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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1995 0104 CC REG ITEM 08ETEM cf � f.C1�CU: CITY OF MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT By TO: The Honorable City Council FROM: Donald P. Reynolds Jr., Administrative Services Manag DATE: December 19, 1994, (CC Meeting of January 4, 1995) �-� SUBJECT: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Status Report and Consider Development of 1995/96 Funding Objectives Introduction The following report will summarize past City CDBG appropriations, review the status of these programs, and suggest certain objectives for the upcoming CDBG appropriations for consideration by the City Council. Staff is recommending that funds continue to be provided for public services to the maximum amount allowed by law, that administrative funds be set -aside for the estimated needs of the upcoming fiscal year, and that the balance of the grant be applied towards a street improvement project and /or affordable housing that will allow the City to expend funds in compliance with HUD requirements, (which includes a requirement to maximize expenditures by not having a surplus balance of CDBG funds greater than 1.5 grant years based upon the amount of the most recent grant year). In conformance with procedures established for the CDBG program on April 12, 1989, staff requests authorization to distribute requests for proposals during the month of January. Proposals are due to the City on February Sixth, and the citizen participation process is initiated and completed in the month of March and April. It has been the City's practice to open the public hearings at the first Council meeting in March, refer the proposals and public testimony to the Budget and Finance Committee, and conclude the process with the Committee's recommendations at the first meeting in April. The City's proposals will be submitted to the County during the first week in April. The 1995/96 funds (estimated to be $200,000) will most likely be available for the City's use between July and September, 1995. BACKGROUND The City participates in the annual appropriations of grant funds for CDBG program as part of the Urban County Entitlement program, ( "Entitlement program ") administered by the County of Ventura, in cooperation with the cities of Camarillo, Port Hueneme, Ojai, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Moorpark. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, established three national objectives for the Community Development Block Grant: 1) to benefit a majority of low and moderate income persons (currently set by HUD at 750); 2) to eliminate slum and blighted conditions, and; 3) to meet a particularly urgent health and safety need in the community. 00071 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 This is the first year that HUD will distribute funds to the County without considering the City of Camarillo. Camarillo decided not to participate in the County's program because their population has increased above 50,000 and they now qualify as a separate Entitlement. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the amount of funds that will be awarded to the County, and distributed to Moorpark. The County is advertising a funding level that is very conservative, estimating that at least two million dollars will be made available, compared to 2.8 million dollars last year. The distribution of the CDBG monies is based upon a formula incorporated into a three year "cooperative agreement," (entering its first year on July, 1995), between the Entitlement cities and the County. The first two cooperative agreements distributed funds using a simple per- capita formula. The third and current cooperative agreement moved to a formula closely resembling HUD's by distributing the money based on an average of population, poverty levels and overcrowded housing. The cooperative agreement applicable to the 1995 CDBG program and for the next three years, will completely resemble the HUD formula by applying specific percentages to each of the three criteria. Under the original formula, (1986 to 1991), the City would be receiving close to 11 percent of the funds, and during the past three years, after adjustment to the new formula, the City received 8.9 percent of the funds. As proposed for 1995, the City's share would have decreased again to 6 percent, but without considering Camarillo, the City's share will be 8.4 percent. The decrease in funding to Moorpark as a result of changes to the distribution formula, has resulted in a lower allocation of between $15,000 and $20,000 