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City to use APA community-change grant for resilience hubs and solar/back-up power at public facilities; grant includes staff funding
Summary
A mayor’s office presenter said an EPA APA community-change grant will fund backup batteries and additional solar at several libraries and community centers, and will pay for a two‑year Climate Resilience Program Coordinator housed in the mayor’s office.
A mayor’s office presenter briefed the committee on an awarded APA (EPA) community-change grant, describing infrastructure investments and program funding aimed at improving community resilience.
The speaker said the city’s portion will fund backup batteries and additional solar at several public facilities, listing Central Library (supplemental solar), Liberty Lake Library, the East Northeast Community Center in Hilliard and the West Central Community Center. The presenter said the grant also funds a two‑year Climate Resilience Program Coordinator position to be housed in the mayor’s office; that position will be 100% grant-funded for two years.
Regarding amounts, the presenter reported "a total of about 4,000,000 for the city itself" and an additional figure for library work reported in the briefing as roughly "another 3,000,000 5,500,000 for the libraries" (phrase as stated in the presentation). The speaker said Gonzaga is the grant applicant and that the city and the libraries are subrecipients; paperwork had been adjusted so finance could consolidate the city’s portion of awards for processing.
The presenter said grant-funded non‑infrastructure work will include certification and training materials so community centers and libraries can qualify as resilience or relief hubs. The city intends to offer those resources to other community organizations that want to develop resilience capacity.
Committee members asked about the housing of the coordinator position and whether the grant fully covers the position; the presenter confirmed the two‑year program coordinator will be housed in the mayor’s office and paid entirely from grant funds. The presenter said the grant application originally sought three years of funding but city project positions are typically structured as two‑year project employees; the administration will examine options for the third year of funding with the grantor.
No committee vote was recorded on the grant briefing; staff said finance would return with required SBO documents for budget processing and any contracting steps needed to implement the program.
