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Ordinance 4229ORDINANCE NO. 4229 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, CREATING A THE EDMONDS RESCUE PLAN FUND AND SETTING OUT ITS INTENDED USES WHEREAS, our city and region continue to experience a public health and economic emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to sudden job losses, lower paychecks, and increased household costs to deal with COVID-19 impacts for many residents, as well as business/revenue losses for many local businesses; and WHEREAS, Governor Inslee declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 crisis on February 29, 2020; and WHEREAS, the Mayor declared an emergency of the city due to the COVID-19 crisis on March 5, 2020; and WHEREAS, the state of emergency continues to this day even though the availability of vaccinations has curbed the health impacts of the pandemic; and WHEREAS, the Edmonds City Council previously adopted Ordinances 4189, 4195, and 4196 to allocate federal CARES Act funding; and WHEREAS, the context surrounding the adoption of this ordinance is still similar to the context that lead to the adoption of Ordinances 4189, 4195, and 4196, resulting in similar legislative findings, not all of which will be repeated or updated here; and WHEREAS, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law on March 11, 2021; and WHEREAS, ARPA provides additional relief to address the continued impacts of COVID-19 on the economy, public health, state and local governments, individuals, and businesses; and WHEREAS, ARPA Sec. 9901 provides funding to states and local governments to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the COVID-19 public health emergency; and WHEREAS, states and local governments shall use the funds to cover costs incurred by December 31, 2024, to • respond to the COVID-19 emergency or its negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality; • provide premium pay to essential workers or provide grants to employers of essential workers during the COVID-19 emergency; provide government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue of such state, territory, or tribal government due to the COVID-19 emergency; or make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure; and WHEREAS, Sec. 9901 prohibits (1) the use of funds to reduce or delay the imposition of a tax or tax increase, or (2) deposit of the funds into a pension fund; and WHEREAS, Sec. 9901 provides funding for payments to states, territories, local governments, and tribal governments to carry out critical capital projects directly enabling work, education, and health monitoring, including remote options, in response to the COVID-19 emergency; and WHEREAS, on May 10, 2021, the Treasury Department issued an Interim Final Rule, which went into effect on May 17, 2021, to implement the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund established under the American Rescue Plan Act; and WHEREAS, the Interim Final Rule sets clear guidelines on eligible uses of Fiscal Recovery Funds and provides State, local, and Tribal government officials discretion within those eligible uses to direct Fiscal Recovery Funds to areas of greatest need within their jurisdiction through a broadly flexible approach; and WHEREAS, under ARPA, the City of Edmonds, because it has a population under 50,000, is considered a nonentitlement unit of local government (NEU); and WHEREAS, ARPA Section 603 requires Treasury to allocate and pay Fiscal Recovery Funds to the States and territories and requires the States and territories to distribute Fiscal Recovery Funds to NEUs based on population within 30 days of receipt; and WHEREAS, to facilitate implementation and use of payments from the Fiscal Recovery Funds, the Interim Final Rule identifies a non-exclusive list of eligible uses of funding that respond to the negative economic impacts of the public health emergency; and WHEREAS, Recipients may also use payments from the Fiscal Recovery Funds to replace State, local, and Tribal government revenue lost due to COVID-19, helping to ensure that governments can continue to provide needed services and avoid cuts or layoffs; and WHEREAS, state and local governments are encouraged to use payments from the Fiscal Recovery Funds to respond to the direct and immediate needs of the pandemic and its negative economic impacts and, in particular, the needs of low- and/or moderate -income households and businesses that were disproportionately and negatively impacted by the public health emergency; and WHEREAS, State, local, and Tribal governments may provide assistance to small businesses to adopt safer operating procedures, weather periods of closure, or mitigate financial hardship resulting from the COVID-19 public health emergency, including: • Loans or grants to mitigate financial hardship such as declines in revenues or impacts of periods of business closure, for example by supporting payroll and benefits costs, costs to retain employees, mortgage, rent, or utilities costs, and other operating costs; • Loans, grants, or in -kind assistance to implement COVID-19 prevention or