Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Discussion
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER QUARTERLY FINANCIAL STATUS REPORT ON THE CITY OF CARSON PROJECTS BEING FUNDED BY THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT (ARPA).
Body
I. SUMMARY
This is a quarterly financial report to the City Council to provide a status update on how ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) is being used and provide an overview projects timeline, budget and estimated date of completion.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
RECEIVE and FILE.
Body
III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE any other action the City Council deems appropriate.
IV. BACKGROUND
The American Rescue Plan act is a federal stimulus plan to provide funding to State and Local Governments to assist communities in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Carson received $17.8 million and on March 15, 2022, the City Council issued specific earmarks for the use of ARPA funds (Budget Resolution 22-039). Per United States Treasury guidelines for ARPA, funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024, and fully expensed by December 31, 2026. City of Carson spent $8.9 million Year to Date, which consisted of $8.1 million in Premium Pay to City of Carson workers and $764K in Small Business Loan Forgiveness. There is $8.8 million left and the status updates for each earmark provided below:
$3.5 Million Citywide Slurry Seal Project
On September 6th, 2022, Council approved contract to be awarded to Petrochem Materials Innovation, LLC. A month later the contract was fully executed, and Purchase Order was issued. The total cost of this project is estimated at $3.1 million. According to Staff Report 2022-730 presented to Council, the project will seal approximately 35 miles of streets throughout the City of Carson in an equitable manner for each district. The rubberized slurry seal provided better protection to pavement deterioration. The seal is cost effective approach to extending life of pavement and preserving structural capacity.
$2.1 Million Tyler Munis Upgrade
On July 19th, 2022, Council approved awarding contract to Integrated Technology Partners to implement Tyler Munis Cloud, EnerGov, and Tyler Payment Systems. The upgrade will be a “5” version improvement from the current version 11.3 to 2021.5. The upgrade will move Tyler Munis from “on premises” to be stored in the “Cloud” which will increase Disaster Recovery capabilities. The upgrade will also enhance features which will improve Human Capital Management, Budgeting/Accounting, Procurement/Contract Management, and Financial Reporting. Tyler Munis ver. 2021.5 is projected to go live in February 2023.
$1 Million Small Business Grants
On June 21st, 2022, Council approved overall plan for Small Business Grant Program. The premise of the program is to assist business still affected form Covid-19 mandated shutdown. Staff provided Council eligibility criteria, goals and objectives, and minimum and maximum amounts for the grant issued. Definition of small business is business that employees 1 to 50 employees. The grants administered range from $5,000 to $25,000. A scoring system will determine eligibility and amount of grant issued. Staff is currently discussing strategy regarding program rollout over the next couple weeks. Application release is tentatively planned for mid-November. Presumably this will allow time for applicants to gather documents required for applications. This tentative plan for launch will provide staff time to setup online application portal for the residents.
$758K Non-Capitalized Items
During Fiscal Year 21-22 Budget workshop, Council requested staff to provide a list of non-capitalized equipment needs for parks and programs. $36K have been spent so far Year-to-Date. The items that made up $36K items purchased were $9K fence panels, $5K $2K Landscaping Supplies, and $2k Storage racks. Staff will need to go to Council to divide earmarked money between Capitalized equipment and Non-Capitalized Equipment purchases. The reasoning is to be GASB compliant in recording expenditures in appropriate accounts, and secondly providing United States Treasury in quarterly report extensive reasoning for purchasing capitalized equipment. Provided Council approve splitting appropriated monies the split will amount to $607,444 for non-Capitalized expenditures and $151,461 for Capitalized expenditures.
$500K Broadband RFP
The project is currently going through and assessment by South Bay Cities of Government to which City of Carson is a member. Once the assessment is completed Staff will now the location of greatest need thereby $500K in ARPA funds will be expensed in implementation.
$350K Wi-Fi at the Park
Project support Council vision to provide free access to the Internet (Via WIFI) for Carson residents at the City’s major parks, Community Center, and City Hall. On September 20th, 2022, Council approved contract with Datagear, Inc to provide complete installation and configuration of the network, and contractor will support and maintain infrastructure for period of 3 years. Total cost of the project is $420,272.94, which exceeded $350K in ARPA funds awarded. The remaining $70K was paid by the General Fund.
$330K Emergency Operations Center Upgrade
Currently Staff is in process of soliciting rates for services from consulting firms to provide three conceptual planning designs. Given the estimated cost of the project which is projected to exceed the earmarked $330K the goal is to coordinate with approved consultants that Engineering has existing contracts to potentially include this project with scope of work to help expedite the process and maintain control on cost.
$183K Community Engagement
On August 2nd, 2022, Council approved contract with Raftelis Financial Consultants to develop two comprehensive Strategic Communications and Marketing Implementation Plan: one for the City’s Public Information Office and one for the Carson Event Center. The final plan will recommend guidelines for the public communication strategies, staffing organization, branding, outreach, engagement, communications, best practices, and templates for both the City and the Carson Event Center. Citywide wayfinding and monument signage as well as the City logos will be considered. The branding component will be designed to incorporate elements of the current City brand and enhance the City’s ability to attract and retain local business investment while improving the City’s ability to engage the community through a consolidated Citywide communications program. The consultant is currently planning a series of interviews with key stakeholders, including the City Council, to gather input on the City’s existing communications and develop strategic recommendations for the City to consider.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
No Fiscal Impact, all remaining ARPA Funds from FY 21-22 was carryforward to FY 22-23. VI. EXHIBITS
1. ARPA FY 22-23 1st Quarter Report PowerPoint (pgs.5-18)
Prepared by: Ralston Turner, Sr. Budget Analyst