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Gage County hears pitch for joint grant-writer with neighboring Seward County
Summary
Seward County officials proposed a one-year remote contract grant-writer shared with Gage County to reduce duplicated effort and manage administrative work for large federal and state grants; Seward proposed $45,000 toward a contract and asked Gage County to consider joining in budget hearings next week.
Supervisor Haxby introduced a proposal from Seward County officials to hire a shared grant-writer or contract person to handle time-intensive federal and state grant applications and the administrative work that follows.
Misty Amick and Reagan Heine of Seward County told the Gage County Board of Supervisors that preparing large grants can consume dozens of hours and substantial local staff time. “I got about two hours of sleep a night for two weeks putting that together,” Misty Amick said of a past grant application, describing the administrative burden on local officials and staff. The Seward delegation proposed testing a one-year remote contract position split between counties, with Seward asking to contribute $45,000 toward the position as a contractor (no benefits) and asking Gage County to consider a similar contribution in its upcoming budget hearings.
The Seward representatives said shared staffing reduces duplicated effort across neighboring counties, helps with prospecting and application prioritization, and could yield cost savings compared with hiring an outside firm. Reagan Heine said a single dedicated contractor could prioritize concurrent grant deadlines better than a firm juggling multiple clients.
Board members discussed mechanics: whether a contractor would handle both application writing and administration, space/remote-work logistics, and whether a firm or an individual would be preferable. The board noted other examples: Beatrice hired a firm with quick results; some counties spend substantially more (one cited figure of $80,000 for a very large grant). Budget hearings in Gage County begin next week, and the board said it will consider putting funding into the upcoming budget and revisiting the item at a later meeting.
Next steps: the board will discuss whether to include a joint grant-writer line in the budget and whether to pursue a contract position, a joint solicitation with Seward County, or a firm. No funding decision was made today.
