November 2, 2020 Update

First, let me apologize for not letting you all know I was on vacation last week.  I have been busy trying to bring some outdoor projects at home to completion before winter weather hit.  Glad to report that I am almost there - but sad to report that I am not quite done.  So I will be scrambling this week to get a few hours in daylight and warm and dry weather!

One thing I meant to do before I left was to give you an update on the CARES Act funding process.  We have had some questions from employees about it, so I thought I would include this status report that the Mayor shared with an employee last week.  I hope it will help bring some clarity to what has been a very complicated issue and process.

First - a little background.  Congress passed and the President signed the CARES Act to help states and local governments deal with their specific added expenses associated with the pandemic.  The federal law sent direct allocations to every state and to every city or county with a population of over 500,000 residents.  In Utah, that meant that the State, as well as Salt Lake County and Utah County, received population-based funding.  This left every city in the state-dependent on either the State or Salt Lake and Utah counties to share funding (or not).  Each of these three entities came up with different strategies for sharing with their respective cities.  It took a while, in our case, for the county and the cities to agree on a method for sharing resources.

The CARES Act requires that all funding be spent prior to the end of the calendar year or returned to the US Treasury.  Utah County didn't want any funds to be returned to the federal government, so their contract required a "buffer" period which required the cities to spend the money before November 15.  That way, they would still have 6 weeks to spend the unused money before the end of the year deadline.

The City's allocation from the County was about $8.5 million.  Because of the amount and the time constraints, we worked with city departments to identify projects that could (1) fit within the budget, (2) be expended by November 15, and (3) meet the guidelines of the US Treasury.  That was a pretty tall order and resulted in 72 projects being submitted.  

The other challenge has been ever-changing guidance from the federal government on the use of CARES Act funds.  We have had at least four different sets of assumptions on how the funds could be used and as the Mayor trying to manage all changes have been tricky.  Most recently, the Treasury Department issued guidance that CARES Act funds could be used to cover the costs of public safety/first responder payrolls since March 2020.  Early guidance suggested that extensive time tracking measures would be required, but just a couple of weeks ago, the guidance was changed to indicate that the federal government would assume that all public safety payroll costs could be reimbursed under the CARES Act funding.

Obviously, this changed everything in our calculations.  We have way more than $8.5 million in police and fire first responder payroll between March and the end of December of this year.  The City could use the funds entirely for this purpose, thus freeing up funds in the city’s approved budget for other purposes.  

Accordingly, we have used part of the CARES Act funding for direct pandemic-related expenses like personal protective equipment, Covid-19 related sick leave, and other expenses, but we have determined to use the balance of the funding for critical unfunded capital needs.  We are still in the process of determining how best to allocate the funds, but without the November 15 deadline, significant projects can be funded now.

We will be working with the Municipal Council on how to best take advantage of this opportunity moving forward.  Some projects that have been discussed have been the replacement of our oldest fire station, temporary upgrades to the existing airport terminal to potentially expand commercial air service while we come out of the pandemic and while we are building the new terminal, park upgrades, and other similar high-priority capital improvement projects that have been unfunded for some time.

I hope this is a helpful perspective on the process we have been involved with over the summer; we will have more to say about this as the decision process moves forward.  

CORONAVIRUS STATS

Nationally, the CDC reports 9,182,628 cases with 230,383 fatalities.

Utah:  117,706 cases; 5,576 hospitalizations; 614 deaths

Utah County:  30,671 cases; 1,022 hospitalizations; 83 deaths

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• Election day is tomorrow! If you haven't dropped off your ballot, tomorrow is the last time to do so. You can drop off your ballot at any drop box in the county by 8:00pm tomorrow, November 3rd.
• The actor, Sir Sean Connery, also known as passed away over the weekend at age 90.
• There is a fire in Springville, the Nanny Goat fire, and it is estimated to have burned about 75 acres and is 5% contained.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

THE MAYOR'S DAY

Today, Mayor Kaufusi:

• Met with the Fire Chief
• Held a meeting with the Police Chief
• Participated in a meeting with Mayor's office staff
• Held a communications strategy meeting
• Participated in filming Provo Kindness interviews
• Met with her executive team
• Held a meeting with the Deputy CAO
• Met with the Deputy Mayor
• Participated in a meeting with the city PIO
• Held a meeting with Miss Provo

FUN STUFF

OK - so I loved this little video my school teacher daughter shared with me.  In a time when we worry about the messages our kids might be getting about their education and their future, this was a breath of fresh air for me.  It's only about 3 minutes but worth the watch!

It is good to be back after a week away.  Thanks again for all you do.  And remember to get your ballot in if you haven't deposited it yet.

Wayne