Council Subcommittee

MINUTES OF THE GILBERT COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE ON AZ CARES ACT, AUGUST 21, 2020, AT 2:00 P.M., VIRTUAL MEETING, GILBERT, ARIZONA COUNCIL PRESENT: Chair Aimee Yentes and Councilmembers Yung Koprowski and Scott September COUNCIL ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Patrick Banger, Town Clerk Lisa Maxwell, Town Attorney Chris Payne, Parks and Recreation Director Robert Carmona, Office of Management and Budget Director Kelly Pfost, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Director Rob Bohr, Department of Economic Development Director Dan Henderson, Community Response Supervisor Melanie Dykstra, Assistant Fire Chief Rob Duggan CALL TO ORDER Chair Yentes called the meeting to order at 2:04 p.m. RECESS OF SPECIAL MEETING AND RECONVENE IN EXECUTIVE SESSION A MOTON was made by Councilmember September, seconded by Councilmember Koprowski, to recess to Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3), legal advice from the Town Attorney concerning AZ Cares Act funds and restrictions. Motion carried 3-0 ADJOURN EXECUTIVE SESSION AND RECONVENE SPECIAL MEETING Chair Yentes reconvened the Special meeting at 2:39 p.m. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Approval of the minutes of the meeting of August 14, 2020. A MOTION was made by Councilmember Koprowski, seconded by Councilmember September, to approved the minutes of the meeting of August 14, 2020. Motion carried 3-0. 2. Review of outstanding items from previous meeting. Town Clerk Maxwell mentioned the Community Needs Assessment requested at the last meeting was included in the packet. 3. Review, discussion and possible action of Community Needs Assessment including assistance for vulnerable populations. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra stated she talked with Gilbert Public Schools and they are providing hot spots for students who need them to access the internet. She did not hear back from Higley Schools. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra then spoke about the Community Needs Assessment. She stated the stringent requirements from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) kept some organizations from applying for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra talked with non-profit agencies to learn what types of calls they are receiving and to learn about their most prevalent requests for service. She also asked them what they are doing now that they were not doing before. She learned food is a definite need and there is a increased need for mental health counseling. Chair Yentes asked if it was possible to ensure all the funds are going to services to help Gilbert residents. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra replied contracts with the non-profits contain information on how many people are going to be served. The non- profits do require some funds to pay for staff who do the work. Councilmember Koprowski asked how long the process took from the start to finish. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra replied request were generally received in May and funds dispersed in June and July. Chair Yentes asked if the request could be revamped? Community Response Supervisor Dykstra said the request can be modified to reflect services requested by the Town. Chair Yentes suggested Digital Government could notify residents that there has been an increase in requests and this might lead to more contributions to the food banks. Councilmember September asked if it would be appropriate to ask for submissions now. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra said she could submit a request for targeted groups if there was direction from Council to do that. This Subcommittee would need to make a recommendation to Council for their approval. Chair Yentes said she saw no reason to wait to make that recommendation to Council. Providing funds for mental health care, food banks, and utilities is important. Councilmember September asked if the numbers they were looking at were today’s numbers or pre-COVID numbers. Community Response Supervisor Dykstra replied they are pre-COVID. Organizations ask for what they think they will need to serve their clients. Councilmember Koprowski said she agreed with Councilmember September’s idea of requesting applications to find out what the need is. The applications can be prioritized once they are received. Chair Yentes suggested starting with $1,000,000 and to start providing money to people in need now. Parks and Recreation Director Carmona said the Town can start processing applications and see what funds non-profits need. He would like to take the Subcommittee’s recommendation to Council at the August 24 meeting. Councilmember Koprowski suggested an upper limit of $2,000,000 and the other Subcommittee members agreed. There was discussion about the different groups were prioritized during normal years: 1) Individuals with mental health and substance abuse treatment needs 2) Survivors of DV, Sexual assault and trafficking 3) Families in Crisis 4) Homeless Individuals and Families 5) Low to Moderate Income Individuals and Families 6) Youth in Need of Social Services 7) Special Needs Individuals 8) Elderly/Seniors 9) Immigrants and Refugees 10) Culturally diverse individuals Chair