per year since 1990. All of Moorpark's past appropriations have focussed on the "low /mod" benefit criteria through either public services, housing, infrastructure improvements in eligible neighborhoods, and administrative expenses related to the management of these programs. A family of four is considered to be a low income family if the total family income is less than 80 percent of the median income. In 1994, this income figure was below $39,900. Although technically, a majority of the funds used under this national objective have to benefit the "low /mod" income criteria, HUD has established a target of 75 percent low and moderate income benefit. This application of the national objective allows a CDBG project to benefit a lower majority of low income persons, as long as other CDBG projects are used to benefit a higher majority to reach an average of 75 percent. 00072 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 The grant is limited in its funding of public service activities and administrative funds. Public services are limited by a 15 percent cap placed on the "project" funding appropriation, ( "project" funding is the City's total grant amount less administration funds). The amount of administrative funds are calculated based upon a formula prescribed in the three year cooperative agreement using 10 percent of the grant amount of the Entitlement appropriation from HUD, regardless of the amount made available for projects in each jurisdiction. Attachment "A" summarizes the City's past CDBG appropriations since its inception in 1986. The use of funds has varied from one program in 1986, to 11 different programs in 1991/92, to 8 programs currently. When the County and City fund the same program, a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) can be executed where the County assumes responsibility for managing the activities. In the past, the Council approved JPA's for the following projects; 1987- Networking for Housing, 1990- Casa Pacifica public improvement project, Food Share Warehouse Acquisition, the Long Term Care Ombudsman and the Homeless Ombudsman program. In 1993, and 1994, the Long Term Care Ombudsman and the Homeless Ombudsman programs received joint support. The County will hold its hearing in March, 1995, and based on the Board of Supervisor's decisions, the City will know which proposals will be eligible for a JPA before making its final decisions on April 5, 1995. PROGRAM STATUS All of the four public service contracts have been executed, and have initiated the new year's service during the fall of 1994. All of the JPA's have been executed and have drawn down all of their funds. At mid -year, after using Moorpark's $2,000 contribution, the County had to delete the position of "Homeless Ombudsman," replacing it with case workers to assist homeless persons and others in need of social services. The City's First Street project closes the solicitation for bids during the first week in January, using $323,531 of the City's CDBG. The City's earthquake assistance for the Mayflower Market is currently out for bid, and will also be closing during the first week of January. By February, all of the City's CDBG funds will be obligated to specific projects that are making progress. 3 00073 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 DISCUSSION HUD Expenditure Objective Last year at this time, staff reported that the County was placed on probation by HUD for the second time in June 1993, for not using CDBG fast enough, (the first probation was in 1990). In the 1993 status report to Council, it was recognized by staff that the City had to identify a project to use $54,000 in CDBG by March 1994, to assist the County meet the HUD regulation of timely expenditures. The City's Charles Street Phase II project met and exceeded this goal. Since that time, the Council has moved $130,784 of unobligated funds to First Street, avoiding any likelihood that Moorpark would be behind HUD's progress objective. At this time, as result of those decisions, the City is using CDBG funds to address the needs of the community more efficiently and faster than it has before. New Regulations The federal government has proposed and /or is in the process of implementing several new regulations. Most are the result of HUD's effort to be "reinvented." The most significant change is to the required comprehensive housing study, originally referred to as the Housing Assistance Plan ( "HAP ") in 1991, the Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy ( "CHAS ") in 1992, and replacing the CHAS in 1994 is the new Consolidated Plan. The consolidated plan attempts