Explanation
Background: This legislation authorizes the Director of Development to modify contracts authorized under Ordinance 0291-2020 passed by City Council on February 10, 2020. The sum total of all original contracts, plus any modifications, will not exceed the amount appropriated in the ordinance.
Ordinance 0291-2020 authorized the Director of Development to enter into contracts and spend up to $2,000,000.00 for various expenditures through the Division of Housing’s programs to increase the local supply of decent, safe, and sanitary housing and to decrease the number of vacant properties in our neighborhoods. The following Housing programs would use funds from the ACPO established under Ordinance 0291-2020: Critical Home Repair, Multi-family Development, and Home Ownership Development.
This Ordinance is needed to allow the Director of Development to modify contracts in the Division of Housing’s Critical Home Repair program without seeking Council approval for each modification. As the program has been implemented, the department has learned that some critical home repair projects are more involved than originally expected, resulting in additional costs unanticipated by the City and the contractor. Authority to modify Critical Home Repair contracts as issues are discovered will allow the department to immediately authorize the additional work needed without stopping work to seek Council approval for a contract modification. This authority would be effective from the date Ordinance 0291-2020 was effective.
This Ordinance will also allow the Director of the Department of Development to modify Multi-family Development and Home Ownership Development contracts with recipients by allowing an increase in funding up to 10% of the original contract amount and an extension of time to complete the contract of up to six months. As these programs have been implemented, the department has learned that developers may experience project delays beyond their control. This authority will allow the department to be responsive to project needs without stopping work to seek Council approval for a contract modification.
Emergency action is requested to prevent disruption in the Critical Home Repair program.
Fiscal Impact: None. The existing Auditor’s Certificate will remain in place.
Title
To authorize the Director of Development to modify Critical Home Repair contracts authorized under Ordinance 0291-2020, for services that occurred beginning February 10, 2020; to allow the Director of the Department of Development to modify Multi-family Development and Home Ownership Development contracts with recipients by allowing an increase in funding up to 10% of the original contract amount and an extension of time to complete the contract of up to six months; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, the Department of Development received approval from City Council to enter into contracts and spend up to $2,000,000.00 for various expenditures related to Division of Housing programs in ordinance 0291-2020; and
WHEREAS, it has been determined that it is necessary to allow for modifications of Critical Home Repair contracts executed under the authority of Ordinance 0291-2020, for services that occurred beginning February 10, 2020;
WHEREAS, it is also necessary to allow for modifications of Multi-family Development and Home Ownership Development contracts with recipients by allowing an increase in funding up to 10% of the original contract amount and an extension of time to complete the contract of up to six months executed under the authority of Ordinance 0291-2020; and
WHEREAS, authority to modify these contracts in the manners described will allow the department to be responsive to homeowner and developer driven projects without stopping work to seek Council approval for a modification; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to modify the contracts in order to prevent disruption in the Critical Home Repair program, 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 Director of Development is authorized to modify Critical Home Repair contracts authorized under Ordinance 0291-2020, for services that occurred beginning in February 10, 2020.
SECTION 2. That the Director of the Department of Development is authorized to modify Multi-family Development and Home Ownership Development contracts with recipients to allow an increase in funding up to 10% of the original contract amount and an extension of time to complete the contract of up to six months.
SECTION 3. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby 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.