Finance director reports $1M in awarded grants, signals ERP and investment policy requests

Finance Director Michelle (last name not provided in the transcript) told the council the finance office submitted 26 grant applications in the prior fiscal year and was awarded slightly more than $1 million from 11 new grants. She said awards range across federal, state and foundation sources and that many grants are multi-year commitments: for example, a public-safety grant referenced in the discussion (the COPS grant) will bring multi-year payroll support rather than a single-year reduction to the general fund.

Finance reported that grants already received include several modest awards with tangible community benefits (for example, a grant for smoke-detector distribution and installation), and that award timing and multi-year terms affect how much operating savings appear in a single year’s budget. The director said grant reporting and tracking are being consolidated in a new grants-management software that will produce clearer reports on grant-funded positions and expenditures.

Michelle said the city is evaluating an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and plans to present an ERP budget request in 2027. She estimated implementation costs could be between $500,000 and higher depending on scope, with annual ongoing costs in the $100,000–$150,000 range. She said an ERP could replace several existing software licenses (for HR, procurement and other functions) and produce operational efficiencies.

On grants staffing, councilors asked whether more grant-writing capacity would pay for itself. Finance said grant management has administrative costs and some federal grants add administrative strings (e.g., Davis-Bacon requirements); the finance director said she would recommend adding a grant coordinator if federal-grant volume and complexity rise enough to justify the position, and that some grants allow administrative costs or staff time.

Michelle also said the finance office plans to bring an updated investment policy and several administrative changes to council in the coming months and that the P-card rebate program is producing $80,000–$100,000 annually in rebates.

Ending — The finance director urged council to evaluate ERP and grant staffing decisions against multi-year costs and administrative capacity, and staff said they will return with more detailed ERP scope, cost offsets and grant-by-grant reporting as requested by council.