Supervisors remove and table Knowles-Nelson stewardship resolution to March 13 for staff briefing

The Board removed a proposed resolution supporting renewal and funding of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program from the consent agenda and later tabled the item to the March 13 meeting to allow county staff to answer supervisors' questions about funding amounts and local receipt history.

Early in the meeting Supervisor Schwartz requested that item 4E1 be removed from the consent agenda; the Chair agreed. At the later item, Supervisor Mawhinney introduced the resolution and said the county would apply for Knowles-Nelson grants as in prior years. "This is basically supporting the reauthorization of the Knowles Grant Stewards Knowles Nelson Stewardship Grant Fund," Mawhinney said.

Several supervisors raised concerns about the state-level dollar figure cited in the resolution and about whether the Board should use a resolution to lobby for a specific statewide appropriation. Supervisor Schwartz said he would not support the resolution because the proposal asked for a large state funding amount and he questioned oversight. Supervisor Townes and Supervisor Woodman also said they could not support the resolution as written; others, including Supervisor Stevens and Supervisor Wilson, spoke in favor of continuing county participation in the program because past grants had supported local parks and volunteer projects.

Supervisor Homan moved to table the resolution until the March 13 meeting and requested that staff (including John Trainor or Dewey) be available to answer the specific questions supervisors raised; Supervisor Schneider seconded the motion. The Board voted to table the resolution to March 13 by voice vote and asked staff to attend prepared to respond to supervisors' questions about past grant receipts and oversight.