City wins state training funds; HRC selects enforcement and incentives topics for workshops

City planning staff said the state offered training funds to support Certified Local Government (CLG) training for the Historical Review Commission and relevant city departments. Staff reported the funds were offered through a state FY23 allocation and discussed a selection of training topics; commissioners chose enforcement/violations and preservation incentives as the top two priorities and asked staff to schedule in-person sessions before the project's Sept. 30 deadline.

Jacqueline Spry told the commission she "received, and now I'm I think it's $7,000 from the state for training for this year," and later in the meeting staff referenced an alternate figure ("I believe it's 9,000 actually"). Commissioners discussed format options (in-person versus virtual), whether to open sessions to the public, and which city departments to invite. Commissioners favored inviting code enforcement and department managers to the enforcement/violations session because enforcement logically sits with code enforcement and coordination will be important if local designations require Certificates of Appropriateness (COAs).

The commission agreed to select two topics now (enforcement/violations and preservation incentives) and asked staff to coordinate dates and trainers. Commissioners discussed making the incentives session public-facing because it highlights positive outcomes and grant recipients, while the enforcement session might be held primarily for staff and commissioners to allow candid discussion of enforcement roles and processes.