CDBG DR Resilience Planning & Watershed Programs Grant Guide

CDBG DR Resilience Planning & Watershed Programs Grant Guide Table of Contents 1) CDBG DR Program Description page 2 2) Contact Information page 3 3) Grant Administration Requirements page 4 4) NOT Required for Planning or Watershed Capacity Grants page 8 5) Grant Management Support page 8 6) Grant Closeout Requirements page 9 7) Links page 9 8) FAQs page 9 1

1. Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG DR) Program Description a. Overview The federally declared fires and floods hit many communities hard, affecting not just homes, businesses, and infrastructure, but local government capacity and plans for the future. Communities have the ability to reexamine plans, rethink procedures, and capitalize on disaster recovery funds in order to rebuild in a way that protects its residents, economy, environment, and culture. Colorado has been granted Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG DR) funds and is using these grants to assist with recovery in several areas including housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization, agriculture, watershed, and planning and capacity building. Colorado has been notified of three CDBG DR allocations totaling approximately $320 million dollars that include: November 2013 First Allocation February 2014 Second Allocation August 2015 Third Allocation $62.8 million $199 million $58.2 million (pending) Colorado has used the first and second allocation of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG DR) funds to support the Resilience Planning Program to support flood and fire affected communities in their recovery planning efforts. In the second funding allocation, the Watershed Pilot Program grant program was added. This Guide is to assist Resilience Planning and Watershed Capacity grant awardees in managing their projects and grant funds. b. Planning and Watershed Funds and Awarded Project Summary These funds will support planning efforts and watershed capacity building through local staffing, planning and detailed studies, and long range planning for community redevelopment in the municipalities, counties, and watersheds that have sustained damage from the September 2013 flood and the fires that occurred in 2012 and 2013. The first Resilience Planning Program allocation in 2014 awarded 11 projects funds totaling $900,000 in 8 communities. The second funding cycle in the spring of 2015 increased the number of Resilience Planning grantees to 24 jurisdictions or organizations, including watershed coalitions. Funding for 45 Planning and Capacity projects increased to $7,170,173. (For more information about the Resilience Planning Program see http://dola.colorado.gov/cdbg dr/content/resilience planning and capacitybuilding.) The Pilot Watershed Program awarded grants to support 10 Watershed Coalition Capacity projects (18 staff) totaled $1,861,819. Currently, another round of Watershed Program implementation 2

demonstration project applications is under review. (For more information about the Resilience Planning Program see http://dola.colorado.gov/cdbg dr/content/watershed resilience pilot program.) c. Purpose of the Guide This guide is intended to assist recipients of all allocations of CDBG DR Resilience Planning and Watershed Program grants including those from the first allocation in 2014 as well as those awarded in the second allocation in March and April of 2015. d. Broad Program Requirements Projects in the CDBG DR program must: Be disaster related Meet the National Objective of Urgent Need (threat to community health/welfare or disasterrelated impact) Be an eligible activity under CDBG (Planning and Administration see the National Federal Register link below and contact DOLA staff with any questions or concerns) 2. Contact Information a. DOLA Regional Managers, overall contacts For questions about project/scope changes, grant management or other major concerns or issues, contact the DOLA Regional Manager who is assigned to your municipality or county. If you are unsure about whom your Regional Manager is, please contact Don Sandoval. Don Sandoval, 970 679 4501 don.sandoval@state.co.us Clay Brown, 303 273 1787 clay.brown@state.co.us b. DOLA Community Development Office (CDO) Assistance The CDO team can help with project development, development of RFQ s/rfp s, contracting, planning process design, and general planning or program questions. KC McFerson, Watershed Program Manager; 303.864.7887 kc.mcferson@state.co.us Tim Katers, AICP, Planning Program Manager; 303.864.7888 tim.katers@state.co.us Waverly Klaw, Long Term Recovery Planner; 303.864.7756 waverly.klaw@state.co.us Anne Miller, AICP, Senior Planner; 303.864.7726 anne.miller@state.co.us c. DOLA Field Staff, grant management/quarterly reports/pay request contact For grant management questions, reimbursement requests and quarterly reporting contact: Christine Celentano, CDBG DR Grants Specialist, 720.387.1619 Christine.celentano@state.co.us 3

