Purchase of Services PoliciesTHE CITY OF DUBUQUE
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
Dubuque
All-American City
2007
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Purchase of Services Policies
DATE: October 2, 2008
As directed by City Council, attached is information on the City of Dubuque Purchase of
Service practives and some options indentified by looking at how some other cities deal
with the Purchase of Service process.
I submit this for consideration of a possible work session.
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Jennifer Larson, Budget Director
Cori Burbach, Management Inten
THE CTTY OF Dubuque
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DUB E ~~~
1
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant Manager
Jennifer Larson, Budget Director
Cori Burbach, Management Intern
SUBJECT: Purchase of Services Policies
DATE: August 27, 2008
BACKGROUND
2007
The City of Dubuque has funded certain economic development and human services
agencies through a Purchase of Services budget. At an April 21, 2008 Work Session,
Council directed staff to look at various options of funding Human and Social Services and to
look at how other Cities handle the funding of similar agencies. The City Council also
directed that those Economic Development agencies that receive funding would continue to
do so, governed by their current requirements, guidelines, and agreements.
DISCUSSION
As part of the annual budget process, the City Council establishes a Policy agenda including
Top Priorities and Management Agenda for the upcoming fiscal year. City Staff uses this
Policy Agenda to determine the organizations that should be recommended to receive
funding based on the priorities established by City Council. Also as part of the annual budget
process, agencies that have received City funding in the previous year are sent a letter
requesting them to submit funding requests for the new budget year. The City Manager uses
the information from the above processes to develop a recommendation for purchase of
service funding as part of the overall budget recommendation. The FY 2009 budget includes
funding for 10 Human Service purchase of Service Agreements including two new initiatives:
Every Child/Every Promise and DuRide.
As part of the FY 2009 budget process, the Every Child /Every Promise initiative was funded
as a new Purchase of Service agreement and an improvement package was approved for the
Transit Division to help fund the DuRide program which offers alternative transportation to
seniors in and around the Dubuque area. These programs were recommended for funding
as both were identified as priorities by the City Council in last year's goal setting process and
funding was available.
In addition, the City has helped provide resources to Human and Social Service organizations
in a number of ways, including the adoption of a new community volunteer administrative
policy (attached), support of the Proudly Accessible Dubuque initiative and the Community
Partnership Program (CP2), a city initiated grant program. The recently adopted community
volunteer administrative policy provides city employees up to 8 hours per year for full-time
employees and 4 hours per year for part-time employees, to volunteer for community service.
In addition, this policy allows employees'/ hour each week of paid time to mentor a student
at a local school.
The City partners to support Proudly Accessible Dubuque by providing staffing and education
resources from the Human Rights Department, funding to hire a new ADA building inspector
and provides funding for ADA improvement projects in the CIP budget.
The CP2 grant program is funded with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
program funds and provides special project funding to non-profit agencies that apply to the
program. In FY 2009, the CP2 program funded Project Concern, Hillcrest Family Services,
and DuRide.
Proposals that receive CP2 funding must meet some of the following criteria:
• Federal CDBG Funding requirements;
• Serve the community's low and moderate income population;
• Address the problems of slum and blight;
• Improve the plight of the homeless;
• Provide handicap accessibility.
Agencies must also provide a 25% match in the first year of funding. Funding for a particular
program is limited to two consecutive years and the maximum grant amount is $50,000.
The following table shows the ten year history of CP2 funding.
Table 3. Ten Year CP2 Funding History
Organization FY 99 FY 00 FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 FY 06 FY 07 FY 08 TOTAL
Visiting Nurse
ASSOC. - - - - - 10,382 5,114 10,010 5,114 10,890 41,510
Hillcrest
Family
SerVICeS 25,650 - 44,619 - 50,000 - - - - 9,555 129,824
Audubon
Elementary
SCh001 7,800 - - - - 19,947 17,244 7,820 - 9,687 62,498
YMCA/YWCA
Building Corp 49,500 - - - - - - - - 49,500
Dubuque Co.
Hist. Society 33,950 - 26,464 - - - 17,580 - - - 77 994
St. Mark's
Community
Center - 50,000 10,271 - - - 7,000 - - - 67,271
Central
Alternative
High School - 27,000 - 28,110 - - - - - - 55,110
Little Cloud
Glfl SCOUtS - 6,240 - - - - - 6,439 - - 12,g7g
YWCA - 6,665 - - - - - - - - 6,665
Dubuque Girls
CIUb - 7,303 - - - - - - - - 7,303
Boys and Girls
CIUb - - 22,714 21,890 - - - - - - 44,604
Organization FY 99 FY 00 FY 01 FY 02 FY 03 FY 04 FY 05 FY O6 FY 07 FY 08 TOTAL
Ecumenical
Housing - - 5,912 - - - - - - - 5
912
Gannon ,
Center - - - - 18,500 - 12,277 - - _ 30,777
Northeast
Iowa School of
MUSIC - - - - 19,395 - - - _ _
19
395
Scenic Valley ,
Agency on
Aging - - - - zo,ooo 10,500 - - - - 30
500
Crescent ,
Comm. Health
Ctr 19,216
-
Four Oaks - - - - 50,000 - - - - 69,216
(HEART) - - - - - 36,000 30,000 - - - 66
000
Project ,
Concern - - _ _ _ 7,776 - - - - 7
776
Dubuque Co. ,
Extension
(Multicultural
Center) - - - - - - - 43,731 44,292 - 88
023
Finley Health ,
Foundation - - - - - - - 9 000 - - 6,000
TOTAL 116,900 97,208 109,980 50,000 107,895 134,605 89,215 77,000 49,406 49,348 881,557
Human and Social Purchase of Services
As indicated above, ten Human and Social Services related agencies received funding in FY
2009 through the city of Dubuque Purchase of Services budget. Table 1 identifies those
agencies and the amount of funding they received. All have received funding prior to FY
2009.
