City Council

1892 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020 8:3o AM CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL MOUNTVERNON, NEWYORK FINANCE AND PIANNING BANK ACCOUNT 1. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Mount "PASS-THORUGH" ACCOUNT 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 ""O OCT2 0 2028 CLERK OR DEPUTY f AN CI'ff ORDINANCE CLERK TO AUTHORIZING OPEN A BANK THE ACCOUNT CITY WHICH WILL SERVE AS A PASS-THROUGH ACCOUNT TO ACCEPT FUNDS ON BEHALF NO OF THE URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY. ADOP D WHEREAS, the City Council Vernon, hereby and that finds that consequently blighted areas continue the need for a City Urban to exist in the City of Mount Renewal Agency (URA) continues; and WHEREAS, it is in the public's best interest that the City of Mount Vernon Urban Renewal Agency operates efficiently and effectively; and OCT2 2 'm2U WHEREAS, the decisions of the Urban Renewal Agency have the potential of altering the face of the City of Mount Vernon, improving the City's economy, and impacting service demands; and WHEREAS, it is necessary to seek, accept and anticipate the awards of and external funds to the URA to facilitate the financial burden of the City's grants 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 WHEREAS, through legislation adopted on December 26, 2018, and approved by the board of Estimate & Contract on March 5, 2019, The Mount Urban Renewal Agency (the 'Agency") administers all federal programs on Vernon 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 WHEREAS, the Comptroller has refused to process wire transfers of Continuum of Care grants to the URA local account in a timely manner, furthermore, the comptroller has rehirned 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 collectively wrote a letter once again requesting the comptroller to President, complywith ordinance #13, ofApril 20, 2019; WHEREAS, the comptroller has failed to comply with ordinance #i3 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 the URA and has returned necessary and critically needed URA grants and to 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 to accept funds awarded to the URA have severely impacted the City's ability failure to eliminate blighting influences found in the renewal area; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Mount Vernon, elects to and does on the effective date of this ordinance authorize the Office of the City hereby Clerk to accept Federal and State grants on behalf of the URA; and f OCT2 a WHEREAS, to facilitate t}ie receipt of URA grants the Office of the City T Clerk is hereby directed to establish a bank account; and TED WHEREAS, this bank account will serve as a 'pass-through' account and will :lj!llij be used for the sole purpose of accepting grants and awards on behalf of the URA and then passing it along to the URA deparh'nent. WHEREAS, on the first Meeting of the City Council following the effective Date of this ordinance the City Council will adopt a set of policies and procedures for the URA Federal and State awiards received by the Office of the City Clerk; and 2020 NOW THEREFORE THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MOUNT VERNON, WESTCHESTER, NY HEREBY ORDAINAND ENACT, as follows: Section s. The City Council authorizes the establishment of a bank account to be maintained by the Office of the City Clerk and which shall be usedfor the sole purpose of a 'pass-through' account for URA funds. Section :. The City Clerk or Deputy City Clerk must dutifully sign his name on all documents to accept all Federal, State, County and External funds awarded to the URA. Section 3. The City Clerk or Deputy City Clerk must notif5r the City Council and Mayor when such funds are received. Section 4. This ordinance shall take effect upon its approval by the Board of Estimate and Contract. o o Councilperson C/) E o 3: o o LL o cri Assistant Corporation Counsel ATT T: o 0 Deputy'city APPROVED APPROVED Dept. Mayor o E o o o 0