REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
June 11, 2020
FROM: WILMA QUAN, City Manager
Office of the Mayor & City Manager
SUBJECT
Title
***Resolution - Approve the 54th Amendment to Annual Appropriations Resolution No. 2019-133 to Appropriate $10,000,000 for the Purpose of Funding Additional COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracer Services (Requires 5 affirmative votes) (Subject to Mayor’s Veto)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council approve the 54th Amendment to Annual Appropriations Resolution No. 2019-133.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Fresno (City) has been awarded $92.8 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. CARES funds can be used for a variety of COVID-19 response costs, as well as for programs designed to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 mitigation efforts. After discussions with the County of Fresno (County), a need for additional COVID-19 testing and contact tracing has been identified. The Approval of the proposed amendment to the Annual Appropriations Resolution (AAR) will fund the purchase of additional resources to address these needs.
BACKGROUND
In response the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying economic damage, the CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. One provision of the CARES Act provided $150 billion dollars for states, as well as for counties and cities with a population over 500,000. From this $150 billion allocation, the City received $92.8 million on April 22, 2020.
The allocation to states and local governments is administered by the United States Department of Treasury (Treasury). After the monies were distributed, Treasury issued a set of guidelines to govern the uses of these CARES funds. Among the items which were deemed eligible expenditures in the guidance are “costs of providing COVID-19 testing, including serological testing” and “expenses for technical assistance to local authorities or other entities on mitigation of COVID-19 related threats to public health and safety.”
In light of these guidelines, the City met with representatives from the County to discuss ways in which the City’s CARES allocation could be leveraged to assist meeting the common goal of mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in the Fresno area. After much discussion, it was agreed by both parties that a sound way for the City to utilize its CARES dollars to address this goal would be to have the City fund additional COVID-19 testing and contact tracing services.
City staff is in the process of collaborating with the County on securing additional testing sites. Staff anticipates returning to Council within the next two months with contracts or other enabling documents that will formalize the relationship between the providers of these services and the City. The deployment of any services that are obtained through these agreements will be coordinated with the City EOC and Fresno County Department of Public Health EOC. Additionally, staff is developing the program and process to train existing employees to serve as Contact Tracers in a tiered response system and identifying employees to serve as Contact Tracers.
All funds will be received by the City and reimbursements done on an as needed basis. The Mayor made a commitment to the County that the City would dedicated $5,000,000 for additional COVID-19 testing and $5,000,000 for contact tracing. The proposed amendment to the AAR will provide the appropriation authority to fund these services at the level to which the Mayor committed.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This item is not a project of the City of Fresno and as such, the California Environmental Quality Act requirements are not applicable.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not considered because this resolution does not include a bid or award of a construction or service contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed action will have no effect on the General Fund or the City’s finances. These funds will not be spent until the associated contract is approved.
Attachment: Resolution