REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Addition of Five Positions Funded by Silicon Valley Power and Two Fire Department Positions Funded by Developer Permit Fees and Related Budget Amendment
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure
Manage Strategically Our Workforce Capacity and Resources
BACKGROUND
Silicon Valley Power (SVP)
The City of Santa Clara's Electric Utility, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), has provided dependable electric service for 126 years. SVP's current peak load is about 650 MW (new record this year) and provides nearly 4,110 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year to SVP's customers. As discussed with Council on April 28, 2021, (RTC 21-871) SVP's load will almost double and $300 million of local projects will need to be constructed. In addition, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) recently approved over $1.0 billion of new transmission projects to the City. Also, as discussed as part of SVP quarterly report on August 16, 2022, staff will soon return to Council to discuss an additional 200MW of future growth and associated new multimillion capital projects to support approved projects and the associated load growth. In addition to all the new growth staff has also presented to Council numerous times on SVP's new proactive maintenance program which increases reliability but also requires a much higher level of work effort.
Fire Department
Although the overall economy was significantly affected by COVID-19, the City continues to see record levels of building permits and construction. The Fire Department is a key part of the building review process, and staff vacancies and workload has significantly affected permit review and inspection times. Staff continues to review options for expediting permit review times including maximizing voluntary overtime and recently entering two third-party permit review contracts. Even with those efforts the current workload exceeds the staff capacity...
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