Background
Over the last several months, staff has worked with the Board of Supervisors on a planning process associated with American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding. This process included the adoption of guiding principles, review of eligibility requirements, soliciting proposals and concepts for use of funds both internally and externally, performing a robust community outreach process, and ultimately coming back before the Board on September 7, 2021, for a workshop on the development of the ARP expenditure plan. A copy of proposals and funding concepts received to date is included as Attachment A.
Expenditure Plan
The FY 2021-22 Adopted Budget, which will be heard later on the Board agenda of September 28th, proposes to appropriate the entire balance of the County’s $42.8 million in ARP funds. However, at this time, staff are only recommending four priority projects for initial approval which include:
| Priority Projects |
Activities |
Amount |
| Capay Valley Health & Community Center(1) |
Medical and dental services for an underserved community |
$2,250,000 |
| Crisis Now |
Funding for implementation of 24/7 Crisis Now service |
$3,000,000 |
| Yolo Regional Food Hub |
Facility to expand aggregating, processing, storing, and distribution locally farm grown produce |
$2,000,000 |
| Welcome Baby(2) |
Provide home visiting to new and at-risk mothers |
$2,000,000 |
| Total |
$9,250,000 |
(1) Total funding for project is $2,500,000, which includes $250,000 of Intergovernmental Transfer Funding (IGT).
(2) Funding is less than amount requested as First 5 is expected to pursue matching funds from other agencies.
Should the Board approve these priority projects, staff will work with the proposers to develop contracts and return to the Board of Supervisors for approval. These contracts are anticipated to include all relevant information, including performance measures for the projects.
For other areas of the plan, staff have developed proposed funding categories, as reflected below.
| Recommended ARP Funding Allocations |
| ARP Priority Category |
Activities |
Amount |
| Housing/Homeless to Functional Zero |
Increased permanent and transitional housing, farm worker housing, programming, and planning for paying ongoing case worker supports |
$7,500,000 |
| Food Security |
Infrastructure investments and supports to combat food insecurity. |
$3,000,000 |
| Child, Youth and Family |
Health equity, 0-5, behavioral health, upstream investments, childcare, internships, home visiting |
$5,500,000 |
| Mental Health |
Coordinate response and utilization of varied funding streams |
$500,000 |
| Community Parks & Facilities |
County parks and facilities in rural areas |
$3,000,000 |
| Total |
$19,500,000 |
| Strategic Plan Implementation |
Activities |
Amount |
| Climate Action Implementation |
The County's Climate Action Plan is being developed; this would be a set aside for implementing projects identified through that process |
$1,000,000 |
| Economic Development Plan/Activities |
Development of an Economic Development plan to serve rural and disadvantaged areas and funds for implementation |
$500,000 |
| Aging Needs |
Emergency-related supports for seniors |
$250,000 |
| Broadband Strategic Plan Implementation |
Set aside funding specifically for Broadband and to leverage toward State funding opportunities |
$500,000 |
| Water/Wastewater Infrastructure |
Planning to leverage State funding in disadvantaged and rural areas |
$1,000,000 |
| Total |
$3,250,000 |
| Priority Projects (Shown Above) |
|
Amount |
| Total |
$9,250,000 |
| Other Funding Uses |
Activities |
Amount |
| Revenue Reimbursement |
Can be used for general government expenses or projects that are not eligible for ARP funds |
$3,100,000 |
| COVID Response |
Set aside for current and future COVID-19 emergency response needs |
$1,500,000 |
| ARP Staffing |
Staffing to support ARP projects and ensure execution. Recommended are a program lead and fiscal support, along with consultants, as necessary |
$2,000,000 |
| Reserve |
Funds held in reserve for emerging needs during the ARP plan time horizon. Board can appropriate as needs arise. |
$4,200,000 |
| Total |
$10,800,000 |
| Total Recommended ARP Funding Allocations |
$42,800,000 |
If the Board approves these funding categories in concept, staff will form County workgroups to develop recommendations and return to the Board for approval of funding for specific projects or purposes. Thus, those funds would remain unexpended until approved by the Board for a specific project or purpose. If the ARP appropriation is approved as part of the 2021-22 Adopted Budget, the Board may approve subsequent specific projects or expenditures with a majority vote.
