Public Service Grants Council advances Chapter 118 revisions; ordinance headed to City Council

The Public Service Grants Council reviewed a redlined set of changes to Chapter 118 governing city public‑service grants and agreed to forward the proposed ordinance to City Council for consideration.

Maribel Figueroa, chief of grants and contract compliance, told the council that the changes are being handled in two phases: a Phase 1 bundle of top priorities already approved and a Phase 2 package of remaining vetted items intended for the next fiscal cycle. "We actually received less applications," Figueroa said, reporting that the prior cycle saw 111 applications (108 deemed qualified) while the current cycle received 101 applications and, after appeals, about 81 were judged fully qualified. Figueroa said the primary cause of initial disqualifications was missing documentation such as tax returns.

The redline includes a set of housekeeping and procedural edits intended to reduce avoidable disqualifications: clarifying the official name "Florida certificate of status" and that the certificate must be dated on or before the application deadline; adding character counts for online fields; permitting virtual courtesy reviews in addition to in‑person reviews; and relocating language about the noncompliance list to the fiscal section to clarify award decisions.

Council members pressed staff on eligibility and scoring. Figueroa confirmed a strict requirement that organizations be in existence for three full years and provide three years of tax returns or an approved Department of Finance alternative for entities that do not file independent returns. She also described changes to application questions to request total people served and the number or percent who are "most vulnerable," and to add specificity about program management, client progression, and staffing structure.

Ashley Smith of the Office of General Counsel described OGC's role in vetting proposed revisions and explained why some suggested changes were not advanced. Smith said the council considered, but did not pursue in the redline, increasing the cap on a grant request from 24% to 30% of an agency's annual revenue and adopting a formal scoring rubric; those items intersect with other councils and longer discussions of City Council intent. "In providing guidance to them, they learned about how it's been the city council's intent, consistently for some time, that they be able to exercise their subjectivity," Smith said.

Figueroa also reviewed technical issues from the new grant‑management system—including a character limit bug that cut off text and misinterpreted percent signs—that led staff to allow alternative submission paths only when the online system is down. She said the office is adding virtual courtesy reviews and moving quarterly reporting into the system.

Council members asked about funding. Figueroa said the recent allocation was $7,200,000 and that the council-approved distribution among the three categories was 30%, 30% and 40%. She also noted the city council previously reduced the maximum award from $150,000 to $125,000; some applicants told staff the lower cap and application burden discouraged them from applying.

Pablo Diaz de Sandy, PSG chair, offered public comment praising staff and OGC for producing a clear, accurate redline under a tight schedule. Chair Michael Boylan said the revisions "will" be filed with City Council in the form of an ordinance and noted that Pablo's continued service as chair will appear on a consent agenda next Tuesday. The meeting then adjourned.

Next steps: staff will file the redline as an ordinance for City Council consideration; no City Council vote occurred at this PSG meeting.