Yentes suggested moving the elderly and seniors up on the list. They have been impacted more by COVID. She also suggested looking at who need Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Councilmember September said he believes the list should be reordered based on more current events. The Subcommittee will have something for Council next week. 4. Review, discussion and possible action of Public Safety Assistant Fire Chief Duggan gave an overview of Public Safety Projects. Some of the projects are already planned and funds set aside, including scheduled replacement of equipment at the end of its useful life. Other projects are as yet unfunded. Office of Management and Budget Director Pfost stated significant amounts are being spent with the General Fund as the funding source. If AZ Cares Act funds are used to reimburse the General Fund than that money can be used for other projects. Chair Yentes said she would like to learn more about business needs before committing to Public Safety projects. Councilmember Koprowski asked if the top items were currently funded. Office of Management and Budget Director Pfost replied most items at the top of the list are funded this year and the other items are identified in the five- year plan for future funding. There was discussion about the Emergency Operation Center (EOC). Where the EOC is currently located is not adequate for their needs. There is space identified in the Public Safety Training Facility identified for the EOC. With the recent civil unrest it would be good to build this out sooner rather than later. Chair Yentes said she would rather help businesses now and talk about this at a later date. 5. Review, discussion and possible action of assistance for businesses. Economic Development Director Henderson and Sarah Watts, President and CEO of THE Chamber of Commerce, discussed developing trends in businesses identified through surveys administered through the Chamber. The survey results cover the period of August 2019 through March 2020. Most respondents believed the market was good or very good. Before COVID grants, mentors and affordable space were identified as needs. The needs have changed since March. Ms. Watts said a Business Needs Assessment survey opened this month. She gave an overview of what she has heard most recently from the business community. Councilmember September noted there were closed to 3,000 businesses with less than 100 employees. He asked the size of the 241 respondents to the survey. Ms. Watts replied most of these businesses had less than 50 employees. Councilmember Koprowski asked what businesses were eligible for grants for rent and utility assistance from Maricopa County and the State. Ms. Watts said none of the businesses that replied to the survey had applied for a grant. Councilmember Koprowski asked if businesses had any additional needs where there was assistance available from the County or State. Economic Development Director Henderson said he would work on finding that information but so far it has been difficult to get. Chair Yentes asked for a copy of the survey responses. She said she would like to see the survey opened back up so more data can be gathered for the next meeting. She would also like to see some recommendations on how to provide assistance to businesses based on the survey results. Councilmember September agreed the process needs to move along quickly. Chair Yentes stated she believes payroll assistance is needed. Economic Development Director Henderson said he can look at segmentation by industry. He knows the number of businesses in each industry category and he knows which industries have been negatively impacted. What he does not know is information about specific businesses. Councilmember Koprowski said she would like to see recommendations at the next meeting including businesses with over 50 employees in the recommendations. She would also like to see the metrics accountability. Chair Yentes suggested using Team Digital to get the word out regarding the survey. She would like a larger pool to participate and not just Chamber members. Councilmember September asked if all the respondents were Chamber members. Ms. Watts replied the survey went out to businesses at large and the survey did not ask whether or not the business was a Chamber member. Chair Yentes said she would like to see ideas on what can be done that does not cost lots of money. For instance, the Town could provide regulatory relief to businesses. She would like to consider eliminating business licenses and she would like to discuss that at next meeting. 6. Review, discussion and possible action of assistance for residents. There will move information on this topic at the next meeting. 7. Update from Town team reviewing Economic Reimbursements due to COVID-19. No discussion. 8. Discussion of Next Steps. There will be a discussion on the process for involving the public at an upcoming meeting. The presentation shared at this meeting will be sent to the Subcommittee members and added to the published meeting packet for the public to access. The next meeting will be on August 27 at 3:00 p.m. ADJOURN Chair Yentes adjourned the meeting at 3:59 p.m. ATTEST: ___________________________ ___________________________________ Chair Aimee Yentes Lisa Maxwell, MMC, Deputy Town Clerk