Table 1. Human Services Agencies Currently Funded
General CDBG Total
Helping Services of NE Iowa 2,147 - 2,147
Operation New View 18,257 - 18,257
Hills & Dales Senior Center - 25,000 25,000
Project Concern -Child Care - 9,098 9,098
Referral
Project Concern -Information - 25,821 25,821
Referral
Washington Tool Library - 15,500 15,500
Project Concern -Foster 6,113 - 6,113
Grandparent
Retired Senior Volunteer Program 7,341 - 7,341
Substance Abuse Services Center 13,605 - 13,605
Every Child /Every Promise* 25,000 25,000
72,463 75,419 147,882
"City Council has committed $25,000 per year to the Every Child /Every Promise initiative through FY 2011.
In addition to the human services listed above, the City allocated $112,400 to the Dubuque
Regional Humane Society in FY 2009. The City's contract with the Humane Society, which
expires June 30, 2009, is for animal control services, which the City has an obligation to
provide under State law. It is anticipated that similar dollars will be needed for contracted
animal control services in future years.
Table 2 identifies the percent of total operating budget of organizations that the City funded in
FY 2008 thru the Purchase of Services budget.
Table 2. Current Funded Organization's Percent of Budget
Organization
Exp. Budget
Other Rev City
Contrib % of
Budget
Helping Services NE Iowa 1,591,386 1,589,239 2,147 0.13%
Operation New View 5,019,184 5,000,927 18,257 0.36%
Substance Abuse Services 1,440,353 1,468,671 13,605 0.94%
Project Concern 865,461 828,358 41,032 4.74%
RSVP 73,098 61,717 7,341 10.04%
Hills & Dales Senior Ctr 41,518 14,500 25,000 60.21
Washington Tool Library 18,637 3,260 15,500 83.17%
City staff researched ten similarly-sized cities in Iowa and nine other cities to determine how
other communities award funding to human service agencies. Of those, eight responded that
they utilized a formal policy to award funds to human service agencies.
Table 3 identifies common criteria these cities require in their application process or as part of
the selection criteria.
Table 3. Common Agency Application Requirements
Funding Tied Requirement
Internal to City Goals/ That City
Committee 501(c)3 Priorities or a Cannot Be Performance Annual
Review Panel Status Specific City Sole Funding Measures Report
COMMUNITY Process Required Plan Source Required Required
Ames'` Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Bend, OR Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Cedar Rapids Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
Des Moines Yes No No No No Yes
Madison, WI Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Mankato, MN Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Martinez, CA Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Mission Viejo, CA Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
*Ames is one of five organizations that form the A nalysis of Social Services Evaluati on Team, which provides
funds for Story Coun ty human service agencies.
In addition, the following is a list of other criteria that was identified by one or more of the
cities researched as part of their process:
Funding could be used for specific projects or the operating expenses of a program.
Funding is not allowed for:
Agencies that failed to meet any of the post-funding requirements from the prior year.
Applicants who discriminate based on race, creed, color, sex, age, national
origin, religion, or sexual orientation.
Political action committees, political candidates, or political campaigns.
Any organization conducting a religious activity.
Arts projects or programs, sports organizations or individuals.
• No limit on the number of consecutive years an agency receives funding, but agencies
are required to re-apply every year for funding. Funding in a prior year does not
guarantee funding in the future.
• Applicant must define how their project/program is tied to the City Council Priorities or
to the City Performance Measures.
• An agency may not rely solely on the City for funding.
• Applicants are required to identify performance measures in their application
• Applicants are required to submit a certificate of insurance.
Of the above respondents, the most comprehensive review process for funding of Human
and Social Service organizations was found in the city of Ames, Iowa. The City of Ames has
formed an Analysis of Social Services Evaluation Team (ASSET) made up with partners from
the United Way of Story County, Story County Board of Supervisors, ISU Government of the
Student Body, and Story County Department of Human Services. ASSET evaluates the
human service needs of the county, promotes coordination of human services planning and
funding, and makes funding recommendations to the governing bodies of the sponsoring
organizations.
Each member of the partnership designates one staff person and four volunteers to serve on
the ASSET team. Representatives of the agencies funded serve as non-voting members of
the team. Agency hearings, budget presentations, and on-site visits are part of the annual
review process. The ASSET team makes funding recommendations based on these
evaluations to the individual partners. The partners maintain their own priorities and have
final authority over funding decisions.
ACTION
This memorandum is provided for informational purposes only.