Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the City Clerk to enter into a not-for-profit service contract with the Government Finance Officers Association to facilitate the City’s participation in their Putting Assets to Work initiative.
Putting Assets to Work supports a cohort of government jurisdictions working together over a roughly six-month period to identify and value publicly-owned assets and develop policies and tools to unlock new revenues and other public benefits from unused or underutilized government land.
The not-for-profit service contract will include an endeavor in asset inventory and mapping, as well as a feasibility assessment and implementation playbook. The cost of the City’s participation in this cohort is $140,000.00. The asset inventory and mapping will yield a public real estate asset map and valuation. The feasibility assessment and implement playbook will engage City leaders to identify budgetary goals and other public benefit opportunities that Columbus is seeking and address how this initiative can support the City’s objectives.
City Council staff first became aware of this program at the National League of Cities conference in 2023 and have since been in conversation with the Government Finance Officers Association about the opportunity to participate in the Putting Assets to Work initiative. Columbus has been granted a slot in the Spring 2025 cohort.
The services included in this not-for-profit service contract cannot be provided by existing city employees because these services are beyond the City’s current staffing capacity to provide.
Emergency action is requested in order to pay the costs of the City’s participation in this cohort in a timely manner, as some collaboration is already underway with the Government Finance Officers Association. This is also the reason for the request to allow for the authorization of expenditures prior to the date of the purchase order.
FISCAL IMPACT: Funding is available within the J...
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