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Ventura County APCD board approves staffing, policy and fee changes; accepts federal grant
Summary
The Ventura County Air Pollution Control Board voted unanimously on agenda items including appointments, two fixed-term positions, policy updates and fee changes, accepted a U.S. EPA Inflation Reduction Act monitoring grant of $662,488, and approved a merit increase for the APCD executive officer by majority vote.
The Ventura County Air Pollution Control Board took a series of formal actions at its public meeting. Key outcomes included committee appointments, temporary staffing allocations, updates to the district administrative manual, adoption of FY 2024-25 service rates, acceptance of a federal monitoring grant and approval of a merit increase for the district executive officer.
Votes at a glance
- Election of board officers: The board elected Martha McQueen Lejeune as chair and Janice Parvin as vice chair for 2025. (Motion and second recorded; vote: unanimous.)
- Approval of minutes: The board approved the minutes for the Dec. 17, 2024 meeting. (Motion passed; one abstention recorded from a newly seated member who said they were not previously on the board.)
- Agenda approval: The board approved the meeting agenda with listed amendments; motion passed unanimously.
- Appointments: The board approved volunteers to the APCB standing committee (Council member Whitman, Supervisor Parvin, Supervisor Lopez and Chair Lejeune) and appointed Mayor Pedro Chavez to the South Central Coast Basinwide council. (Motion passed unanimously.)
- Staffing: The board adopted a resolution adding two full-time-equivalent fixed-term air quality specialist positions with one-year terms to cover operations during extended staff absences. Staff told the board the FY 2024-25 adopted budget had sufficient funding for the remainder of the year. (Motion passed unanimously.)
- Administrative manual amendments: The board approved updates to the Ventura County APCD Administrative Manual to align workplace-violence, harassment, discrimination, retaliation-prevention, whistleblower, equal employment opportunity and code-of-ethics policies with recent County of Ventura policy changes. District staff said the changes conform with county policy updates adopted by the Board of Supervisors. (Motion passed unanimously.)
- Service rates and fees (public hearing): The board held a public hearing and approved FY 2024-25 service hourly rates and fees. Staff recommended applying the prior-year consumer price index (3.8%) to applicable service rates that state law limits to CPI increases; duplication and miscellaneous fees were held at prior-year levels. Staff cited Health and Safety Code sections authorizing recovery of costs. (Motion passed unanimously.)
- Federal grant acceptance: The board ratified acceptance of an Inflation Reduction Act multi-pollutant air monitoring grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for $662,488 and authorized necessary budgetary transactions. Staff said the funds will purchase and operate new monitoring equipment, including a continuous black-carbon monitor at the Simi Valley station, and replace older equipment at district stations. (Motion passed unanimously.)
- Executive officer merit increase: The board approved a 6% merit increase for the APCD executive officer, retroactive to Sept. 29, 2024, and authorized an updated employment agreement. County HR staff framed the recommendation under county management resolution sections 3.16, 3.19 and 3.22; the executive officer's base salary was described as approximately 13.56% below the top of the range. The motion passed by majority vote; one board member indicated they would abstain because they had not participated in the earlier performance review process.
What the board said about funding and process
District staff told the board the FY 2024-25 budget contained sufficient funds to support the two one-year specialist positions during the current fiscal year. For the service rates, staff recommended a 3.8% CPI increase where the Health and Safety Code allows an increase tied to CPI; the board adopted the recommendation after a public hearing with no speakers for that item. For the IRA grant, staff said an initial application requested $1,117,500; the EPA awarded $662,488. The grant will fund monitoring upgrades and operations.
Public input
Public commenters spoke on personnel and workplace concerns and urged transparency on pay decisions; a separate public comment earlier in the meeting congratulated two newly sworn board members. Comments were accepted for the record via the board clerk when speakers had technical difficulties.
Implementation and follow-up
Staff will process payroll retroactivity and finalize the employment agreement for the executive officer, implement the adopted administrative manual updates and process the IRA grant award and related procurement for monitoring equipment. The board did not open a separate public investigation into workplace complaints during the meeting; commenters were advised to submit written materials or use county complaint channels for review.
