EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: April 18, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Melvin E. Gaines, City Manager
BY: Tomohito Oku, Finance Director
Greg Henry, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT: Quarterly COVID-19 Emergency Reporting and Request to End the Local Emergency
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution accepting the Quarterly Emergency Report for March 31, 2023, ending the local emergency for COVID-19, and deauthorizing the City Manager’s emergency authority from the local COVID-19 emergency.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 1: Enhance Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Priority No. 5: Improve Communication and Enhance Community Engagement Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Background
On March 17, 2020, pursuant to Government Code Section 8630 and Chapter 2.76 of the East Palo Alto Municipal Code, the Council proclaimed a local emergency for COVID-19 and further authorized the City Manager to make repairs, alterations, or improvements to the City’s public facilities, take any directly related and immediate actions required by the emergency, and procure the equipment, services, and supplies for those purposes.
To date, the City has committed significant direct resources to respond to COVID-19.
The City also incurred significant indirect staff time and diversion because of the organizational effect of long-term remote work protocol, as well as, responding to COVID quarantine protocols, acquiring additional unplanned responsibilities, and backfilling the responsibilities of the staff directly responding to COVID-19 testing and vaccination activities, as well as supportive activities such as food bank traffic support.
As a result, this report does not capture the total direct and indirect costs to the City.
Thus, this reporting is not intended to capture the true cost impacts of the pandemic.
COVID-19 Response Activities First Quarter 2023
For the quarter ended March 31, 2023, the City incurred approximately $42,000 in identified COVID-19 spending. This spending is made up of three components: the final close out of the Youth Community Services (YCS) administrative support program; reconciling the Pandemic Aide program (not all costs from this quarter); paying Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) for AB 832 (restrictions on evictions under the COVID-19 Rental Housing Recovery Act) App technical assistance. The work from YUCA was completed in 2021, and payment was not processed until recently. All costs were funded through the City’s General Fund.
Emergency Reporting Requirement
Under City Municipal Code Section 3.20.030, the Finance Director - as Budget Officer - reports to Council regarding the status of emergency expenditures within fifteen days of each quarter end. This report provides an update to the previous report provided to Council January 17, 2023.
Although COVID-19 has transitioned to a chronic (endemic) problem, staff recommends ending the state of local emergency. The COVID-19 response is ongoing but must be managed through the normal City process and no longer requires the special authority provided the City Manager when a local disaster is declared. East Palo Alto should follow the Federal, State and County and end the state of disaster. Accordingly, staff is recommending that the Council follow suit and end the declaration of a local emergency.
Analysis
COVID-19 Financial Reporting Information
Presented below in Table 1 is the City’s COVID-19 Authorization. As of April 2, 2021, the City Council provided the City Manager $975,000 in Emergency Authorization. In addition, the City Council approved $1.08M in additional COVID related contracts and activity much of which is supported by outside funding (CARES, Bureau of Justice Grants and San Mateo County). The Council has approved $2.06M in COVID response activity. This authority has not changed from the prior quarterly report.
Table 1
Date Authorization Amount
03/27/20 Emergency Appropriation $ 300,000
03/27/20 Rapid Rehousing Funds 100,000
05/19/20 Community Outreach 26,000
06/16/20 Community Distance Learning 60,000
07/07/20 Emergency Appropriation 75,000
07/07/20 Bureau of Justice Grant 32,660
10/20/20 Emergency Appropriation 200,000
10/20/20 CARES Funding 380,218
01/19/21 Emergency Appropriation 100,000
03/02/21 Emergency Appropriation 300,000
04/20/21 RV Safe Parking Mitigation 96,731
09/20/21 San Mateo County Funding (Curative I) 17,754
09/20/21 San Mateo County Funding (Curative II) 29,151
09/20/21 San Mateo County Funding (Vaccination) 47,293
03/22/22 San Mateo County Funding (Vacc & Testing) 145,000 06/07/22 Vaccination Incentive 55,000
06/07/22 Pandemic Aide Program Budget 95,000
Total $ 2,059,807
Table 2 below shows the source of funding for all current expenditures (not including funds committed to contracts, but unspent). Amounts charged to federal and San Mateo County funding sources reflect only those costs that are directly supported by verifiable or required time keeping and expenditure data submitted by Departments, and such amounts are subject to change upon Finance review and final approval of expenditures submitted for reimbursement by Departments. Funding from outside sources has not changed since the prior quarter.
