District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer Establishment Act of 2004
Bill 15-727

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A BILL IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous introduced the following bill, which was referred to the Committee on   

To establish a District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office and Officer, and to transfer as of October 1, 2004, all authority over and responsibility for all publicly owned or controlled current and former school buildings and school administrative buildings from the office of the Mayor, the District of Columbia Board of Education (Board, BOE), and the Office of Property Management (OPM) to the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that this act may be cited as the "District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer Establishment Act of 2004." 

Sec. 2. Establishment of the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer.

(a) There is established a Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer (PSFMA). 

(b) The Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer shall be appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the Council in accordance with section 2(a) of the Confirmation Act of 1978. The Officer shall serve a 4-year term and shall only be  removed from the office for cause.

(c) The Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer shall oversee the functions and activities of the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office.

Sec. 3. Responsibilities of the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office. 

(a) There is created the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office in the executive branch.

(b) The District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office shall oversee the functions and activities required to maintain the physical facilities used to provide education to students in the District's public and public charter schools. 

(c) Effective October 1, 2004, the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office shall be responsible for making independent recommendations to the Council Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation for managing and administering the costs of providing school facility functions, including those listed in

(1) §§ 38-156 (Power to raze buildings; limitations)

(2) 38-1805.51 (Technical Assistance from GSA to Superintendent for facilities management),

(3) 38-1805.52 (facilities revitalization program),

(4) 38-2803 (Long Range Master Facilities Plan; annual updates),

(5) 38-2908 (Facilities allowance for Public Charter Schools) and

(6) the daily management, sale, purchase and leasing of District of Columbia Public Schools owned or controlled properties.

(d) The District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office shall be the repository of all official agreements, records and documents associated with collocation of facility utilization between the District of Columbia Public Schools and Public Charter Schools. 

(e) All District of Columbia Public Charter Schools shall file a certified copy of their facility plan, including all contracts for classroom and administrative space, security, and recreation space, with the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office.

(f) On or before February 1 of each year, the Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Officer, or any successor agency which shall perform its property management functions, shall provide a report to the Council delineating the status of the facilities used to educate students in the Public and Public Charter Schools. The report shall: 

(1) Provide square feet of space used for education, space that is vacant, space that is under construction, and space that is under renovation, for each grade level including pre-K through 12 and GED; 

(2) Provide the number of square feet, the address and Ward of each District Public and Public Charter School location; 

(3) Provide the number of square feet, the address and Ward of each District Public and Public Charter School that is actively servicing students with enrollment per grade;

(g) Limitations.

The FMO shall not have the power to close or consolidate existing public school facilities unless explicitly authorized by resolution of the Council. 

Sec. 4. Transfer of the District of Columbia Public Schools Office of Facility Management and District of Columbia Office of Realty to the District Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office.  

(a) All positions, personnel, property, records and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations and other funds available or to be made available to the Superintendent of Schools that support the buildings, other real estate, property management, facility management, janitorial services, construction and capital improvement functions of the District of Columbia Public Schools, are hereby transferred to the Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office.

(b) All of the powers, duties, and functions delegated to the Mayor regarding those activities concerning the planning, construction, utilization, sale, surplus and disposition of the District of Columbia Public and Public Charter Schools are hereby transferred to the Public and Public Charter School Facilities Management Office. 

Sec. 5. PSFMA Notes and Bonds. 

(a) The PSFMA shall have the power and is hereby authorized from time to time to issue its negotiable bonds and notes in such principle amount as, in the opinion of the PSFMA, shall be necessary, to provide sufficient funds to achieve its purposes, including the construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or improvement of public schools or the school portion of combined occupancy structures, the payment of interest on bonds and notes of the PSFMA, establishment of reserves to secure such bonds and notes, and all other expenditures of the PSFMA incident to and necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes and powers of the PSFMA. 

(b) The PSFMA shall have the power, to issue renewal notes, to issue bonds to pay notes, and whenever it deems refunding expedient, to refund and bonds by the issuance of new bonds, whether the bonds to be refunded have or have not matured, and to issue bonds partly to refund bonds then outstanding and partly for any other purposes. The refunding bonds shall be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase, redemption, or payment of the bonds to be refunded.

(c) Except as may otherwise be expressly provided by the PSFMA, every issue of its notes or bonds shall be general obligations of the Authority payable out of any revenues or monies of the Authority, subject only to any agreements with the holders of particular notes or bonds pledging any particular receipts or revenues;

(d) The notes and bonds of the PSFMA shall be and hereby are negotiable instruments, subject only to the provisions of the notes or bonds for registration.

(e) The notes and bonds of the PSFMA shall be authorized by resolution of the trustees, shall bear such date or dates, and shall mature at such time or times, in the case of any such note, or any renewals thereof, not exceeding five years, from the date of issue of such original note, and in the case of any such bond not exceeding forty years, from the date of issue, as such resolution or resolutions may provide. The notes and bonds shall bear interest at such a rate or rates, be in such denominations, be in such form, either coupon or registered, carry such registration privileges, be executed in such manner, be payable in such medium of payment, at such place or places and be subject to such terms of redemption as such resolution or resolutions may provide. The notes and bonds of the PSFMA may be sold by the PSFMA, at public or private sale, at such price or prices as the PSFMA shall determine. No notes or bonds of the PSFMA may be sold by the PSFMA at private sale, unless such sale and the terms thereof have been approved by the Mayor.

