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| | | | This is also a virtual meeting conducted via GoToMeeting. Should you wish to join this meeting from your phone, tablet, or computer you may go to https://meet.goto.com/481295397. You can also dial in using your phone United States: +1 (646) 749-3122 and Access Code: 481-295-397. | | | |
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| | 1. | | Call to order.
Minutes note: The meeting was called to order at 1:07 p.m. | | | |
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| | 2. | | Roll call. | | | |
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| | | | Also present:
Minutes note: Andrea Fowler, ARPA Director (Budget Office)
Tea Norfolk, LRB Fiscal Planning Specialist
Ald. Scott Spiker, 13th Ald. Dist. | | | |
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| | 3. | | Review and approval of the previous meeting minutes from September 22, 2022.
Minutes note: The meeting minutes from September 22, 2022 were approved without objection. | | | |
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| | 4. | | Review of task force deadline and extension.
Minutes note: The task force original deadlines were as follows: 1. Introduction of the Common Council file with Task Force recommendations no later than December 13, 2022, 2. Finance and Personnel Committee meeting on January 11, 2023, and 3. Common Council vote on January 17, 2023.
Members and staff entertained extending the task force deadline to either May 2023, January 2023, and March 2023. Members concluded that the new deadline would best work for early March 2023 to guide the Budget Office in crafting their request letter to send out to departments asking departments to submit their 2024 department budget requests by May 2023 to the Budget Office. Public engagement would need to occur as soon as possible and could include a variety of options, such as surveys and listening sessions. Ms. Norfolk would draft the necessary legislation to extend the task force deadline.
Member Zamarripa moved to extend the task force recommendations deadline to early March 2023. There was no objection. | | | |
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| | 5. | | Review of task force structure and process to evaluate requests and make recommendations.
Minutes note: This item was considered in tandem with agenda item 10.
Ms. Fowler gave a presentation. See the minutes under agenda item 10.
Ms. Fowler said that for the 1st ARPA tranche departments submitted proposals, the Mayor and Budget Office reviewed them, and the Mayor then submitted his proposal.
Member Kovac commented. The Mayor's proposal for the 1st tranche focused on the Stronger Summer initiative, lead abatement, and street lights among other priorities. The main priority for the 2nd tranche was to prevent department cuts. New requests and public input for ideas could be looked at.
Member Chambers, Jr. inquired about public input for the 1st tranche process.
Ald. Spiker said that some public outreach for the 1st tranche appeared late in the game of after-the-fact, there seemed to be cherry picking of public input, the 53206 survey was funded, and public outreach going forward should be more genuine and at the front end.
Member Robinson replied that there were some initial community input for the 1st tranche that helped to shape the department requests. There was survey done in collaboration with communities that focused on addressing disparity and alignment with marginalized areas. A firm was also acquired to do an online survey. Focus groups were done. LBGTQ, senior citizens, veterans, and other groups were included. Updates were given to communities. Their office were deliberate with getting public input. There were several aldermanic community meetings as well as Budget Office community meetings.
Ms. Fowler added that a summary of the 1st tranche allocations, process, and survey reports were presented at the last meeting and members should refer to that summary.
Member Zamarripa said that aldermanic community meetings varied being hybrid and virtual and that the online survey was reviewed.
Chair Coggs said that there was no legislation specifying how the City or task force should make allocations, the model for the City could be different and did not have to be the same as the allocation models from other cities that were researched, and the task force could create its own process. Department requests for the 2nd tranche could be sent to the task force for vetting. There was opportunity to do public input better for the 2nd tranche allocation process. The task force could engage the community in two ways to either do a survey first before making selections or to set aside funds just for the community.
Member Gilbert added that any criteria for outside organizations should be put on the City website.
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| | 6. | | Review of past ARPA tranche allocations.
Minutes note: Ms. Fowler said that there were over 50 ARPA-funded projects and gave a high level summary (as of September 2022) on major projects as follows:
Street Lighting Circuit Reliability Improvement Project at $20 million would reduce the number of multi-block outages, improve safety perception in the area and lay groundwork for future deployment of LED street lights and smart cities application that enhance safety and security, promote economic development, broadband capabilities and carbon footprint reduction in the neighborhood. Based on the RFP two engineering firms were selected (KL Engineering and DAAR Engineering) to start work on design phase. Design phase started on August 19, 2022.
