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Shade Tree commissioners say ODNR grant application may be disqualified for missing council resolution
Summary
Commissioners said an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) grant application the commission submitted could be removed from consideration because the submission included a city council letter of support but not a formal council resolution; the commission said it will seek to remedy the defect if notified.
Commissioners with the Athens Shade Tree Commission said an ODNR grant application the commission submitted a few weeks ago may be disqualified because it lacked a formal city council resolution. "We may be getting thrown out of consideration kinda right off the bat," one commissioner said during the commission's September meeting.
The commission submitted the grant application to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and included a letter of support from the city council but not a voted council resolution, the commissioner said. That omission, a commission member reported, triggered a question from a reviewer identified to the commission as Anne Bonner and raised a "red flag" about eligibility.
The commission has not received formal notice that the application has been rejected, the commissioner said. If ODNR removes the application from consideration, commissioners said they would seek to correct the deficiency by asking the city council to adopt a resolution and then resubmit or otherwise attempt to remedy the paperwork quickly.
Commissioners framed the matter as procedural: the application could remain viable if the city council converts its letter of support into a formal resolution and transmits it to ODNR within any corrective window the agency provides. No formal motion or vote on the grant was taken at the commission meeting; commissioners described the report as an update and a pending administrative issue.
Why it matters: ODNR grants can fund planting, inventory and public-education work the commission planned to support; losing eligibility could force the commission to scale back or seek alternative funding streams. Commission members said they were watching for an official determination from the applicant reviewer and would coordinate with the city to pursue a resolution if needed.
The commission did not provide an application number, grant amount, or a specific ODNR contact beyond the name referenced; those details were not specified during the meeting.
The commission discussed other volunteer-led efforts that could partially fill gaps if the grant is ineligible, including a spring BioBlitz and a student volunteer’s work to compile inventory data from iNaturalist into a street-tree database.
