CEA board appoints Community Advisory Committee members

The Clean Energy Alliance appointed a seven-member Community Advisory Committee, consisting of two members each from Del Mar, Solana Beach and and Carlsbad.

Del Mar City Councilman Dwight Worden, who serves as an alternate to the three-member CEA board, is the seventh member.

After accepting applications in August, each of the CEA board members appointed two committee members from their cities: one to serve a two-year term and one to serve a one-year term. Members will all serve two-year terms moving forward, but three members will initially serve for one year to establish staggered terms.

Advisory committee meetings will be held quarterly, starting in December, with topics such as the CEA budget and climate action goals for the three member cities to be addressed.

CEA board members had been planning on creating an advisory committee since last year, when the board held its first meeting.

The CEA is expecting to begin delivering power to residential and business customers in Del Mar, Solana Beach and Carlsbad in May 2021. Those customers will be able to receive greener energy at a potential rate discount compared to San Diego Gas & Electric, depending on the particular package they select.

Representing Del Mar will be Don Mosier, a former Del Mar councilman and current member of the fairgrounds board of directors, and Alan Sweedler, who serves on the city of Del Mar’s Sustainability Advisory Board.

The two were appointed by Del Mar Mayor Ellie Haviland, who serves as the chair of the CEA board.

“While he was on council, he was one of the main advocates for getting Del Mar involved in exploring community choice energy,” Haviland said of Mosier during the CEA’s Oct. 15 meeting, when the nominees were confirmed. “He’s got a long resume of service to the community and working on climate issues.”

She also touted Sweedler’s experience working on energy policy.

Solana Beach’s representatives on the committee will be Lee Haydu, a former Del Mar councilwoman and former member of the fairgrounds board, and Debra Schade, a Solana Beach school board member.

“The committee will be focused on marketing, public outreach and concerns from the community,” said Solana Beach City Councilwoman and CEA board member Kristi Becker, who appointed them. “Both of them have strong skills in those.”

The two appointees from Carlsbad, nominated by Carlsbad City Councilwoman Cori Schumacher, are Paige DeCino for the two-year term and Seth Krauss for the one-year term.

Schumacher said that DeCino, a scientist and longtime advocate of community choice energy, has experience in community outreach and environmental justice. She said Krauss is a licensed clinical social worker who can help “bring the human into this, as well as the technical expertise that we have.”