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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 06/07/2022 - SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 063, 2022, MAKING Agenda Item 7 Item # 7 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY June 7, 2022 City Council STAFF Joanne Cech, Fiscal Recovery Manager Blaine Dunn, Accounting Director SUBJECT Second Reading of Ordinance No. 063, 2022, Making Supplemental Appropriations from a Portion of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding for Local Fiscal Recovery Related to the COVID -19 Pandemic. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This Ordinance, unanimously adopted on First Reading on May 17, 2022, authorizes a mid-cycle appropriation of $4.1M of the Organization’s remaining $19.9M of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds to support pandemic recovery efforts. These projects were reviewed and selected by the Recovery Executive Lead Team because they address immediate needs for both community and enterprise r ecovery. These projects align with the City’s Recovery Plan and have also been reviewed by Council Finance Committee. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on Second Reading. ATTACHMENTS 1. First Reading Agenda Item Summary, May 17, 2022 (w/o attachments) (PDF) 2. Ordinance No. 063, 2022 (PDF) Agenda Item 13 Item # 13 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY May 17, 2022 City Council STAFF Joanne Cech, Fiscal Recovery Manager Blaine Dunn, Accounting Director Ted Hewitt, Legal SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 063, 2022, Making Supplemental Appropriations from a Portion of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding for Local Fiscal Recovery Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to seek a mid-cycle appropriation of $4.1M of the Organization’s remaining $19.9M of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds to support pandemic recovery efforts. These projects were reviewed and selected by the Recovery Executive Lead Team because they address immediate needs for both community and enterprise recovery. These projects align with the City’s Recovery Plan and have also been reviewed by Council Finance Committee. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION The Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) established $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief funding, including $360 billion State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to aid state and local fiscal recovery. $28.1M of SLFRF has been allocated to the City of Fort Collins, directly from the United States Treasury. These funds are designed to provide flexibility so each recipient can meet unique local needs, including support for the communities and businesses hardest hit by the pandemic. The ten high-ranked projects are listed below. A full breakdown of the projects, including brief descriptions, can be found in Attachment 2. PROJECT NAME COST CONTRACTUAL FTE REQUESTED Crisis Communication Plan $130,000 0 0BHeartside Hill $1,100,000 0 Indigenous Community Relations Specialist $313,217 1 Rapid Rehousing $201,000 0 Neighborhood Resilience Projects $40,000 0 Recovery Administration Funding $250,000 3* Capital Project Business Liaison $275,000 1** HR Staff Support $268,000 3 COVID-Related Hybrid Meeting Spaces and Community Wi-Fi $1,300,000 0 Cyber Risk Management $275,000 0 ATTACHMENT 1 COPY Agenda Item 13 Item # 13 Page 2 *Contractual FTEs already approved, not counted in total Contractual FTEs **Classified position, approved by exception process $4,152,217 5 Some of the proposed projects include requests for contractual FTEs (note that all ARPA-funded FTEs are contractual with the exception of the FTEs for the Mental Health Response Team and one FTE for the Capital Project Business Liaison position, which had been approved as a classified exception hire prior to being funded with ARPA through 2024). The need for the contractual FTEs is due to: • Ongoing impacts of the City’s hiring freeze in 2020-2021 and a high turnover rate, • additional administrative needs for the implementation of recovery programming, • and increased need for engagement and relationship building with the community to provide support and build resilience. Proposed projects tie to a variety of Recovery Outcomes across three of the Recovery Themes identified in the City’s Resilient Recovery Plan. No projects related to Environmental Resilience were brought forward for consideration for mid-cycle appropriation because it is challenging to tie those types of projects to the pandemic as required per federal ARPA spending rules. However environmental-related projects are being put forward to be funded by ARPA in the 2023-24 BFO. A breakdown of which Recovery Themes and Outcomes mid-cycle projects and previously funded ARPA projects tie to can be found in Attachment 3. CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS This Ordinance will increase the total appropriations in the General Fund by $4,152,217. These funds are coming directly from the City’s portion of the ARPA SLFRF distribution and must meet requirements laid out by the U.S. Treasury Department for eligible uses. All projects have been determined to be eligible uses under the grant rules. ATTACHMENTS 1. Allocations to Date (PDF) 2. 