Report Prepared by: Stephanie R. Dietz, City Manager
Title
SUBJECT: Approval of the Professional Services Agreement with the Lew Edwards Group in the Amount not to Exceed $84,000 to Develop a Public Education Strategy Related to the Possible Extension of Measure C and Approval of a Supplemental Appropriation in the Amount of $50,000 from Fund 061-Measure C to Support the Overall Project
REPORT IN BRIEF
Considers the approval of the Professional Services Agreement with the Lew Edwards Group for an amount not to exceed $84,000 to develop a public education strategy related to the possible extension of Measure C and the approval of a Supplemental Appropriation of $50,000 from Fund 061-Measure C to support the overall project
RECOMMENDATION
City Council - Adopt a motion:
A. Approving the Professional Services Agreement with the Lew Edwards Group for an amount not to exceed $84,000 related to the extension of Measure C; and,
B. Approving a Supplemental Appropriation in the amount of $50,000 of the unappropriated, unencumbered fund balance in Fund 061-Measure C to fund the overall project; and
C. Authorizing the City Manager or the Deputy City Manager to execute the necessary documents.
Body
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve as recommended by staff; or
2. Approve, subject to notifications as conditioned by Council; or
3. Deny the request completely; or
4. Refer back to staff for reconsideration of specific items as requested by Council; or
5. Defer action until a specified time
AUTHORITY
City of Merced Charter, Section 200
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES
FY 2021/22 City Council Priorities, 1.a. Public Safety, Measure C Renewal
DISCUSSION
On April 1, 2006, a voter approved general-purpose half-cent sales tax went into effect. Locally known as Measure C, sales tax funding has been historically used to support enhanced public safety services and local street projects. Measure C was approved for a period of 20 years, set to sunset in 2026. With the approval of the half-cent sales tax, a Citizens Oversight Committee was also created to create community accountability and ensure that additional funding was allocated in accordance with voter approval. Recently this committee was merged to form the Tax Transparency Committee to allow for Measure C and Measure Y to be reviewed simultaneously.
During the economic downturn, Measure C was used to stabilize public safety services by directly funding positions within the Police and Fire departments. As the economy began to stabilize, the City Council directed staff to develop a plan to transition positions from Measure C to more sustainable funding sources. A total of four positions have been transferred off Measure C support to date. Even with this initial progress, staffing levels are still heavily subverted by Measure C, with a total of 20.49 FTE remaining in the Police Department and 12.30 FTE remaining in the Fire department.
Measure C funding has become a critical funding source to continuing enhanced levels of public safety services to the residents of Merced. Pre-pandemic work was completed to evaluate the viability of a Measure C extension for the November 2022 ballot. In addition to seeking a strategy to extend Measure C in its current form, the Council also expressed an interest in exploring other options, including but not limited to, removal of the sunset date, potentially adding a quarter-cent to support Parks Maintenance, and evaluating general sales tax v. special sales tax thresholds for voter approval. With the onset of COVID-19, this work was halted to better focus on mitigating local impacts to families and businesses.
As part of the FY 2021/22 Council Goals & Priorities, Council established the evaluation of renewing Measure C as a priority for the November 2022 ballot. To meet this goal, a City team was established consisting of the following individuals: City Manager, Deputy City Manager, Finance Officer, Police Chief and Fire Chief. In addition, an RFP was released in September to solicit consultation services to complete this work. Proposals were due in October, with interviews offered in November. After initial interviews, a second interview option was offered to the City Council Community Relations Ad hoc Committee but was declined, in lieu of staff’s recommendation.
Staff are recommending the Lew Edwards Group, in partnership with Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) for surveying services and Zephyr Collaboration to convene community workshops to educate and answer any questions related to the current use of Measure C funding, to evaluate the viability of a Measure C extension after the development of a robust public outreach effort. Each consultant will have a separate contract for professional services with the City. The following is recommended based on the potential of working towards November 2022:
• LEG - Not to Exceed $84,000 (through November 30, 2022)
o Design of public outreach strategy, mailers, and digital content
• FM3 - Not to Exceed $33,000
o Development of survey questions and conducting polling via phone interviews in both English and Spanish
• Zephyr - Not to Exceed $33,00
o Up to six focus groups, and online engagement support with outcomes
With the City Council’s approval of this agreement, staff will launch the project on January 4, 2022 and develop a detailed timeline of events and milestones to assist the Council in making a well-informed decision for November 2022 ballot placement. This timeline will be shared with the City Council and the community during the Strategic Planning Session on February 19, 2022. Two separate agreements will be put in place with FM3 and Zephyr Collaboration after the allocation of funding and will be returned to the City Council as Information Only agreements.
IMPACT ON CITY RESOURCES
As appropriated in the FY 2021/22 budget, $100,000 has been budgeted in Fund 061 - Measure C. A supplemental appropriation of $50,000 is requested to provide polling and community stake focus group services in support of this work. Should the City Council choose not to place an item on the November 2022 ballot, the remaining balance of the project funds will be returned to Fund 061-Measure C, and not expended as part of the Professional Services Agreements.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Lew Edwards Group Agreement