Adopt amended Policy on Grant Administration. (No general fund impact) (Rinde)

Adopt amended Policy on Grant Administration. 

The County of Yolo adopted a Policy on Grant Administration in September 2017, which is the current policy in effect that contains guidance to County departments on grant development, application, management, audit and closeout, and coordination required internally. Prior to this policy, guidance to staff on grants was limited, and the Board had previously delegated authority to the County Administrator to apply for grants on behalf of the organization. 

The 2017 policy formalized the authority of the Board to retain the role of accepting grants and appropriating funds however continued to allow the County Administrator (and designees) to apply for grants that met County goals and strategic plan interests. It also added a grant oversight committee to the process comprised of technical subject-matter experts from several functions of the County that would review grants in advance of application for concerns and inform the County Administrator of concerns prior to applying for grants. The County Administrator was then responsible to address these concerns but retained the ultimate authority on whether to proceed with the application of a grant. But the Board still played a key role in the process of accepting or rejecting grants and appropriating funds. 

In February, 2023, the Board asked staff to examine the grant administration process for improvement. The major concern expressed by the Board was to ensure the Board has awareness of significant grants that the County applied for, especially those that may involve a long-term commitment or significant matching funds. County staff examined two different possibilities in approach to revise the policy. 

Given the strict timelines for grant submission and the timelines required to get an agenda item completed to be on the agenda, staff do not recommend returning to a system of required Board pre-approval before grant submissions. The risk of this system would be deterring grant applications that may provide significant benefit as an agenda item can't make it to the Board in time. This was part of the reason for the prior delegation of authority to the CAO to submit for grants consistent with Board goals and strategic plans. 

As a result, staff recommend approving the amended policy (Attachment A), which would require Departments that submit for any grant over $250,000 to provide prompt notification to the Board (within 14 days of Grant Submission) via a memo included in the Board correspondence. A redline version of the policy is included as Attachment B. This will allow Board members to be aware of the details of major grant submissions and also allow board members to request further discussion on specific grants to be added to the next Board agenda. 

The Department of Financial Services collaborated with the County Administrator's Office on amendments to the Grants Administration Policy. A copy of the proposed policy revisions was shared with Department Heads and discussed as part of the April 12, 2023, Department Head Meeting. 

Not applicable