Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10010-10 Appropriation - $353,437 from Parks and Recreation Fund #201 to Employ Seasonal Laborers-Passed 04-26-10ORDINANCE No. ,oo Passed by the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana April 26, Attest: Attest: Presented by me to the Mayor of the City of South Bend, Indiana April 27, JOHN Approved and signed by meAp r i t 2 7, Zp 10 Ciry Clerk President of Common Council ~~ ~~ 20 10 City Clerk Mayer 20 10 ORDINANCE NO. ~ ~~~ ~ J~~ AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROPRIATING $353,437.00 FROM THE PARKS AND RECREATION FUND (#201) TO EMPLOY SEASONAL LABORERS STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND INTENT The City of South Bend has been awarded a Community Service Block Grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Use of this grant money to (1) address the needs of the neighborhood's physical environment and (2) provide vital programs to the community's children is in the best interest of South Bend. This appropriation of grant funds will employ approximately 40 seasonal laborers for the Parks and Recreation Department and the Public Works Department of the City of South Bend. These laborers will perform jobs that will help achieve non-housing revitalization goals of South Bend's poorest neighborhoods, including neighborhood clean-up, mowing vacant lots and yards of abandoned houses, boarding up abandoned houses, removing graffiti from public and private property, watering trees and landscaping areas, providing custodial services for public facilities, creating ars, crafts, and cultural programming through the South Bend Park system, and providing mentoring, educational support, and life skills in a safe environment for youth in distressed neighborhoods after school hours. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA as follows: SECTION I. The sum of $353,437.00 is hereby appropriated from and set aside within Parks and Recreation Fund (#201) for the purpose of employing approximately 40 seasonal laborers for the Parks and Recreation Department and for the Public Works Department of the City of South Bend. SECTION II. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage by the Common Council, and approval by the Mayor. ~. ~~ Member of the Common Council Attest: ~. ~`' City Cl rk Presented by me to the Mayor of the City of South Bend, Indiana on the2~ day of ~ :. , 2 duo , at ~_o'clock ~ m. ~~ Approved and signed by me on the ~~ day of ~m. 1 st READING ~ ~~~~ ~ ~ PUBLIC HEARING ~-L~v-~c~ 3rd R~~U'iNG t-t _ Z,,l„-~. ~ :~:JT r^,PPRO.VF.D 20/0 , at3::~o'clock _ ,~,~,.~ ~Fa=Er^^.,°ED PASSED ~^-~~'`~ ~ Mayor, City South Bend TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND: Your Committee of the Whole, to whom was referred: BILL NO. 21-10 A BILL OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA APPROPRIATING $353,437.00 FROM THE PARKS AND RECREATION FUND (#201) TO EMPLOY SEASONAL LABORERS Respectfully report that they have examined the matter and that in their opinion, this bill is being recommended to the full Council with a favorable recommendation with the following recommendation. Ann Puzzello Chairperson, Committee of the Whole 1~1~1~~~~1~/ /~; r CITY OF SOUTH BEND STEPHEN J. LUECKE, MAYOR DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE GREGG D. ZIENTARA WNTROLLER Apri15, 2010 Mr. Derek Dieter President, South Bend Common Council 41~' Floor, County-City Building South Bend, IN 46601 Re: Ordinance to Appropriate $353,437.00 from Parks Fund #201 Dear President Dieter: Attached for filing with and approval of the Common Council is an ordinance appropriating the sum of $353,437.00 from Parks & Recreation Fund #201. South Bend has been awarded a Community Service Block Grant from the American . Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A copy of the grant application is enclosed for the benefit of Council members. The application requested "funds to employ forty (40) seasonal laborers for the Parks and Recreation Department and the Public Works Department of the City of South Bend." The purpose of the grant funds was to help South Bend achieve its non-housing revitalization goals including neighborhood clean-up, mowing vacant lots and yards of abandoned houses, boarding up abandoned houses, removing graffiti from public and private property, watering trees and landscaping areas, providing custodial services for public facilities, creating arts, crafts and cultural programming throughout the South Bend Park system, and also providing mentoring, educational support and life skills in a safe environment for youth in distressed neighborhoods after school hours. This appropriation will help achieve those goals. I will present this ordinance to the Common Council at its appropriate Committee meeting and at