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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/06/2020 06 HOME Consortium Program Staffing; Response to Yakima County Request for Assistance a\'4\lyy bxk ik 1 1-:41 PPPPPP+Pd s' lii it tYlltYlA.\ta. BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AGENDA STATEMENT Item No. 6. For Meeting of: October 6, 2020 ITEM TITLE: Consideration of City Council response to Yakima County's request for assistance in HOME Consortium Program staffing SUBMITTED BY: Joan Davenport, Community Development Director SUMMARY EXPLANATION: On August 26, 2020, Yakima County Board of Commissioners submitted a written request for a discussion with the City related to staff needs for the Countywide HOME Consortium. Included in this agenda item is the written request from the Commissioners, a draft Scope of Work from the County Public Services Director and a recommendation for City Council consideration. ITEM BUDGETED: STRATEGIC PRIORITY: APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL BY THE CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council encourage Yakima County to pursue a Request for Proposal (RFP) process which would allow the City time to evaluate our capabilities to help and develop a proposal, if feasible. ATTACHMENTS: Description Upload Date Type i Letter Fro missioners to pity 9/1 / 00 backup Material D af co of Work fear s istance 9/10/2020 ackup Matonal D taft r o mendation re unty4 nsortiu 9/29/2020 r Me o *gFCI2D BOARD OF YA rF KIMA CO )9,00,4,4 COMMISSIONERS AUG 2 6 :O YAM riM OFFICE OF CI TV COG.Darry • COUNCIL August 26,2020 Yakima City Council Attention: Mayor Patricia Byers City of Yakima 129 N. 2nd St. Yakima,WA 98901 Dear Mayor Byers and Council: We are writing to express our interest in forming a partnership with the City of Yakima's Office of Neighborhood Development Services to support Yakima County's Home Investment Partnerships Act(HOME)Consortium. The goal of the HOME Consortium, a collection of seven Lower Valley cities, the town of Harrah and unincorporated Yakima County, is to provide affordable and supportive housing for lower-income households. Since 2009, the Consortium has offered housing and rental rehabilitation and new construction for those households. Like the Office of Neighborhood Development Services, it operates under federal Housing and Urban Development(HUD)requirements to help our residents most in need. Yakima County serves as the lead entity for this important mission. Recently, however, we find ourselves at a crossroad regarding the administration of the HOME Program. Our long-time program manager is leaving County employment,and one of the two support positions is vacant. Due to COVID 19,we currently do not have the capacity to restructure the administration of the program to complete current HOME projects.Hence this letter. We are requesting to hold a conversation with City Leadership about entering into an agreement to allow Neighborhood Development Services Manager Archie Matthews to coordinate and manage the day-to-day operations of the HOME Program. The purpose would be to guide the Consortium through the existing home improvement and new development projects.We see it as an interim measure to allow the County time to discuss with the Consortium members the future vision of the program,and not as a long-term commitment. The benefit to both County and City residents is significant: the collaboration will help ensure the City meets its own low income housing goals by offering additional low income housing in neighboring communities and unincorporated Yakima County. We know we share the important goal of assisting low-income residents with safe, decent affordable housing, and look forward to engaging with you in this important discussion. We will follow up with you shortly. 128 North Second Street I Room#232 I Yakima,WA 98901 I 509-574-1500 I www.yakimacounty.us/cmrs 3 Sincerely, Board of Yakima County Commissioners Norm Childress Ron Anderson Vicki Baker Chairman of the Board Commissioner,District 2 Commissioner,District 1 Commissioner,District 3 Cc: Craig Warner,Yakima County Budget Director Lisa Freund,Public Services Director 4 HOME Consortium Scope of Services Background The goal of the Yakima County HOME Consortium, a collection of seven Lower Valley cities, the town of Harrah and unincorporated Yakima County, is to provide affordable and supportive housing for lower-income households. Since 2009, the Consortium has offered housing and rental rehabilitation and new construction for those households. It operates under federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements to help County residents most in need. Yakima County serves as the lead entity for this important mission. Recently, Yakima County finds itself at a crossroad regarding the administration of the HOME Program. The long-time program analyst who managed the program has left County employment, and one of the two support positions is vacant. Due to COVID 19, the County currently does not have the capacity to restructure the administration of the program to complete current HOME Consortium projects. We are seeking a consultant..to bring the existing open 31 housing rehab projects and three development projects to completion following HUD Rules and Regulations. The expectation is the agreement would not exceed 12 months. The Consultant shall perform the following tasks: Management/Supervision Manage the day-to-day operations of the HOME Consortium program, described in 1-6 below, with the assistance of one County clerical FTE and one inspection consultant. Consultant will make recommendations for management's decision on any procedural changes and project awards within the HOME program. Conduct Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) to oversee that all open projects meet HUD regulations. Conduct CIA/QC of subordinates' work and report any performance issue to management. Communications The Consultant will schedule and participate in regular coordination meetings, phone calls, and other communications with the project team (Public Services management and staff)to exchange information, obtain feedback, address project issues, and to reduce the potential for misunderstandings and delays. Deliverables 1. Coordination. Consultant will provide an online meeting platform as requested, for coordination of meetings as needed for the duration of the contract. a. Consultant will participate in, at a minimum, 12 online and/or in person coordination meetings as needed. If the Consultant chooses to participate at a non-Courthouse venue, it is anticipated that the online meetings (GoTo Meeting, Draft Scope of Work vl_Sept. 14, 2020 5 Skype, Teams, etc.) will include: numbers and screen share functionality (as necessary) to enable review and efficient discussion of issues. b. Consultant will cooperate with County and project team to update the project status. 