title
PROPOSED RESOLUTION
ADDITIONAL COOK COUNTY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT INITIATIVES AND ALLOCATIONS
WHEREAS, on March 11, 2021, the federal government authorized the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) which includes $1.9 trillion in federal stimulus funds to hasten the United States’ recovery from the economic and health effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, the federal government has authorized $350 billion in ARPA funding to be directly allocated to eligible state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to aid in their recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; and
WHEREAS, the Cook County Board of Commissioners via Resolution 21-3654 accepted the ARPA federal award allocated to Cook County to assist the County in its recovery from the economic and health effects of COVID-19 in the amount of approximately $1,000,372,385.00; and
WHEREAS, Resolution 21-3654 further authorized the Cook County Budget Director and Comptroller to create and implement a Special Purpose Fund for the ARPA award and other accounting measures to track the acceptance and spending of the federal award; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Resolution 21-3654, the Cook County Budget Director is charged with distributing a report regarding the receipt of dollars from the ARPA federal award as well as the Special Purpose Fund created at each monthly Board of Cook County Commissioner’s meeting. Provided, however, if there is a month for which a Cook County Board meeting is not scheduled, then the report will be issued by the 25th day of such month; and
WHEREAS, on June 24, 2021, the Cook County American Rescue Plan Act Framework (the “ARPA Framework”) was presented to the Cook County Board of Commissioners; and
WHEREAS, the ARPA Framework is a comprehensive plan for the County’s expenditure of ARPA funding which includes leveraging and expanding existing County programs and initiatives created by CRF as well as creating new near-term and long-term transformative initiatives. The ARPA Framework will guide investments and provide support for programs and initiatives to assist workers and families, small businesses, and impacted industries, as well as programs to address health disparities, housing and community needs, and other identified opportunities; and
WHEREAS, to effectuate the approach outlined in the ARPA Framework, the Chief Financial Officer and the Budget Director were authorized pursuant to Resolution 21-3657 to expend a limited amount of ARPA funding for the purpose of continuing and expanding existing County programs and initiatives, including any created under Coronavirus Relief Funds (“CRF”), as well as for the purpose of building operational support capacity within County departments and offices to assist with managing the ARPA funded initiatives; and
WHEREAS, Resolution 21-3657 authorized an amount up to $25,000,000 to be spent from the ARPA award through December 31, 2021, divided into the following categories: $3,000,000 in personnel costs, $10,000,000 in professional services and administrative costs and $12,000,000 for Cook County Community Recovery Initiatives; and
WHEREAS, Resolution 21-4938 and the FY2022 Annual Appropriation Bill and Resolution authorized an amount up to $85,000,000 for pandemic pay and one-time payments to employees; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with the Cook County Policy Roadmap and the U.S. Treasury ARPA expenditure categories which include expenditures for Public Health, Negative Economic Impacts, Services to Disproportionately Impacted Communities, Premium Pay for Essential Workers, Infrastructure, Revenue Replacement and Administrative Costs, $409M in ARPA funding was appropriated in the FY2022 Annual Appropriation Bill and Resolution; and
WHEREAS, the County’s initial FY2022 $385M ARPA allocation was determined following extensive collaboration across stakeholder groups and receiving proposals from County Commissioners, External Partners, County Departments, County ARPA website, Community Survey Input and Separately Elected County Officials, to identify and address the negative impacts on County residents as a result of COVID-19 as well as advancing County policy priorities and ensuring sustainability of County operations; and
WHEREAS, $100M was appropriated in FY2022 for Revenue Loss which is to be used to support County Operations throughout the pandemic including administrative costs, government improvement, capital infrastructure and one time and sustainable ongoing personnel costs; and
WHEREAS, $285M was appropriated in FY2022 for various program initiatives based upon the County’s Policy Roadmap (“Roadmap”) priorities; and
WHEREAS, six Policy Teams aligned with the Roadmap (Healthy Communities (Health and Wellness), Vital Communities (Community and Economic Development), Safe and Thriving Communities (Criminal Justice), Sustainable Communities (Environmental Sustainability), Smart Communities (Public Infrastructure) and Open Communities (Good Government) were established to initially review and recommend funding proposals/program initiatives to an Executive Leadership Council (“ELC”) established by the President, the President’s Chief of Staff and the Cook County Chief Financial Officer; and
WHEREAS, the County received 426 proposals totaling $4.3B in requested funding and all proposals were reviewed collaboratively, incorporating multiple evaluation criteria and metrics through a multi-phased approach and the various review committees worked to identify overlapping proposal ideas, merge ideas and ultimately advanced proposals aligned to the County’s priorities; and
WHEREAS, the proposals received were broken down into near-term initiatives, longer-term initiatives and transformative initiatives and the program funding approved by the various policy review committees accounts for up to $100M for Vital Communities, $60M for Safe and Thriving, $60M for Healthy Communities, $40M for Smart Communities and $25M on Sustainable Communities in FY2022.