The Board asked staff to review several areas of the proposed ARP expenditure plan at their last meeting on September 14, 2021, and bring back a recommendation. Those items are noted as follows:
- Welcome Baby – County staff from the Health and Human Services Agency have continued collaboration to refine the Welcome Baby home visiting program to focus on high-risk populations receiving services from Medi-Cal. The staff recommendation includes $2 million in funding for the program. While this is not the full amount requested, staff want to allow time for the program to follow-up on its requests for matching contributions from cities and other partners. If these matching contributions do not materialize, staff will return to the Board to consider options to assist with any remaining funding gap.
- Paul’s Place – Staff were asked to review the project proposal from Davis Community Meals and Housing shortly before the September 14, 2021, meeting. In a preliminary analysis, staff determined this is likely an eligible use of ARP funds, but recommend that this request be considered in more detail at the workgroup level with other Housing and Homelessness proposals. This would allow Housing and Homeless proposals to receive equal consideration for the funds set aside in that priority category.
Workgroups
For each of the priority categories that have been identified County staff intends to form workgroups that will be led by a County staff member and will obtain input from both internal and external subject matter experts. The tasks to be accomplished by each of these workgroups are as follows:
- Form group and engage Subject Matter Experts (SME)
- Review, refine and make recommendations on proposals received to date
- Identify outcomes and project performance measures
- Recommend project/procurement approach to full Board
- Assist in procurement and contract oversight
The workgroups are expected to utilize SMEs that are outside of the County. However, to avoid conflicts of interest, SMEs from organizations applying for funds will not be involved in the procurement or decision-making processes, which will be reserved for the County and Board as appropriate.
In addition, staff recognize that the Board may desire a heightened level of involvement in the crafting of funding proposals within each category, as well as the ultimate types of projects that will proceed to the full Board for approval. As a result, staff have prepared an option that compliments the workgroup approach described above. The concept and option illustrated in Attachment B would assign Board member liaisons to workgroup staff where the lead individual assigned to that workgroup can periodically check in, report to and update their Board liaisons on progress and receive guidance before returning to the full Board of Supervisors for approval. This option is at the discretion of the Board if it is deemed to add value to the process. Should this approach be utilized, the Board would need to identify members to serve in the role of Board Liaisons for each priority category.
Policy
Staff recommend approving a Board Policy on the administration of ARP funds similar to what the Board approved for CARES Act funding. The key areas of the policy (Attachment C) are summarized below:
- Allowable expenditures – The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or designee shall review each project or proposed expenditure to determine if it is an allowable use of ARP funds. Should the proposed use of funding not be eligible, the CFO shall advise on the specific concerns or risks promptly and provide any mitigation strategies to maintain allowability.
- Board Principles – Incorporates Board ARP Principles into policy document.
- Competitive bidding – The ARP regulation does not incorporate emergency provisions on competitive solicitation; accordingly, the policy recognizes that regular federal procurement standards must be followed which are already incorporated in the County’s Procurement Policy. In general, these standards require that, unless a sub-award of funds goes to a governmental agency, a competitive process needs to occur to ensure compliance. Depending on the project, this would typically be either a competitive grant process (non-profit funding) or competitive procurement (all other purchases), with limited exceptions.
- Accounting and Budget Control – The Board provides authorization to the CFO or designee to administratively establish necessary accounting or budget structures in order to maintain budget compliance and reporting compliance with US Treasury requirements.
- Reporting – ARP Reporting to US Treasury will be performed by the Department of Financial Services. The County Administrator or designee shall report to the Board on actual expenditures, proposed changes in the ARP Plan, and other matters as needed on a regular basis which shall be no less than bi-annual (twice per year).
Conclusion
Staff recommends that the Board:
- Approve the initial ARP expenditure plan,
- Approve the priority projects and funding categories,
- Provide direction on formation of workgroups and designate Board liaisons if deemed necessary, and
- Adopt the ARP policy on use of funds.
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