DATE: June 20, 2017
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Joint Powers Agreement with Participating Cities for Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnerships and Emergency Solutions Grant Programs
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
TITLE
Approve and authorize Chairman to execute Joint Powers Agreement for the Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnerships Grant and Emergency Solutions Grant Programs for the period July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021, with the cities of Fowler, Kerman, Kingsburg, Reedley, and Selma.
REPORT
Pursuant to Federal regulations, the County notified each of the 13 eligible cities of the opportunity to participate with Fresno County as an Urban County to receive annual entitlements of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Home Investment Partnerships Grant (HOME) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The cities listed above have chosen to join with Fresno County’s Urban County Entitlement Program.
Federal regulations require the County to execute a cooperation agreement with each city that elects to participate. The recommended Agreement satisfies this requirement.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The recommended action enables cities to participate with the County in HUD's CDBG, HOME and ESG entitlement programs as an Urban County. Should the Board of Supervisors choose not to execute the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) with the cities, it would reduce the overall amount of grant funds available to the County's Urban County Program.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost with the recommended action. The County’s community development, housing and homelessness programs as described in the JPA are fully funded including both direct and indirect costs, through HUD’s CDBG, HOME and ESG Programs.
DISCUSSION:
Federal regulations require the County to execute a new JPA with participating cities every three years in order to receive annual entitlements of CDBG, HOME and ESG funds as an Urban County. The deadline for submitting an executed JPA to HUD is July 16, 2017. By executing the JPA, cities agree that the County is responsible for preparing the required five-year Consolidated Plan, preparing the annual grant applications, and administering the Programs. The County agrees to provide a proportional share of CDBG funds, less administrative costs, to each participating city. HOME funds are used to implement affordable housing goals of both the County and participating cities and are used for housing activities on a first-come first-served basis. ESG funds are administered by the Department of Social Services and are used to provide eligible homeless services to residents of the Urban County Program area.
In February, 2017, the County notified the 13 eligible cities of the option to participate with the County in the Urban County Program to receive annual CDBG allocations during the three-year period of July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2021. The cities of Fowler, Kerman, Kingsburg, Reedley, and Selma have elected to join with the County for the three-year period and have submitted the required documents. The Cities of Mendota and Sanger currently participate in the County’s program, but have elected not to join the County for the new three-year period. The cities of Coalinga, Firebaugh, Huron, Orange Cove, Parlier and San Joaquin are currently not participating and have elected to continue not to participate in the County’s program. However, each of the cities that have chosen not to participate in the County's program will have the option to join or rejoin the Urban County Program in the second and/or third year of the three-year JPA period. During their absence from the County’s program, the non-participating cities may be eligible to compete individually for CDBG funds from the State CDBG Program. The cities of Fresno and Clovis are of sufficient population to be deemed Entitlement Cities and receive separate grant entitlements directly from HUD, and as such may not participate in the Urban County Program.
The JPA continues to include provisions to accelerate activity implementation in order to comply with Federal expenditure requirements. These include a process for the temporary reallocation of funds between cities, with mutual consent of the County and the participating cities, so that the overall allocation of grant funds shared between the County and its partner cities will be expended timely. The County and its partner cities have successfully implemented these community development and housing programs over the past 40 years, consistently meeting Federal requirements for timely and effective completion of eligible program activities.
Provisions for the County and all participating cities are outlined in the Summary of Agreement Provisions attached as Exhibit A.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The JPA has been reviewed and approved by the respective participating city councils.
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Exhibit A
On file with Clerk - Joint Powers Agreement with Participating Cities
CAO ANALYST:
John Hays