Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 32 No. 47, November 22, 2006 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

These changes are in response to comments received at a public hearing held on December 14, 2006 in Tallahassee.

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULES IS:

9B-43.0041 Application and Administrative Requirements.

The Florida Small Cities CDBG program is governed by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended; Title 24 C.F.R. 570; the “Guide to National Objectives and Eligible Activities for State CDBG Program” published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, as amended/revised; and the Florida Small Cities CDBG Program Application Manual, Form CDBG-A-1, Effective , which can be obtained by contacting the Florida Small Cities CDBG Program at the Department of Community Affairs, and are incorporated herein by reference, as effective on __________.

(1) through (1)(e) No change.

(f) Documents to meet application requirements ~~or additional submissions resulting from the site visit~~ must be submitted in original or photocopy form. ~~Facsimile or electronic submissions are not acceptable.~~ Additional submissions resulting from the site visit may be submitted by mail, facsimile or electronically.

(g) A local government with an open Planning and Design Specifications subgrant cannot apply for a new Commercial Revitalization, Housing or Neighborhood Revitalization subgrant.

(2) through (3)(c) No change.

(4) Consistency with Local Comprehensive Plan.

~~(a)~~ The application shall include affirmation that the proposed activities are consistent with applicable elements of the adopted local comprehensive plan and shall include applicable excerpts from the applicant’s comprehensive plan in the supporting documentation section of the application.

(b) If the Department determines that an application is inconsistent with the adopted local comprehensive plan, the applicant shall be advised of that determination in the completeness review letter. If after review of the applicant’s response, the Department reaffirms its determination of inconsistency, the application shall be rejected.

(5)(a) No change.

(b) Activities undertaken outside the applicant’s jurisdiction which are also undertaken within the applicant’s jurisdiction, except in an Economic Development application where the infrastructure activities may be undertaken exclusively outside the jurisdiction. Applicants considering projects that would benefit Entitlement community residents should refer to the HUD Memorandum entitled “State CDBG Activities benefiting Entitlement Community Residents,” issued May 26, 2006.

(5)(c) through (d)3. No change.

(e) When two jurisdictions apply for funding for a joint project supported by two subgrants, an interlocal agreement must be included in each application that indicates that the jurisdictions have agreed upon a service area, how the funding under each subgrant will be expended, and evidence that each subgrant will meet the LMI national objective.

(6) through (7)(c) No change.

(8) Completeness Review Letter (for all grant categories except economic development). Following the site visit, the Department will advise the applicant of the status of the application review.

(a) The Department shall request in writing required documentation determined unavailable or inadequate during the site visit. Except for Economic Development applications, applicants shall have 21 12 calendar days from the date the request is received to provide appropriate documentation to the Department.

(8)(b) through (d)2. No change.

(9) Eligibility. ~~Contract performance shall be considered “on time” for open subgrants that have received an agreement period extension of less than twelve months,~~ Performance is on time ~~schedule~~ when expenditures and work activity plans stated in awarded subgrant agreement(s) have been met or surpassed. Any subgrants which have received an extension of the grant period of twelve months or more will be considered not on time, except for the time extension required for an Economic Development project for the purpose of tracking additional job creation when contractual job creation commitments have been met, but the cost per job exceeds $10,000.

Specific Authority 290.048 FS. Law Implemented 290.044, 290.046, 290.047, 290.0475 FS. History–New 5-23-06, Amended _________.

9B-43.0051 Grant Administration and Project Implementation.

(1) Administrative Costs.

(a) If proposed administrative cost percentages in an application are exceeded, as set forth in Section 290.047, F.S., the dollars for administrative costs shall be reduced prior to the offering of a subgrant award in order to bring the percentages into compliance based on the total eligible subgrant costs.

(b) During the term of the subgrant, requests for payment of administrative funds will be approved as reflected on approved workplans unless otherwise agreed to by the Department.

(2) through (5) No change.

(6) Completion of Activities. The Department will acknowledge a local government’s closeout by mailing an administrative closeout notification or a Notice of Outstanding Closeout Issues (NOCISS).

(a) The NOCISS letter shall identify impediments to closeout which the local government must resolve before the Department’s review of the closeout will proceed and will advise the local government that any remaining balance of funds will be deobligated.

(b) No change.

(7) Non-performance Penalties. Subgrant application penalties and subgrant application restrictions shall be assessed based on non-performance of contractual requirements related to project accomplishments. The following penalties and restrictions will apply to subgrant agreements for which an administrative closeout was submitted prior to the upcoming application cycle deadline and will apply regardless of whether the subgrant agreement has been amended to permit the reduction in accomplishments:

(a) A penalty of five points per housing unit, up to a maximum of 50 points, for failure to address the number of housing units scored in the original Housing category application.

(b) A penalty of five points per low and moderate income household not served OR a penalty of five points for each business facade not addressed, as geographically displayed on the original application maps (as modified, if necessary, during the completeness process) in the Neighborhood Revitalization or Commercial Revitalization categories, up to a maximum of 50 points. All direct benefit activities proposed in the application (e.g., water hookups) must be completed to avoid this penalty. No penalty shall be assessed for failure to provide a water or sewer hookup if the hookup is not possible because the home is vacant or was damaged or destroyed after application submission and there are no other homes in the service area that were identified in the application as unmet need which qualify for a hookup.

(c) A penalty of five points per job, up to a maximum of 50 points, for failure to create or retain the total number of jobs in the original contract in the Economic Development category.

(d) All performance-related penalties penalty will be applied to the Category Subscore of the next application for funding.

(d) through (e) renumbered (e) through (f) No change.

(8) through (11)(b) No change.

(c) Upon completion of the activities contained in the local government’s CDBG subgrant agreement, including any amendments, the local government shall submit to the Department a closeout which, at a minimum, gives the final statement of costs, certifies that the project and all non-administrative activities are completed and accepted, that all costs except those reflected on the closeout, and reflected on an enclosed final request for funds, have been paid, that the final score at closeout is within the fundable range as last amended and reports demographics of the program’s beneficiaries.

(d) through (f)3. No change.

(g) A local government whose closeout is not received by the Department prior to the date of the opening of the application cycle, as defined in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), shall not be eligible to apply for a Commercial Revitalization, Housing, Neighborhood Revitalization, or Planning and Design Specifications subgrant in that cycle.

(h) through (j) No change.

(12) Audit Requirements. If an audit or an attestation statement has not been received from a local government with either an open or administratively closed contract by the June 30 ~~April 30~~ deadline date, a 25 point penalty will be assessed. The penalty will expire two years from the date that the audit or attestation statement was received.

(13) Program Income. Program income generated after closeout shall be returned to the Department. Program income generated prior to closeout of a subgrant shall be returned to the Department unless: ~~Any program income generated by a Florida Small Cities CDBG subgrant, whether open or closed, shall be reported and returned to the Department.~~

(a) The program income is used to fund additional units of CDBG activities referenced in the subgrant agreement under which the program income was generated; and

(b) The recipient amends the subgrant agreement to encompass expenditure of that program income prior to administrative closeout.

(14) Non-program Income. No change.

Specific Authority 290.048 FS. Law Implemented 290.044, 290.046, 290.047, 290.0475 FS. History–New 5-23-06, Amended _________.

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE NOTICE OF CHANGE: Esrone McDaniels, Program Administrator