CIP Review Committee Hears WW Fund Use Requirements
Piedmont has been slow to apply for its Measure WW bond funds.
The June 19 meeting of the CIP (Capital Improvement Projects) Review Committee was moved from the City Hall Council Conference Room to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the Police Department to accommodate more people. It began with a presentation by Jeff Rasmussen of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) on the program requirements for Measure WW bond funds. No video or broadcast of the meeting was produced.
Piedmont is the only city in the District that has not submitted an application for the funds it is entitled to receive. Since there are strict timing constraints, it is important to move ahead to have construction completed and approved before the end of fund dispersal. Each year applications can only be submitted from February 1 to March 31 in any year. Before the end of the application year, EBRPD will determine eligibility of the project or projects. The completed project construction must be documented, submitted and approved for payment before the last WW funds are paid out by December, 2018.
The numerous required application documents for each project include CEQA clearance of the project and a City Council resolution approving the project applications.
Rather than discussing the many eligible projects under the program, Rasmussen presented some major categories of ineligible projects to save the CIP Review Committee time when considering citizen suggestions for the $575,000 set aside for Piedmont. No more than 20% of a project’s pre-construction cost can be covered by WW funds.
Some Projects Ineligible under the WW fund program include:
- Libraries
- School facilities not associated with a parks and recreation facility (limitations on school use apply)
- Street medians
- Street and highway beautification
- Master Plans
- Movable equipment such as trucks, mowers, etc
- Removable recreational equipment such as soccer goals
- Recreational programming and staffing
- Normal maintenance
- Repairs with a life of less than 25 years
- Classes that are part of a school curriculum
- School sports programs
The EBRPD Board makes the final determination of a project’s eligibility. Once constructed, the project must be open to the public, maintained and operated only for the purpose for which the grant was awarded.