the public hearing. Thank you for your consideration. Sinc 1 Greg , Z entara Contro ler ~~ APR - 7 2010 COUNTY-CITY BUILDING 227 W JEFFERSON BOULEVARD SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 46601-1830 PHONE 574/235-9216 Fnx 574/235-9928 TDD 574/235-5567 pGv/ APPLICATION REAL SERVICES INC. Community Service Block Grant American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Funds Entity Name: City of South Bend Department; Inter-Departmental Coirtact Person:_ Matthew Movers Email: mtnovers ,southbendlN.gov Address: 321 E Walter Street Phone: 574-299-4768 ext. 248 DUNS Number: 07-432-7123 CCR Number: GSJQH6 Title: Special Proiects Coordinator Fax: 574-299-4783 Project/Program Details 1. Briefly describe Program/Project/Services for the low-income population that will be supported with these funds. (Please see Attachment A for definition oflow-income.) The City of South Bend hopes to use the funding to support two different types of services: 1) Addressing the needs of the neighborhoods' physical environment, and 2) Providing vital programs to the children of those communities. Low-income households typically live in neighborhoods that that have the highest foreclosure rate, the highest number of abandoned buildings, are most affected by blight and graffiti and that have limited access to af4erschool support, arts and culture programs and education or mentor support for their youth. departments mentioned herein cannot meet the demand for service without these additional workers. Jobs will include neighborhood clean-ups, mowing vacant Iots and yards of abandoned houses, boarding up these houses, removing graffiti from public and private property, watering trees and landscaped areas, custodial service for public facilities, arts, crags and culture programming and support for a;fterschool and high school age programming, This application requests funds to employ 40 seasonal laborers for the Parks and Recreation Department and the Public Works Department of the City of South Bend. 2, Request Type: X Replace Lost Funding ^ New Program/Service ~ Expand Existing Funding ^ Other 3. Complete the fallowing information to describe the positions your entity is requesting to fund with CSBG-ARRA funds. Position Title Total Total Salaries Percent (%) of Total CSBG- AunuaJ and Benefits for position funded ARRA Dollars Salary and Time period using CSBG- budgeted for this Benefit for 1/1/10-9/15/10 ARRA fends position oSitl0n _ Seasonal Laborer N/A-Pull- $106,200 based Parks and Recreation- Time on 28 weeks of 100% $ I 06,200 ll ositions Tem ora em loyment _ _ Seasonal Laborer N/A-Futl- $144,682 based _ Public Works Time on 28 weeks of 100% $144,682 15 ositions _Tem or em to meet Seasonal Custodial N/A-Pull- $67,SI8 based on Labor Time 28 weeks of 100% $67,518 Parks and Recreation- Temporary employment 7 ositions Seasonal Community N/A-Pull- $28,936 based on Center Programmer Time 28 weeks of I00% $28,936 Parks and Recreation- Temporary employment 3 ositions Seasonal Playground N/A-Port- $6,201 based on Program Staff Time 6 weeks of I00% $6,201 Parks and Recreation- Temporary employment, 30 4 ositions hourshveek TOTALS 40 N/A $ 353 547 1.00% $ 353 547 4. Provide a brief job description of each proposed ARRA position. 36 of the positions requested are classified by the City of South $end's Human Resources Dept as Full-Time Temporary Workers (that is they work 40 hours per week.) These positions are paid at $8.00/hr and the employee receives Social Security and Medicare benefits. They will be employed during the highest need for seasonal laborers from March to September. This constitutes a 28-week window of potential employment. The other 4 positions (with the Playground Program) are part-time seasonal positions (which work less than 40 hours per week). These are also paid at $8.00/hr and the employee receives Social Security and Medicare benefits, but will only be employed for the six weeks in the summer the Playground Program operates. Parks and Recreation -Seasonal Labor These eleven employees will replace the lost labor force caused by budget shortfalls and mandatory Reductions in Work Force for the 2010 budget year. They will be assigned to small operational crews used to address neighborhood blight, park and property vandalism, and general maintenance and Code Enforcement issues. Primary duties will include graffiti removal, cleaning and cutting back foliage on city lots, park property and abandoned properties, mowing operations and the maintenance of the public restrooms throughout the park system. Public Works -Seasonal Labor These fifteen employees will be an expansion of the current Public Works seasonal workforce, targeted to enforce Building Code Regulations such as moving lawns, alley clean-up, removing illegal dumping sites, and cleaning