Explanation
This ordinance authorizes the City Clerk to enter into a non-profit service agreement with Pro-Choice Ohio, a 501(c)(4) not for profit corporation, to examine the activities of crisis pregnancy centers. These funds will be used to conduct a study to determine if residents of the City of Columbus have access to medically accurate and legal reproductive health information. The provision of medically accurate and legal reproductive health information is necessary to make well-informed decisions about women’s reproductive healthcare. These services cannot be provided by existing city employees as they require certain knowledge and expertise.
Emergency action is requested in order to immediately engage Pro-Choice Ohio for critically-needed services.
Fiscal Impact: Funding is available within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund.
Title
To authorize the City Clerk to enter into a non-profit service agreement with Pro-Choice Ohio in support of a study to determine if residents of the City of Columbus have access to medically accurate and legal reproductive health information; to authorize an appropriation and expenditure within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($26,500.00)
Body
WHEREAS, about half (49%) of the 6.7 million pregnancies in the United States each year are unintended; and
WHEREAS, women deserve comprehensive, nonjudgmental and medically accurate information and advice in order to make a fully informed decision; and
WHEREAS, there is a need for determining if crisis pregnancy centers provide effective, accurate, and comprehensive information and services in their crisis pregnancy centers in Columbus; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the need for effective, accurate, and comprehensive reproductive health care such as to necessitate entering into contract to conduct a study to determine if effective, accurate, and comprehensive reproductive health care is being provided to citizens of the City, thereby assuring the immediate preservation of the public health and safety; 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 non-profit service agreement with Pro-Choice Ohio to conduct a study to examine the activities of crisis pregnancy centers to determine if they provide effective, accurate, and comprehensive information and services .
SECTION 2. That the Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to appropriate $26,500.00 within 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 per the action authorized in Section 1 of this ordinance, the expenditure of $26,500.00 within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018, is hereby authorized per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 4. That the City Auditor is authorized to make any accounting changes to revise the funding source for all contracts or contract modifications associated with this ordinance.
SECTION 5. 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 approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.