by John McLoone

The Hastings City Council worked Monday night to “Begin narrowing parameters of CARES funding,” according to a memo to Mayor Fasbender and City Councilmembers from City Administrator Dan Wietecha.

The City of Hastings is to recieve $1,743,298 for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act expenses.

The Journal will provide a full report on the Aug. 3 meeting in its Aug. 13 edition. Press time for The Journal has been moved up a day each week.

Wietecha requested the following city council actions, according to the memorandum.

1. Continue narrowing parameters of CARES funding.

2. Approve transport ventilator at $9K.

3. Approve Fire/EMS training room equipment at $40K.

4. A pprove Target Solutions scheduling program at $4,500.

5. Approve Kaivac clean / disinfect machine at $6K.

6. Approve tempered glass at $4K. 7. Approve business assistance of $250K, through HEDRA, plus $9K administrative fees.

8. Allocate business assistance of between $100K to $200K, through HEDRA, for nonprofit organizations. The Administration Committee should recommend a distribution model at the August 17 City Council meeting.

Wietcha said actual city expenses are a priroty.

“The City should make sure it covers all eligible City expenses incurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Total identified costs are $786K plus other pending expenses,” he wrote.

•Recommended: Transport ventilator would cost $9K. The three current auto vents are over 20 years old, have no calibration, and do not provide BiPAP. We only need one unit that would be kept at the station, rather than a unit on each ambulance. This unit has increased capabilities, including CPAP, BiPAP, and ventilation. The new ventilator continuously monitors ventilatory status of a patient, delivering safer care. It would be used primarily during patient transports.

•Recommended: A/V equipment for Fire/EMS Training Room is quoted at $36K and $47K from two vendors. Add 10% contingency $4K to cover electrician expense and incidentals. With the onset of COVID, the Fire Department has tried to switch from inperson to remote and webinar-based training. Additionally, an operating camera system would enable recording of in-person training as a training tool for the participants as well as instruction for others not initially present. The electronics in the existing projector are essentially shot, producing a distorted and dim image, and the camera system is nonfunctional. The new equipment includes a large monitor, computer, and switching equipment. Normally installation of new equipment has about a 6-8 week lead time, but vendors expect it to lengthen with increased technology and communications demands.

•Recommended: Scheduling program through Target Solutions is $4,500. EMS began implementing weekend duty crews in March to supplement our weekend response and to maintain consistent station coverage. But scheduling these shifts has been difficult to manage and track. The Target Solutions platform is already being used in training and communications; this application would enable consistent management of shift schedules.

•Recommended: Kaivac cleaning and disinfection machine will run $6K. It would be used in sanitizing bathrooms, locker rooms, and other areas at the Arena.

•Payroll (including benefits) for non-safety employees have been tracked at $144K through June. Estimates for future months have not been calculated, but expenses for these employees should be lower in the coming months.

•Payroll (including benefits) for EMS are estimated at $196K from March 1 to November 15. This is based on EMS having an average monthly payroll of $148K during March to July 2020. DCC reported that 15.5% Hastings EMS calls from March to June were flagged as potentially COVID related. Applying 15.5% to $148K per month for 8.5 months calculates to $196K.

•Payroll (including benefits) for Police are estimated at $89K from March 1 to November 15. This is based on Police having an average monthly payroll of $362K during March to July 2020. DCC reported that 2.9% Hastings Police calls from March to June were flagged as potentially COVID related. Applying 2.9% to $362K per month for 8.5 months calculates to $89K.

•Unemployment insurance payments ran $12K for the second quarter; amounts through November 5 are unknown at this time. Please note the State has instructed this payment not be made yet due to the volume of unemployment requests they are processing.

•Miscellaneous expenses (technology, communications, legal, PPE, plexiglass, etc) have run $42K through June.

•Audio / visual equipment for the Community Room ran $2K.

•Business license refunds (March-June) ran $27K.

•HEART grants ran $181K.

•Delineators and barricades for downtown will run $25K through November 1.

•Additional plexiglass partitions and employee cloth face coverings are being purchased in response to the new Stay Safe Minnesota mask requirements. Current purchases have run $6K, with some estimates still waiting.

•Proposed plexiglass screens for City Council Chambers – waiting for quote.

Proposed shelves (for PPE) and lockers (for changed, sanitary response model) for Fire Department will run $8K.

•Proposed work station / cubicles for Police – waiting for estimate.

•Proposed A/V equipment for Police mobile command is quoted at $114K. In May 2020, Dakota County Public Health Department and Independent School District 200 entered a contract for the Hastings High School to be a Point of Distribution site for any mass vaccinations. Under our Emergency Operations Plan, the Hastings Police Department would assist with traffic control and security for the POD. Since this is off-site, the mobile command would be stationed at the High School. This vehicle is a refurbished platform, needing overhaul of its electronics and communications equipment to make it fully functional.

