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Nampa council delays vote on CDBG public‑service awards after presentations from homeless‑service and senior programs
Summary
City staff recommended funding three top scoring applicants for the 2025 CDBG public‑service pot but the council postponed a final allocation vote until its June 2 meeting and directed staff to publish the draft plan for 30 days of public comment.
The Nampa City Council postponed a final vote on how to allocate the 15% public‑service portion of the city’s 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) after hearing three‑minute presentations from nonprofit applicants and discussing HUD guidance on rotating recurring grantees.
City staff recommended awarding the available public‑service funding to three top scoring applicants — Jesse Tree, Salvation Army and CATCH — but told the council it could instead fund four groups by splitting the pot more widely. Staff estimated the 2025 HUD entitlement at $653,242, carryover funds at $266,602.24 and anticipated program income at about $5,324, for a total of $925,168.82; the public‑service cap is 15% of the annual allocation (about $97,986).
The recommendation and applicant summaries drew questions from council members about past CARES Act awards, program overlap and audit risk. City staff described a small scoring change this year intended to give bonus points to applicants that address unmet needs in the consolidated plan or that had not received funding in the prior program year. “All of our applicants do amazing work in our community and we’re always happy to help all of them when we can,” City staff member Matt Jameson said while reviewing the scoring and recommendation.
Applicants described the services they would fund with CDBG dollars. Stephanie Day of CATCH said the organization serves families with children experiencing literal homelessness and that Nampa‑allocated CDBG funds would pay housing assistance and case management for families housed in Nampa. “With CDBG funds, you can only pay three months of rent for one family. So, it would probably be about six families that we use CDBG funds for their rent and then the case management component is generally going to be around 16,” Day said.
Jeanie Gerwig of the Nampa Family Justice Center asked for $30,000 to support a housing specialist and part of a case manager’s salary and benefits. “CDBG funding will be used to support a portion of the case manager, housing specialist salary and benefits,” Gerwig said, describing work to connect survivors of domestic violence to housing assistance and community resources.
Diedra Schmelzer, representing Nampa St. Alphonsus Meals on Wheels, described a program that delivers hot and frozen meals to homebound seniors. “So far this calendar year, we've served over 13,200 meals to local residents in need. We currently have approximately 130 active members on our roster,” Schmelzer said, and warned that a funding cut would force caps on recipients.
Captain Allison Strzok of the Salvation Army described expanded day‑shelter and meal operations: “In September of 2024, we went from serving two meals four days a week to serving three meals seven days a week... now we serve around 950 meals a week.” She said CDBG funds would help expand overnight and day‑shelter capacity during the coldest months.
Council members pressed staff on compliance risk after HUD staff pointed out that some groups had received consecutive years of funding. Councilmember Griffin and others said they did not want to risk an audit finding. Jameson described HUD guidance as “best practice” encouraging rotation so the consolidated plan can address more unmet needs, but said final allocation choices rest with council.
Rather than vote, the council directed staff to post the draft action plan and allocations for a 30‑day public comment period, return the proposals and full applicant packets to council members for review, and place the allocations and related non‑public‑service projects on the June 2 council agenda for a final vote. Staff also said it would bring the adopted plan back to council for a public hearing and formal adoption after the public comment period, roughly the week of Aug. 7.
Next steps: staff will provide council the full applicant packets and the scoring spreadsheets, publish the draft action plan for a 30‑day public comment period and return to the council June 2 for a final vote on CDBG allocations and related projects.