Community Supported Traffic Safety Improvements Project at $6 million would install traffic safety improvements along various streets throughout the City of Milwaukee to address reckless driving. The safety improvements will focus on reducing motor vehicle speeds and passing on the right, which are primary threats to the safety of people walking, biking, taking transit, and driving. The proposed treatments may include curb extensions, pedestrian refuge islands, raised crosswalks, pedestrian signals, pavement markings, new bikeway and transit accommodations, street trees, and green infrastructure. These infrastructure improvements will be complemented by speed limit reductions on various corridors, neighborhoods, and/or citywide, as well as by revising the assessment to property owners for speed humps to ensure more people can afford to install speed humps on their block. The 169 speed hump locations includes $198,000 of City of Milwaukee DPW funding and $380,590 in assessments for impacted property owners. The overall project was in design phase and would take time.
City of Milwaukee Lead Hazard Reduction Project at $26,290,477 would expand capacity to serve families with lead-poisoned children, including case management, at a level beyond current State/Federal requirements. Project funding also provides for direct abatement/reduction of lead hazards in affected homes, and community engagement/outreach to help residents and families take action to protect against childhood lead poisoning. The project has one subaward ($7.8 million) issued and underway, and anticipates closing two more awards ($13.2 million) in Q3 2022. A total of 41 properties have been referred to the initial awardee (Social Development Commission) as of October 6, 2022. Together those awards will deliver 500 abated units. Other Q2 activity includes purchase of new XRF readers, water filters, and AA analyzers for the Health Department's lab to enhance and expand capacity. MHD anticipates subawards for community outreach and engagement in the next quarter. Overall, much prep work would have to be done before expenditure would occur.
City of Milwaukee COVID-19 Response and Recovery Project at $13,300,000 would provide for sustained testing, vaccination, and contact tracing activities for COVID-19. Project also seeks to address key public health impacts and key populations that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The project will increase interoperability between public health and community clinics by supporting a common Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform for Federally Qualified Health Centers in Milwaukee. It will also enhance physical spaces and staff capacity at congregate living facilities to reduce risk of COVID-19 spread among residents and staff. The Health Department contact tracing and support staff are funded by the project currently. A set of staffing and site services contracts are in procurement to enable the City's drive-up testing and vaccination operations. Subawards for the FQHC partners and congregate living facilities, as well as a collaborative clinical/outreach project targeting new Americans/refugees is also in the subaward development process.
MFD Emergency Response at $20,833,506 would entail $14,783,529 for six engine companies and $6,049,977 for Fire salaries and operations. Funds ($16 million) have been heavily spent and the rest would be spent by the end of the year for existing operations.
Westlawn Choice Neighborhood Implementation at $9 million was comprised of 2 Low Income Housing Project: 44 units MF building with 22 units designated for youth aging out of foster care and 97 units of townhomes. The units are targeted to leased to families and individuals with average income of 60% below the County Median Income. These are projects are funded with Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Expected project completion before the end of 2023. These are new construction. Construction started in August 2022. Project has started drawing down on various funding sources. The first draw from ARPA funds was expected to come in October amounting to $496,650.
Strong Home In Rem Initiative at $15 million would work with local developers to renovate 150 City tax foreclosed properties, providing homeownership, affordable rental and job and contracting opportunities for local residents. Program design was completed and a Request for Proposals was issued to select developers to participate in the program. 15 development teams were selected and approved by Common Council. A developer orientation session was held and DCD is working to finalize development agreements. Community outreach efforts are also ongoing. It was anticipated that construction will commence on the first properties transferred under the program in the 4th quarter.
Housing Trust Fund at $10 million was created to fund services that assist low-income households in obtaining and maintaining affordable housing and by the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and accessibility modification of affordable housing for low-income households in Milwaukee. The Request for Proposal stage has been implemented with 27 application received. The applications were in the review process by the Housing Trust Fund Technical Review committee, expect recommendations for project funding by end of year. CDGA (Steve Mahan) would have to provide further information on those results.
Member Zamarripa said that the 2023 budget would repurpose $500,000 from the street light project and that after 2023 budget deliberations and amendments the remaining ARPA funds would be lower than $96 million.
Chair Coggs inquired about department meeting the deadlines for their ARPA-funded projects, the reprogramming of ARPA funds, commitment requirements for remaining ARPA funds, and grant-funded positions.
Ms. Fowler replied. She and grant monitors would be compiling information from departments over the next two months, would report back to the Budget Director and the task force on project statuses, and would be engaged with the Department of Administration regarding reprogramming of funds. Remaining ARPA funds would have to be contractually obligated (via service procurement or Council budget allocation towards salaries) by the end of 2024.
