YPD nets $1M in federal funds for overtime reimbursement

Council accepts $125K grant for yuma county anti-drug coalition

As part of a collaborative agreement with the U.S. Border Patrol Yuma Sector, the Yuma Police Department received $1 million in funds from Homeland Security to cover police overtime.

The Yuma City Council on Feb. 17 took several actions, including accepting the federal funds and a $125,000 grant for the Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition and the Mayor’s Drug Free Communities Task Force.

With the federal funds, YPD will be reimbursed up to $961,000 for overtime and employee-related expenses and $38,982 for mileage expenses, for a total of $999,982, in support of Operation Stonegarden from Jan. 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022.

Operation Stonegarden supports the Border Patrol’s efforts to enhance border security through the interception of illegal activity within the city. The partnership enables YPD to have more officers on the street, which helps deter and detect crime.

YPD is one of several agencies that partner with the Border Patrol to develop and maintain a multi-tiered level of security along the United States-Mexico border, according to a staff report.

“This partnership level allows the city to engage with federal agencies, encouraging a positive, long-lasting relationship,” the report stated.

The council also accepted a $125,000 grant from the DrugFree Communities Support Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant supports the work of the Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition in collaboration with the Mayor’s Drug Free Communities Task Force.

The council authorized the appointment of the designated roles required by the grant and the hiring of a contract employee, to be paid with grant funds, to perform the role of outreach coordinator

for the Drug-Free Communities grant action plan.

The grant is renewable in the amount of $125,000 annually through September 2025. The preliminary budget includes funding for the contract hire, equipment and supplies for the contract hire, as well as supplies for the Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition to carry out its work, such as promotional items, educational materials, advertising, banners and flyers, virtual media and travel and training expenses.

The multi-disciplinary coalition includes members from many different community sectors who strive to bring substance abuse prevention, education, awareness and treatment resources to community members. The agencies, key stakeholders and collaborating community members also strive to link those who have been affected by substance use with culturally competent services.

“Through funding support from the grant the coalition will be better equipped to carry out its strategies and meet its goals to reduce substance use and abuse in our community,” a staff report noted.

Funding will be used for community outreach, education, community forums and events to increase information dissemination and prevention awareness. Grant program activities will raise awareness about mental health and rehabilitation.

Information will be provided about services related to drug use that are available within the community to help youth, families and schools. The program will implement other means of increasing prevention awareness in the community and promoting factors that minimize risk of substance abuse.

Certain roles and responsibilities must be performed by employees of the grant recipient organization, the City of Yuma. The council appointed City Administrator Philip Rodriguez as authorized organizational representative. He is responsible for ensuring the appropriate use of the funds awarded.

Maura Luna was appointed as principal accountant and is responsible for the financial oversight responsibilities for the grant award. Appointee Madeleine Coil is the grants administrator responsible for the day-today operations of the grant.

An outreach coordinator will be hired in the first quarter of 2021 to carry out the work of the coalition. The responsibilities of this new position include the development and administration of all coalition program activities and strategies.

The outreach coordinator will work alongside the program coordinator (the coalition chair serves as the program coordinator) to develop a variety of educational awareness programs and activities relative to drug and alcohol abuse awareness that can be implemented in person and digitally, as required by COVID-19 preventative social distancing guidelines.

The outreach coordinator will involve contact with community and school groups, interaction with students, parents, school administrators, local officials and resource personnel such as speakers, panelists, medical professionals, law enforcement officers, etc.

In addition, the outreach coordinator will be responsible for developing and implementing a parallel set of strategies to reach the target audience digitally and will be responsible for marketing both strategies in the community in both English and in Spanish.

In other action, the council:

• Authorized the city administrator to reject all proposals received for a unified communications and contact center solution. After the city requested proposals, a review committee reviewed all the responses and determined that the pricing proposed exceeded available funding. Staff recommended that all proposals be rejected and will request additional funding in a future budget cycle.

• Authorized a change order and an increase of $2,926 to the approved contract with Gutierrez Canales Engineering for construction services for the Downtown Raised Crosswalk and Spot Drainage Improvements project.