Memorandum
Date: July 19, 2022
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Susan Parker, County Administrative Officer
Subject: Consideration of ARPA/SLFRF Allocation Recommendations, Pursuant to the Recovery and Revitalization Plan for Lake County
Executive Summary:
As your Board is aware, thanks to the tireless work of our extraordinary Federal Legislative Representatives and others, Lake County was allocated $12,506,226.00 in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), as a result of passage of the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (also known as ARPA).
These funds can be used for numerous qualifying purposes, such as:
• Overcoming negative economic impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Supporting the recovery and revitalization of hard-hit communities;
• Funding Public Health expenditures associated with pandemic response; and
• Investing in Water and Sewer Infrastructure
In addition to prescribed categories, such as these, ARPA/SFLRF claiming provides for an up to $10M “standard allowance” for “Replacing Lost Public Sector Revenue,” which facilitates streamlined reporting requirements.
Specific funding allocations are expected to largely be included with your Board’s budget actions. However, multiple community-facing organizations made requests for consideration of ARPA funding allocations, and the ARPA/SLFRF Committee’s Recommendations with regard to some of those requests are the primary substance of today’s item.
Recommended for Funding
Lake Links’ Medi-Links Out-of-County Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Program, $50,000: This will facilitate approximately 83 round trips, transporting “seniors and persons of low income” to medical appointments. Lake Links intends to transition to a volunteer-based model of service delivery with this program, and an investment of $50,000 will help meet immediate medical transportation needs during this time of transition.
NCO, Building Homes, Building Lives, $800,000: This represents the first meaningful ARPA-funded action on housing supply and development of the construction labor force in Lake County. This investment will allow for refurbishment of up to 30 homes for the purpose of low-income housing, and development of a program that will train 24 Lake County residents to conduct these repairs. Similar recent NCO programs have resulted in participants securing full-time paid employment in construction trades.
First5 Lake County, Help Me Grow Software, Enhanced Home Visiting, $125,000: The COVID-19 pandemic brought many unique challenges to households with young children, and First5 Lake County has provided resources and support to many; enhanced home visiting is one facet of this. “Help Me Grow” is a cross-sector data system for monitoring developmental milestones and service referrals.
Broadband Action Plan Consultant, $300,000: The County of Lake recently issued Request For Proposals (RFP) 22-22, seeking a Broadband Action Plan Consultant. Unfortunately, that process is not expected to result in award of an Agreement, and staff received feedback a lack of clearly-identified funding to support the work envisioned by the RFP was a factor in multiple qualified entities electing not to respond. Therefore, the ARPA/SLFRF Committee and Staff are asking for your Board to affirm this specific allocation recommendation, which will be included in September’s Final Budget documents.
Not Recommended for Funding
• Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District: $1,834,281.26 in unmet needs (Committee recognized many Lake County public, private and non-profit entities faced unanticipated costs due to the pandemic)
• Hospice Services of Lake County: Request for support with unanticipated costs associated with protective equipment and testing supplies (amount not specified; similar to the above, these are needs essentially every Lake County organization faced)
• First5 Lake County: Establishment of a Lake County Diaper Bank; support with development of new licensed childcare facilities (Committee found both requests meritorious, but not in clean alignment with ARPA criteria)
• Wellpath: Premium pay for contract Jail Medical staff (Premium pay not found to be a Board Recovery and Revitalization Plan priority, for County or contracted staff)
Background
An Ad Hoc Committee including Chairman Sabatier, Supervisor Pyska, our CAO, Susan Parker, Department Heads and County Administrative Office and Finance Staff has undertaken an extensive process to identify needs appropriately matched to this funding allocation. Every County Department Head was likewise granted the opportunity to weigh in on needs they viewed as qualifying, and share their priorities.
On December 21, your Board adopted a Recovery and Revitalization Plan for Lake County, which outlined spending priorities for our ARPA/SLFRF allocation:
<https://countyoflake.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10361456&GUID=9B1D69EE-615B-4EE0-B1DF-8F01628AB75C>
ARPA funds can be obligated through December 31, 2024, and like other long-term planning documents, revisions to your Board’s Recovery and Revitalization Plan may be brought forth in the future, but adopted priorities encompassed four broad categories:
• Building sustainable communities through housing and long-term planning;
• Removing barriers to childhood success and dignified aging;
• Acting now on water and sewer infrastructure projects; and
• Preparing to effectively meet emergent public needs.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: ________ Amount Budgeted: ________ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: ________
Consistency with Vision 2028 (check all that apply): ☐ Not applicable
☒ Well-being of Residents ☐ Public Safety ☒ Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, Recovery
☒ Economic Development ☒ Infrastructure ☐ County Workforce
☒ Community Collaboration ☒ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake
Recommended Action:
Approve and deny ARPA/SLFRF allocation recommendations, as herein described