WHEREAS, pursuant to terms of the Cook County ARPA Framework, transformative initiatives were proposed by various stakeholders across the County including Cook County Commissioners, Bureau Chiefs, County Partner Organizations, and from our community engagement channels; and
WHEREAS, all transformative initiatives evaluated under the Cook County ARPA Framework are intended to be long-term projects, impacting generations to come and to build resiliency and recovery of the County; and
WHEREAS, furthermore, all transformative initiatives proposed were evaluated by various committees which included Cook County Policy Teams, comprised of experts on the Cook County Policy Roadmap Pillars, to ensure that any proposed transformative initiatives considered aligned with the core values of Cook County’s Policy Roadmap; and
WHEREAS, on January 13, 2022, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved Resolution 22-0637 which authorized and required the following approved near-term, long-term and transformative ARPA initiatives and allocations:
1. Authorized the Chief Financial Officer, Budget Director, Chief Procurement Officer and applicable using agency to issue grants, contracts and agreements for up to $100M in ARPA funding for Vital Community program initiatives, up to $60M in ARPA funding for Safe and Thriving Community program initiatives, up to $60M in ARPA funding for Healthy Community program initiatives, up to $40M in ARPA funding for Smart Community program initiatives, and up to $25M in ARPA funding for on Sustainable Community programs initiatives; and
2. Authorized the Chief Financial Officer, Budget Director, Chief Procurement Officer and applicable using agency to issue grants, contracts and agreements in relation to the $100M in ARPA funding identified as revenue loss as provided for in the FY2022 Appropriation Bill as well as hire personnel; and
3. Any grants issued in regard to the above programs in an amount over $1M are required to be approved by the Cook County Board of Commissioners; and
4. Any contracts or agreements issued in regard to the above programs are required to adhere to the Cook County Procurement Code and federal rules governing ARPA; and
5. The Budget Director or designee of the Budget Director is authorized to execute the various budgetary transfers required to implement the ARPA initiatives approved herein and uses authorized in the FY2022 Annual Appropriation Bill and Resolution; and
6. The Budget Director or designee is further authorized to modify program amounts as necessary within each Roadmap Community; and
7. The Budget Director is required to issue a report on the budgetary transfers permitted under this Resolution for the preceding month on the day that coincides with the date of the monthly Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting to the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Health System Board, where applicable. Provided, however, if there is a month for which a Cook County Board meeting is not scheduled, then the report will be issued by the 25th day of such month; and
8. The Cook County Budget Director is required to distribute a report regarding the ARPA special purpose fund and use of FY2022 ARPA funds authorized in accordance with this Resolution at each monthly Board of Cook County Commissioner’s meeting. Provided, however, if there is a month for which a Cook County Board meeting is not scheduled, then the report will be issued by the 25th day of such month; and
WHEREAS, since the adoption of Resolution 22-0637, the Policy Teams and ELC have finalized review of both remaining and new ARPA proposals to address community needs and hereby requests the approval of the additional FY2022 ARPA Allocations and initiatives; and
WHEREAS, any remaining FY2021ARPA funding shall be allocated to FY2022 ARPA programs and initiatives and the Chief Financial Officer and Budget Director shall be authorized to roll over any unspent ARPA funds from prior years to current/future years in accordance with the rules governing the use of ARPA funds.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approves
an additional $15M to be added to the FY2022 ARPA Allocations for near-term, long-term, and transformative program initiatives related to Smart Communities and approves an increase of an additional $20M to be added to the FY2022 ARPA Allocations for near-term, long-term and transformative program initiatives related Sustainable Communities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners approves that any remaining FY2021 ARPA funding will be added to the FY2022 ARPA Allocations, a portion of said remaining funds will be used to support the $15M increase in FY 2022 ARPA Allocations for Smart Communities and the $20M increase in FY 2022 ARPA Allocations for Sustainable Communities and such increases will result in an adjustment in the total amount of FY2022 ARPA Allocations from $40M to $55M for Smart Communities program initiatives and from $25M to $45M for Sustainable Communities and an overall adjustment from $285M to $320M for FY2022 ARPA Allocations for Community Program Initiative Allocations: and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners approves the additional near term, long term and transformative program initiatives and allocations in the areas of Vital Communities, Safe and Thriving Communities, Healthy Communities, Smart Communities, and Sustainable Communities to facilitate the County’s continued efforts to recover from the economic and health effects caused by COVID-19 pandemic as set forth in Attachment A; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all additional near term, long term and transformative program initiatives and allocations set forth in Attachment A will require strict adherence to the same authorizations, transfer authority, requirements and reporting as set forth above for previously approved near term, long term and transformative initiatives pursuant to Resolution 22-0637; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chief Financial Officer and Budget Director shall be authorized to roll over any unspent ARPA funds from prior years to current/future years for ARPA programs and initiatives (including revenue loss) in accordance with the rules governing the use of ARPA funds
end