Redmond unveils citywide grants program and proposes a delegated‑authority threshold for small awards

City staff described a new, centralized approach to grant management intended to boost revenues, improve compliance, and reduce administrative bottlenecks. Lauren Thompson, the city’s grant manager, said the work has focused on four areas: oversight and governance; process and systems; staffing and support; and collaboration and capacity.

Thompson described a Grants Oversight Committee (GOC), a pre‑application approval process for operating grants, and a SharePoint‑based pipeline and dashboard to track grants across departments. She said the city manages roughly 45 grants per year and that about 15% of those awards are under $50,000 — a category that currently requires the same routing and council approval as larger grants, creating administrative delays.

To address that, staff proposed instituting a minimum grant threshold within the delegated contract authority so the mayor or designee could execute smaller routine grants immediately and then return to council for formal acceptance and appropriation. Thompson said the change is designed to reduce staff time on low‑value awards, speed award execution, and make smaller funding opportunities more accessible to departments. Staff also proposed an eventual dedicated grant management software and regular reporting cadence to council.

Next steps: staff will draft a formal threshold proposal (including options and comparative data from peer cities), complete a rules‑of‑procedure review, and return with a written proposal and recommended threshold and reporting cadence.