SR 06:095 - Laserfiche WebLink

wished to provide $5,000 in funding to CAPE, Inc., for a bilingual mental health counselor. Staff supports this modification. In addition to the recommendation outlined above, the Commission wished to forward a supplemental recommendation to the City Council that it consider allocating the funds that are normally used by the City for administration (a maximum 20% of the total grant amount, or $57,513) to be able to fund three additional capital projects (also shown in Attachment 2). [This would mean that the Council would have to approve funding the current administration of the CDBG program and related activities from an alternative funding source.] The HSC's action left a total of $71,516 in capital/rehab funds available for allocation by the Housing Commission. Housing Commission (HC) Action The HC reviewed housing-related applications from two agencies at its meeting of March 16. After hearing presentations from agency representatives and discussing the applications, the HC approved the staff recommendation to allocate $71,516 in FY 2006 CDBG funds for capital and rehabilitation projects to four agencies and $66,500 from the City's Lower Income Housing Fund to two agencies to provide housing services. The HC's recommendation is also summarized in Attachment 2. DISCUSSION Staff believes that the composite recommendation for allocating the CDBG funds that results from the combined review by the Human Services Commission and the Housing Commission is generally appropriate. However, staffis recommending two changes: I) Staff does not support allocating the administration portion of the annual CDBG grant ($57,513) to fund additional projects. Although the amount of the City's grant is reduced, the funding structure of the CDBG program as established by HUD is designed to assure that there is funding for adequate administration of the program. The City has been highly successful to date in administering its CDBG program (achieving a "Best Practices" award from HUD several years ago). Staff believes that maintenance of the administration portion of the grant is important in order to continue operating within the intent and guidelines that have been established by HUD for the CDBG program. 2) Following the two commission meetings, staff had discussions with HUD regarding the eligibility of the Tri-Valley Haven (TVH) project to install a new phone system at the shelter. [TVH applied for half of the estimated $30,800 total cost from Pleasanton and half from Livermore.] HUD has indicated that this project must be divided into two components. The "integral" components (e.g., wiring, etc.) can be funded through the capital portion of the CDBG grant; however, the "non-integral" components (e.g., phone sets and related equipment) must be covered under the public services portion of the grant. Since Pleasanton's public services funding is particularly limited, Livermore has SR:06:095 Page 6