HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 05/04/2021 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 065, 2021, AUTHORIZ Agenda Item 13
Item # 13 Page 1
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY May 4, 2021
City Council
STAFF
Aaron Harris, Interim Recreation Director
Ingrid Decker, Legal
SUBJECT
First Reading of Ordinance No. 065, 2021, Authorizing the City Manager to Accept a Grant Award and Comply
with the Terms of the Grant, and Appropriating Unanticipated Grant Revenue in the Recreation Fund to
Support Childcare Needs Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this item is to accept and appropriate a $32,800 Child Care Relief Grant awarded by the State
of Colorado into the Recreation Department’s 2021 budget. The grant funds will help offset the Recreation
Department’s financial impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading.
BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the need for childcare has increased in our community. Staff has sought out
grants and other sources of funding to meet community need. These grants and funding sources a re needed
to offset additional unbudgeted expenses associated with the COVID -19 pandemic, including but not limited to:
• Increased operating costs associated with:
o Additional cleaning and sanitation;
o Health monitoring;
o Supplying personal protective equipment for childcare workers; and
o Salaries and other compensations for staff who provide childcare, especially as necessary to support
COVID-19 restrictions and recommendations.
• Reduced revenue resulting from lower staff-to-child ratios, reduced enrollment, or temporary closures due
to local public health guidance;
• Covering salaries and other compensations for staff who provide childcare, including costs necessary to
retain the workforce;
• Providing scholarships to reduced fee participants; and
• Marketing programs to community.
The Child Care Relief Grant Program does not require the City to sign a post -award agreement, but the grant
requirements described in the grant application include submitting quarterly responses to data requests and
maintaining documentation to demonstrate how the funds were used for three years after receiving funds.
CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS
City resources would increase by $32,800 in the Recreation Fund. No matching funds are required for this
grant.
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ORDINANCE NO. 065, 2021
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT A GRANT AWARD AND COMPLY
WITH THE TERMS OF THE GRANT, AND APPROPRIATING UNANTICIPATED GRANT
REVENUE IN THE RECREATION FUND TO SUPPORT CHILDCARE NEEDS
DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for childcare in the Fort
Collins community and the costs to childcare facilities of providing such care; and
WHEREAS, the City’s Recreation Department operates licensed childcare programs and
has sought out grants and other sources of funding to help meet community needs; and
WHEREAS, in January 2021, the Colorado Department of Human Services Office of
Early Childhood announced the creation of two grant programs to support childcare providers
across the state; and
WHEREAS the Recreation Department applied for funds from the Child Care Relief
Grant Program and was awarded $32,800 to offset additional unbudgeted expenses associated
with childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, including cleaning, health monitoring and
equipment costs; reduced revenue; salaries and compensation; scholarships for reduced -fee
participants; and marketing of programs to the community (the “Grant”); and
WHEREAS, the City is authorized to enter into intergovernmental agreements, such as
grant agreements, to provide any function, service or facility, under Article II, Section 16 of the
City Charter and Section 29-1-203 of the Colorado Revised Statutes; and
WHEREAS, City Code Section 1-22 requires intergovernmental agreements or
cooperative activities between the City and other governmental entities to be submitted to the
City Council for review and approval by ordinance or resolution; and
WHEREAS, the Grant does not require execution of a post-award agreement, but the
Grant application did require the City to acknowledge that grantees must submit quarterly
responses to Child Care Relief Grant data requests and maintain documentation to demonstrate
how the funds were used for three years after receiving funds; and
WHEREAS, City staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager, or
the City Manager’s, designee to accept the Grant award and comply with the terms of the Grant
as describe herein; and
WHEREAS, appropriation of the Grant benefits public health, safety and welfare of the
residents of Fort Collins and serves the public purpose of supporting affordable childcare
programs; and
WHEREAS, Article V, Section 9, of the City Charter permits the City Council to make
supplemental appropriations by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the
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total amount of such supplemental appropriations, in combination with all previous
appropriations for that fiscal year, does not exceed the current estimate of actual and ant icipated
revenues to be received during the fiscal year; and
WHEREAS, the City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein and
determined that this appropriation is available and previously unappropriated from the
Recreation Fund and will not cause the total amount appropriated in the Recreation Fund to
exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues to be received in that fund during
any fiscal year.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
FORT COLLINS as follows:
Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and
findings contained in the recitals set forth above.
Section 2. That there is hereby appropriated from unanticipated grant revenue in the
Recreation Fund the sum of THIRTY-TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS
($32,800) for expenditure in the Recreation Fund to support childcare needs due to the COVID-
19 pandemic.
Section 3. That the City Manager or his designee is authorized to execute any grant
agreement or other forms reasonably required by the State to receive the Grant funds.
Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 4th day of
May, A.D. 2021, and to be presented for final passage on the 18th day of May, A.D. 2021.
__________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
_______________________________
City Clerk
Passed and adopted on final reading on the 18th day of May, A.D. 2021.
__________________________________
Mayor
ATTEST:
_______________________________
City Clerk