TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to have the Purchasing Agent formulate a plan to allow residents engaged in City-financed facade improvements to have the choice to utilize vendors pre-qualified by the City.
DISCUSSION
Encouraging facade improvements is a major element of the City's plans to beautify neighborhoods and improve quality of life. Encouraging business owners to improve signage, repaint, and conduct other facade improvements is a "win-win" that improves private property while contributing to the improvement of the greater neighborhood. Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars are a major source of funding for such facade improvements.
Currently, for CDBG facade improvements, private property owners search for and select contractors to conduct the improvements. The City then writes a check to reimburse owners for the improvement, from 85% to 100% of the cost of the improvements up to a dollar maximum. These contractors often charge significantly more than would be charged to the City, given our purchasing power. Redevelopment Agency facade improvement programs already offer the property or business owner the ability to use agency vendors. Most owners choose to use Redevelopment's preapproved vendors, saving themselves and the City money.
I propose to give the private property owners the opportunity to have the City request bids for CDBG facade improvement work and thus "pre-qualify" contractors to conduct this work. By doing so, the City and private property owners would be able to reduce the cost of facade improvement to the city and to the private property owner, if a match is required. Such a reduction in cost would mean that these scarce dollars could fund more improvements. Additionally, the administrative burden on the private property owners would be lessened, as the City would have already found qualified vendors, checked their references, confirmed the necessary insurance requirements, and prepared proposed contracts.
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