Working with the Conservancy during Coronavirus Precautions

A message from our Executive Officer, Sam Schuchat:

This message is to let you know how we at the Conservancy are coping with the Coronavirus outbreak, and what you as a grantee, contractor, prospective grantee, or interested citizen can do to help us keep moving forward.

 

As you are aware, seven of the nine largest Bay Area counties issued shelter in place orders effective today for the next three weeks. Everyone at the Conservancy is now working at home. Our most important task right now is figuring how to go completely paperless so that we can continue to pay invoices and keep all our existing projects moving forward. We are working hard on that, but it necessarily involves other parts of state government in addition to us, so it will not be simple or fast.

 

In the meantime, if you are a current grantee or contractor of the Conservancy, you know that the Conservancy requires paper invoices with original signatures. We are making every effort to get approval to process invoices electronically. Starting immediately, please submit your invoices BOTH in paper (via the mail as usual) and electronically. The electronic version should be a complete copy of the paper invoice and should be emailed directly to invoices@scc.ca.gov. We are also working on approval for electronic signatures on new contracts and grant agreements.
If you have mailed in an invoice to the Conservancy in the past 7-10 days, it would likely speed the processing time if you emailed the electronic version to invoices@scc.ca.gov  now.

 

If you had a project for consideration at our April 2 meeting, please be aware that I have cancelled the meeting. Although Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order making it easier to have public meetings electronically, we would still need some number of people in our office to manage it and it would have to be open to the public. That seems unwise in the present circumstances, and I need the staff to stay focused on going paperless in any event. I realize this may present some hardship for you, and I apologize for that.

 

TO REPEAT, THE APRIL 2 COASTAL CONSERVANCY PUBLIC MEETING IS CANCELLED.

 

If you had a project on our April 2 agenda, we will move it to our next regularly scheduled meeting: June 18 in Sacramento. Hopefully we will be through this emergency by then. If not, we will figure something out!

 

If you need to reach someone at the Conservancy, please use email or call their voicemail and they will call you back. If you have questions about your project or grant, please contact your project manager.

If you want to talk about a possible future project, please contact the appropriate person as follows:

 

Del Norte County, Humboldt County, Mendocino County, Coastal Sonoma or Coastal Marin, email Karyn Gear at Karyn.Gear@scc.ca.gov

 

The nine Bay Area counties except the coastlines, email Moira McEnespy at Moira.McEnespy@scc.ca.gov

 

San Mateo coast, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, or Santa Barbara Counties, email Trish Chapman at Trish.Chapman@scc.ca.gov

 

Ventura County to the Mexican border, email Megan Cooper at Megan.Cooper@scc.ca.gov

 

A contact list of all Conservancy staff can be found here: https://scc.ca.gov/contact-us/

 

Please stay safe and healthy, and follow the recommendations of your county health officials, as well as that of the State of CA and the CDC. Information from the latter two may be found at: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/ncov2019.aspx and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

 

We will get through this together, and I eagerly look forward to the day when I can see you in person!

 

 

Sam Schuchat

Executive Officer

California State Coastal Conservancy