to combine all reports for a variety of HUD's programs (e.g., "HOME," "HOPE," "HOPWA," Section 8, CDBG) into one comprehensive study of the community. The needs addressed in each grantee's consolidated plan, will have to tie directly to the needs addressed in CDBG projects, and several other housing related HUD programs. A second change is an attempt by HUD to facilitate the use of CDBG for economic devlopment purposes. These regulations include creating a new eligibility group and special provisions to assist "microenterprises" defined as businesses with five or fewer employees. The types of assistance available from CDBG for microenterprises includes general guidance and business management, personal finance counseling, training on specific topics such as substance abuse at the work -site and sexual harassment, and other management tools. HUD perceives this legislation to be part of the delivery cost of providing an economic devlopment activity, and therefore does not limit these projects by imposing the public service funding cap. Cl 00074 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 Other changes that may have a minor impact on the City include penalties for late report filings, the semantics applied to the terms "low and moderate income persons," changes to increase HUD's control of "Program Income" (Moorpark has none, but this law does impact housing rehabilitation loan repayments), the use of quotas applied to the amount of recycled products used in federally funded projects, and changes to the Rule 3 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The proposed change to the Civil Rights laws include such provisions as awarding contracts to companies who not just bid the lowest, but plan to employ the most persons from the neighborhood where the project is located. All of these provisions, in some form or another, are applicable to the 1995 grant year. CDBG Public Staff Meeting (December 8, 1994) HUD requires that the public be allowed to share CDBG proposals with agency staff persons prior to the public hearing, held at the County Government Center. Four proposals were presented out of twenty, that tie directly to existing City services: senior nutrition, Homeless Ombudsman, Long Term Care Ombudsman and teen counseling provided by the Palmer Drug and Alcohol Dependency Program, "PDAP", (which is a subcontractor for E1 Concilio for Project Pride). The City anticipates receiving some form of a proposal from the County to address the County -wide issue of assisting persons without permanent housing, but is currently uncertain about its exact meaning, (in lieu of not having a "Homeless Ombudsman "). Public testimony indicated that the needs are increasing for services to the homeless, and that the County's ability to provide these services has been significantly reduced when compared to prior years. One proposal was received from the County of Ventura's Personnel Department for the use of CDBG to support a job training and a small business development program under the newly created federal eligibility regulations described above. The County has been utilizing a State grant which ends in June, 1995, and is asking for CDBG to replace it. Proposed Funding Priorities Public Improvements Improvements to the City infrastructure in the low and moderate communities have continued to be a successful way to use CDBG, and continue to represent a significant need in the City. 5 00075 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 The Moorpark Redevelopment Agency and City Public Works departments presented a proposed Capital Improvement Project (CIP) list to the Council and Agency members at the end of fiscal year 1993/94, (Attachment "B "). In this listing, CDBG was mentioned as a possible funding source for several projects. As noted in previous staff reports, only one census block in the City is automatically eligible for CDBG, that being the area in Moorpark north of High Street, including Walnut Canyon, Charles Street, Everett Street and Wicks Road. The First Street and Virginia Colony projects were qualified using surveys. Any of the residential projects listed on the CIP south of High Street, and west of Spring Road or east of Moorpark Avenue, will require surveys. Candidate projects that are currently eligible (referring to the CIP) include Everett Street and Magnolia Street improvements. Projects that will require a survey but are most likely eligible, include Poindexter Reconstruction, and alley reconstruction on First Street. Due to the past successes of this use of CDBG and the efficiency by which CDBG can be used for this purpose, staff