Explanation
BACKGROUND: The City of Columbus has been awarded an FY2020 Improving Criminal Justice Responses Subgrant Award (Blueprint for Safety: An Inter-Agency Response to Domestic Violence) from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (VAWA) and the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services via the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, Office of Justice Policy and Programs. The VAWA program provides funding to allow states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable. The total VAWA subgrant award amount to the City of Columbus is $50,907.00. The total project costs will be $50,907.00.
CPD will collaborate with Franklin County Municipal Court, Department of Pretrial and Probation Services, Columbus City Attorney’s Office Domestic Violence Unit, Franklin County Sherriff’s Office and the Center for Family Safety and Healing to apply a collective impact approach to domestic violence. They will build off local successes by linking best practice communication protocols, risk assessments and evidence collection tactics occurring at each justice phase. Through the Blueprint process, justice and victim advocacy practitioners work collaboratively to review and update current response protocols/practices and develop standard methods for proactive data sharing. This results in a single, written response policy with clearly outlined protocols for each practitioner’s role, responsibility, specific action and documentation duties. To this end, the subgrant funds will cover city CPD overtime costs for this grant cycle.
The City must act as subgrantee to the Franklin County Office of Justice Policy and Programs. Therefore, the Director of Public Safety is required to sign a subgrantee award on behalf of the City. The official City program contact authorized to act in connection with the Blueprint for Safety Project is Special Victims Bureau CPD Domestic Violence Unit Sergeant Richard Ketcham.
Emergency Designation: Emergency legislation is necessary to meet grant deadlines and to make the funds available at the earliest possible time. The grant award period start date was April 1, 2021.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact on the General Fund. The appropriated funds will be reimbursed by the grant award.
Title
To authorize and direct the Director of Public Safety of the City of Columbus to accept a subgrantee award through the FY2020 Improving Criminal Justice Responses Subgrant Award program from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women and the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services via the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, Office of Justice Policy and Programs; to authorize Sgt. Richard Ketcham as the official City representative to act in connection with the VAWA subgrant; to authorize an appropriation of $50,907.00 from the unappropriated balance of the General Government Grant Fund to the Division of Police to cover the overtime costs associated with the Blueprint for Safety: An Inter-Agency Response to Domestic Violence Project; and to declare an emergency. ($50,907.00)
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus, Division of Police, was awarded funding through the FY2020 Improving Criminal Justice Responses Subgrant Award program for overtime costs for the Division of Police’s Blueprint for Safety Project; and,
WHEREAS, the Blueprint for Safety Project objective is to expand collaborative efforts between the project justice partners to better identify and manage high-risk domestic violence offenders as they move through probation services to ensure a swift and coordinated community response for victims of domestic violence; and,
WHEREAS, Sgt. Richard Ketcham is the official City representative authorized to act in connection with the VAWA subgrant; and,
WHEREAS, emergency legislation is needed to meet the grant deadlines and to make grant funds available at the earliest possible time because the grant award period start date is April 1, 2021; and,
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual and daily operation of the Division of Police, Department of Public Safety, in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to accept, appropriate, and expend the $50,907.00 amount of the FY2020 Improving Criminal Justice Responses program for overtime costs for the Division of Police’s Blueprint for Safety Project, for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, property, safety, and welfare; now, therefore:
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of the Department of Public Safety of the City of Columbus be and is hereby authorized and directed to accept a FY2020 Improving Criminal Justice Responses Subgrant Award for overtime costs, beginning April 1, 2021, for the Division of Police’s Blueprint for Safety Project.
SECTION 2. That Sgt. Richard Ketcham be and is hereby authorized to act as the official City representative in connection with the VAWA subgrant.
SECTION 3. That from the unappropriated monies in the General Government Grant Fund and from all monies estimated to come into said fund from any and all sources and unappropriated for any other purpose during the Project Period, the sum of $50,907.00 is appropriated in Fund 2220 General Government Grants in Object Class 01 Personnel per the account codes in the attachment to this ordinance. This appropriation is effective upon receipt of the fully-executed agreement.
SECTION 4. That the monies in the foregoing Section 3 shall be paid upon order of the Director of Public Safety, and that no order shall be drawn or money paid except by voucher, the form of which shall be approved by the City Auditor.
SECTION 5. That at the end of the grant period, any repayment of unencumbered balances required by the grantor is hereby authorized and any unused City match monies may be transferred back to the City fund from which they originated in accordance with all applicable grant agreements.
SECTION 6. That the funds necessary to carry out the purpose of this ordinance are hereby deemed appropriated.
SECTION 7. That for 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.