and boarding-up abandoned properties, most of which are found in the lowest income census tracts. The increase in the number of abandoned structures in South Bend is due to foreclosure that in turn has been directly related to the current recession and economic stress. Parks and Recreation -Seasonal Custodial Labor Seven custodial positions would be used to provide basic janitorial functions for the recreation centers that are open and provide free services across the City of South Bend. Three of these positions were terminated this year because of budgetary requirements; the other four would be used to adequately serve the under-maintained facilities and return them to the 2007 standards, Rum Village Nature Center (1), Howard Park Senior Center (1), Charles Black, Sr. Community Cetrter (1), Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center (2), and the O'Brien Fitness and Recreation Center (2) would be the respective home sites for these ~vorkers. Parks and Recreation -Seasonal Community Center Programmers Three positions are requested to providing progxamming at the Charles Black, Sr, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Recreation Centers. Return of these positions will allow the two Community Centers to continue afterschool and high-school age pxogramming for the communities they serve. These programs provide safe environments for youth directly after school hours, provide life skills and mentoring opportunities and assist in educational preparedness for some of South Bend's most vulnerable neighborhoods. Parks and Recreation -Seasonal Playground Program Staff These four positions will be part of the Summer Playground Program, run by the South Bend Park and Recreation Department. This program is free to all the public, but is specifically targeted to the ARRA low-income portion of our community because the program functions as a distribution unit for the summer portion of the School Lunch program. Staff will be involved in teaching arts, crafts, sports and in the distribution of the lunches. Although we have been forced to reduce the length of the season for this program, these are not replacement positions. Instead, this would allow the Parks and Recreation Department to return to the full range of services in the more limited time window. 5. Submit a copy of your most receut Audit Summary or Financial Review, if applicable. SEE ATTACHED (ATTACHMENT C) 6. Describe your entity's past experience, if any, working with REAL, Services, Inc. The City has pxovided funding for partnership initiatives with REAL Services in the past, and REAL Services is a partner in several aspects of the Howard Park Senior Center, including the Meals on wheels/Senior Picnic collaboration. 7. Describe how CSBG-ARRA funds will assist with retaining or creating the positions described in questions #3 and #4. Most of the positions described are seasonal laborers, and these crews have a very large impact on neighborhoods and the "common property" of the City of South Bend. These crews usually provide labor-intensive work on shod-term but necessary projects. Providing clean, safe properties and neighborhoods, remediating violations and hazardous conditions will have an immediate positive effect on the neighborhoods, but will also provide positive benefits to the working individuals and their families. Both the seasonal laborers and the programmer positions (at the community centers and at the Playground Program across the city at various park properties) simply will not be available without the assistance of the CSBG-ARRA funding. On March 19, 2008, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed House Bill 1001 that capped property tax assessment of private residences to 1% of assessed value, The projected revenue shortfall for the City of South Bend (on its full implementation in 2010) was $22 million to $24 million. Frugal spending (in preparation for this Bill) had begun in 2008, but even with the monies conserved in 2008, city officials were forced to make more than $3.1 million in additional permanent cuts in personnel and services to complete a 2009 budget. Despite modifications to a Local Option Income tax and creation of a Public Safety tax to fluid critical Police and Fire personnel, an estimated $6 million in lost revenue was not replaced in the 2010 budget and had to be balanced by termination of personnel and services compared to the diminished 2009 budget. This was compounded by the $2 million revenue decline to the city from the global economic crisis. In comparison to 2008 levels, the City has cut more than 80 positions and the accompanying services provided by that staff as result of revenue declines. The Mayor, Division Heads and most directors have taken mandatory 5% salary cuts. Non- bargaining staff's pay for the entire city has been frozen for the past two years. Seasonal positions were the most heavily affected, many being completely eliminated. The CSBG - ARRA grant will restore a portion of those services to the sections of our community that are most likely to have been most affected. 