strongly recommends that the Council consider this use as a top priority. Housing Housing projects have not been considered as an efficient use of CDBG in Moorpark over the past few years. CDBG can slow progress on housing projects, and at the current pace of increasing interests rates, combined with the high cost of land, could potentially prevent a CDBG housing project from maintaining its availability to low and very low income families. A housing preservation program is being developed by the Moorpark Redevelopment Agency. Although the program is well underway, it is too early to determine if the Agency will have enough interest in the project to warrant the need of Entitlement CDBG funds. Staff recommends deferring consideration of the use of CDBG for housing preservation until fiscal year 1996/97, after the initiation of public outreach. Public Services Many proposals were received by the City in 1994 from local and county -wide public service agencies. In 1993 and 1994, the 15% allotment for this use was divided among 6 different agencies serving the seniors, homeless, the literacy program, legal assistance and other various needs of the low and moderate income population. The cost of these programs appears to have stabilized, 9 00078 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 and so have the number of beneficiaries. Staff recommends that the Council consider the use of the 15 percent allotment for currently funded public services based the performance of past programs, and new programs based upon the new program's proposed service levels. Current performance levels are provided in Attachment "C." As previously mentioned, funding levels may be lower in 1995, and if so, would decrease the City's ability to serve as many persons as in previous years with CDBG. Administration Since 1989, the City has approved the expenditure of CDBG for administrative purposes. This amount has ranged from between $19,070 to $25,740, and accounts for approximately half of the salary and benefits of the Administrative Services Manager and a portion of the Senior Planner in Community Development. For the past three years, in response to a HUD mandate, the County requested that 1% of the Administrative funds ($1,890 in 1992/93, $1,980 in 1993/94 and $1,600 in 1994/95) be contributed to "affirmatively further fair housing." The cost was down last year, because this is the first of three years that Camarillo participated. Camarillo won't be participating in 1995, therefore, staff is anticipating a small increase. Staff has been informed that this request will be made each year by the County from the administrative set -aside until the law changes to allow fair housing to be considered a public; service. As previously reported to the Council, the City is only being reimbursed for 50 percent of the actual cost for grant administration. When proposed to the County that the City solicit 100 percent approval per the requirements stipulated by OMB Circular A -87, the County referred to this request as being almost impossible, and that even the County does not have an approved plan from HUD for billing indirect and general overhead expenses. As a result, only $88,000 of a need close to $170,000 was collected. This lead to a surplus of CDBG in this account, which was addressed by the Council by re- appropriating funds for First Street in October of this year. Due to the surplus, the City is currently spending 1993 grant monies for administration, with no appropriation from the 1994 grant year. In 1995 however, between $25,000 and $28,000 will be needed for this purpose for both the staff of Community Development and Administrative Services. 00077 CDBG RFP's 1995/96 December 1994 RECOMMENDATION That the City Council authorize staff to request proposals for the use of CDBG funds for the upcoming 1994/95 appropriations, consistent with this report and pursuant to the following schedule: Request For Proposals 1/5/95 to 2/6/95 Staff to Review Proposals 2/7/95 to 2/16/95 Open Public Hearing, Receive Public Testimony 3/1/95 Budget and Finance Committee Review 3/2/95 to 3/17/95 Final Appropriations "-� 311 hS �`" Proposals Due to County by 4/7/95. Attachments: A) Five Year Overview of Past Appropriations Expenditure and Distribution Analysis B) Capital Improvement Project List C) Project Status- Narrative and Statistical Analysis 8 00078 ATTACHMENT "A" PAST APPROPRIATIONS a b c d e f 9 h i Program 1986/87 1987/88 1988/89 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 TOTAL Administration 19070 19810 19010 21620 4700 18489 0 102699 Fair Housing 1890 1980 1600 5470 Street Improvements