Committee approves grant amendment for Office of Family Safety; staff say contract is split to meet federal requirements

The Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday approved RS2025-1038, an amendment to a grant from the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration to the Office of Family Safety to fund staff and positions.

Latoya Townsend, deputy director of development for the Office of Family Safety, told the committee the amendment splits the award into two contracts so the Office of Criminal Justice Planning can comply with federal requirements. "Previously, they were allowed to fund grants from their own different funding sources, and now that's being restricted. So this fix is not changing the initial amount we were awarded. It's just distributing it via 2 separate contracts so that they are accurate," Townsend said. Townsend also said the prior contract will end effective Feb. 28 and "the new contract that is compliant begins retroactively January 1 through June 30 of this year."

Council members raised a question about where the redistributed portion of the award would go; Townsend replied the split is administrative to meet federal compliance and did not say the redistributed funds change the initial total award.

The chair called the motion to approve and recorded the motion as carrying 10 in favor, 0 against and 0 not voting.

Why it matters: the amendment preserves the award amount while changing how the funds are administered to comply with federal rules; the split affects contract timing and the administrative route by which services are funded.

What's next: staff will implement the two-contract structure under the grant terms; the Office of Family Safety and Office of Criminal Justice Planning will manage contract execution and reporting.