3. Grant Administration Requirements a. Budget A budget of your grant activities is provided in Section 4 of Contract Exhibit B. If you feel it is necessary to transfer funds between line items of your budget, please contact your DOLA Regional Manager before doing so. Up to a 10% shift is permissible under certain conditions with a written letter of notice to the DOLA. Your Regional Manager can guide you through the process. b. Eligible and Ineligible Expenses i. Eligible: for eligible activities, please see your contract, Exhibit B 4.2. ii. Ineligible: Food, operating costs and indirect administrative costs such as payroll management and utilities. For staffing grants grant writing and fundraising are ineligible. For planning grants, funds may be spent on conceptual design but not final design. iii. Prohibited: political activities; inherently religious activities; lobbying; political patronage; nepotism activities; and supporting either directly or indirectly the enactment, repeal, modification or adoptions of any law, regulation or policy at any level of government. c. Resilience Requirements These CDBG DR funds require that communities look at improving their resilience. The Colorado Resiliency Working Group has developed the following definition: The ability of communities to rebound and positively adapt to or thrive amidst changing conditions or challenges including disasters and changes in climate and maintain quality of life, healthy growth, economic vitality, durable systems and conservation of resources for present and future generations. Ultimately, a community is more resilient when it can recover more quickly from any major impact including a disaster. For more information on Colorado resiliency planning efforts, visit the Colorado United website. Please be aware of the following CDBG DR requirements when planning for future infrastructure projects. CDBG DR funded infrastructure projects must 1) describe the science based risk analysis it has or will employ to select, prioritize, implement, and maintain infrastructure projects or activities and 2) identify and implement resilience performance standards that can be applied to each infrastructure project. (See Federal Register, Vol. 79, No. 106, June 3, 2015) d. Requests for Proposals (RFP) As you develop RFP s for the work that you wish to complete under this grant there is required language that needs to be included within the RFP. This language addresses compliance with the federal regulations that come with this funding and includes statements that address non discrimination and minority and women owned business opportunities. An easy solution to ensure that all of the required federal language is included in an RFP is to make the draft contract mentioned below in e. Contracting 4

an addendum to your RFP. In this way, every organization reviewing the RFP and considering responding to your request is made aware of the range of regulations and procedures that must be followed by successful bidders. e. Contracting Contracts between DOLA and each grantee funded in the second CDBG DR allocation are in progress at this time. Organizations funded in Round 2 (2015) with multiple projects can expect to see a minimum of two contracts. Planning or design projects will be combined into a single contract and staffing (capacity) projects will also be grouped within one contract. Funds expended by your organization prior to a fully executed contract with the State of Colorado cannot be reimbursed. Do not incur expenses related to these grants until a fully executed contract has been completed. Contracts between your organization and your consultants or contractors also need to contain specific language in order to comply with CDBG DR regulations. This required language is available in a draft Contract for Professional Services that is included in the materials provided or is also available from CDBG DR Program Managers or the Grants Specialist. f. Reporting Round 1 Resiliency grant contracts required individual reporting to be completed for each project. With the increase in the number of projects funded in the second CDBG DR allocation, reporting on multiple projects will be combined as appropriate. Where multiple projects have been funded in either the planning or capacity category, reporting will be completed on those projects within a single quarterly report and as part of a single reimbursement request. Reporting requirements for your grant(s) include: Quarterly Reports: These are due on the 10 th day of the month after the end of each quarter. Reports are due on January 10, April 10, July 10, and October 10 of each year and summarize work that has occurred over the previous three months. Reimbursement Requests: This is a reimbursement program and the State encourages you to submit reimbursement requests on a monthly basis. The request for any reimbursement is not tied to submittal of a quarterly report and grantees should make every attempt to request reimbursement on a monthly basis as these funds are in response to disaster declarations and should be expended in a timely manner. Timesheets: Projects that have funded staff positions need to keep accurate time records for these positions and identify the hours that were worked on grant funded efforts. Please remember to have employees sign timesheets and provide proof of payment. g. Records It is important to keep careful and organized records for your project for 5 years. This includes not just deliverables and invoices but also documentation of every expense and payment. For staffing positions, it is important to keep signed timesheets (signed by employee and supervisor), bank records 5