Virg. Colony Imps. 133660 52321 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 185981 Charles Street 0 1795 105266 44734 57358 81773 109094 149739 0 549759 Handicap Ramps 0 0 0 92266 39222 0 0 0 0 131488 First Street 21460 60000 41000 8324 192747 323531 Other Public Improvements Food Share 0 0 0 0 5000 2000 0 0 0 7000 Casa Pacifica 0 0 0 0 25000 0 0 0 0 25000 Affordable Housing CEDC (Acq.) 0 53540 0 0 ;) 0 0 0 0 53540 Aquisition 0 0 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 Networking 0 5000 0 0 0 J 0 0 0 5000 Public Services Sr. Nutrition 0 0 0 10000 10000 10500 10000 10000 12000 62500 Sr. Lifeline 0 0 0 5480 ) 0 0 0 5480 Vocational Trng. 0 0 0 5437 1 0 0 0 5437 Adult Literacy 0 0 0 0 8000 5000 5000 5000 5000 28000 Homeless Omb. 0 0 0 0 500 500 500 2000 2000 5500 Legal Services 0 0 0 563 7000 1200 3650 4506 4506 21425 Senior Equip. 0 0 0 0 198" 0 0 0 1987 Long Term Care Omb. 0 0 0 0 2500 1000 2000 2790 8290 Cath. Charities 0 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- 0 0 C 7500 7500 8000 8000 31000 Totals 133660 134116 124336 178290 171090 194580 184334 210038 228643 1559087 PAGE 1 of 2 00079 ATTACHMENT "A "- DIST. OF FUNDS /STATUS 62500 PROJECTED PROJECTED PROJECTED 5437 Adult Literacy 28000 Expenses Exp. for Bal. Total June 194 Percent Program TOTAL to date FY 1994/95 Expend. Balance Exp. by 6/94 Administration 102699 84815 16000 100815 1884 98.17% Fair Housing 5470 5470 0 5470 0 100.00% Street Improvements 8290 0 8290 0 100.00% 23000 --------------------------------------------------- Virg. Colony Imps. 185981 185981 0 185981 0 100.00% Charles Street 549759 549759 0 549759 0 100.00% Handicap Ramps 131488 131488 0 131488 0 100.00% First Street 323531 0 323531 323531 0 100.00% Other Public Improvements Food Share 7000 7000 0 7000 0 100.00% Casa Pacifica 25000 25000 0 25000 0 100.00% Affordable Housing CEDC (Acq.) 53540 Aquisition 0 Networking 5000 Public Services Sr. Nutrition 62500 Sr. Lifeline 5480 Vocational Trng. 5437 Adult Literacy 28000 Homeless Omb. 5500 Legal Services 21425 Senior Equip. 1987 Long Term Care Omb. 8290 Cath. Charities --------------------------------------- 31000 Totals 1559087 53540 53540 0 100.00% 0 0 ERR 5000 5000 0 100.00% 50500 9000 59500 3000 95.20% 5480 0 5480 0 100.00% 5437 0 5437 0 100.00% 23000 3750 26"50 1250 95.54% 5500 0 5500 0 100.00% 16919 3380 20299 1126 94.74% 1987 0 1987 0 100.00% 8290 0 8290 0 100.00% 23000 --------------------------------------------------- 6000 29000 2000 93.55% 1188166 361661 1549827 9260 99.41% ATTACHMENT "A" PAGE 2 OF CATEGORICAL OVERALL PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS OF FUNDS 6.59% 6.94% 0.35% 76.38% 11.93% 35.26% 8.43% 20.75% 2.05% 0.45% 1.60% 3.75°% 3.43% 0.00% 0.32% 10.88% 4.01% 0.35% 0.35% 1.80% 0.35% 1.37% 0.13% 0.53% 1.99% ----------------- - - - - -- 100.00% 100.00% 00080 ATTACHMENT B EXHIBIT I Approved August S, 1994 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROTECTS LIST Eligible Funding Source MRA - Moorpark Redevelopment Agency GAS i AX L L)A - State vas Tax. and 1 ransportatton Development Act AD 84 -2 - Assessment District 84 -2 LAAUC - L-os Angeles Avenue Area of Contribution STLPP - State /Local Partnership Program STP - Surface Transportation Program CDBG - Community Development Block Grant O O O 00 LEGEND - Caltrans Contribution Possible Caltrans Contribution - Council has tentatively approved AD 84 -2 Zone of Benefit assessment SCE on existing poles s - Potentially eligible H H C1 x r� z q .m I CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROTECTS LIST PROJECT A. Moorpark Ave. Storm Drain B. First Street Reconstruction C. Bard - RR to Second Street D. North of High Street 1) Walnut Street - High Street to Charles Stmt 2) Everett Street - Moorpark Ave. to Magnolia 3! Magnolia - Charles Street to Everett Street 4) Bard - High Street to Charles Street 5) Magnolia - High Street to Charles Street 6) Valley Road O O MRA /SGH94011 /RPT /03/06/94 QO N GAS AD MRA TAX TDA 84 -2 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ FUNDING SOURCE STATE FEDERAL LAAOC DEVELOPER STLPP STP CDBG OTHER ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓' ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ FUNDING SOURCE STATE FEDERAL LAAOC DEVELOPER STLPP STP CDBG OTHER ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓' E F. G. H. I. e FUNDING SOURCE GAS AD STATE FEDERAL PROJECT MRA TAX TDA 84 -2 LAAOC DEVELOPER STLPP STP CDBG OTHER Landscape and Entrance Enhancements 1) Entrance Enhancement - Los Angeles Ave. and Millard ✓ ✓ 2) Entrance Enhancement - Condor and Avenida Coloma 3) Nogales and East Los Angeles