Council Passes ARPA Appropriations for Public Health Department, Convention and Visitors Bureau

The City Council asked for a more comprehensive discussion on how $26 million in appropriations from the first half of the city’s portion of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will be spent for five local projects.

The item was pulled from the calendar by Councilmember Steve Madison called for a further discussion.

“A comprehensive strategy and some priorities seems like a better way to go,” said Vice Mayor Andy Wilson.

The use of ARPA funds is retroactive to March 3. All funds must be obligated by December 31, 2024.

“My concern is this process is going to get politicized if there is some sort of guardrail,” said Councilmember Felicia Williams. “I think the Finance Committee should review this. There are some time constraints here.”

The council agreed to recognize the revenue and approve three recommendations:

• $350,000 would be appropriated to the fiscal year 2021 operating budget for the city’s public health response to the COVD-19 pandemic, including staffing and support for contact tracing and vaccination clinics. The fund would support expenditures not supported by grants and are not FEMA eligible.

• $250,000 would be appropriated for public health building improvements as part of the fiscal year FY 2022 Capital Improvement Program. The department needs to repurpose the former lab space in the Public Health building to accommodate staff returning to the office. The department does not currently have existing grants or funds to pay for this work and it is an eligible expense under the response to the public health emergency of ARPA.

• $475,000 would be appropriated from the fiscal year 2022 operating budget to rehire three staff members in the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau and implement a tourism recovery stimulus plan to benefit the greater business community, including hotels and restaurants.

The council did not pass appropriations that would have allowed:

• $623,000 to be used for offset revenue losses from the support of dining in the public right-of-way. This would have supported the waiver of all fees related to dining in the public right-of-way for FY 2022. The monies would have gone to:

a. Sidewalk Dining – $163,000 (General Fund)
b. On-Street Dining – $272,000 (General Fund)
c. Old Pasadena Meter Fund – $184,000
d. South Lake On-Street Meter Fund – $4,000.

• $2.6 million would have been used to offset all General Fund Operating Budget adjustments approved between March 3, 2021 and June 30, 2021 that negatively impact fund balance.

“It is important to note that all of the current and future appropriation items are based on the interim guidance provided by the U.S. Treasury Department and that guidance is expected to be refined over the coming months,” according to the staff report.

“While staff does not expect the guidance to become more restrictive, there has been a strong push by officials at all levels for less restriction, primarily in the areas of debt service and fiscal reserves. The ability to use funds in either of these categories would provide an immediate financial benefit to the City,” the report states.

As part of the consent calendar the City Council also:

• Amended the fiscal year 2021 operating budget by $1.5 million to account for unanticipated changes to the adopted budget.
• Authorized the city manager to enter into a $91,250 one-year contract with Intelltime Systems Corporation for software maintenance and support for the city’s virtual timecard interface.
• The city manager also received authorization to enter into a $204,000 contract with McCain Inc. for a traffic signal safety enhancement project.
• The City Council also passed a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute the certifications and assurances and authorized agent forms required to submit a low carbon transit operations program grant application to Caltrans.
• An amendment to the fiscal year 2021 capital improvement program budget allows the city manager to execute all agreements associated with the receipt of Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) Cycle 10 funds administered through the Caltrans Division of Local Assistance Program, including any program supplement agreements to master agreement between the city of Pasadena and the state of California; and adoption by resolution the Road Repair and Accountability Act (SB1) project list.
• The Council also approved a $1.8 million contract award to LDV Inc. for the purchase of a mobile operations center vehicle.
• The City Council also adopted the Water and Power Department’s Utility Physical Security Plan. In recognition of the threat to electric distribution facilities and consequential risk of long-term power outages, California legislature enacted Senate Bill 699 (SB 699) in 2014. SB 699 directed the CPUC to adopt rules to identify and address the physical security risks to distribution systems of electrical corporations.
• City Manager Steve Mermell was authorized to enter into a $2,798,516 contract to Creative Home/DBA Chi Construction for the installation of ductile iron water mains in Arroyo Parkway.
• The General Service Agreement with Los Angeles County was also renewed. Since 1977, the city has had a general services agreement with the county of Los Angeles. This “umbrella agreement” is a prerequisite for the provision of services that are provided to the city by the county. In the past, these services have included inspection of bridge construction, material testing, geotechnical investigations, traffic signal and street light maintenance of shared facilities, wet/dry season catch basin cleaning, and other miscellaneous services. The county bills the city for services provided according to rates established annually by the county auditor-controller.
• City Manager Steve Mermell was also authorized to enter into a $4.825 million contract with Toro Enterprises for annual citywide street resurfacing and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements programs.
• A six-year $1.4 million contract with prudential overall supply to provide city-wide uniform rental services was approved.
• The City Council also approved a $251,000 payment to Southern California Edison (SCE) for an amount not-to-exceed $251,302 for the emergency replacement of three current transformers on Transformer Bank No. 2 at the T.M. Goodrich Receiving Station.

Two local residents were reappointed to local commissions with a sweep vote. District 4 nominee Kevork Keushkerian would return to the Human Relations Commission, and District 7 nominee Jonathan Levy would return to the Environmental Advisory Commission. Both reappointments would be effective July 1.