REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: GEORGEANNE A. WHITE, City Manager
Office of the Mayor & City Manager
BY: SANTINO DANISI, City Controller/Finance Director
Finance Department
COURTNEY ESPINOZA, Business Manager
Finance Department, Grants Management Unit
SUBJECT
Title
Actions related to the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) grant program:
1. Affirm the City Manager’s determination that KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC is uniquely qualified to deliver the remaining grant obligations initiated by a previous consultant.
2. Approve a Sub-Recipient Agreement with the KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC for the Data and Reporting Community Partner component of the Transform Fresno Community Engagement Plan totaling $72,408.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council affirm the City Manager’s determination that KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC is uniquely qualified to deliver the remaining grant obligations initiated by a previous consultant for the TCC Data and Reporting component of the Transform Fresno Community Engagement Plan, approve a Sub-Recipient Agreement with the KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC, and authorize the City Manager to execute all related documents regarding this TCC project to include administrative, modification, monitoring and closeout for this Sub-Recipient Agreement.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On February 28, 2019, the City Council unanimously voted to approve a Master Grant Agreement (MGA) with the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) for the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) grant award. Originally through a Request For Proposals (RFP) process, the Data and Reporting Community Engagement Component was awarded to The Thrivance Group (Thrivance). Council approved the contract with Thrivance on May 14, 2020. Over the next two years staff at Thrivance completed several deliverables related to this contract and the TCC grant. Unfortunately, Thrivance suffered several setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff turnover and capacity issues. In July 2022, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Thrivance notified City of Fresno staff they needed to cancel their contract siting capacity issues in fulfilling the remainder of the contract. In October 2022, the Thrivance contract was effectively terminated. Since then, Kelli McIntyre, the most recent Thrivance employee that worked on our project, demonstrated interest in continuing the original work. Ms. McIntyre recently left Thrivance and started her own consulting firm, KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC. In order to retain expertise related to this project and past relationships developed by Ms. McIntyre related to the TCC program, we will contract with KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC to continue this work and fulfil our TCC grant obligations.
BACKGROUND
The Transform Fresno Plan was created by a participatory steering committee comprised of community stakeholders from the Chinatown, Downtown and Southwest Fresno neighborhoods (Project Area). On February 28, 2019, the City Council unanimously approved the MGA which binds the City and SGC with the understanding that Sub-Recipient Agreements between the City and Partners who will be receiving funds to implement components of the Transform Fresno Plan would be brought forward for subsequent Council consideration as they meet the requirements provided by SGC through approval of the Community Engagement Plan and successful completion of the Request For Proposals process. Originally, Thrivance was awarded a consultant contract for the Data and Reporting Component of the Transform Fresno Community Engagement Plan. Due to capacity issues, Thrivance decided to cancel this contract with years left of implementation. Due to unfulfilled obligations identified in the TCC grant for this project, another consultant is needed to complete the necessary deliverables.
Kelli McIntyre was previously employed by Thrivance and was last to be assigned to this project. During Ms. McIntyre’s six months working on this project, she made great strides and connections with stakeholders of the project. She was instrumental in the growing progress of the project completing several deliverables. Just prior to the request to cancel the contract by Thrivance, Ms. McIntye left Thrivance and has since started her own consulting firm, KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC to work on similar projects. Ms. McIntyre has shown an interest in continuing this work with and for the City of Fresno. Due to the qualifications and past history of Ms. McIntye, we intend to partner with KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC to continue this work.
As the Data and Reporting Community Partner, KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC will continue the work originally initiated by Thrivance to include the creation of a public facing database and analyze data specific to community engagement and project outcomes involving Project and Community Partner organizations. KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC will consolidate, develop, implement, and report dashboard metrics via semi-annual, annual reports, and a final engagement summary report outlining outcomes for Transform Fresno and the TCC grant. This Community Partner will coordinate with all Project Partners and Community Partners for data collection and analysis; and will attend meetings with these organizations and the Transform Fresno Community.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This is not a “project” for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378. This approval is for execution of a consultant agreement related to the Transform Fresno Community Engagement Plan.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not considered based upon conditions of state funding.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no impact to the General Fund. Funding for Transform Fresno Plan projects lead by Partners will be a direct pass-through of TCC grant funds and will be distributed on a reimbursement basis.
Attachments:
1. Sub-recipient Agreement with KMc Strategic Solutions, LLC
2. Uniquely Qualified Memo - KMc Strategic Solutions