Vision: We will have a healthier and more robust CAP network at the end of the two year Ramp up.

CAPAI Weatherization Ramp Up Meeting Outcomes October 15 and 16, 2009

Attendees

Russ Barron, speaker Christine Bayliss Rick Burgin Kary Burin Mary Chant Ron Corta Mark Fleming Deb Hemmert Dick Henry Dale McGarvey Claudia Most Karen Perren Ken Robinette Ron Ruddell Jim Severine Brad Simmons Russ Spain Larry Stamper Lisa Stoddard Genie Sue Weppner Randy Wright Christina Zamora Absent: Kevin Viggers This presentation can also be found on the CAPAI Member Portal at: www.idahocommunityaction.org

Vision: We will have a healthier and more robust CAP network at the end of the two year Ramp up.

Executive Summary

On October 15 th and 16 th , CAPAI staff, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare staff, Weatherization Managers, and Executive Directors met for two half-day sessions to share best practices and align on a six month weatherization stimulus production plan and targets for each agency. The decision was to use monthly ARRA reimbursement requests as the Actual-to-Plan tracking metric. The number of units weatherized per month will be monitored as a capacity indicator.

On the morning of the 15 th , the accomplishments of the past six months were presented to the Policy Advisory Committee for questions and to provide context for the PAC’s future guidance. In the afternoon, the Weatherization team brainstormed best practice recovery scenarios and how agencies could assist each other in the event of unplanned impacts to production. As a result, one or two additional Auditor/Inspector training sessions will be scheduled in December and January. The next morning Russ Barron, IDHW Division Administrator for the Division of Welfare, addressed the team to acknowledge the successful partnership that has been forged between the agencies and. Russ also emphasized IDHW’s continued commitment to assist the agencies with the process to obtain the remaining 50% of stimulus funding.

On October 16 th , Weatherization Ramp up team members met with the DOE, via teleconference, to discuss Idaho’s preparedness to spend the stimulus and how the DOE could help. The response following an overview by Mary Chant, the Executive Director, was, “This will be a short call.” The DOE was also pleased to hear that about 50% of the weatherized units are mobile homes which generally offer higher energy savings.

Vision: We will have a healthier and more robust CAP network at the end of the two year Ramp up.

Ramp-up Acknowledgements

SEICAA  SEICAA was the first agency to begin spending stimulus funds  Quality of weatherization crew and staff at the satellites  Upgrades to the tools, testing equipment and vehicles SCCAP  Establishing two satellite weatherization locations to reduce travel time for crews  Quality of the Auditor/Inspectors and crew leads El-Ada –  On target with stimulus spending next month  Completing weatherization on 61 units in September and on track to complete 70 units in October EICAP  Starting to spend the stimulus  Process improvements made as a result of growth  Payroll system has been improved, brought in-house CCOA  Quality of the new hires  Quality of the Auditor/Inspector training  Expanding weatherization facilities

Vision: We will have a healthier and more robust CAP network at the end of the two year Ramp up.

Agency Acknowledgements

CAPAI  Keeping an eye on the goal and not allowing ourselves to get stuck.  Creating the Weatherization Training Center CAP  Performing weatherization in two states  Paying weatherization crews in both states the same wage  Hiring a Davis-Bacon compliance officer

Meeting Deliverables Idaho CAPAI Agencies alignment on:

 Tracking ARRA production Actual-to-Plan

Brainstorm recovery scenarios:

 The economy improves and an agency loses a significant portion of their trained Wx workforce to higher construction wages  The number of go-backs proves unexpectedly high over a period of time  The agency is not able to achieve the planned investment per unit so the required volume of units rises beyond production capacity  The agency production is just slower than planned for whatever reason

Meeting Deliverables - detail Best Practices

 EICAP has developed an inspection checklist from the monitoring checklist that they are using to improve thoroughness and accountability  CAP hired a Davis-Bacon compliance officer to work with contractors and developed a system for identifying D-B Purchase Orders so that they are not paid without receiving a certified weekly payroll  CCOA spent ARRA funds to weatherize eleven units in August, using Energy Star products, with an average investment of $6417

Tracking ARRA production Actual-to-Plan

Initially, the proposed strategy was to track the number of units weatherized per month, based on an average cost per unit. This methodology was found to be unwieldy given bulk purchasing and contractor invoicing lag times. The agencies agreed, instead, to track monthly reimbursement requests to a monthly Actual-to-Plan with a target to spend 50% of the stimulus within the next six months. Performance-to-Plan by April will be an early indicator of the agencies’ capability to spend 75% of ARRA stimulus funds within the first 18 months of the two-year stimulus contract.

Meeting Deliverables - detail Brainstorming Recovery scenarios

Scenario #1: The economy improves and an agency loses a significant portion of their trained Wx workforce to higher construction wages  Be ready to use more contractors and ensure they are ready to go with Davis-Bacon  Enhance skill sets for a deeper bench; so someone can step in when there is turnover  Start out with higher wages to stay more competitive  Partner with Community College training centers for weatherization placement  For example, Spokane Falls Community College has a program to train veterans in weatherization  Work with Community College to offer weatherization curriculum for credit  Double up auditors to work as a team Scenario #2: The number of go-backs proves unexpectedly high over a period of time  Send in contractors first, right after the audit, so that the inspection can occur as soon as possible after the weatherization work is completed  Send contractors back out to perform rework before payment  Train lots of auditors for a short turnaround time on inspections

Meeting Deliverables - detail Brainstorming Recovery scenarios

Scenario #3: The agency is not able to achieve the planned investment per unit so the required volume of units rises beyond production capacity  Use better quality materials  Pay good wages; boosts cost/unit  Invest in every best-practice measure  Look at all the potential measures, for example: refrigerators Scenario #4: The agency production is just slower than planned for whatever reason  All hands on deck  Everyone who can do it, does it  If it’s the flu or personnel issues, call the closest agency and ask for temporary help  Over hire—increase crews now Scenario #5: Moderate income homes have lower investment due to higher quality homes  Use contractors to increase production units

Meeting Assessment

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What went well

100% representation Meeting space Agencies on the same page Heard what has been going well Agreed on what didn’t work Dollars are the target; units will follow      

What didn’t go well

Auditor/Inspector “retreat”  Misleading term for a technical meeting Kary can’t tear sheets off a flipchart Renaming “Ramp-up”  Since some agencies consider themselves still ramping up, we decided to keep the reference Joint review of 30, 60, 90 day plans during the face-to-face is not a good use of time No salt and pepper