mitigation tactics, such as physical plant changes to enable social distancing, enhanced cleaning efforts, barriers or partitions, or COVID-19 vaccination, testing, or contact tracing programs; and • Technical assistance, counseling, or other services to assist with business planning needs. WHEREAS, recipients may consider additional criteria to target assistance to businesses in need, including small businesses. Such criteria may include businesses facing financial insecurity, substantial declines in gross receipts (e.g., comparable to measures used to assess eligibility for the Paycheck Protection Program), or other economic harm due to the pandemic, as well as businesses with less capacity to weather financial hardship, such as the smallest businesses, those with less access to credit, or those serving disadvantaged communities. Recipients should consider local economic conditions and business data when establishing such criteria; and WHEREAS, the Interim Final Rule outlines eligible uses within each category of infrastructure (water, sewer, broadband), allowing for a broad range of necessary investments in projects that improve access to clean drinking water, improve wastewater and stormwater infrastructure systems, and provide access to high -quality broadband service; and WHEREAS, by permitting funds to be used for water and sewer infrastructure needs, Congress recognized the critical role that clean drinking water and services for the collection and treatment of wastewater and stormwater play in protecting public health; and WHEREAS, with respect to wastewater infrastructure, recipients may use Fiscal Recovery Funds to construct publicly owned treatment infrastructure, manage and treat stormwater or subsurface drainage water, facilitate water reuse, and secure publicly owned treatment works, among other uses; and WHEREAS, Treasury encourages recipients to consider green infrastructure investments and projects to improve resilience to the effects of climate change. For example, more frequent and extreme precipitation events combined with construction and development trends have led to increased instances of stonmwater runoff, water pollution, and flooding. Green infrastructure projects that support stormwater system resiliency could include rain gardens that provide water storage and filtration benefits, and green streets, where vegetation, soil, and engineered systems are combined to direct and filter rainwater from impervious surfaces; NOW THEREFORE; THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The City of Edmonds hereby accepts an allocation of up to $11,893,099 as the City of Edmonds' American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation, as administered and disbursed by the Washington State Department of Commerce in the form of one direct deposit to the City of Edmonds in June 2021 and a second deposit approximately one year later, in accordance with Federal ARPA guidelines. Further the City Council authorizes the Mayor to enter into the corresponding contract(s) with the Department of Commerce for administration and disbursement of these funds. Section 2. The Administrative Services Director is hereby authorized to rename Fund 142, from the Edmonds CARES Fund, to the Edmonds Rescue Plan Fund for the purpose of accounting for ARPA-eligible payments used to facilitate compliance with COVID-19-related public health measures, expenses associated with the provision of economic support in related to recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency and associated economic recession, and any other COVID-19-related expenses reasonably necessary to the function of the City that satisfy the Act's eligibility criteria. 4 Section 3. The Edmonds Rescue Plan Fund shall be administered by the Administrative Services Director under the direction of the Mayor. Section 4. The City Council hereby appropriates and allocates the City's share of ARPA funds as set forth in this Section. There shall be kept by and under the direction of the Administrative Services Director, such books, accounts and records as are necessary to control and report the ARPA-eligible expenditures, and shall further subdivide the cash account thereof into six separately designated accounts as follows: A. Account "A" shall be the "Edmonds Rescue Plan City Expenditures" account into which up to $750,000 from the ARPA funds shall be allocated to reimburse City expenditures associated with responding to the COVID-19 health emergency and any resurgences in the future, including staffing, equipment, and supplies related to maintaining a safe workplace for employees and the visiting public, as well as necessary capital investments, such as enhancements to HVAC filter upgrades, etc. B. Account `B" shall be the "Edmonds Rescue Plan Household Support" account into which $4,150,000 from the ARPA funds shall be allocated to reimburse those City expenditures incurred through administration of the following programs, in compliance with the ARPA eligibility criteria: 1. Household Support. Up to $3,000,000 for Grants to households earning no more than 40% of Edmonds Median Income for housing expenses, food, medical bills, childcare, internet access, and other household expenses. Up to 400 households may receive grants of up to $2,500 in 2021 and 2022. Up to 200 households may receive grants of up to $2,500 in 2023 and 2024. 