Ave. ✓ ✓ 4) Entrance Enhancement - Spring Road ✓ and Second Street ✓ ✓ ti Entrance Enhancement - Spring Road and Roberts Ave. ✓ ✓ 6) Spring Road Landscape - West Side ✓ ✓ i) Spnng Road Median ✓ ✓ Poindexter Reconstruction ✓ ✓ Spring Road Storm Drain ✓ ✓ East Los Angeles Ave. Realignment ✓ ✓ East Los Angeles Ave. 1) Block Wall ✓ ✓ 2) Street Lighting ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓3 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓' ✓4 J K. L. M PROJECT Flinn Road Overlay /Reconstruction Flory Overlay /Reconstruction Goldman Overlay /Reconstruction Alley Lighting Alley Reconstruction Southeast Moorpark & First Street High Street West of Moorpark Ave. GAS MRA TAX TDA ✓ ✓ FUNDING SOURCE AD STATE FEDERAL 84-2 LAAOC DEVELOPER STLPP STP CDBG OTHER ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ FUNDING SOURCE AD STATE FEDERAL 84-2 LAAOC DEVELOPER STLPP STP CDBG OTHER ✓s ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓4 ✓s Attachment C December, 1994 ATTACHMENT C CDBG PROJECT STATUS This narrative describes City progress with past and current CDBG appropriations. Public Services (10.88% of Funds) The City has consistently funded several programs making a variety of services available to Moorpark citizens of low and moderate income status. The table below is an attempt to illustrate the number of persons served for each program, and length of time that these programs have existed under the CDBG sponsorship. Active Local Programs Number of Program Years Funded Number served Senior Nutrition 6th year 61 seniors served daily, during FY 1993/94 Adult Literacy 5th year 25 persons currently enrolled, 3 new students per quarter average during FY 1993/94 Legal Services (provided for low income families) 5th year 57 new families during FY 1993/94, Catholic Charities 3rd year 1375 persons served during FY 1993/94 1 00085 Attachment C December„ 1994 Senior Life Line telephone answering device 3rd year currently 8 of the 10 devices are installed Joint Powers Agreement, (active county wide services) Homeless Ombudsman 5th year 1,000 persons served per year, 8 to 12 families in Moorpark Long Term Care Ombudsman 4th year 632 persons served last year Public Services that have been Concluded The initiation of a Vocational Training program with the Boys and Girls Club, (CDBG sponsorship ended in January 1992). Acquisition of equipment for the Moorpark Senior Citizens Club, which has now been transferred to the City and remains at the Senior Center. Street Improvements- 76.38% of Funds) Street improvements have progressed rapidly over the past year. First Street is scheduled to begin in February. Combining the beneficiaries of Charles Street, First Street and Virginia Colony, over 300 households have benefitted from these projects. The City's handicap ramp project which installed over 150 ramps in previously un -cut sidewalks, is estimated to benefit 10 percent of the community, or 2,700 persons. Other Public Improvements- 2.05% of Funds Jointly funded public improvements have progressed well and are completed. The Food Share warehouse acquisition project was completed relieving this non - profit agency of monthly rental costs for their facility. The Casa Pacifica project, (housing for abused and battered children), is open to the public. Affordable Housinq- (3,..75% of Funds) Due to the slow moving progress on CDBG housing efforts, the City reprogrammed 17 percent of these funds to street improvements. The CEDC contract ended, and the loan to Networking for Housing was awarded to the Area Housing Authority for a project near Lake Piru 11 :• Attachment C December, 1994 to develop affordable housing units for that community. Administration-C6.94% of Funds) The need for funding administrative costs continues because of the many Moorpark CDBG programs being funded, frequent changes in the federal laws, and the need for the City to submit annual reports and other documents related to the performance of the program. Last year, the City identified its costs and was able to catch -up on reimbursements for past expenses. The balance of funds was used for anticipated costs for the current fiscal year, and reappropriated for First Street improvements. The Fair Housing contribution (equal to .35% of the Administrative funds) made by the City over the past two years, has been utilized for a contract service located in Camarillo, designed to serve the Entitlement area. All jurisdictions in the Entitlement group contributed to this program. Services available to Moorpark residents include a 24 hour hot -line, outreach, consultation and assistance filing complaints. 00087