To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Bret Prebula, Finance Director
Prepared By: Bret Prebula, Finance Director
TITLE:
Title
CARES Act Funding
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Approve the reallocation of $450,000 of the $975,000 of CARES Act funding, as documented in Budget Adjustment No. BE2109502.
Body
DISCUSSION:
The California State Budget for FY 2020-21 was signed into law in late June and with that was the authorization for the Department of Finance (DOF) to allocate $500 million directly to cities to cover expenses related to the public health and public safety impacts of COVID-19.
On July 21, 2020, council approved the use of CARES Act funding for a variety of internal city and community needs. A summary of those funding allocations is outlined below:
• $100,000 grant program for local businesses to assist in purchases of COVID-19 related supplies and/or business interruption costs; transfer to current program in Community Development Department (CDD);
• $100,000 grant program related to an eviction avoidance program;
• $25,000 in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and related cleaning/sanitation supplies.
• $50,000 to assist in communication outreach with the community and staff related to COVID-19 (policies, City financials etc.);
• $250,000 for the purchase of approximately 75 laptops, docking stations, monitors, and associated licenses (digital phone, Zoom, Microsoft Teams) to ensure staff has the capacity for remote working capabilities to continue to promote social distancing and minimize the spread of COVID-19;
• $450,000 for the replacement of permit and project tracking software to improve staff safety during the pandemic while allowing staff to more effectively serve the community in a remote capacity and provide a more robust online presence for customers to continue social distancing and related requirements of COVID-19;
This funding allocation allowed funding to be spent in a variety of areas, focused on internal City operations to improve the safe and efficient workspaces of our employees as well as public assistance to our business community and economically impacted community members.
Staff conducted an initial assessment for implementing permit/planning software. Through discussions with service providers and after viewing the system components through demonstrations, it is clear it would be challenging to meet the CARES Act funding expenditure deadline of December 31, 2020 and complete the software implementation ensuring that the system meets staff and public expectation.
Although staff is recommending reallocating the CARES Act funding due to the grant timeline requirements, the software demonstrations have confirmed that a future implementation project would be beneficial in creating efficiencies and improved customer service. Staff will still recommend purchasing and implementing a new permit/planning software system. The current permit tracking software is well beyond its useful life and the ability to more efficiently and effectively complete the permit process is a vital piece to our local economy. Transitioning to an online-based system will allow for improved service delivery during and post pandemic. This funding transition will also allow staff additional required time for software selection and implementation and allow council to redistribute unused CARES Act dollars.
Today, staff’s recommendation is to reallocate the previously allocated CARES Act funding for this project ($450,000 in reallocated funding).
Under council’s current direction, any unused CARES Act funding is to be used for Tenant Support, through the partnership with Napa Valley Community Foundation (NVCF). Staff is recommending an adjustment to this action to accommodate increased demand in two areas:
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), allocate an additional $100,000; and
• COVID order enforcement, allocate $100,000.
Staff is recommending allocating an additional $100,000 to PPE (making the total allocation to PPE $125,000) to address current demand, which has been increasing in the past weeks. The purchases will include equipment to sanitize city facilities, bulk purchases of PPE for employees, cleaning supplies, and masks for employees. The allocation of $100,000 for COVID order enforcement is to address the significant demand of staff time in code enforcement, City Attorney, and City Manager Office to enforce COVID order violations. The most recent enforcement action required multiple days of multiple staff members and is unsustainable, especially if additional multiple enforcement actions are required at one time. The additional funding will allow staff to hire part-time employees to assist with the enforcement of the COVID-19 orders. The remaining $250,000 would be allocated to Tenant Support, per council direction, increasing the total allocation from $100,000 to $350,000.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
Approval of the funding allocation adjustments does not increase the total budget. The specific non-CARES Act funding that will be used for the permit/planning software will be identified once the software selection process is completed. Staff will return to council at that time with the contract with the selected vendor and required budget adjustment. Staff still believes the total cost of the permit/planning software will be under $500,000
CEQA:
The Finance Director has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Agenda Report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Budget Adjustment No. BE2109502
NOTIFICATION:
None.