Member Kovac commented. Although not very likely, allocating remaining ARPA funds towards 2025 City salaries could be an option if any funds remained. About $68 million in ARPA funding was allocated to support ongoing operational expenses to help close the budget gap in the 2022 budget. The budget gaps were about $60 million each for 2021 and 2022, and the main reasons were due to shared revenue and pension contributions. The thought was that the gap would be $100 million but ended up to be $150 million for 2023 after receiving department budget requests. Budget gap projections for 2025 and beyond would be $150 million larger than every prior gap with ARPA funding ceasing and lack of shared revenue and pension contributions worsening. The Mayor had proposed $81 million of ARPA funding to close the gap for 2023 and an unallocated $96 million of remaining ARPA funding for 2024. Council acted to increase ARPA funding to $83.5 million to close the gap for 2023. Remaining ARPA funding would be $93.5 million for 2024. Unless new revenue was acquired, significant and unimaginable budget cuts would be inevitable. Their recommended strategy was to attempt to close the gap from both ends by gathering as much new revenue as possible and making significant cuts now.
Members King and Kovac said that grant funded positions would expire as their grants expires, the Budget Office would make the determination to eliminate them if the grants did not renew or to keep them, and that there was complexity with funding grant-funded positions in various ways (O&M and other overlapping grants). | | | |
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| | 7. | | Review of residential survey findings and major issues.
Minutes note: Ms. Fowler presented. There was a three prong approach of public survey at various different times. The first round was an online internet survey (available in English Spanish, and Hmong languages) to all city residents from June through September 2021. That survey resulted in the funding priorities (in priority order) for public safety, economic and workforce development, infrastructure and transportation, and public health. Other categories that received fewer responses included housing, early childhood education, climate change in the environment, and eviction prevention. Within the public safety category, the highest categories were to address reckless driving, have more policing, economic and workforce development, and job training. Within the housing access category, home ownership support received the highest number of responses. Within the infrastructure category, street paving was by far the most cited. Within the public health category, mental health support and reducing violence through community programs and services were closely the highest responses. A second survey was sent to the 53206 zip code via post card by the City Clerk's Office. That survey identified reckless driving, home repairs assistance, and increased policing as the highest priorities. A third survey and a number of outreach events were conducted by the Prism Group to those vulnerable populations. The resulting priorities were housing access, mental health, public safety, and recreation. A summary of survey results was presented at the last meeting, and members can refer to that summary report.
Chair Coggs recalled that the 53206 post card survey response was not great.
Ald. Spiker said that future surveys should frame questions more unbaisedly.
Member Mercado inquired about food insecurity as a survey response.
Member Robinson said that she did not recall food insecurity as a dominant survey concern and that it was not enumerated in the survey questions. | | | |
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| | 8. | | Review of performance metrics and indicators.
Minutes note: Ms. Fowler said that as indicated before she would be working with grant monitors to compile department ARPA project information, create uniform metrics, make evaluations, and come back to report those to the task force. | | | |
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| | 9. | | Review of CDBG funding priorities.
Minutes note: Ms. Fowler said that CDGA funding priorities were listed on their website, that member Mahan was unable to attend today's meeting to speak to this item, and that a presentation can be made at the next meeting.
Member Sharon said that it would important to present information on CDGA investments to the task force so that the task force would have better understanding of other investments being made towards margalized and COVID-impacted groups and to make better informed decisions on allocating the remaining ARPA funds. | | | |
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| | 10. | | Review of best practices from other cities relating to their ARPA allocations.
Minutes note: Ms. Fowler gave a presentation. Almost all other cities similar to Milwaukee in population sized that were researched were using ARPA funds for revenue replacement in some fashion. Some city allocations were as follows:
$130 million in funding allocation for Las Vegas (Nevada) went towards permanent affordable housing ($25.5 million), business assistance ($10.7 million), household assistance ($12.6 million), public/mental health ($38.1 million ), workforce development ($12.9 million ), youth and education ($12.7 million), and other/public sector capacity ($8.6 million). The selection process entailed screening criteria of area of need, pandemic impacts on an organization, and the use of funds. There were no allocations of any funds as revenue replacement.
$388 million in funding allocation for Louisville (Kentucky) went towards eviction diversion ($10 million), permanent supportive housing ($32 million), affordable housing trust fund ($40 million), Office of Youth Development ($8 million), main library ($8 million), public safety reform ($17.5 million), public safety salaries ($11.2 million), community violence intervention ($8 million), brownfields remediation ($10 million), early learning ($7.5 million), and COVID vaccination ($8.4 million). The selection process entailed the council and mayor requesting public input informing them on priority areas, and working groups were established for each.
