Title
Authorizing the Mayor's Office to accept a gift of travel and hotel accomodations from Bloomberg Philanthropies in conjunction with the Mayor's Challenge.
Body
WHEREAS, Bloomberg Philanthropies created the Mayors Challenge to recognize creative problem solving happening in City Halls across the country, offering one $5 million prize and four $1 million prizes to cities seeking to solve major challenges and improve city life through improved customer service, enhanced accountability and greater efficiency; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Coleman submitted an idea described as "Permit Saint Paul," offered by the Department of Safety and Inspections to transform their license/permit process into an interactive step-by-step on-line guide through which applicants will be supported with easy-to-follow questions and directions; and
WHEREAS, "Permit Saint Paul" was selected, from over 300 submissions, as one of twenty ideas for further refinement and evaluation; and
WHEREAS, Bloomberg Philanthropies has invited a team of four staff from the City of Saint Paul to a two-day "Ideas Camp" in New York City on November 12-13, 2012, where they will work with teams from other cities and technical consultants to strengthen the proposal for the final competition; and
WHEREAS, the cost of travel and lodging for each of the teams will be paid by Bloomberg Philanthropies; and
WHEREAS, the intensive work will strengthen the idea for future implementation by the City, thereby improving the quality of this essential public service; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the City accepts the gift of airfare/ground transportation at a total cost not to exceed $5,500 and hotel accommodations at a total cost not to exceed $2,000 for Ricardo Cervantes, Greg Schroeder, Steve Ubl and Nancy Homans to participate in the session; and be it finally
RESOLVED, that the City thanks Bloomberg Philanthropies for this opportunity.
Financial Analysis
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