New City Manager Approved; ARPA Funding Options Studied
Jan 21, 2022 12:00AM ● By Story by Shaunna BoydCITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - At the first meeting of the new year, on January 13, the Citrus Heights City Council considered an employment contract with the new city manager candidate, Mr. Ashley Feeney—who has been working as assistant city manager and director of community development, economic development, and sustainability for the City of Davis.
After Chris Boyd retired as city manager last year, he has been serving as interim city manager during the recruitment process for his replacement. After a thorough recruitment and interview process, Feeney emerged as the favored candidate. His employment contract is for a four-year term with an annual salary of $240,000, in addition to the executive health benefits package and other benefits.
Feeney spoke at the meeting to say he was excited about the opportunity and “optimistic about what the future holds in the days and years ahead.” Feeney lives in Fair Oaks, close to the Citrus Heights city boundary, so he said he and his family have “established solid roots in the area and in the community, so to me, this is much more than a job or a career move.” Feeney is excited “to put my background and skills in service of the community that I live in, and I care so much about.” And he thanked Interim City Manager Boyd for helping lay out the “framework for a successful start.”
Councilmember Steve Miller said Feeney stood out among a group of qualified candidates due to his “ability to get things built,” such as hotels and developments. And Miller specified that those accomplishments took place in Davis, where it can be difficult to get things done. Miller said he’s excited to see what Feeney can accomplish in a “can-do community” like Citrus Heights—particularly with the opportunities available through the Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan to redevelop Sunrise Mall.
The City Council unanimously and enthusiastically approved the employment contract with Mr. Feeney to become the new city manager.
The Council also heard an update about guidelines for the allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding after the U.S. Treasury released the Final Rules on January 6.
The total ARPA award for Citrus Heights is $15.6 million, and the first disbursement of $7.8 million was received in May 2021. The City moved quickly to allocate $5.3 million last year to restore staff positions at the police department. There is $2.4 million available now, and after the second disbursement of $7.8 million is received this May, the City will have a total of $10.3 million to allocate for eligible uses.
The First Interim Rules for ARPA, issued last May, specified four eligible categories with restricted uses. The City has been focusing on the two categories most applicable to CH: responding to the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 and revenue loss in government services due to COVID-19.
To address the negative economic impacts in the community, the City planned to launch a Small Business Covid Recovery Grant Program with a total of $1.4 million of the currently available funding, followed later with a program for Travel Tourism, and Entertainment Recovery Grants.
Under the Interim Rules, the calculation for applicable revenue loss for government services for Citrus Heights was estimated to total $3.2 million. However, the Final Rules simplified the process: Instead of using the calculation, jurisdictions now have the option to receive a standard allowance of $10 million in this category. The Final Rules also offer more flexibility in this category. Now these funds could be applied to any services traditionally provided by government, such as staffing, administration, and facilities; road building, maintenance, and other infrastructure; and public safety services.
For the unallocated total funding of $10.3 million, the Interim Rules allowed for restricted COVID recovery funds totaling $7.1 million with $3.2 remaining for the revenue loss category. But under the Final Rules, $10 million can go toward the more-flexible revenue loss category, leaving $323,763 for restricted COVID recovery programs.
These changes offer a much larger range of options for this funding, so staff asked for Council direction on how to proceed. The City could immediately move forward with the Small Business Recovery Grant Program as planned with $1.4 million of the available funds. Or they could choose to launch the program now but with the lower restricted amount of $323,763, while scheduling a study session to assess all the potential funding needs that are now eligible under the Final Rules.
Councilmember Bret Daniels said, “This is supposed to be something for people and businesses.” He said he wouldn’t support any additional funds going toward the City government: “That’s not the purpose here, and it would be such an incredible disservice, I think, to the community, to take these dollars and do this. … These dollars need to be directed as much as possible into Citrus Heights.”
Vice Mayor Tim Schaefer said that they need to be very cautious to avoid using these one-time funds to create ongoing, unsustainable financial obligations, but he did support the idea of holding a study session to review all the options and determine the best way to use these funds.
Councilmember Jeannie Bruins agreed that taking a step back to hold a study session was the wisest course of action. She said that the rule change gives much more flexibility, so it could be possible to actually allocate more than planned for the Small Business Recovery Grants.
Councilmember Steve Miller said that launching the Small Business Recovery Grants with the restricted $323,763 in funding would help get money into the business community as soon as possible while also helping the City gauge the overall need so they can have an informed discussion in the study session.
Mayor Porsche Middleton agreed that was important to get funding to local businesses, and that it was also important to look at how to “holistically apply all of this funding in a manner that is sustainable but also meets the community’s needs. … We have to make sure we’re doing the best we can with this one-time limited funding.”
With that consensus, the City will immediately be launching Small Business Recovery Grants with $323,763 and scheduling a study session to discuss how to allocate the other $10 million.