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Commissioners add $150,000 to 2025 Common Ground competitive grant pool, keep working‑lands funding intact
Summary
The board voted June 10 to add $150,000 to the 2025 Common Ground competitive grant cycle while maintaining a separate allocation for the county’s working‑lands/ag resiliency initiative; staff will continue coordinating with partners on administration and reserves.
At their June 10 meeting, the Chaffee County Board of County Commissioners voted to add $150,000 to the 2025 Common Ground competitive grant pool while retaining the county’s planned working‑lands/ag resiliency funding. Commissioners said the move will allow the competitive grant cycle to award more local projects this year while keeping a separate allocation available for agricultural and working‑lands programming.
Staff said the additional funds are available because some previously held funds returned to the Common Ground pool. Chaffee County Community Foundation staff (working with county finance) had reported roughly $70,000 in ag‑related pre‑applications and asked the board to consider the revision. Planning staff recommended a middle‑path approach that increases the competitive grant pool by $150,000 while preserving reserved working‑lands funds and related staffing or coordination support.
Commissioners approved the increase by motion and second. The board also confirmed that two previously considered Colorado Parks and Wildlife grants (a CPW Trails and Conservation Plan grant and the CPW Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative) should not be transferred to the county as grantee; staff recommended those grants remain with other partners. In keeping with that approach, the board voted not to enter into agreements with a set of contractors (Tabas Associates, Smoyer & Associates, Rivertown Coffee and Cindy Williams) that had been linked to the Envision/Community Foundation fiscal sponsorship transition.
County staff said the decisions were intended to clean up outstanding grant‑hosting items that arose when a prior fiscal sponsorship (Envision under the Community Foundation) transitioned to county oversight. The board’s motions direct staff to continue coordination with the Community Foundation and other partners on the grants program and to preserve the working‑lands initiative while increasing the 2025 competitive pool to $670,000 total (board discussion referenced the $70,000 previously identified plus the $150,000 addition and the base pool already in the budget).
The board also confirmed a schedule of steps to move forward with common ground grant administration and flagged the need to set reserve policies later in the year. No contractors were authorized today to carry forward those formerly sponsored scopes of work; commissioners said the county may revisit individual scopes later if appropriate.
