By Tom McClimon
July 27, 2009

“We want to work with you,” was the message delivered by David Agnew, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Relations and other federal officials at a meeting of mayors' assistants, local ARRA directors, and city representatives. Held July 13 and 14 in Washington (DC), over 50 local representatives met with White House and federal agencies' officials to discuss the latest on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds and how soon those funds will be getting to cities.

Senior officials from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Transportation along with the Environmental Protection Agency briefed the city officials on the status of each of their ARRA funding programs and when cities can expect to see the money flow to them. In many cases for the competitive funds, the number of applications far exceeded the amount of money available. For example, for COPS funds, the number of applications is eight times the normal number of applications for previous COPS funds. The HUD official announced that his agency plans to have all of their ARRA Community Development Block Grants awarded by September 30. Updates were also presented on such programs as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, Brownsfields and Wastewater Infrastructure, Green Jobs Training, and Transportation's Discretionary Grant Program.

“We brought you [city officials] together with the federal agencies that have ARRA funds so that you can hear firsthand when the money should be flowing to you; and for you to tell these federal officials what problems you are experiencing in getting the money,” stated Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran who moderated the two day meeting. Some of the concerns raised included getting formulas from the Office of Management and Budget on calculating job growth numbers, carrying out the Buy American provisions, and ways to monitor the distribution of the funds.

During the first day of the meeting, the city officials were able to listen in on a conference call organized by the White House for mayors on the establishment of the new Office of Urban Affairs and its new director Adolfo Carrion, Jr., who briefed the listeners on the plans for his new office. Part of his strategy is to hold three meetings this summer in Philadelphia, Kansas City (MO) and Denver.

At the meeting's conclusion, the city officials agreed to work with Conference of Mayors staff in sending in specific recommendations for changes in ARRA programs that could be accomplished relatively easily to enable the ARRA funds to get to cities quicker. Conference staff will also work on organizing another meeting of local ARRA officials for sometime in the fall.