The San Marcos City Council will listen to public comment in Tuesday’s meeting on four proposed Community Development Block Grant projects for COVID-19 response funding.
Residents can submit comments on the proposed projects as well as the amendment itself adding the coronavirus response allocation of $425,261 to the CDBG 2019-2020 Action Plan.
The city has received four applications for CDBG-Coronavirus response funding from several organizations: the City Economic Development Department, Main Street Program and Chamber of Commerce; the City Office of Emergency Management; Court Appointed Special Advocates; and Texas State University.
The projects have to meet a CDBG National Objective, provide direct service to beneficiaries and have reasonable costs for cost effective services.
CDBG objectives are that programs and projects benefit low and moderate income (LMI) persons, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight and meet an urgent need.
The three proposals recommended by staff are for COVID-19 small business recovery, advocacy services for abused and neglected children and a COVID-19 collection station.
The $200,000 small business recovery project would provide technical assistance and funding for small businesses and microenterprises. It would provide up to $5,000 per business for redesigning physical spaces to ensure safety and social distancing, digital redesign for social distancing and sanitation training and PPE.
Court Appointed Special Advocates requested $55,600 for advocacy services that have an increased need due to family stress from economic impact and stay-at-home orders. It would partially fund an additional case supervisor and would help them recruit and train volunteer caseworkers to advocate for children removed from their homes, a program which could be scaled depending on need.
Texas State University requested $105,530 for a portable COVID-19 sample collecting station and staffing from September 2020 to May 2021. The funding would include the creation of a prototype as well as conversion to a working flexible-use health station. It would also cover two part-time positions at $18 per hour and implementation of research in partnership with Katerra.
Administrative costs will total $65,000 so the city can only select three of the projects. Staff is recommending all projects except the City Office of Emergency Management saying it does not meet a CDBG National Objective.
This proposal, $180,000 for a COVID-19 Community Recovery Specialist Position, will still be presented in the virtual meeting. The project would fund one full-time position for two years to assist the community in developing long-term recovery planning strategies and to provide educational workshops and materials for all businesses and residents on economic preparedness and disaster recovery.
In other business, city council will consider an ordinance proposed by Councilmember Joca Marquez to prevent the San Marcos Code of Ethics from being used as a political weapon.
Council will also direct staff to calculate the voter-approval tax rate of the City of San Marcos by using an 8% threshold for new revenue instead of the 3.5% from last year’s new Tax Code law due to the Governor’s State-Wide Declaration of Disaster in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
