Board of Estimate & Contract

'il91ff.'@liA BOARD OF ESTIMATE & CONTRACT AGENDA THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 g:oo AM MAYOR'S CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK "SPECIAL MEETING" RESOLUTION APPROVING ORDINANCE 1. A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon authorizing the City Clerk or Deputy City Clerk to open a bank account which will serve as a "Pass-Through" account to accept funds on behalf of the Urban Renewal Agency. ocr 2 g xgxg Ql RESOL'y'ED, that an ordinance adopted by the City Council at a meeting on October 20, 2020 and signed Mayor by theon October special HEL)) 20, 2020, atxthorizing the Office of the City or Deputy Clerk City Clerk to a Bank Account which will serve as a "Pass-Throrigh" account to accept open om behalf of the Urban Renewal Agency be and the same hereby funds ocr 2 2 zgzg adopted. i SPECIA ADOPTED BY BOARD OF ESTIMATE AND CONTRACT a Assistant'torpoaration Counsel :Cj 0 o APPROVED ilz ";w r..u ,, Dept. DWlJ'['Y Clerk OCT2 D 2020 THE CITY CLERK OR DEPUTY l AN CITY ORDINANCE CLERK ATJI'HORIZING TO OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT WHICH WILL SERVE AS A PASS-THROUGH ACCOUNT TO ACCEPT FUNDS ON BEHALF NC) OF THE URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY. ADOP ED WHEREAS, the City Council hereby finds that blighted areas continue to exist in the City of Mount Vernon, and that consequently the need for a City Urban Renewal Agency (URA) continues; and WHEREAS, it is in the public's best interest that the City of Mount Vernon 0gl 2 and andeffectively; efficiently operates Agency Renewal Urban WHEREAS, the decisions of the Urban Renewal Agency have the potential the City's economy, and of altering the face of the City of Mount Vernon, improving impacting service demands; and WHEREAS, it is necessary to seek, accept and anticipate the awards of funds to the URA to facilitate the financial burden of the City's grants and external projects; and WHEREAS, the City of Mount Vernon is an eligible recipient of various Federal and State grants awarded to the Urban Renewal Agency; and through legislation adopted on December 26, 2018, and WHEREAS, approved by the board of Estimate & Contract on March 5, 2019, The Mount Agency (the 'Agency") administers all federal programs on Vernon Urban Renewal behalf of the City of Mount Vernon (the "City"); and WHEREAS, the City of Mount Vernon has been awarded funding in the amount of $i,o56,7io.oo in fiscal year 2017 and $1,049,822.00 in fiscal year 2018 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") for the through Continuum of Care grants: WHEREAS, the Continuum of Care funds are used to provide both and permanent housing, supportive services, and rapid rehousing to transitional the most vulnerable Mount Vernon Resident, including veterans and those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; and the Comptroller has refused to process wire transfers of WHEREAS, Continuum of Care grants to the URA local account in a timely manner, furthermore, the comptroller has returned almost $85o,ooo.oo in federal grant funding to HUD without notice to any elected official; and WHEREAS, in order to comply with HUD's rules and regulations, the City Council adopted ordinance #i3 of April 10, 2019 mandating the Comptroller to comply with the directives adopted in that ordinance; and WHEREAS, on July 28, 2020, the newly elected mayor and the City Council President, collectively wrote a letter once again requesting the comptroller to comply with ordinance #13, of April 20, 2019; WHEREAS, the comptroller has failed to comply with ordinance #13 of April 10, 2019; which also required the Comptroller to abide by the 3-business day rule for timely disbursement of funds per HUD requirement; and WHEREAS, the Comptroller have willfully failed to accept grants awarded to the URA and has returned necessary and critically needed URA grants and awards from Federal and State Government and external funds; and WHEREAS, the Comptroller's willful failure to accept Federal and State Government and external funds on behalf of the City's URA have cause a financial impediment to the City; and WHEREAS, the financial impediment caused by the Comptroller's willful failure to accept funds awarded to the URA have severely impacted the City's ability to eliminate blighting influences found in the renewal area; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, elects to and hereby does on the effective date of this ordinance authorize the Office of the City Clerk to accept Federal and State grants on behalf of the URA; and oer2 D pri;ini! oT it Clerk WHEREAS, to facilitate is hereby directed to estab!ish the receipt of URA grants a bank accorint; and the Office of the City WHEREAS, this bank account will serve as a 'pass-through' account and will be used for the scile purpose of accepting grants and awards on behalf of the URA axid then passing it along to the URA department. WHEREAS, on the first Council Meeting following of t}ie the effective City Date of this ordinance the City Council will adopt a set of policies and procedures Federal and State awards received by the Office of the City Clerk; and for the URA O(,T2 2 2020I VERNON, NOW THEREFORE WESTCHESTER, THE CITY MY HEREBY COUNCIL ORDAIN OF AND THE ENACT, CITY OF MOUNT as follows: Section 'i. The City Council authorizes the establishment of a bank account to be maintained by the Office of the City Clerk and which shall be used'for the sole purpose of a 'pass-tl'irough' account for URA funds. Section 2. The City Clerk or Deputy City Clerk must dutifully sign his on all documents to accept all Federal, State, County and External funds name awarded to tl'ie URA. Section 3. The City Clerk or Deputy City Clerk must notify the City Council and Mayor wlien such funds are received. Section 4. This ordinance shall take effect upon its approval by the Board of Estimate and Contract. o Councilperson E o o o j ,' / QPhPRO DAS70,,FiORfM Assistant Corporation Couri'6el ATT T: ' o o o ' Deputy,?city APPROVED Dept. Mayor o o o 0