demonstrating the staff member was paid, and a schedule of hourly rates. Please contact regional DOLA staff for more information on these requirements, or see the CDBG Guidebook. A draft format for recordkeeping is included in the CDBG Guidebook on page I 7 and a suggested format organized by each section of the CDBG Guidebook is below: 1. Grant application, award letter, DOLA contract 2. Procurement a. Opportunity notices and RFPs for staff or consultants, contract(s), hiring documents 3. Project Start Up a. Excessive force policy b. Residential anti displacement policy 4. Reporting a. Quarterly reports 5. Financial Management a. Fiscal process of organization b. Delegation of signature authority c. Requests for reimbursement 6. Environmental a. Exhibit IV A 7. Civil Rights a. Section 504 self evaluation plan and compliance b. Fair Housing affirmative action c. Section 3 local employment, training, contracting 8. Acquisitions 9. Relocations 10. Labor and Construction 11. Project Closeout a. Monitoring checklist h. Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968 and 24 CFR Part 135 All grantees under this program must submit a Section 3 report at grant closeout. Section 3 ensures that, to the greatest extent feasible, the grantee (and consultant) will: 1) Provide opportunities for training and employment that arise from this HUD financed project, 2) Give preference in hiring to persons whose income is equal to or less than 80% of Area Median Income (AMI), and 3) Give preference in contracting to businesses owned or that employ low income individuals (equal to or less than 80% of AMI in the Subproject area). In addition, the grantee shall, to the maximum extent feasible, provide for the hiring of local employees or contract with small businesses that are owned and operated by locals. See the CDBG Guidebook or contact your regional DOLA staff (Don or Christine) or Program Managers for more details on this requirement. 6

i. Minority and Women Business Enterprises To the greatest extent feasible, the grantee (and consultant) must take affirmative steps to assure that minority business and women s business enterprises have an equal opportunity to obtain or compete for contracts to be paid with CDBG DR funds. j. Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing See Section 5 (Civil Rights) of the CDBG guide book, pages V 4 and V 5. Grantees are required to take affirmative action to promote fair housing for minorities and women in their communities. Merely posting fair housing posters in many cases is not enough. Actions that can be considered when taking affirmative action to promote fair housing include: Post equal housing opportunity posters and/or decals in conspicuous places, Include information about fair housing in materials used to familiarize the community with local CDBG program services, and Include statements of fair housing policies in local program goals, objectives and administrative procedures. k. Section 504 Section 504 prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in all actions undertaken or funded by a local government. Grantees must comply with four areas: Communications, Employment, Self Evaluation Plan, and Transition Plan. See Civil rights (Section 5) of the CDBG guide book pages V 2and V 3. To comply with Section 504 grantees need to complete the Self Evaluation found within the Guidebook and if any issues are found, work with your DOLA staff to develop a plan to address those issues. l. Excessive Force Resolution This requirement refers to the Armstrong/Walker Excessive Force Amendment. It is NOT a typical police Use of Force policy. It is the prohibition of the use of excessive force against individuals engaged in a non violent civil rights demonstration and barring the entrance or exit from a facility that is the subject of a non violent civil rights demonstration. ALL GRANTEES MUST adopt a resolution related to excessive force. m. Worker s Compensation, Insurance, and Bonding As per the Contract, Grantees shall require each contract with a consultant, other than those that are public entities, that provides Goods and Services in connection with this Grant to include Worker s Compensation, General Liability, and Automobile Liability. See your Contract for details. Malpractice/Professional Liability Insurance is NOT applicable to this grant. The Grantee and Subcontractor shall provide certificates showing compliance with the insurance coverage requirement to the State within seven business days of the Effective Date of this Grant or of any subcontracts or subgrants. 7

