(A) The County Council shall create the Community Services Grants Committee. This Committee will consist of five persons to create and manage a grant process, awarding activity, review grant applications and make recommendations to the County Council for awarding grants. Three members of the Committee shall be members of the County Council; and two additional members shall be drawn from the community at large, based on experience or expertise in community services. A community member cannot serve, or continue to serve, on this Committee if he or she is affiliated with, or work for any organization that is or had been awarded a grant.
(B) The County Council shall focus on the following areas when considering grants from its Community Services Fund:
(1) Adult and youth education;
(2) Emergency shortages;
(3) Food and shelter;
(4) Health;
(5) Public safety;
(6) Public service;
(7) Transportation; and
(8) Veterans.
(C) The Community Services Grants Committee shall focus on the following criteria when reviewing grant applications:
(1) Programs must primarily serve county residents;
(2) Likelihood of success of the proposal (i.e., will the dollar amounts sought likely accomplish the professed goal of the proposal?);
(3) Partnership or leverage (whether the funds will serve to bring other partners or funding to the project); and
(4) Operational expenses such as travel, conference costs, ongoing supply or expense costs, maintenance costs and the like shall be given low priority in award decisions, but shall not be necessarily excluded from consideration.
(D) The County Council shall encourage transparency throughout the acceptance, review and award of applications. In addition to maintaining hard copies of all application information, timeline and deadline information, historical and fiscal information regarding the funding, all such information shall also be available to the public through the county’s website.
(CC Res. 2011-12, passed 5-9-2011)