Advisory committee adopts updated grant forms, adds prevailing‑wage checkbox

Melissa Camania, the city’s affordable housing coordinator, walked the committee through edits made to the grant applications in the Neighborly software system. She said most recommended review items were implemented but the platform could not accommodate some proposed bonus scoring fields for prevailing wage, accessibility and priority populations, so staff suggested retaining those as review criteria and adding explanatory language on the application front page.

Committee members asked for a straightforward way to capture prevailing‑wage practices. One member proposed a simple checkbox; another suggested a yes/no field so reviewers have consistent information. "Are you paying at least prevailing wage or higher? Yes or no," a member said during the discussion. Staff confirmed adding a checkbox would be an easy change.

The chair moved to adopt the new affordable‑housing and public‑services applications with the prevailing‑wage checkbox; the committee voted to approve the motion.

Staff said additional narrative considerations (accessibility, priority populations) can still inform committee recommendations even if the software cannot score them as bonus points.