2. Housing Rehabilitation. Complete the 31 open housing rehab projects and ensure they follow HUD rules and regulations to include regulatory mandates, proper recording and reporting as appropriate to satisfy HUD regulations and monitoring. 3. New Development. Complete the three Request for Proposal (RFPs) for new development. 4. Grant Management. Complete all administrative tasks within IDIS, including but not limited to: entering the approved Consolidated Plan, Annual Action Plan and CAPER into IDIS (see #7, below); setting up projects. a. Meet departmental and County procedures and deadlines for bidding projects and awarding contracts. 5. Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and Home Board Support a. Advise management when a TAC meeting is needed; schedule and staff TAC meetings, ensure distribution of documents, meeting summaries and other support materials needed for the TAG to make informed decisions. b. Advise management when project/decisions rise to HOME Board review and decision-making. c. Provide technical support to the HOME Board. Attend meetings and provide recommendations as requested. 6. Coordinate and perform monitoring activities on active completed projects. County Responsibilities 7. Review and adopt the Five-Year Consolidated Plan/Annual Action Plan/CAPER a. The County is responsible for preparing the draft 2020 Consolidated Plan, Annual Action Plan,and 2019 CAPER for public review. b. The County is responsible for ensuring the adopted Citizen Participation Plan is followed, including but not limited to, entering public comments into the above documents, coordinating County Commission review of the draft documents and scheduling HUD-required hearings. 8. HOME Board Meetings The County is responsible for scheduling HOME Board meetings in coordination with the Consultant, preparing meeting agendas, distributing documents, providing clerical support at the meetings, and drafting, distributing and finalizing meeting summaries for the Board. Draft Scope of Work vl_Sept. 14, 2020 6 Assumptions a. Consultant will report to the Yakima County Public Services Director. b. Consultant will provide any project-support needed above and beyond the County's 1 consultant and 1 clerical FTE. c. County will provide a Courthouse workstation, desk phone, computer, and access to IDIS, One Roof, and any agreed-to software required for the consultant to complete the tasks within the scope of work. d. County will provide conference room space for in person meetings. e. County will reimburse mileage for project-related travel within the Consortium at the rate established by the Internal Revenue Service. f. The agreement end date is November 1, 2021 g. The proposed budget will assume 12 progress reports and monthly invoices submitted. Draft Scope of Work vl_Sept. 14, 2020 7 To: Bob Harrison, City Manager From: Joan Davenport, City of Yakima Community Development Director Date: September 21, 2020 Subject: Recommended Response to Yakima County's Request for Staff Assistance with HOME Consortium ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... On August 26, 2020 the Mayor received a letter signed by the three members of the Board of Yakima County Commissioners in which the County asked for a discussion related to staff support of the Countywide HOME Consortium (see enclosed). City staff have evaluated the request and are issuing this report to the City Council. This request from Yakima County was occasioned because the long term manager(a full time position) of the Yakima County HOME Consortium has left service from Yakima County, as well as one of the (full- time position) support staff.The program is severely under-staffed and yet has committed projects for 2020 and 2021.The City has successful and creative HOME and CDBG programs operated out of the Office of Neighborhood Development Services (ONDS).The nature of HUD monitored funds like HOME and CDBG are complex and highly regulated. In order to provide an evaluation of the request, I asked the County Public Services Department Director, Lisa Freund for a Scope of Work,as the letter from the County Commissioners did not provide enough detail to determine the resources necessary to support their request. After a couple of preliminary discussions,the County submitted a preliminary draft Scope of Work (see enclosed). Yakima County expects this would be a temporary position for approximately one year,while the seven cities and County develop a long term strategy for the future of the HOME Consortium. The staff assistance requested by Yakima County is estimated by the County to require 30 to 40 hours a week. Compensation for these services would be invoiced monthly based on hours worked.The County is down from 3 staff to 1 staff member.Considerable knowledge of the HOME program and restrictions is required to perform the tasks described in the Scope of Work. The City of Yakima ONDS program has 6 full time staff, all funded under the Administrative provisions of the City of Yakima HUD Entitlement funds.The ONDS program operates with virtually no General Fund support, which is highly unique, and reflects a disciplined and lean organization. However, it is unlikely City resources can support both programs without additional administrative help. Yakima County indicated they are considering a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for these needs and hopes the City will be one of the bidders. Alternately,the County may consider an InterLocal Agreement (ILA) with the City of Yakima, if desired. Recommendation: If the City is interested in providing temporary staff support to the Yakima County HOME Consortium, my recommendation is to encourage Yakima County to issue an RFP.That process would allow the City of Yakima to assess their own staff resources and submit a proposal, if feasible.