•Proposed A/V equipment for Emergency Operations Center in Police Station is quoted at $44K. The City declared a Public Health Emergency on March 16. Without fully functional equipment, we only partially activated the EOC and kept it in a virtual/remote state at the onset of the public health emergency. This project is not as clearly related to the City’s COVID response as other expenditures and needs to be reviewed with our financial auditors before recommending it.

Building Upgrades – A variety of items might be considered to improve the health and safety of City buildings for employees and public. At this time, none of these items have been ordered.

•Recommended: Replacing the temporary plexiglass partitions with installation of tempered glass partition at the front customer service counter at City Hall will run $4K. This would provide more reliable engineered control to limit potential spread of COVID- 19 at high traffic location in the front lobby of City Hall.

•Proposed touchless fixtures (toe pulls for doors, automatic lights, toilet flush, soap dispensers, faucets, and paper towel dispensers) are quoted at $109K for materials plus estimated $25K for installation at all City buildings. This would replace frequently touched fixtures in all City restrooms to limit potential spread of COVID-19. Staff is currently reviewing the advisability of not replacing all fixtures to reduce the overall costs. For example, an automatic soap dispenser may not be necessary since someone is obviously washing their hands immediately after using it or automatic towel dispensers are high maintenance items and would be less useful if frequently out of service.

•Proposed UV lighting units would be added to air handling systems where feasible in City buildings. At $5K a piece, the five units for City Hall would run $25K. Estimates and feasibility for other buildings are pending.

•The CDC has recommended increasing fresh air flow to occupied buildings. The HVAC system at the Fire Station has design flaws, is obsolete, and lacks VAV automation making it difficult to reliably increase air flow. When manually adjusting dampers, one of the air conditioning units has difficulty keeping up. Replacing the system is estimated at $325K to $350K. It might be possible but would be difficult to complete this project by November 15. Upgrading air handling units at City Hall is not feasible by the deadline.

• Proposed adding of electrical outlets to the riser in the Community Room has not been quoted. With its larger size to host meetings while social distancing, this room is being used much more frequently than before. At this time, the one existing outlet in the riser is the only outlet in the room. Adding outlets along the exterior walls would be preferred but may be difficult due to historic preservation requirements associated with the room.

Economic Support for Business – Anecdotally, the thought is that at least 10% of the CARES funding is recommended to be used for business support. Through the HEART grants, the City has already provided $181K in grants to small businesses to help with expenses related to their re-opening. The City has also incurred about $25K in barricades to assist the downtown businesses and $27K in business license refunds. The expenses are eligible for reimbursement through CARES funds. In total, the City has met the anecdotal 10% target; although, it could decide to do more.

Dakota County has committed $10M of its CARES funds for small business assistance. There is also the opportunity for cities to contribute additional funds to be used locally.

•$10M of Dakota County CARES funds to be used for $10K small business grants

•They are using the same guidelines as the DEED program: 50 or less FTE For profit businesses (home-based and non-profits not eligible) Show negative impact to sales from COVID-19 Majority owned by Minnesota resident In good standing with State, County, and City Lottery system to award grants (there are nearly 10,000 businesses with under 50 FTE in Dakota County)

•Contracting with NextStage to administer the grant program, including application management, review of eligibility, grant closing and agreements for approved grants, audits, and program reporting. NextStage will provide a list of grantees to the County (or City) to disburse the grants directly.

•Opportunity for cities to contribute additional funds to be used locally Recommended: Contribute additional $250K for 25 grants to Hastings businesses, plus $8,600 in administrative fees to NextStage (3.44% of grants total). Due to concerns about statutory authority to provide direct assistance to individual businesses, Attorney Flegel has advised transferring the funds to HEDRA to disburse to the grantees.

• Anticipated timeline: Applications deadline is August 14 (Hastings businesses are encouraged to apply regardless of any potential decision about additional City funding) o Funds distributed September – November Economic Support for Social Service – Guidance for the CARES Act includes a number of examples of individual emergency assistance related to COVID-19. During its July 6 meeting, the City Council referred this topic to the Administration Committee to review and recommend.

The Administration Committee discussed the importance to provide assistance widely across the community and the possibility of partnering with a non-profit organization.

We have also discussed the topic directly with several non-profit organizations to gauge the types and level of need in the community. An interesting comment was that we haven’t really seen the social service needs yet. With the $600 weekly unemployment bonus and eviction protections about to expire, individual needs are expected to quickly spike. The community will be hit; we just don’t know the specific needs yet. Several non-profits did comment to the impact of COVID on their organizations through being closed to the public, reduced staffing, reduced funding, increased costs, changed procedures, etc.

Assistance through nonprofits might be provided in either of two ways: 1. Recommended: As direct relief for a nonprofit that experienced a business interruption as a result of COVID. This is the option most clearly compliant with the Public Purpose Test. Assistance may be provided as a series of smaller grants (similar to the $4K HEART or $10K Dakota County business assistance) to a number of nonprofits, or it may be provided as fewer, larger grants to “anchor” nonprofits who exhibit deep reach into the community. Or as a combination of the two.

2. To “purchase” specific social service (for example food shelf, lunch program, mental health program, etc) through nonprofit providers.