REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
August 27, 2020
FROM: BRYON HORN, Chief Information Officer
Information Services Department
BY: KIM JACKSON, Administrative Manager
Information Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
***RESOLUTION - Adopting the 19th Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2020-159 appropriating $2,500,000 in CARES Act Funds for the Telework Technology for Remote Working Program. (Requires 5 affirmative votes) (Subject to Mayor’s veto)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council adopt the 19th Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2020-159 appropriating $2,500,000 to provide the necessary CARES Act funding for the Telework Technology for Remote Working Program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
COVID-19 made it imperative that the City of Fresno (City) enable its employees to work remotely due to the mandate that people self-isolate to slow the spread of COVID-19. This has placed unprecedented stress on the resources of the Information Services Department (ISD) in enabling and supporting this mandate. In order to provide equipment to enable more employees to telework, CARES Act funding is necessary to purchase the needed hardware and software to deploy to staff. To support the need, $2.3 million will be for the approximately 1,000 Dell laptops, plus an additional $200,000 in software loads. In addition to the laptops, equipment purchased includes the cost of docking stations, headsets, adapters, laptop cases and environmental fees. The 19th Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2020-159 allows ISD to access these designated funds for this purchase.
BACKGROUND
On March 18, 2020, Emergency Order 2020-02 and Emergency Order 2020-03 stated that the City would begin sheltering in place and that persons over 65 and the vulnerable population should stay at home, respectively. In order to keep City operations from being disrupted, ISD worked to ensure that a large percentage of the City’s employees would have remote working capabilities in a short period of time. As the shelter in place mandate has continued, the need to provide teleworking options to additional employees requires the purchase of additional hardware and software.
This 19th Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2020-159 will allow ISD to access the CARES Act funding to support the continued need to provide telework in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These expenses have been reviewed by Finance and have been certified by them to be CARES Act eligible.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
By the definition provided in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378, this item is not a project for purposes of CEQA.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not considered because this item does not include a bid or award of a construction or service contract. ISD will be using the Federal CARES Act funding for these expenses.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item will not impact ISD’s budget or the General Fund. The program will be funded by CARES Act funds.
Attachments:
Resolution Adopting the 19th Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2020-159