Receive update on American Rescue Plan, approve recommended projects, consider Yolo County Office of Education request for an additional $250,000 allocation from the Children, Youth, and Family Priority Category, approve use of de minis remaining funds, and provide Board direction. (No general fund impact) (Pinedo/Bryan) (Est. Time: 10 min)

American Rescue Plan - Quarterly Update
The County of Yolo originally adopted ARP allocations at the Board of Supervisors meeting on September 28th, 2021. At the same meeting, the Board adopted a policy on the use of the American Rescue plan funds that required staff to provide a quarterly report. Presentations have since been made to the Board on a quarterly basis regarding allocations, commitments, and expenditures under the plan.

The County Administrator's Office has been responsible for preparing contracts for the American Rescue Plan with support from County Counsel, General Services, and the Procurement Division. The Department of Financial Services is charged with reviewing expenditures associated with the ARP contracts to ensure that the costs are eligible and in compliance with the contracts prior to payment. The County Administrator's Office has been monitoring the performance of the entities under contract. Spending under the ARP must be completed by specific deadlines.

All funding must be committed by December 31, 2024, and all spending must be completed by December 31, 2026.

Performance Reporting
All ARP contracts include provisions requiring regular reporting from funding recipients, typically on a quarterly basis. The most recent quarterly and/or final project reports are included as Att. D. Project Reports.

Roadmap to the Future Update
The Yolo County Office of Education secured over $450,000 in 2022 from school districts and Yolo County to complete the first three phases of Roadmap to the Future, including: 1) collection of existing community asset and service data and development of maps by Supervisorial district; 2) an assessment of needs for community assets and services for children, youth and families; and 3) a final report. The Roadmap to the Future aligns with Yolo County’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan goal of “Thriving Residents”, specifically the outcome to reduce economic and educational disparities while building resiliency for vulnerable children and their families.

In 2023, YCOE completed the first-ever county-wide collection of community assets and services data to provide information about the existing system of support for children, youth, and families in Yolo County, including county-wide services and services provided within homes. The project team created community asset and service provider maps for each of the five Yolo County Supervisorial districts, secured input on missing or incorrect community assets or services from the community during five public outreach meetings conducted in every Supervisorial district, incorporated community input into revised maps, and created a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database of identified community assets and services which YCOE successfully transferred to Yolo County’s GIS Manager for safekeeping. YCOE is in the process of finalizing the Supervisorial district maps for public distribution.

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors set aside $2.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds in 2022 to fund expanded or new community assets and services identified in the Roadmap to the Future needs assessment. YCOE hosted a separate round of community engagement meetings in 2023 to gather initial information about needs for community assets and services. YCOE determined as a part of these public meetings that YCOE and Valley Vision, the partner YCOE selected to assist with the needs assessment, need additional time to complete the work. The head of YCOE, Superintendent Garth Lewis, briefed the Board of Supervisors at the June 6, 2023 meeting and received support for extending the timeline for completing the needs assessment. YCOE will develop a needs assessment plan with an Advisory Committee of experts by the end of December 2023, complete the needs assessment by March 2024, and complete the final report by June 2024.

YCOE is also requesting approval of a $250,000 allocation in American Rescue Plan funds from the Children, Youth, and Family Priority Category to assist with completing the final deliverables for the Roadmap to the Future and authorize the County Administrator to sign an amendment to the contract between Yolo County and the Yolo County Office of Education to extend the deadline to June 2024 and add the additional funds. This would leave a balance of $2.25m million in the Children, Youth, and Family Priority Category, which staff recommends be set aside through the revenue recovery mechanism and earmarked to allow for implementation following the completion of the Roadmap to the Future. 

American Rescue Plan Allocations - Background
On September 28, 2021, the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved the initial American Rescue Plan (ARP) Expenditure Plan, which allocated $42,829,540 in available federal funding. The majority of the allocations were to specific projects, Priority Categories, or Strategic Plan Implementation.

Since the initial allocation, the Board has periodically reviewed and adjusted the amounts allocated, with the most recent reallocation occurring at the July 25, 2023, Board meeting. At that meeting the Board considered and approved a slate of Staff project recommendations to fund from reallocated monies, totaling $2,181,372. An additional amount totaling $960,202.68 was allocated to the category of Revenue Replacement pending the identification of appropriate projects to fund.

ARP Allocation and Expenditure Recommendations
Following the July 25, 2023, meeting, Staff continued to review internal and external funding concepts, with an emphasis on funding programs that would have broad positive impact and were prepared to quickly move forward with funding. In addition to the $960,202.68 set aside by the Board at the July meeting, Staff are also recommending the reallocation of unutilized funding from the Yolo Library project and the categories of Community Parks & Facilities, Broadband, and Economic Development; no additional projects have been identified within those subject areas that are suitable for the amounts of funding remaining. This provides a total balance of $1,617,791.03 available to fund additional projects. Staff is recommending six projects:

Historical and proposed allocations are detailed in Att. A. ARP Allocation Summary. Requests for external funding may be found in Att. C. External Funding Proposals.

If the Board approves the recommended projects, staff will begin generating the necessary agreements with the expectation of returning to the Board for contract approval as early as February 2024.

ARP Outreach and Residual Project Funding Reallocation
While reviewing existing allocations and considering new projects for approval, Staff have also undertaken an effort to reach out to existing ARP funding recipients. The purpose of this outreach is to keep funding recipients aware of upcoming federal and contractual deadlines and to ensure that projects are proceeding accordingly.

As this outreach is ongoing, Staff may identify de minimis amounts of project funding that recipients are unable to utilize, due to changes in project scope, encroaching deadlines, or other challenges. Staff is requesting that when these amounts are identified, that authority be delegated to staff to reallocate the funds. Funds that are "swept up" in this fashion will be utilized as Revenue Replacement and put towards General Fund expenditures in-line with previously identified ARP spending priorities. Staff recommends that any project with funds remaining of $10,000 or less be subject to this mechanism for reallocation.

For any projects with remaining funds in excess of $10,000, Staff will analyze reallocation options and develop project recommendations for the Board, with an emphasis on projects that will have high-impact results for the community. Staff will produce an initial report and recommendations for reallocated and available funds in Spring 2024.

County Administrator's Office
General Services - Procurement
Financial Services
County Counsel