8. Describe anticipated Goals and Specific Outcomes. GOAL; TO IMPROVE THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONA~IENT OF SOUTH BEND'S DISTRESSED NEIGHBORHOODS, Objectives: • Employ 33 seasonal laborers ~~ithin two City departments • Employ low-mod income individuals who are unemployed. Outcomes: o Blight is reduced in the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the City o Arson is reduced by the clean-up and maintenance of abandoned homes o City properties, parks, alleys and neighborhoods are kept in good condition for both residents and visitors, (City Plan, CB 4, PF 1.1. I ) o Code, Building and environmental ordinances are enforced in a timely, consistent manner (City Plan, CB 4.7) o Parks and public "no cost" facilities are maintained to standard. GOAL: TO REDUCE UNEMPLOYMF.,NT 1N THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND Objectives: e Employ 40 seasonal laborers within two City departments and five different skill sets. • Employ low-mod income individuals who are unemployed. Outcomes: o Seasonal workers are immediately eligible for full-time employment in any City department who needs their skills and abilities as full-time employees either quit or retire o Re-establish a good work record o Learn nets skills that could be applied to other job opportunities GOAL: PROVIDE VITAL SERVICES TO YOUTH Objectives • Re-establish 20081evels of service with the Playground Program and at the two Community Centers' aftersehool and high school programs. • Employ low-mod income individuals who are unemployed. Outcomes: o School lunch program in the summer months continues at distribution sites. o Arts, crafts and culture programs offeredfree-of-charge through park system to youth, o Educational support, mentoring, life skills and a safe environment after school hours preserved for youth i-t distressed neighborhoods. 9, Complete the Risk Assessment Assurance Form (Attachment B) SEE ATTACHED Attachment A These jobs will not only employ low-income residents, but they will provide services to the low- and moderate-income neighborhoods of the City of South Bend most in need. The City will use the grant funds for employment and projects citywide but with a focus on public or abandoned private properties in distressed neighborhoods. According to data from the 2000 Census, the latest comprehensive data available, the Cite had A median household income of $32,439 (compared to $40,420 for St. Joseph County as a whole) 53,0% of its popularion classified as low or moderate income 16.7% of its population is below the poverty level A population that is 66.1% White, 24.6% Black/African American, and 8,5% Hispanic One focus of the neighborhood. clean-up and maintenance activities will be the neighborhoods surrounding the Charles Black Recreation Center and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center. The grant will also provide support for programs offered at these locations. Both the Charles Black and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Centers function as recreational, leisure and social anchors to their corrununities. The Charles Black Recreation Center falls in Census Tract 23, According to 2000 Census figures, this census h•act had A median household income of $20,262 71.1% of its population classified as low or moderate income 31,7% of its population is below the poverty level A population that is 79.1 % Black/African American, 12.4% Hispanic, and 9.8% White The Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center falls in Census Tract 21. According to 2000 Census figures, this census tract had A median household income of $21,250 70.0% of its population classified as low or moderate income 34.4% of its population is below the poverty level A population that is 75,0% Black/Afxican American, 17,7% White, and 7.0% Hispanic According to HUD data, Census Tract 21 has one of the nation's highest ]evels of foreclosed and vacant houses. Census Tract also suffers from some of the City's highest concentrations of vacant lots, vacant buildings, and foreclosed properties. The grant will supplement other efforts to improve the City's neighborhoods. The Charles Black Recreation Center falls within the City's first Weed & Seed area, a geography participating in the federal program to weed out crime and seed in social services and neighborhood improvements. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center is located within the City's second Weecj.s4c..SeecY area. .~y ~4i~~~• V~ rL~" ti`t. .. 9,, _-~--- APR _ ~ 2010 . , •~ ~~u~