Explanation
The purpose of this ordinance is to authorize the City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with the Community Development for All People for its Warming Center.
Community Development for All People holds overnight warming centers at 946 Parsons Avenue due to the extreme cold affecting Columbus during the winter months. They provide a place for anyone to warm up and stay overnight. These funds will support five weeks of the Warming Center and support utilities, laundry, bus passes, and other operational costs.
A warming center is a short-term emergency shelter that operates when temperatures or a combination of precipitation, wind chill, wind and temperature become dangerously inclement. Their purpose is the prevention of death and injury from exposure to the elements. Warming centers are frequently used by residents experiencing homelessness. Centers also serve stranded motorists or, during cold-weather power outages, homeowners and tenants.
Fiscal Impact: Funding is available within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund.
Emergency action is requested in order to avoid any delay in supporting the Community Development for All People which helps those living in poverty meet some of their essential needs.
Title
To authorize the Columbus City Clerk to enter into a grant agreement with Community Development for All People for its Warming Center; to authorize an appropriation and expenditure within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($35,840.00)
Body
WHEREAS, during the winter months Columbus deals with extreme cold weather; and
WHEREAS, vulnerable residents may lack locations to remain safe during the winter; and
WHEREAS, the Warming Center provided by Community Development for All People provides a location for residents to warm up and stay overnight; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City Clerk in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Clerk's Office to enter into a grant agreement with the Community Development for All People so it has the ability to continue to offer services to help those living in poverty, for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety, and welfare; now, therefore
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1: That the City Clerk is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with the Community Development for All People for support of its Warming Center.
SECTION 2: That the City Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate $35,840.00 in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018, to Columbus City Council per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 3: That the expenditure of $35,840.00 or so much thereof as may be needed pursuant to the action authorized in SECTION 1 of this ordinance, is hereby authorized in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018 per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4: That for reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.