BOARD MEETING DATE: February 4, 2005
AGENDA NO. 7

Add Positions in Science and Technology Advancement

SYNOPSIS:

To meet program needs in Science and Technology Advancement, staff recommends adding the following positions: ten Air Quality Instrument Specialists I, two Senior Air Quality Instrument Specialists, two Office Assistants, and one Air Quality Specialist. The annual fully burden cost of approximately $1,917,943 for these positions will be fully funded by, in the case of the Air Quality Specialist position, the State’s Carl Moyer Program, and, for the 14 other positions, the U.S. Government.

COMMITTEE:

Administrative, January 14, 2005. Less than a quorum was present for the discussion of this item; those Committee members present communicated their concurrence.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:

Add the following positions in Science & Technology Advancement:

1. Ten Air Quality Instrument Specialists I, two Senior Air Quality Instrument Specialists, and two Office Assistants, all fully funded by the U.S. Government (positions will only be filled if sufficient funding is received); and
    
2. One Air Quality Specialist position fully funded by the Carl Moyer Program.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

The AQMD has conducted a special monitoring program at the request of the federal government. This program, which has been successfully implemented using existing staff members whose routine monitoring assignments were reassigned to temporary staff, has been fully funded through U.S. EPA. The federal government has provided a letter stating it intends to expand the size of the collection network by up to three times the current number of sites and to continue the program on a long-term basis. With the potential expansion of the sampling network and a long-term funding commitment from the federal government, staff believes it is more cost effective to hire regular, rather than temporary, staff. As a consequence, staff recommends adding ten Air Quality Instrument Specialist I, two Senior Air Quality Instrument Specialist, and two Office Assistant positions. Positions will only be staffed contingent on continuation of federal funding.

Additionally, with the passing of Assembly Bill 923 and Senate Bill 1107, AQMD will receive significant additional long-term Carl Moyer Program funding. Staff estimates that up to $58 million will be made available per year to AQMD under the Moyer Program. Significant in-house and consulting expertise is needed for program administration and technical evaluation. On December 3, 2004, the Board approved additional consulting resources for the Moyer Program. This request is for an additional Air Quality Specialist position to meet expanded program needs. The outreach activities portion of this position will be funded with revenues from Senate Bill 1107 and the remaining activities of the position will be funded with revenues from Assembly Bill 923.

Proposal

Staff recommends adding ten Air Quality Instrument Specialist I, two Senior Air Quality Instrument Specialist, and two Office Assistant positions in Science and Technology Advancement to meet enhanced air monitoring needs. Positions will only be filled as workload requires and funding permits.

Additionally, staff recommends adding one Air Quality Specialist position in Science and Technology Advancement to meet the expanded needs of the Carl Moyer Program.

Resource Impacts

At current Board-approved salary levels, the annual fully burden cost of adding the 14 air monitoring positions is approximately $1,744,334. Added positions will not have an impact on AQMD’s budget since positions will only be filled if federal funds are available.

At current Board-approved salary levels, the annual fully burden cost of adding an Air Quality Specialist position is approximately $173,609. Again, there will be no impact on AQMD’s budget since this position will be fully funded by the State’s Carl Moyer Program.

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