LTC 74-2003 CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 7
To:
From:
Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez ~ O~
City Manager
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) APPLICATION
PROCESS AND BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS GRANT APPLICATION
SUBMISSION
Date: March 20, 2003
At this time of year, the City traditionally invites proposals for the community's use of
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. The City's legal requirement for
notice for the proposals is fulfilled by a printed ad in the newspaper and is traditionally
supplemented by a courtesy letter that is sent to each of the previous grant recipients. The
letter notifies them of the grant process, the date for submission of the grant and of a
Workshop to provide information and answer questions regarding the grant process. In
this years CDBG cycle, the advertisement for proposals was made by the City with a
deadline for submission of grant applications of March 3, 2003 at 5:00 p.m. The courtesy
letters sent to all previous recipients were sent at the end of January notifying former
recipients of the closing date of the grant applications and that there would be a Workshop
held on February 4, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall.
In this year's process, a courtesy letter was sent to Mr. Wayne Blanton representing the
Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami to their application address of 1245 Michigan Avenue,
Miami Beach, a copy of the letter is attached for the Commission's information.
Mr. Blanton has represented to the City that he did not receive the courtesy letter and was
not aware of this year's date for the submission of grant applications. As such, the Boys
and Girls Clubs did not submit their grantthapplication by. the March 3rd deadline but d~d'
submit a grant application as of March 18 upon learmng of the closing date from other
sources.
The City has the full authority to reject the Boys and Girls Clubs grant application request
pursuant to conditions both in the ad, the RFP itself and the courtesy letter which was sent
to all of the previous recipients.
As far as the staff is aware, only the Boys and Girls Clubs application is affected by the
March 3rd closing date. No other organization attempted to submit a late application or has
made the City aware that they did not receive a courtesy letter. Since the Boys and Girls
Clubs have been a service provider in the community for some time and are regular
participants in the CBDG program, it is my intention to waive this particular requirement in
light of the representations of the Boys and Girls Clubs and to include their application in
the competitive process soon to be undertaken by the Community Development Advisory
Committee on behalf of the City Commission. It is the Administration's feeling that
including the Boys and Girls Clubs at the beginning of the process rather than to have to
deal with an effort to have them included later in the process is less disruptive to the entire
process and to other potential grant recipients.
It is my intention to proceed as outlined unless otherwise notified by Commissioners that
there is a concern or some other problem associated with this grant application
acceptance. If I have not heard that there are concerns or comments by members of the
Commission by March 28, 2003, I will proceed as indicated and submit the application for
review in the CDBG process.
JMG\RCM/sam
cbdgboysgirlsapplicltc
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Robert C. Middaugh, Assistant City Manager
¥ivian Guzman, Director of Neighborhood Services