$161 million in funding allocation for Memphis (Tennessee) went towards revenue replacement for budget stabilization ($29.5 million), employee premium pay ($15.9 million), infrastructure broadband initiative ($15 million), construction cost accelerator - COVID impact on city capital projects ($14 million), public safety recruitment incentives ($12 million), Boys and Girls Club ($9 million), safety and tech improvement for crime prevention ($6 million), community policing fleet ($6.6 million), and home repair grant program ($5 million). The selection process was unclear. As of June 30, 2022, 100% was allocated and $55 million was spent.
$826 million in funding allocation for Detroit (Michigan) went towards employment and job creation ($105 million), public safety (traffic, gun violence, training, EMS at $50 million), digital divide (devices, internet, tech support at $45 million), small business support ($40 million), intergenerational poverty (home repairs at $30 million), intergenerational poverty (other housing/prevention at $30 million), neighborhood beautification ($23 million), and intergenerational poverty (find housing at $7 million). The selection process entailed robust "multiple gate" review through a centralized team, executive sponsorship, and other multiple levels of review. $728 million was allocated and $47 million was spent.
$641 million in funding allocation for Baltimore (Maryland) went towards housing ($197 million), city infrastructure ($59 million), training and education ($58.5 million), COVID-19 response ($46 million), public space and parks ($44 million), household assistance ($38 million), violence prevention ($32 million), public workforce ($32 million), and business assistance ($23 million). The selection process entailed review of 517 proposals from nonprofits, city agencies, and quasi-government agencies. As of June 2022, 87% was committed and 7% was spent.
$108 million in funding allocation for Albuquerque (New Mexico) went towards first responder payroll ($36.8 million), small business grants ($7.5 million), community impact fund ($4.2 million), premium pay ($3.5 million), and police vehicles ($3 million). Data on the selection process was not available. Most of the current allocations appeared to have been spent.
$170 million in funding allocation for Fresno (California) went towards COVID-19 testing ($1 million) and revenue replacement (police department at $5.6 million). There was little data on the selection process. The city posted a public survey. The city had allocated only approximately $5 million as of June 2022.
There was $135 million in funding allocation for Tucson (Arizona). No information was found on funding allocations and the selection process.
$112 million in funding allocation for Sacramento (California) went towards city homeless and housing commitment ($41 million), small business and commercial corridor revitalization ($29 million), citywide organizational needs ($20 million), youth/workforce training/gang prevention ($12 million), and arts and the creative economy ($10 million). The selection process entailed the city publishing requests for funding proposals on their website that fell within the overall funding plan. The entire allocation was being claimed as revenue replacement.
Member Sawa added that through conversations with other CFOs, Philadelphia and San Francisco were using all their funds for revenue replacement.
Ms. Fowler added that Milwaukee County was not far along in its ARPA allocations, the County has had a more front end focus on frameworking and identifying projects, and she would investigate more on what the County was doing.
Ms. Norfolk commented. LRB ARPA guidelines researched (such as from the National League of Cities) recommended to increase outcomes for marginalized groups and to follow US Treasury guidance for things like infrastructure, city operations, community aid, housing, public health, economic and workforce development, and public safety. NLC found that nearly 78% of the funding went to infrastructure. Other recommendations were for regional partnerships with other ARPA recipients (MPS and Milwaukee County); using dedicated grants when doing funding; providing adequate time for careful consideration; investing in economic multipliers towards efficient implementation and existing structures; and emphasis on documentation, accountability and transparency.
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| | 11. | | Next steps.
Minutes note: a. Review of the frequency of meetings
Meetings to coincide with the Common Council 3-week meeting cycle for Mondays at 1 p.m. prior to a Common Council meeting.
b. Set next meeting date(s) and time(s).
Next meeting to be Monday, December 12, 2022 at 1 p.m.
January meeting date and time to be determined and would not work for Monday, January 16, 2023 due to Martin L. King Jr. Day.
c. Items for future agenda
Items to include discussion on forming work groups (suggested by member Robinson), review of CDBG funding priorities, review of task force structure and process to evaluate requests and make recommendations, and review of a survey draft (suggested by Ms. Norfolk). Survey to be created and be an expanded version of previous surveys. | | | |
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| | 12. | | Adjournment.
Minutes note: The meeting adjourned at 2:46 p.m.
Chris Lee, Staff Assistant
Council Records Section
City Clerk's Office | | | |
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| | | | Meeting materials for the task force can be found within the following file: | | | |
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220789
| 0 | | Communication | Communication relating to the activities of the American Rescue Plan Act Funding Allocation Task Force. | | | |
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