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City of Missoula, Montana Item to be Referred to City Council Committee Committee: City Council (special meeting) Item: Resolution amending FY 09 Action Plan and awarding supplemental Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds Date: May 22, 2009 Prepared by: Mike Barton, OPG Initiated by: Mayor John Engen Action Required: Conduct a public hearing and consider a resolution to award CDBG funds. Recommended Motion: I move the City Council adopt the attached resolution amending its Fiscal Year 09 Action Plan and awarding $151,850 in Community Development Block Grant funds appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Timeline: Referral to committee: May 22, 2009 Committee discussion: June 1, 2009 Public Hearing: June 1, 2009 Deadline: June 5, 2009 Background and Alternatives Explored: The Congress has appropriated additional CDBG funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has allocated $168,720 of those funds to the City of Missoula. While ARRA was passed in February, HUD’s regulations governing the additional CDBG funds were not published until May 11. OPG staff had solicited letters of interest from agencies so that the City would be poised to seek applications when the regulations were finally published. Thirteen projects were proposed through the letters of intent and on May 11, staff invited agencies to submit full applications for those projects. Applications were due on May 20. Staff has reviewed the nine applications that were submitted and recommends that 10% of the City’s allocation, $16,870, be reserved to meet administrative expenses and that the remaining $151,850 be disbursed in three awards: 1) $22,000 to the Missoula Fire Department for installation of two fire hydrants in the Franklin to the Fort neighborhood. 2) $75,000 to the Missoula Parks and Recreation Department for installation of playground equipment at Lafray Park. 3) $54,850 to the Missoula Parks and Recreation Department for replacement of playground equipment at Kiwanis Park. ---PAGE BREAK--- Reviewers indicated that these three proposals best responded to HUD’s encouragement “to use CDBG-R funds for hard development costs associated with infrastructure activities that provide basic services to residents.” Financial Implications: The City must respond to HUD with an amended Action Plan by June 5 to receive the $168,720 allocation.. Attachments: Applicable HUD regulations: http://www.hud.gov/recovery/cdbg-r-notice.pdf Missoulian Advertisement Resolution