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BACKGROUND <br /> Since 1994, the City has administered CDBG funds received from the U.S. Department <br /> of HUD. The CDBG program annually provides formula "entitlement" grants to states <br /> and to local governments, such as Pleasanton, with populations greater than 50,000. In <br /> program year 2022 covering July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, Pleasanton was <br /> awarded $338,818 in CDBG funds. As a condition of receiving its annual allocation of <br /> federal CDBG funds, the City is required to submit an "Annual Action Plan" to HUD that <br /> includes a list of projects and activities to be funded with CDBG funds. The FY 2022/23 <br /> Annual Action Plan was approved for submittal to HUD on May 3, 2022, and has been <br /> approved by HUD. In the Action Plan, the City allocated $195,483 in CDBG funds to <br /> Axis Community Health, to assist with the costs of acquiring a new dental service <br /> project site in Livermore. <br /> Due to a procedural issue that arose during the process to distribute the funds to Axis, <br /> the City is unable to allocate the funds as proposed in the Action Plan and is now <br /> proposing a Substantial Amendment to the FY 2022/23 Annual Action Plan to remove <br /> the Axis Community Health — New Services Site project and to reallocate the project's <br /> allocation of$195,483 CDBG funds to other CDBG-eligible programs. <br /> DISCUSSION <br /> Axis Community Health Dental Clinic Acquisition Funding <br /> The Axis Community Health project requested CDBG funds to support the development <br /> of a new service site in Livermore, intended to address the gap in access to dental, <br /> medical, and behavioral health services for an estimated 5,600 low-income and <br /> uninsured residents in the Tri-Valley. The City's FY 2022/23 Annual Action Plan <br /> committed $195,483 in CDBG funds to assist Axis Community Health (Axis) in financing <br /> the estimated $3.1 million acquisition cost. <br /> Following adoption of the Action Plan, actual distribution of CDBG funds requires a <br /> number of procedural steps to be completed by the City, including in the case of the <br /> Axis Community Health project submittal of environmental review documentation to <br /> HUD prior to Axis' acquisition of the site. <br /> In early 2022, due to COVID, HUD extended the submittal date for the FY 2022/23 <br /> Action Plan by two months, from May 13, 2022, to July 11, 2022. After submittal of the <br /> Action Plan on July 11, staff submitted the environmental review documents for the Axis <br /> Project on July 25, 2022, believing that the extended submittal date for the Action Plan <br /> similarly extended the timing for completion of the environmental review. However, it <br /> was later determined that Axis had proceeded to acquire the site on July 7, 2022, before <br /> the environmental review and related procedural steps that rely on its findings had been <br /> completed. This timing was in violation of the federal regulations (24 CFR Part 58) <br /> governing the CDBG program.' <br /> Specifically,the acquisition was determined to have been in violation of federal regulation 24 CFR 58.22(a)because <br /> it occurred prior to the completion of an environmental review and submission or approval of a Request for Release of <br /> Funds and certification(RROF)for the$195,483 CDBG funds allocated to the project.The RROF confirms, based on <br /> the environmental documentation, that the project would not have any unmitigated adverse environmental impacts. <br /> Page 2 of 4 <br />