Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes a $25,980 grant to ACDS, LLC from the City of Madison’s Healthy Retail Access capital program. The Healthy Retail Access Program’s available budget authority is approximately $139,000. No additional City appropriation is required.
Title
Authorizing the City of Madison to fund the remaining balance of purchased services from ACDS, LLC creating an economic impact study on the benefits of a wholesale food aggregation facility and outlining implementation of a grocery locker unit pilot program within the City of Madison and making a funding allocation of $26,000 from the Healthy Retail Access Program
Body
WHEREAS, Legislation (RES-18-00624, Leg. File 52538) was adopted on August 7, 2018 authorizing the City of Madison to purchase services from ACDS, LLC - a nationally renowned consultancy specializing in terminal markets and agricultural/food systems economic development - based in Columbia, Maryland to create a feasibility study for a food terminal facility in the Madison area; and
WHEREAS, ACDS, LLC continues to work collaboratively with City staff, policymakers, and relevant institutional partners on the feasibility study and has now begun analysis and creation of a funding outline for a multi-tenant grocery locker unit pilot program aimed providing retail opportunities for a food terminal and alleviating food access disparities; and
WHEREAS, There are multiple organizations who have an interest in creating wholesale food infrastructure within the region and are actively collaborating with the City of Madison on this effort, which include:
- UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (UW CIAS)
- Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative (WFHC)
- Madison-Area Regional Economic Partnership (MadREP); and,
WHEREAS, There exists significant interest from the private sector in having a wholesale distribution and cross-docking facility to aggregate and distribute food and agricultural products within the Madison market and other regional markets such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago and interest from community-based organizations working on food access and security issues in retail grocery locker units;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, That the City of Madison shall allocate $25,980 from the City of Madison Healthy Retail Access Program to fund the remaining balance of ACDS, LLC’s scope of services.