n. Duplication of Benefits For activities carried out under this grant, the designated administrator of the activity will be contractually required to complete the procedure identified in Exhibit F of the contract with DOLA and submit documentation for review before the State will release payment. 4. NOT Required for Planning, Planning Capacity or Watershed Capacity Grants Full environmental review: Planning and Watershed capacity grants are exempt as defined under HUD regulations 24 C.F.R. 58.34(a) of the Environmental Review Procedures and no further environmental clearance is required. However, you must have "Exhibit IV A" (sent with each award letter) signed by a Chief Elected Official or senior staff member and returned to our office prior to signing your grant contract with DOLA. Davis Bacon Act: The Davis Bacon Act of 1931 is a federal law that establishes the requirement for paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects for laborers and mechanics. It does not apply to these planning or watershed capacity grants. Malpractice/Professional Liability Insurance: As stated in the contract, planning or watershed capacity grant funded projects are not required to carry malpractice or professional liability insurance. 80% Low and Moderate Income: As stated in the contract Exhibit B, Low and Moderate Income requirements are not applicable to planning and capacity grants as they are met in other CDBG DR programs. 5. Grant Management Support a. Grant Kickoff Meeting For each funding allocation, DOLA s regional field staff and Community Development Office will hold a kick off meeting where this Guide and other necessary information will be distributed. These workshops also offer an opportunity for Planning and Watershed grantees to engage in peer learning. b. Quarterly Planning Grantee Check In Meetings Once every 3 6 months, the Community Development Office within DOLA will host informal trainings of the grant recipients to answer your questions, address issues, and learn from each other. CDO will use conference calls and in person gatherings, as well as regular email communications. c. Monitoring and Reporting Technical Assistance Grantees are required to submit quarterly performance and financial reports 10 days after the close of the fiscal quarter. Requests for reimbursement are not tied to a quarterly report and are encouraged on a monthly schedule. Please see Exhibit G in your contract with DOLA for more information. 8

6. Grant Closeout Requirements a. Legal Notice and Public Hearing Minutes for Post Award Public Hearing b. Programmatic Monitoring Letter c. Final Financial Status Report d. Final Payment Request e. Section 3 Report f. Project Completion Report g. Project Close out Letter h. Completion and Submission of Audit 7. Links a. CDBG Guidebook: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/satellite/dola Main/CBON/1251592194217 This Guidebook has been developed by the State of Colorado to assist local governments and in the implementation and administration of local public facility, housing, and economic development projects undertaken through funding from the State administered Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. b. Federal Register notices For first allocation: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/fr 2013 12 16/pdf/2013 29834.pdf For second allocation: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/fr 2014 06 03/pdf/2014 12709.pdf Use these links to understand the broad parameters that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development set out in the Federal Register. It will provide guidance on eligible costs and other rules. c. State of Colorado Approved Action Plans and Substantial Amendments http://dola.colorado.gov/cdbg dr/content/action plans Use this link to learn about what s included in the State of Colorado approved Action Plan and Substantial Amendments for how the state will spend the CDBG DR funds. 8. FAQ s a. What is Section 3 and how do we comply? You must, to the greatest extent possible, provide opportunities for training and hiring of people who are below 80% area median income, hire locally, hire small businesses, and hire minority and women business enterprises. See your contract and CDBG Guide for more information. b. Do we have to comply with the Davis Bacon Act? No. CDBG DR Resilience Planning and Watershed capacity projects are not required to comply with the Davis Bacon Act. When communities or watershed coalitions begin implementation (construction) projects Davis Bacon requirements will apply. DOLA will conduct a workshop specifically for those groups at the appropriate time. 9

c. Do we need to conduct an Environmental Review? No. CDBG DR Resilience Planning and Watershed Capacity projects are not required to complete a full environmental review. You must have "Exhibit IV A" (sent with the award letter) signed by a Chief Elected Official or senior staff member and returned to our office prior to signing your grant contract with DOLA. However, every effort should be made to incorporate environmental considerations into the planning process. Projects that move from planning to implementation may require an environmental review to procure additional funds. 10