Mayor and Council Work Session, 4/12/2010

CITY OF GAITHERSBURG
MINUTES OF A CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010

A work session of the Mayor and City Council was called to order at 7:30 p.m., Mayor Katz presiding.  Council Members present: Ashman, Drzyzgula, Marraffa, Sesma, and Spiegel.  Staff present: City Manager Jones, Finance and Administration Director Belton, Community Services Director Carr, City Attorney Board, Senior Leadership Team Members.

I. TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

1. Nonprofit Request for Proposal Process
   
   At this meeting staff presented the City transition from a nonprofit grant application process to a request for proposal process (RFP).  The rationale for the process change was to better serve the community through coordinated services; make the funding process for the nonprofits more efficient; and improve the City’s administration and monitoring of its grant funding. This new approach is a more effective model for meeting the needs of the community and enables the City to award and monitor seven (7) contracts as opposed to 33 grants each year, allowing for greater administrative efficiencies.  Nonprofits providing similar services in various specialties were encouraged to partner to fulfill these identified community needs.
   
   The seven service areas developed as RFPs encompass:
   
   

   Food Assistance
   Health Assistance for the Uninsured and Underinsured
   Mental Health Assistance
   Workforce and Positive Youth Development
   Homelessness Prevention and Emergency Assistance
   Homeless Assistance for Families
   Homeless Assistance for Singles

   This transition adds an element of competition. It is important to note that City grants were never guaranteed from year to year and were not intended to be entitlements or noncompetitive grants. Significant efforts were placed on educating and involving the nonprofit community in this new process and over 23 nonprofits participated. The RFP submissions were submitted on Friday, January 8, 2010 and CAC held review meetings throughout January. The CAC submitted funding recommendations to the Budget Team on February 5th. For FY11, funding across all seven RFPs remained consistent with the FY10 nonprofit grant funding level.  
   
   At the meeting the Mayor and City Council requested that City Staff and the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) report back on the following:
   
   
   • Possible development of a hybrid model for outsourcing services to nonprofits that would potentially include a combination of RFPs, non-compete contracts, and grant applications;
   • Strategies for ensuring accountability and fiscal oversight under the new RFP process;
   • Comparison of the application of the General Administration fee in the FY10 to FY11 nonprofit contracts, and;
   • An Executive Summary for all seven nonprofit (NP) contract recommendations.
     
     
   To assist with the approval of the FY11 Budget the following documents were sent to the Mayor and City Council on May 4, 2010:  the Nonprofit RFP Executive Summary outlining services and deliverables; and the Final FY11 NP RFP Recommendations Spreadsheet, providing a comparison between FY10 and FY11, inclusive of General Administration costs. Staff is in the process of completing a report with recommendations for procedures for monitoring contracts, application of the general administration fees, and how we will address non-performance issues.  The report will also contain recommendations for a hybrid model for FY12.  The report will be available shortly after the budget process.
   
   
2. Preliminary Budget Discussions - FY 2011
   
   The issue of tax rate increase was discussed as it related to the State of Maryland deadline for advertising of the Constant Yield Tax Rate.  Staff assured the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) that advertising at .05 would mean the maximum and as they see fit, the M&CC could propose for adoption a lesser amount.
   
   Additional items were brought before the M&CC for discussion and guidance:
   
   
   1. Parks, Recreation and Culture (PRC) programs and events were presented with cost of doing business.  This undertook the allocation of costs from PRC, Public Works and Police.  Overhead, such as electricity and use of buildings were not included.  Along with this, PRC presented a City map showing the locations of the predominant events sponsored by the City.
      
      
   2. A five-year projection of revenue, expenditure, transfers to CIP and OPEB and use of projected reserves were discussed as CM Jones identified the reserves would be required to allow sustainability to FY 2015.
      
      
   3. From the March 22, 2010 meeting, staff presented updated 2011 budget highlights for M&CC review and discussion.  The M&CC removed the following for consideration of the FY 2011 Budget: Bulk Pick up fee = $214,000 and Vacuum Leaf Pick up = $225,000.

II. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before this session of the City Council, the meeting was duly adjourned at approximately 10:30 p.m.