2022 Mid-Cycle Project Breakdown (PDF) 3. Project Ties to Recovery Themes and Outcomes (PDF) 4. Powerpoint Presentation (PDF) COPY -1- ORDINANCE NO. 063, 2022 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS MAKING SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FROM A PORTION OF THE CITY’S AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT (ARPA) FUNDING FOR LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY RELATED TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC WHEREAS, on March 11, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law (“ARPA”), which established the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (“CLFRF”) intended to provide support to local governments in responding to the impacts of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (“COVID-19”) on their communities, residents, and businesses; and WHEREAS, the U.S. Treasury Department has provided regulatory guidance on how ARPA funds may be used, which includes: supporting public health expenditures; addressing negative economic impacts; replacing lost public sector revenue; providing premium pay for essential workers; and investing in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure; and WHEREAS, the City’s allocation of funds from the CLFRF totals $28,118,971, of which the City Council has previously appropriated approximately $8.2 million; and WHEREAS, City staff has identified some current needs consistent with U.S. Treasury Department guidance to include financial support and expenditures for: public health; to address negative economic impacts; to invest in broadband infrastructure; and to replace lost public sector revenue for the provision of government services; and WHEREAS, City staff presented to the City Council Finance Committee on May 5, 2022 proposed new appropriations totaling $4,152,217 from the City’s CLFRF funds to address the identified needs; and WHEREAS, this appropriation benefits public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Fort Collins and serves the public purpose of responding to the immediate and short-term community health, social wellbeing, and economic needs arising from the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; and WHEREAS, Article V, Section 9 of the City Charter permits the City Council, upon recommendation of the City Manager, to make a supplemental appropriation by ordinance at any time during the fiscal year, provided that the total amount of such supplemental appropriation, in combination with all previous appropriations for that fiscal year, do not exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues and all other funds to be received during the fiscal year; and WHEREAS, the Interim City Manager has recommended the appropriation described herein and determined that this appropriation is available and previously unappropriated from the General Fund and will not cause the total amount appropriated in the General Fund to exceed the current estimate of actual and anticipated revenues and all other funds to be received in this Fund during this fiscal year; and -2- WHEREAS, Article V, Section 11 of the City Charter authorizes the City Council to designate in the ordinance when appropriating funds for a federal, state or private grant or donation, that such appropriation shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year in which the appropriation is made, but continue until the earlier of the expiration of the federal, state or private grant or donation or the City’s expenditure of all funds received from such grant or donation; and WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to designate the appropriation herein from ARPA as an appropriation that shall not expire until the earlier of the expiration of the grant or the City’s expenditure of all funds received from such grant. 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 new grant revenue in the General Fund the sum of FOUR MILLION ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED SEVENTEEN DOLLARS ($4,152,217) to be expended in the General Fund for a crisis communication plan, Heartside Hill, Indigenous Community Relations Specialist, Rapid Rehousing, Neighborhood Resilience projects, Recovery Administration funding, Capital Project Business Liaison, Human Resources staff support, COVID-19 related hybrid meeting spaces and Community WiFi and Cyber Risk Management. Section 3. That the appropriation herein from the Federal American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) is hereby designated, as authorized in Article V, Section 11 of the City Charter, as an appropriation that shall not lapse at the end of this fiscal year but continue until the earlier of the expiration of the grant or the City’s expenditure of all funds received from such grant. -3- Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 17th day of May, A.D. 2022, and to be presented for final passage on the 7th day of June, A.D. 2022. ______________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on the 7th day of June, A.D. 2022. ______________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ City Clerk