most jurisdictions involved in the settlement agreement are still in formation of their programs and few have begun actual abatement work. They report that based on the numbers of homes anticipated to contain lead-based paint hazards and the anticipated costs for remediation, it is expected that there will not be adequate funds to cover all eligible residences in their jurisdictions. Jurisdictions are pursuing two different approaches:
1. Some jurisdictions are setting a maximum dollar amount (typically $10,000) towards remediations with homeowners covering any costs above the maximum. This method has the potential to complete more projects but may not result in complete abatement of lead-based paint in a home. These programs tend to focus on window replacements, or other high friction areas of a home such as doors, to help eliminate the creation of peeling paint and lead tainted paint dust. For Solano County, this method would result in approximately 324 homes receiving abatement activities targeted towards the most likely cause of lead-based paint exposure.
2. Some jurisdictions are performing full remediations on the high-risk priority projects, which will provide complete removal of the lead-based paint hazards on fewer homes. Based on discussions with other jurisdictions and regional construction data, the estimated average cost for the abatement interventions is between $15,000 and $32,000 per project. For Solano County, this would result in approximately 101 to 216 homes being remediated from lead-based paint hazards.
Staff is proposing a hybrid approach that combines the two separate methods being implemented by the other jurisdictions. As stated above, $3.2 million dollars is available for direct abatement activities at homes accepted into the program. Under the hybrid approach $1.6 million dollars, or 50% of the funds available for direct onsite abatement activities, would be dedicated to performing complete remediations of lead-based paint at homes. Staff proposes a cap of $30,000 per project, which could provide complete remediations at up to 54 homes. Homeowners would be responsible for any costs beyond the $30,000 cap. The remaining $1.6 million dollars, or 50% of the abatement funding, would be used to provide a window, door, or other high friction area abatement/replacement program. Staff proposes a $10,000 cap per home accepted into this program with homeowners being responsible for costs above that amount. This would result in abatement of lead-based paint contaminated doors and windows at 162 homes. In total, this hybrid approach would result in remediation activities occurring at 216 homes to help reduce lead-based paint exposure in our community. Staff recommends re-evaluating after 2 years and having the flexibility to refocus the approach (either focus on more complete remediation projects or less complete remediation projects) based upon the results of completed projects.
Board Consideration and Direction:
Staff is seeking the Board’s approval of the draft workplan or additional direction to modify the plan. Based on the anticipated costs of projects exceeding the available settlement funds, the Board’s consideration should include the following:
• Changes to the hybrid Workplan methodology proposed: The Board could opt to have different ratios of funding than that proposed by staff within the hybrid approach, or could choose not to have the hybrid approach at all, but instead focus on either complete remediation of lead-based paint in homes or abatement/replacement of doors and windows and other high friction surfaces.
• Changes to the maximum dollars amounts proposed: The Board could decide on different maximum dollars allowances for eligible projects and either raise or lower the staff proposed $30,000 cap for complete remediation or $10,000 cap for door/window replacements.
• Acceptance criteria: Is the acceptance criteria adequate or should there be modifications or changes to the following:
o Prioritized on current residents, such as houses with children under 6 and/or with pregnant mothers, given that occupants may change over time
o Prioritize based on high-risk areas located in the County as determined by the CDPH mapping tool for lead based housing
o Create priorities for homes that serve as day-care facilities
o Distribute projects/funds on a first come/first serve basis
o Combination of above or other factors that the Board wishes staff to consider
Next Steps:
The anticipated next steps for the Program are:
• Develop the Outreach and Education program including development of online resources for information and application intake - six to nine months (6-9 months)
• Evaluate staffing requirements and capacities and determine staffing needs
• Incorporate Board input and finalize Workplan
• Begin procurement process for solicitation of Lead Assessment and Lead Abatement contractors to begin performing assessments and abatements once the Outreach and Education program is ready to launch (6-9 months)
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board may choose not to receive the update. This is not recommended as the Board would miss an opportunity to receive information on the Lead Program and provide comments and direction to staff to finalize the draft work plan.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
Department of Information Technology assisted with the collection of housing data and will help with development of online resources for education, outreach, applications and data collection. County Counsel coordinated the settlement agreement and provided input on contracting and procurement requirements. General Services will assist with RFQ/RFP and other procurement tasks to select contractors for lead abatement and assessment.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION