Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Leonard Vialpando
Department: Public Works and Environmental Services
Division: Natural Resources Division
Information
Requested Action
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MOTION TO APPROVE form interlocal agreement (“ILA”) for Broward County municipalities to participate in Broward County’s Broward Water Partnership/Conservation Pays Program, in substantially the form proposed in Exhibit 1; authorize the County Administrator to make nonmaterial modifications to the form ILA that do not increase cost risk to the County, and to execute ILAs with participating Broward municipalities, subject to review and approval as to legal sufficiency by the County Attorney’s Office; and authorize the County Administrator to take any necessary administrative and budgetary actions to implement the ILAs.
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Why Action is Necessary
Board approval is required to approve a form ILA and authorize the County Administrator to approve and execute the ILAs.
What Action Accomplishes
This action authorizes the use of the form ILA and authorizes the County Administrator to approve and execute the ILAs, subject to review and approval as to legal sufficiency by the County Attorney’s Office.
Goal Related Icon(s)
☒County Commission
☒Go Green
☐MAP Broward
Previous Action Taken
None taken.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE PUBLIC WORKS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND THE NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This item supports the County Commission’s value of Collaboration: “Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives”, and the goal of Resilient Community: “Ensuring accessible, seamlessly integrated investments in renewable energy, sustainable practices, manufacturing, resilient infrastructure, and environmental protection”.
Action on this item approves the form ILA that, if executed with a Broward County municipality, would allow the municipality to participate in the County’s Broward Water Partnership/Conservation Pays Program. Under this program, the respective municipality reimburses the County for comprehensive and uniform water conservation messaging achieved through program branding, media messaging, and diverse communication tools, and the delivery of rebates and retrofits for high-efficiency plumbing devices for residential and commercial sectors. Delivery of the program on a regional basis serves to maximize program benefits through broad and uniform messaging and the efficient leveraging of funds in all program expenditures. Water conservation is one of the lowest cost means of meeting future water supply needs, and is a vital and integral part of a regional strategy to ensure adequate water supplies for Broward County’s residents and visitors.
Since its commencement, the Conservation Pays program has distributed 38,136 water-saving devices and 31,160 rebates to Broward residents, for a water savings of 8.23 billion gallons. In addition, program dollars have been leveraged to gain an additional $50,000 in cost-share support from the South Florida Water Management District to advance the rebate program. The program has received numerous awards, including NACo and NACIO awards, recognition by the Florida Section of the American Water Works Association and EPA’s Water Sense program, and eight national communications awards. Based on these shared achievements, program partners have opted to renew the program partnership for an additional five years.
On August 30, 2011, the Board of County Commissioners approved the launch of the Conservation Pays program under an initial five-year program agreement (Item No. 30). On December 13, 2016, the program was renewed for an additional five years (Item No. 11). On November 4, 2021, the program was renewed for a third five-year term (Item No. 19). This is the fourth five-year renewal supporting the Broward Partnership/Conservation Pays operations.
Source of Additional Information
Monica Pognon, Director, Natural Resources Division, (954) 519-1476
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
Under the terms of the proposed renewal, Broward County’s cost-share will continue to be $125,000 per year for marketing and ILA program services. Program partners will provide a combined $319,003 annually (with an annual 3% increase) for program, media, and administrative costs. In addition, partners commit varying levels of funding for the distribution of toilet rebates and high efficiency plumbing devices, for a combined maximum annual reimbursement of $304,536 to the County. The total maximum program cost is $3,354,220 over the five-year term. Collected revenues will be deposited in the Natural Resources Contract Fund.