Board agrees to send letter of support for archery range grant at Old Spanish Trail Arena

Trish presented the board with an updated grant application and the request for a letter of support for an archery range at the Old Spanish Trail Arena (OSTA). She said a prior mini-grant awarded roughly $36,000 had funded excavation and that she had negotiated contractor support and in-kind match; her rewritten application requests about $80,000 with a requested county match reduction from the standard 40%.

Board members discussed whether the board could responsibly sign the applicant’s draft letter of support without seeing the complete application and grant guidelines. Concerns included whether the letter's text described benefits the board could authoritatively endorse and whether the board had sufficient time to verify matching funds and compliance with grant requirements. Multiple members suggested either approving a generic letter of support or delaying to the next meeting for fuller review.

After discussion, the board approved an alternate motion to submit a letter of support that preserves the applicant’s content but removes the chair’s direct signature line so the letter can be submitted in time. Staff and Trish agreed staff would circulate the grant link and the draft materials to board members and work to ensure the letter aligns with the grant guidelines. The board recorded that the letter is supportive of the project but that final administrative review of eligibility and match remains the county’s responsibility.

Next steps: staff will circulate the grant link and the applicant’s draft for review; the finalized letter of support will be submitted before the applicant’s deadline (reported as March 2).