Residents and fire-safety volunteers urge funding for home hardening; council weighs $100,000 proposal and SCE support-center MOU

At public comment, Peter Feller, president of the nonprofit Agoura Hills Fire Safe Council, urged the council to prioritize wildfire mitigation and asked for city support to expand home assessments, an ember-resistant vent-mesh campaign, and more education. Feller said the council has helped organize 10 recognized Firewise communities, with 4,854 residences participating — about 64% of Agoura Hills residences — and another 6% in process. He said the volunteer organization has 26 community leaders and distributes a monthly newsletter to over 2,200 residents.

During the workshop, the council’s law-enforcement, fire and emergency-response subcommittee recommended several goal items tied to emergency preparedness. Those included:

- A wildfire-prevention home-hardening or fire-resilience program (subcommittee recommended up to $100,000 from the general fund, with staff noting some of this work may be eligible for external grant funding discussed elsewhere in the workshop). - A memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Southern California Edison (SCE) to host support centers at a city facility during Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS); staff estimated an initial year equipment cost of $9,100 and operational staff/security costs of $2,100 in subsequent years but said those amounts are subject to negotiation with SCE. - Enhanced evacuation-education and marketing ($10,000 recommended by the subcommittee, though councilmembers suggested some work could be done in-house and might be reduced or reallocated). - Promotion and recruitment for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and exploration of volunteers-on-patrol or other community liaison programs (no specific general-fund allocation attached; staff said some items could be handled with existing program budgets or sheriff’s department partnerships).

Councilmembers stressed that if any city funds are assigned to community-led programs such as home hardening, some amount for administration or program overhead should be included so the volunteer organizations can cover necessary staff time and supplies. Councilmembers also asked staff to negotiate more favorable cost-sharing with SCE for the support-center equipment and to return with revised cost estimates.

On the issue of regulating sober-living or group homes, subcommittees recommended not moving forward with local regulation at this time because of legal uncertainty and limited local impact; council and staff said case law and federal fair-housing laws remain unsettled in ways that create legal risk for small contract cities like Agoura Hills.

No formal council vote was taken on funding amounts during the workshop; staff was directed to return with options that reduce general-fund cost or shift eligible items to special or grant funds.