(f) Any resolution or resolutions authorizing any notes or bonds or any issue thereof may contain provisions, which shall be a part of the contract with the holders thereof, as to: 

(1) pledging all or any part of the fees and charges made or received by the PSFMA, and all or any part of: 

(A) the rental or other payments to be received by the PSFMA with respect to the school portion of combined occupancy structures; and 

(B) the rental or other payments to be received by the PSFMA with respect to the non-school portion of combined occupancy structures; and 

(C) any other monies, assets, or accounts received or the be received by the PSFMA or pledged or assigned to the PSFMA to secure the payment of such notes or bonds or of any issue thereof, subject to such agreements with bondholders or note holders as may then exist; 

(2) pledging all or any part of the assets of the PSFMA to secure the payment of such notes or bonds or of any issue of notes or bonds, subject to such agreements with note holders and bondholders as then may exist; 

(3) the use and disposition of the gross income of the PSFMA in connection with combined occupancy structures financed or constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated, or improved by the PSFMA or on its behalf; 

(4) the setting aside of reserves or sinking funds and the regulations and disposition thereof; 

(5) limitations on the purpose to which the proceeds of sale of notes or bonds may be applied and pledging such proceeds to secure the payment of the notes or bonds or of any issue 

(6) limitations on the issuance of additional notes or bonds, the terms upon which additional notes or bonds may be issued and secured, and the refunding of outstanding or other 13 notes or bonds; 

(7) the procedure, if any, by which the terms of any contract with note holders or 15 bondholders may be amended or abrogated, the amount of notes or bonds the holders of which must consent thereto, and the manner in which such consent may be given; 

(8) limitations on the amount of monies to be expended by the PSFMA for operating, administrative, or other expenses of the PSFMA;

(9) vesting in a trustee or trustees such property, rights, powers and duties in trust as the PSFMA may determine, which may include any or all of the rights, powers, and duties of thereof; the trustees appointed by the bondholders pursuant to this section, and limiting or abrogating the rights of the bond holders pursuant to this section, and limiting the rights, powers, and duties of such trustees; 

(10) any other matters, of like or different character, which in any way affect the security or protection of the notes or bonds.

(g) Any pledge made by the PSFMA shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made, moneys and property so pledged and there after received by the PSFMA shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical delivery thereof or further act, and the lien of any such pledge shall be valid and binding as against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract, or otherwise against the PSFMA, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof. Neither the resolution nor any other instrument by which a pledge is created need to be recorded. 

(h) Neither the trustees of the PSFMA nor any person executing the notes or bonds shall be liable personally on the notes or bonds or be subject to any personal liability or accountability by reason of the issuance thereof; 

(i) The PSFMA, subject to such agreements with note holders or bondholders as then may exist, shall have the power out of any funds available therefore to purchase notes or bonds of the PSFMA, which shall thereupon be cancelled, at a price not exceeding:

(1) the redemption price then applicable plus accrued interest to the next interest payment thereon, if the notes or bonds are then redeemable; or 

(2) the redemption price applicable on the first date after such purchase upon which the notes or bonds become subject to redemption plus accrued interest to such date, if the notes and bonds are not then redeemable 

(j) The District of Columbia shall not be liable on the notes or bonds of the PSFMA, such notes and bonds shall not be a debt of the District of Columbia, and such notes and bonds shall contain on the face thereof statement to this effect. 

Sec. 6. Fiscal Impact.

The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal impact statement required by section 602(c)(3) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813: D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(3)). 

Sec. 7. This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of a veto by the Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30 day period of Congressional review as provided in section 692(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code sec. 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of Columbia Register.

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Talking Points: 

1) Creation of a new office within the office of the mayor. Duties will be facilities management of DCPS facilities.

Issues:

1. Will duties include DC Public Charter School Matters? 

2. Relationship of Office to Office of Property Management? 

3. Relationship of Office to Office of Contracting & Procurement? 

4. Relationship of Office to Superintendent? 

5. Power of office on issue of co-location of facilities (i.e. DCPS and DCPCS or DCPS and Parks and Recreation) 1

6. Reports from Office to Council (suggested language inserted in bill) 

7. Title of Office? 

8. Independence of Office: Like OCFO, OCP, OCTO? 

9. Ability of Office to Self-Finance: Like HFA, DCHCD? (I left the language on notes and bonds alone just focused on operational duties in this draft).  

10. Staffing limits? See Section 2005 of budget support act, page 48. The technical assistance from GSA may support having limited staff in the office.

11. Contracting out (yes/no): are there any functions that are or are/not available for contracting out by this new entity.

12. Union issues.