Minutes 10-26-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Yuhasz said that the objective is to fill a gap and he would not like to fund agencies that provide the same services that the County provides. Commissioner Jacobs agreed that it is redundant in a way to have financial need as a criterion, but there is a line, "the outside agency has demonstrated a reliable, diverse revenue stream, of which governmental assistance is a small portion." He does not want to lose that because this was a principle that the Board discussed. He said that there is something to be said for historical relationships since some agencies are small non-profits, but it should not entitle the non-profits to anything. Also, he said that there are times when some groups have financial emergencies, and if it falls within the County's process, then the County can assist if possible on a one-time basis. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the meeting of goals and said that maybe it could be based on a point system. If an agency meets certain goals of the County, then they would be given points, etc. Chair Foushee made reference to historical relationships and said that she agreed with Commissioner Jacobs, but she also thinks that in the case of some small non-profits, there is an issue that some organizations do not seek other opportunities because there is an expectation of funding based on the historical relationship with the County. She would caution against this. Frank Clifton thanked Gwen Harvey for her efforts in this process. He said that he wanted to reinforce an issue. Some of the agencies are under contract with the County. Some of these non-profits are supported with straight contributions and then the County pays them through contracts sometimes. He asked the Board to go through each criterion and say "yes" or"no" as a group. Commissioner Hemminger said that a matching grant should not be a requirement. Frank Clifton said that maybe these could be given a higher priority, but not made a requirement. He will continue to bring recommendations, and the Board can decide. Chair Foushee went over the criteria that the Board supports. The Board agrees with support for social safety net, performance review ranking (with revisions), unique mission or service, principal partnership, and a financial need statement. She said that she did not hear as much support for the other items. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the matching grant and said she did not think that needing county dollars for a grant should be a reason to provide funding. She said an additional criterion for selection should be whether or not funding an agency leverages county dollars. One way for an agency to do that is to use volunteers, Frank Clifton said that at the State level, the State is pushing Smart Start groups to find dollars elsewhere rather than just relying on State allocations. Now Smart Start is asking the counties for contributions. He does not think that the County should be doing this just because the State is shifting money elsewhere. Commissioner Nelson said that all of these criteria are important. He understands that some decisions may become subjective. He is not comfortable saying that one set of criteria is more important than another. Chair Foushee said that if the Board believes all criteria are important, then they should be incorporated in the application and weighted. Commissioner Gordon said that geographic balance is important. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he agreed with Commissioner Nelson and that the reason these criteria are on the list is because they have been used in the past to evaluate applications and they are valuable in certain situations. Chair Foushee said that if matching grants are considered, then those funds will be leveraged. Also, she would like to ensure that whatever services are being provided would fill