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Committee advances $211,500 fiduciary-services contract to pilot senior food-access program
Summary
The committee advanced a two-year, $211,500 contract to provide fiduciary services supporting a pilot senior food-access program that will buy local produce and pay urban farmers; council members asked why the city sought a fiscal sponsor for small purchases and what the program will deliver.
The Neighborhood Community Services Standing Committee moved a $211,500, two-year contract to formal session with a recommendation for approval to provide fiduciary services supporting the mayor’s senior food-access pilot.
The contract (listed as contract #67688) would allow the Office of Sustainability to pilot food-access work in seven senior buildings, buy local produce from urban farmers and contract with farmers to operate farm stands inside senior buildings. Committee members asked why the city could not perform the small transactions in-house.
The presenter explained the city expects many purchases will be small — for example, weekly $100 produce purchases — and that procurement thresholds make those transactions difficult to process without a fiscal sponsor. The arrangement is intended to simplify payments to multiple small vendors while enabling the pilot to use local suppliers. (Ruston, director)
Vice Chair Scott Benson pressed for details about what the city will receive in return for the $211,500 fee and whether the work could be handled internally; the presenter said the fiscal sponsor would allow the program to operate at the small-dollar scale required by the pilot. The committee recorded a motion to send the item to formal session with a recommendation for approval; no objections were recorded at committee.
