Board ratifies Carl Moyer year-27 grant agreement and waives district rule on attorney fees to accept CARB funding

The Ventura County Air Pollution Control Board ratified the Air Pollution Control Officer's prior execution of a Carl Moyer year-27 grant agreement with the California Air Resources Board and approved a waiver of the district contracts policy provisions that ordinarily preclude contracts requiring payment of outside attorney's fees.

Tyler Harris, division manager, told the board that CARB's updated general terms and conditions for the Carl Moyer grant agreement included changes to the indemnification section, adding reasonable attorney fees to the district's indemnification responsibilities. The district's contracts policy generally advises against entering contracts that require payment of attorney fees. To meet CARB's acceptance deadline, the APCO signed the grant agreement before the board considered a waiver, and staff requested the board ratify that signature and approve a waiver of the attorney-fees provision.

Harris said staff will solicit grant applications and bring eligible projects to the board to expend year-27 funds at future meetings. No public commenters were registered on this item.

The board voted to ratify the APCO's execution of the grant agreement, waive the attorney-fees prohibition in the district contracts policy for this award, and authorize staff to proceed with program solicitation and administration. The motion passed unanimously.

Background: CARB has been updating Carl Moyer program guidance and grant documents; the updated grant agreement included indemnification language addressing attorney fees, which triggered the district's request for a policy waiver to accept the funding.

Next steps: Staff will solicit applications and return to the board with recommended projects for the year-27 funds.