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Albany council debates discretionary-fund policy and Gil Tract Community Farm request; council tables funding request to January
Summary
Council discussed options to reform the city discretionary fund (status quo vs. grant process or committee) and considered a request to use discretionary funds to sustain field trips at the Gil Tract Community Farm. After lengthy public testimony and concerns about school-district commitments and process, council voted to table the funding request to January for follow-up.
At its Dec. 15 meeting the Albany City Council spent substantial time weighing whether to change how the City Council Discretionary Fund is administered and whether to use the fund to support the Gil Tract Community Farm’s field-trip program.
City staff presented background on the discretionary fund (historically about $20,000; $35,000 in the current year) and sketched options ranging from maintaining the memo-based, council-member-led process to creating a formal grant program or a standing two-member council committee to review applications.
Council Member Preston Jordan introduced a request to use discretionary funds to continue a field-trip program run by the Gil Tract Community Farm, which the council had previously…
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