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PROJECT NARRATIVE B. PROJECT BACKGROUND: Provide a summary of the project and the background justification supporting the need for the Commission to fund the project. Include experience and qualifications of the project team for their assigned role with the project. This section is limited to one page. If multiple jurisdictions choose to partner in their application, the page limit is increased to two pages. Pages submitted beyond the page limit will not be reviewed. With a population of 91,612 people living in the unincorporated area, Indian River County recognizes the benefit of reducing the County's energy consumption and reducing the County's CO2 emissions. This recognition stems in part from the County's need to reduce its operating and maintenance costs as well as to promote energy saving technologies such as solar hot water heating and energy efficient lighting. The County proposes to accomplish its energy consumption goals by carrying out one solar hot water heating project,one building retrofit project, and completing the conversion of the remaining traffic signal lighting to LED. The installation of a solar hot water heating system at the County Jail, along with the installation of energy efficient lighting and the replacement of five HVAC units at the Gifford Community Center will reduce the County's energy consumption and create several short term jobs within the community. The first proposed project is the installation of a solar water heating system in the Indian River County jail facility. The solar hot water heater will supplement the existing natural gas water heating system. Recently, the County contracted with Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) for the retrofitting of lighting and the installation of occupancy sensors in the County jail facility. The total contract for the jail facility energy retrofit project is $434,854. The County is claiming the cost of retrofitting the jail facility as part of the match in this application. The second proposed project is retrofitting the Gifford Community Center. Currently, the lighting and HVAC units in this building are outdated and inefficient. Utilizing the EECBG grant funding,the County will have an energy audit of the building completed. Based upon the results of the energy audit the building will be retrofitted to make it more energy efficient. As part of the retrofit project, the five HVAC units in the community center will be replaced with energy efficient units. The final proposed retrofit project is to convert the remaining one hundred and seventy-two (172) traffic signals owned and maintained by the County to LED. This will be a follow-up to a previous project through which the other traffic signals owned and maintained by the County were converted to LED. Equipped with the new LED components, the traffic signals will consume significantly less electricity, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions. Additional advantages of utilizing the LED lighting for traffic signalization will include a reduction in maintenance cost due to the extended life of the LED lighting. Recently, the local utility company, FPL, completed a Technical Energy Audit of many of the County's facilities. The information contained in the Technical Energy Audit is being used to guide the retrofitting of many of the facilities included in this application. FPL is currently under contract with the County to carry out the retrofitting of the County Jail, Emergency Operations Center, Traffic Opdrations Center, and the replacement of the HVAC units at the County Road and Bridge Complex. The cost of retrofitting of all of these facilities has been included as matching funds in this application. In the past, Indian River County staff has successfully administered numerous grant projects. If funded,the EECBG project will be managed by the County's Community Development Department. Over the years, Indian River County's Community Development Department has managed numerous grant projects, several with federal requirements similar to those found in the EECBG-ARRA program. These include several HUD funded CDBG projects in the Small Cities,Disaster Recovery Initiative and Neighborhood Stabilization Program categories. In order to ensure that the project is completed timely and within budget, Indian River County intends on contracting with Fred Fox Enterprises, a private consulting firm to oversee the administration of the project, if funded. Fred Fox Enterprises has over 25 years experience managing federally funded grant and loan projects. Many of the projects managed by Fred Fox Enterprises have required compliance with federal wage rate programs similar to the requirements of the EECBG program. Currently, Fred Fox Enterprises is currently managing the City of Palm Coast's EECBG project funded directly through the Department of Energy. The County will also utilize FPL to perform the energy audit,design and cant'out the renovation of the Gifford Community Center. The County is in the process of retrofitting the Emergency Operations Center,Traffic Operations Center, and Road and Bridge Complex with energy efficient lighting and occupancy sensors. These three retrofitting projects totaling$72,193.00 have also been included as match in this application. Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Application Attachment A—Grant Application Form Page 3 of 13