WRCOG Executive Committee approves PACE Loan Group as commercial PACE administrator

The Western Riverside Council of Governments Executive Committee voted to adopt Resolution No. 2525 to authorize PACE Loan Group (PLG) to join WRCOG's commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.

Casey Daley, WRCOG director of energy and environmental programs, told the committee PLG — founded in 2017 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota — has an existing administrative relationship with the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) and operates in multiple states. Daley said PLG has a staff of about 30, a California presence, and is capitalized by AllianceBernstein.

Daley said the Executive Committee's PACE ad hoc group and the Administration & Finance Committee recommended moving forward with PLG. He described WRCOG's commercial PACE program history (residential assessments wound down after the 2020 bankruptcy of a prior partner) and said WRCOG remains responsible for servicing roughly 18,000 legacy residential assessments.

During questions, committee members raised two practical concerns: administrative variation across counties in processing liens and protections for WRCOG given the jurisdictional breadth of the program. Daley said differences in county roll processing and fees are known administrative challenges but stressed benefits of a large footprint for enabling projects statewide. On protections, he said commercial PACE is a negotiated business transaction: projects involve attorney review on both sides, a requirement for senior-lender consent where applicable, and indemnification provisions in WRCOG's form agreements to limit WRCOG exposure.

Peter Grable, PLG managing director, was in the audience to answer technical questions; Bernal Shah, WRCOG bond counsel, was also available. The clerk recorded no public comments on the item. A motion (mover and seconder recorded in the roll call) passed and the chair announced the resolution was adopted.

WRCOG did not read the full resolution text aloud during the presentation; staff indicated the full resolution and related agreement language are in the meeting packet. The committee directed staff to finalize implementation steps with PLG and noted staff would allow parties to use CSCDA where WRCOG is not the primary issuer to avoid blocking preexisting deals.

The item was recorded as passed on the committee's roll-call vote; staff will publish the adopted resolution and the related administrative agreement in WRCOG's public records and the agency's new transparency portal.