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A resolution appropriating $350,000.00 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from Fund #30216 to the Metro Nashville Police Department to expand the Partners in Care pilot program and to create a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program.
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WHEREAS, on June 15, 2021, the Metropolitan Council passed Resolution RS2021-966, a resolution which accepted grant funds for local government support from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP Funds”) from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson Count, which was subsequently signed into law by Mayor John Cooper on June 16, 2021; and,
WHEREAS, Resolution RS2021-966 established a COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee ("the Committee") whose role is to collect, consider, and recommend appropriate uses of the ARP Funds as designated by the Metropolitan Council disbursement plan. The Committee will submit its reports and recommendations to the Mayor, the Director of Finance, and the Metropolitan Council not later than June 30, 2025; and,
WHEREAS, there are federal requirements for use of ARP Funds that require that these funds be expended or obligated on or before December 31, 2024; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes that MNPD officers regularly respond to mental health emergencies and that the development and expansion of MNPD crisis intervention teams (“CITs”) using clinicians and officers trained in mental health emergencies is a critical priority for the city; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes that the negative financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have emphasized the need to expand the number of police precincts using the Partners in Care pilot program over the next several years and that doing so will require additional mental health, crisis-related trainings for police officers; and,
WHEREAS, to accomplish this goal, MNPD has developed a mental health training program to be funded over the next four years, which is further described in Exhibit A; and,
WHEREAS, MNPD represents that the use of ARP Funds represents the best and most appropriate use of funds for MNPD; and,
WHEREAS, it is to the benefit of the citizens of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County that this resolution be approved.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. The Metropolitan Council accepts this resolution as a recommendation of the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee.
Section 2. That $350,000.00 from the Covid-19 American Rescue Plan Fund #30216 is hereby appropriated to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to be used in described in Exhibit A.
Section 3. This resolution shall take effect from and after its final passage, the welfare of the public requiring it.
Agenda Analysis
Analysis
This resolution appropriates $350,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to expand the Partners in Care pilot program and to create a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program.
The Council approved the funding of the Partners in Care pilot program on September 7, 2021 through Resolution No. RS2021-1122.
The COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee recommends appropriating the funds to fund CIT training for three years, beginning in January 2022. The anticipated costs for an instructor is based on an annualized salary of $100,000, for a total of $350,000 through Fiscal Year 2025. This will allow MNPD to train up to 24 officers a month. Fire-EMS staff will also be invited to attend trainings.
Fiscal Note: This appropriation, along with the appropriations per Resolution No. RS2022-1307, Resolution No. RS2022-1310, and Resolution No. RS2022-1311 would be the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th resolutions appropriating from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARP) Fund for a cumulative total of $75,764,250. The total grant award is $259,810,600 and the first half of this amount was received in July 2021.