Discussion and possible directions to staff on any and all matters regarding establishing by ordinance an organized process of application and award of grants for public purpose activities that benefit the residents of the City of San Luis.  (Ralph Velez, Interim City Manager)

Staff gathered ideas from other cities for having an organized process of application and award of grants for public purposes that benefit those living within their cities. It appears that some of the recurring requirements are that cities limit the amount any one group can be granted, and there is a ceiling on the total allocation each year. Many require a 501(C) non-profit status of applicants. To get funded, the applicants must comply with the application process. To be able to compete in the following year, they must have proof they provided the services promised and used the money for those services.
 
Attached is a draft ordinance that creates a committee appointed by Council that reviews requests.  City Council is informed of what monies are proposed to be spent in the next fiscal year, and they review the requests that have been filed with that in mind.  All requestors compete against each other for these monies.  The Committee interviews each request.  Based on what is submitted and interviews with the different people from the non-profits, the Committee then recommends funding to the Council.   The Council then decides who gets funded and for how much.  The City Attorney then prepares appropriate contracts.  Those contracts are then approved as part of the budget process. This organizes requests and helps with budgeting. It also provides both staff and Council with a way to deal with mid-fiscal year off-the-cuff requests by stating that a procedure is established by ordinance.  If funding for the fiscal year is over, people can apply for the next fiscal year. 
 
Also attached are approaches used in the cities of Tolleson and Avondale.