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Item No. 14 TO: Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council Robert G. Vine, Interim City Manager FROM: Stephanie H. Harris, City Attorney SUBJECT: Return of donated funds as provided in the Amendment to Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Paris and the RAM Foundation DATE: September January 22, 2024 BACKGROUND: In December of 2021, the RAM Foundation (RAM) made a sizeable donation of $300,000.00 to the city for the use in the city's HOME program to further RAM'S program of making affordable housing available to the city's residents. In conjunction with that donation, the parties entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which provided that the city would continue its annual funding for the program and would exhaust those budgeted funds prior to accessing the donated funds. The MOU also provided that after the expiration of three years, RAM would be able to review the use of the donated funds, and, if less than half of the funds had been used, recoup all of the unused funds. In January of this year the city and RAM amended the MOU to read in pertinent part: RAM reserves the right to recoup portions of the RAM funds which the City has neither expended nor dedicated to a particular future HOME or HANC project, such recouped funds to be used by RAM for other affordable housing initiatives. In order to exercise this right, RAM shall make written request to the City, and the City shall determine whether unexpended and undedicated funds are available to honor the request. If funds are available, the City shall promptly return the requested funds to RAM. RAM has the right to inquire as to the balance of any donated funds at any time, and the City will respond promptly to any such request. Since the city's acceptance of the donation and the execution of the MOU, the city has not had occasion to tap into the donated funds. At the time the above amendment was approved and executed, RAM requested that the city refund $191,227.84, and the city provided that refund.