City of Oak Creek

Common Council Report

 

Meeting Date: July 18, 2006

 

Item No.:        

 

Recommendation:  Discussion item only.  The Council will discuss proposals for use of the City’s 2007 allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.

 

Background:  The Council has to review proposed projects that would utilize the City’s 2007 funds, which have yet to be allocated by Milwaukee County.  The County has not given us any indication as to our funding level for next year.  Past years funding has averaged approximately $67,000.

 

Prior to tonight’s meeting and utilizing a uniform application format, the following projects have been proposed:

 

Proposed 2007 Projects

Requested Funding

Public Service

 

The Center Elderly Drop- in

$ 850

The Salvation Army

$ 15,000

Senior Citizen Services

$ 4,500

Interfaith Older Adult Programs

$ 8,850

Subtotal

$ 29,200

 

 

Non Public Service

 

 

 

Handicapped accessibility (Miller Park bathrooms)

$ 97,000

Fire Department projects (various)

$172,863

Total

$ 299,063

 

The Center Elderly Drop-in – This would be used to provide additional and upgraded equipment for the Oak Creek “Forever Young” Senior Citizen Program including the purchase of banquet tables and a grill.

 

The Salvation Army – The Salvation Army has requested funds for their summer day camp program, as well as funds for their food pantry.

 

Oak Creek Parks, Recreation and Forestry Senior Citizen’s Club – This would be used to:

        Subsidize a hot meal program

        Transportation for “field trips”

        Entertainment /social events

        Supplies and printing

 

Interfaith – This money would be used to serve Oak Creek residents who are 60 or over, including salaries, training and transportation assistance.

 

Handicapped accessibility project – Miller Park bathrooms – The bathrooms at the Miller Park pavilion would be renovated in order to make them handicapped accessible.

 

Fire Department projects – The Fire Department has suggested several projects or programs for the use of these funds.  They include:

 

       Station 3 parking lot addition for Veteran’s Park  ($86,300)

       Sidewalks around Station 3 and Veteran’s Park ($41,400[1])/($28,650)[2]

       Architectural seed money for Station 2 renovation ($42,423)

       N95 masks for pandemic planning ($2740)

 

Based on our historical allocation of about $67,000, and the requirement that no more than 15% of the funds be allocated to public service uses (on a Countywide basis), there would be a little more than $10,000 to distribute among those requesting public service funds.  Accordingly, it is preferable to allocate the City’s funding to specific projects.  If the County’s percentage of public service projects exceeds the 15% threshold, it may be necessary to reallocate money among the groups receiving public service funds through the City. Again our continual goal is for us to achieve a ratio of 1.5 between our annual allocation and our unexpended funds or risk losing funds. To date we have lost no funding.

 

These proposals are due to Milwaukee County on or before August 10, 2006.  It would be appropriate to hold the public hearing this evening, and then to withhold action on the allocation until the next Council meeting (July 31st) in order to give staff and the Council time to consider projects that might be proposed at the hearing.

 

Fiscal Impact: The use of CDBG funds reduces the amount of funding the City has to provide through the annual budget to provide these same levels of service.   If the Council decides to pursue projects whose costs exceed our annual allocation, it will be necessary to hold a subsequent public hearing to reallocate unexpended funds (currently estimated at about $140,000) for the desired project(s).

 

Prepared by:

 

 

 

Doug Seymour, AICP

Director of Community Development

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Patrick DeGrave

City Administrator

 

Fiscal Review by:

 

 

 

Beverly A. Buretta, CMC

City Clerk

 

 

 

 

 



[1] Estimated cost for sidewalk for Veterans Park and Fire Station #3

[2] Estimated cost for sidewalk for Veteran’s Park only