Table 2
Date Source of Fund for Expenditures Amount
CARES Funding $ (380,219)
Bureau of Justice (BOJ) Funding (32,660)
San Mateo County Funding (Curative I) (17,754)
San Mateo County Funding (Curative II) (29,151)
San Mateo County Funding (Vaccination) (47,293)
San Mateo County Funding (Vacc & Testing) (124,377)
San Mateo County Funding (Incentive Support) (15,000)
FEMA (72,725)
City Funds (984,944)
Total (1,704,122)
03/31/23
Below is a detailed analysis of the City’s COVID-19 response activity. Costs shown in Table 3 do not reflect the significant additional workload and all the diversion in the Police Department, City Manager’s Office, City Attorney’s Office, City Clerk, Finance and Human Resources.
Table 3
Description Spent
Committed
to Contract
Total
City Council
Direct
Authority
City Manager
Emergency
Authority
Vaccine Incentive Cards 50,843 4,157 55,000 55,000 -
COVID-Testing, Vaccine 626,480 5,777 632,257 290,709 341,548 Traffic Support 186,353 - 186,353 4,467 181,886
Police Response Mitigation 241,188 - 241,188 241,188 -
Remote Dance Classes 12,500 - 12,500 - 12,500
Distance Learning 19,905 40,095 60,000 60,000 -
Tenant Rental Assistance 118,774 - 118,774 100,000 18,774 Small Business Assistance 27,000 - 27,000 - 27,000
Safety Measures 133,882 - 133,882 60,777 73,105
Homeless "At Risk" Mitigation 78,884 38,647 117,531 96,731 20,800 Employee Remote Work 67,470 - 67,470 20,520 46,950
Employee Leave 74,070 - 74,070 56,090 17,980
COVID Staffing Support 12,900 12,100 25,000 - 25,000
Outreach and Communication 53,873 3,000 56,873 23,000 33,873 1,704,122 103,776 1,807,898 1,008,482 799,416
Ending the Local Emergency
Pursuant to subdivision (d) of Government Code Section 8630, a local jurisdiction is to “proclaim the termination of the local emergency at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant.” On January 30, 2023, the President of the United States stated his intention to terminate the COVID-19 National Emergency & Public Health Emergency for the United States on May 11, 2023 (link). On February 28, 2023, the Governor of California terminated the COVID-19 State of Emergency for the State of California (link).
On March 10, 2023 the Board of Supervisors terminated the COVID-19 State of Emergency for San Mateo County (link). As noted in these declarations of termination, the combination of public health efforts, including vaccination (and boosters) and other mitigation measures (e.g., masking and testing) have provided effective tools to address the continuing threat from COVID-19, thereby neutralizing its threat to the local community.
Although COVID-19 has transitioned to a chronic (endemic) problem, staff recommends ending the state of local emergency. The COVID-19 response is ongoing but must be managed through the normal City process and no longer requires the special authority provided the City Manager when a local disaster is declared. East Palo Alto should follow the Federal, State and County and end the state of disaster. Accordingly, staff is recommending that the Council follow suit and end the declaration of a local emergency.
Fiscal Impact
Of the total City and outside source funding authorized of $2.06M, approximately $1.7M is spent with $104,000 committed. The term of all COVID-19 contracts has expired and with the end of the disaster declaration, staff will unencumber all committed funds, increasing uncommitted reserves $103,776. Further, by ending the state of local emergency, the remaining $175,000 emergency authority will no longer be available.
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo Co. Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The proposed action does not constitute a “project” with the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15378(b)(4) and (5) in that it is a governmental fiscal, organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Resolution March2023 Quarterly Emergency Report and Ending of Local Disaster