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Nantucket Cultural Council approves $10,000 in grants after audit finds leftover funds
Summary
The Nantucket Cultural Council voted to distribute roughly $10,000 in grant funding after staff audit uncovered unspent money from prior cycles; the council approved the disbursements by roll call, with one abstention. Members also approved January minutes and heard a resignation and recruitment notice.
Shanta Boyce, a staff member for the Nantucket Cultural Council, told the council during a remote meeting that an internal audit found unspent money from prior grant cycles and proposed distributing a total of $10,000 in grants this year.
The audit identified "$2,459.08 from previous grant cycles that weren't granted out," Boyce said. She said she and another staffer reviewed seven years of past grant cycles to clean up leftover funds and traced an additional balance that left the council with an amount she described as approximately "$8,100" to allocate. Boyce said she could create a supplemental grant from the cultural district of $1,840.92 that "then brings your total, funding to grant out this year, to $10,000."
The council considered a staff proposal to award full requested amounts to six applicants — Boys and Girls Club ($600), MCTV ($600), Nantucket Island Fair ($500), Small Friends ($700), Book Foundation ($500) and Mariah Mitchell ($1,000) — and to split the remaining funds among other local organizations. Under the proposal the remaining $6,100 would be split among additional groups, which Boyce listed as Artist Association, Bulgarian Education, Linda Lauren Comedy Fest and Community Music Center; Boyce also noted the split calculation as "$1,220 to each of those organizations." The transcript indicates an inconsistency in the count (the staffer referred to splitting the funds "5 ways" but listed four organizations); the record does not specify an additional recipient.
Boyce said staff planned to remove Community Music Center from the second portion of the disbursement and to present the allocations in two parts when voting, though she did not specify why it would be removed. She said the council's contract paperwork (which she had already drafted) would go to the town contract coordinator for execution once the council issued approvals.
A member moved to approve the disbursements as presented by staff and another member seconded. The roll-call vote recorded four yes votes (Bethany Oliver, Barbara Tibbets, Jack Bolger and Michael Kopka) and one abstention (Tony Wagner). The motion to approve the disbursements was recorded as approved.
The council also approved the minutes from the January meeting by roll-call vote. One member told the group earlier in the meeting that they would not vote on January minutes because they had not been present at that meeting; the roll call later recorded that member as voting yes.
During other business, Boyce announced that council member Ava Rollins has resigned and asked members to refer prospective applicants to Maureen Coleman or Erica Mooney in the town administration's office; Boyce supplied her email (sboyce@nantucket-ma.gov) to members for inquiries. Council member Tony Wagner said he had already spoken with a prospective applicant, Kendall Graham, who may submit an application.
The council closed a short meeting with an adjournment by unanimous roll call following the votes.