2. Utility Bill Support. Up to $150,000 for one-time grants to households earning no more than 40% of Edmonds Median Income in amounts up to $1,000 for up to 150 households to help defray expenses derived from outstanding City of Edmonds utilities bills. 3. Housing Repair. Up to $1,000,000 for one-time grants to households earning no more than 40% of Edmonds Median Income for housing repair, especially focused on energy -saving measures such as roof repair, window replacement, HVAC repair/replacement, etc. Up to 200 grants at up to $5,000 each. 5 C. Account "C" shall be the "Edmonds Rescue Plan Business Support" account into which $1,125,000 from the ARPA funds shall be allocated to reimburse those City expenditures incurred through administration of the following programs, in compliance with the ARPA eligibility criteria: 1. General Business Support. Up to $200,000 in installments of $50,000 per year in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 for general support of Edmonds small businesses, business districts and the overall business community. This includes such programs as the Edmonds Business Booster website and its programs and promotion; promotion of business districts outside Downtown through advertising, wayfinding, signage; business -support or promotional events, etc. 2. Tourism Support. Up to $300,000 in installments of $75,000 per year in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 for support of tourism promotion. This includes enhanced local and regional advertising, support of events and special promotions, investment in facilities and/or equipment, etc. 3. Small Business Support. Up to $625,000 for direct grants to small businesses most affected by the COVID-19-related economic recession. Grants will take the form of individual financial support grants (in the form of loans that are forgivable after four months of performance), totaling up to 50 at up to $10,000 each in 2021, with up to 25 grants of up to $5,000 each available in 2022. Eligibility criteria for these grants will include: a. Small businesses in Edmonds with zero to 30 employees. b. Businesses must demonstrate at least a 50% loss in revenue by the end of 2020 compared to the pre -pandemic 2019 revenues. c. Businesses must not have received more than $5,000 in other grants, tax credits or other financial assistance. d. Particular consideration will be given to businesses owned by people of color, women, veterans, and other minorities D. Account "D" shall be the "Edmonds Rescue Plan Nonprofit Organization Support" account into which $500,000 from the ARPA funds shall be allocated to assist Edmonds nonprofit organizations that have suffered substantial financial losses due to prolonged closures, cut -backs, loss of business, etc. A general call for requests will be issued, with requests reviewed competitively and awards based on relative need, likelihood to help an organization survive, and other sources of funds available. Small grants of up to $20,000 and totaling no more than $100,000 shall be approvable by the Mayor. Large grants of any amount over $20,000 for a total of up to $400,000 shall be approvable by the City Council. E. Account "E" shall be the "Edmonds Rescue Plan Job Retraining Program" account into which $600,000 from the ARPA funds shall be allocated to provide financial aid to people who have suffered workforce participation interruption, with demonstrated financial need, who seek skills training, certifications, completion of degrees, or other skills enhancement at local community colleges serving Edmonds residents in the form of grants of up to $5000 per year per student to cover tuition, fees, supplies and life expenses during the period of study. Administration of this program will be conducted by the college or colleges selected under the contractual oversight of the City. The Mayor shall be authorized, with Council President approval, to enter into the corresponding contract(s) with participating colleges or trade schools serving Edmonds residents. F. Account "F" shall be the "Edmonds Rescue Plan City Green Infrastructure" account in which up to $4,768,099 from the ARPA funds shall be allocated to reimburse City capital expenditures through 2026 associated with green infrastructure projects, meeting ARPA guidelines, such as: 1. Edmonds Marsh Water Quality and Flood Control. Retention and treatment of surface stormwater runoff into the Edmonds Marsh to enhance the water quality of the Marsh, as well as other associated projects. Preliminary projected cost — approximately $750,000. 2. Lower Perrinville Creek Realignment. Retention and treatment of surface stormwater runoff in the Perinnville Creek drainage basin, intended to reduce stormwater surge flows and enhance the quality of stormwater reaching Puget Sound. Preliminary projected cost — $3,500,000. 