City, RRA contract up in air
Toolbox
By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: November 5, 2009
It's been more than a decade since the city has had a formal contract with Rutland Redevelopment Authority for community development services.
In that time, however, the city's funding for the organization — allotted under the "professional services" line in the community development piece of the general fund budget — has remained steady at $55,000.
With the budget proposal released this week that stands to change.
Gone is the $55,000 for professional services, replaced instead by a $60,000 line item for "subcontractors."
Together, the reclassification and small bump in funding are meant to send a message, according to Mayor Christopher Louras. Once again, the city's community development work will be awarded under the terms of a contract that will include a means for performance-based assessment — but it shouldn't be taken as a foregone conclusion that subcontractor will be the RRA, he said.
Louras and Mark Foley Jr., chairman of the RRA's Board of Commissioners, are working on a new, short-term contract that would carry the organization through the end of this fiscal year. Then, Louras said he will pursue a longer-term contract, but that "doesn't necessarily anticipate that it's the RRA."
"I'm going to start negotiations with them first," he said. "Hopefully we can reach an agreement … but we have to review the relationship and determine whether the city's been getting its money's worth."
Both Foley and RRA Executive Director Tom Macaulay see this as positive for the organization.
"Quite honestly, we've just been operating under the terms of the old agreement … on a handshake," Macaulay said.
The RRA was first awarded the city's community development contract in 1995, about the same time that Tom Donahue left his post in City Hall as the community development director and the position was effectively eliminated. For those first two years there was a contract, but neither Louras nor Macaulay said they knew why, after the last one expired on June 30, 1997, it was allowed to lapse for so long.
That contract lists as the services the RRA will provide: Administering the city's community development grants, acting as the city's representative on issues of transportation and housing betterment and functioning as the city planner under the direction of and in conjunction with the aldermen's Community Development Committee. The agreement also calls for the authority to make monthly progress reports to the aldermanic committee and assign to it a liaison from its Board of Commissioners.
Asked if this shakeup comes because he doesn't feel the RRA has met the city's expectations, Louras said "it depends on how it's measured."
"I think in order to raise $55,000 (in revenue for the city) there would have to be an increase to the grand list of $2 million," he said. "I don't think we've seen the grand list grow by $2 million through any action of the RRA."
However, Louras said he also believes there are nonquantifiable benefits to the RRA provided for in the structure outlined in the charter.
Foley said he's also hoping that a contract will help solidify accountability and expectations for the organization.
"We think it's important and of value and we want to make sure we're providing a value," he said.
Should the RRA not receive the city's community development contract, however, Macaulay said the decision would not affect the organization's operation. It would continue to function as provided for in the charter, he said.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
36