3. Green Streets and Rain Gardens. Enhance existing streets throughout Edmonds by adding features that retain and/or treat stormwater runoff to reduce stormwater surges and contaminants that reach Puget Sound. Similarly, rain gardens in association with streets, parks and other public facilities may be established for these same purposes. Preliminary projected cost — $1,000,000. All infrastructure projects and their associated budgets shall be presented to City Council for review and approval. Section 5. The City may only use ARPA funds to cover costs incurred for one or more of the purposes allowed by federal law and during the period beginning March 3, 2021, and ending December 31, 2024. A cost shall be considered to have been incurred for purposes of this Section if the City has incurred an obligation with respect to such cost by December 31, 2024. The City must return any funds not obligated by December 31, 2024, and any funds not expended to cover such obligations by December 31, 2026. Section 6. Any organization assisting the City in providing emergency aid under Section 4(B), 4(C) or 4(E) shall provide a quarterly written report to the City. The Administration shall provide the City Council a quarterly written report about the amount of aid provided by the City, the purpose and criteria by which it has been distributed, and any other pertinent information regarding the grant programs outlined in Sections 4(B),4(C) and 4(E) above. Section 7. Severability. If any section, subsection, clause, sentence, or phrase of this ordinance should be held invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. Section 8. Effective Date. This ordinance, being exempt under RCW 35A.11.090(4), as an ordinance appropriating money, is not subject to referendum and shall take effect five (5) days after passage and publication of an approved summary thereof consisting of the title. APPROVED: MAYOR MIKE NELSON ATTEST/AUTHENTICATED: CITY CLERK, SCOT ASSEY APPROVED AS TO FORM: OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY: 119100F1.117evd FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK: July 16, 2021 PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: July 20, 2021 PUBLISHED: July 23, 2021 EFFECTIVE DATE: July 28, 2021 ORDINANCE NO. 4229 SUMMARY OF ORDINANCE NO.4229 of the City of Edmonds, Washington On the 20th day of July, 2021, the City Council of the City of Edmonds, passed Ordinance No. 4229. A summary of the content of said ordinance, consisting of the title, provides as follows: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, CREATING A THE EDMONDS RESCUE PLAN FUND AND SETTING OUT ITS INTENDED USES The full text of this Ordinance will be mailed upon request. DATED this 20th day of July, 2021. Cl RK, SCOYKPy 10 Everett Daily Herald Affidavit of Publication State of Washington } County of Snohomish } ss Maggie Boyd being first duly sworn, upon oath deposes and says: that he/she is the legal representative of the Everett Daily Herald a daily newspaper. The said newspaper is a legal newspaper by order of the superior court in the county in which it is published and is now and has been for more than six months prior to the date of the first publication of the Notice hereinafter referred to, published in the English language continually as a daily newspaper in Snohomish County, Washington and is and always has been printed in whole or part in the Everett Daily Herald and is of general circulation in said County, and is a legal newspaper, in accordance with the Chapter 99 of the Laws of 1921, as amended by Chapter 213, Laws of 1941, and approved as a legal newspaper by order of the Superior Court of Snohomish County, State of Washington, by order dated June 16, 1941, and that the annexed is a true copy of EDH933585 ORDS 4229-4230 as it was published in the regular and entire issue of said paper and not as a supplement form thereof for a period of 1 issue(s), such publication commencing on 07/23/2021 and ending on 07/23/2021 and that said newspaper was regularly distributed to its subscribers during all of said period. The amount of the fee for such publication is $20.60,_� 'f —"I _ Subscribed and sworn fore me on this j ACO day of No Public in and for the State of Washington. City of Ed,— s- L[GALADS 11410141E SCOTT PASSGY i! inda Phillips Notary PUbllc Sta1�e cf Washington MYAAAml+rbnefrt Fires 08i2912g2� ` AA4 Classified Proof ORDINANCE SUMMARY of the City of Edmond,, 4Vashington On the 20Ih dny df JuT�, 202f, the City OCunCll of the Cdly of Edmonds, passed 1he Io awing "nances, the summaries of sold ordinances cons�5llng of Iltles 21 e provided as follows: .NCENOId21N H ❑R AN ORDINANCE COF EDMONDS. WASHINGTON, CREATING A THE EDMONDS RESCUE FLAN FUND ANO SETTING OUT ITS INTENDED USES ORDINANCE @1_0 AN ORDINANCt OF TH9I OF EDMONDS. WASHINGTON. AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 4221 AS A RESUA,T OF UNANTICIPATED TRANSFERS AND EXPENDITURES OF VARIOUS FUNDS, AND FIXING A TIME Wi-EN THE SAME SHALT. SECOME EFFECTIVE. The full te,d of fhese Ordinances will be sent upon request. DATED this 20Ih i2021. CITY CLERK SCD yPASSEY Published: July 23. 2021. EDH933$55 Proofed by Boyd, Maggie, 07/23/2021 08:19:05 am Page: 2