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Council discusses community benefit grants, defers final awards while housing policy is clarified
Summary
Chelan City Council reviewed eight community benefit grant applications and staff recommendations to distribute $120,000; council agreed to score applications, exclude housing awards from this round pending a code update, and return with award recommendations next meeting.
Chelan City Council spent substantial time on March 3 reviewing staff recommendations for distributing $120,000 in community benefit grant funds to local organizations.
City Administrator Laura summarized the packet and staff's approach: "What this recommendation is is we went through and based on the available funds in the budget, 120,000 of community benefit grant funding." Council members used staff-provided scorecards and discussed prioritization, equity and the relative fundraising capacity of applicants.
Council and staff debated whether housing-related requests should be funded in this round. Staff advised that current city code and state statutes limit how certain housing funds can be used and that the city intends to update its housing grant policy and follow up with a dedicated housing call for projects. Staff said housing applications were excluded from the eight-applicant pool for this round for reasons that included statutory restrictions or non-city service areas; a few applicants withdrew.
Several council members emphasized transparency and requested to see all submitted applications and an explanation of staff recommendations before final awards. Staff said they will return within roughly 30 days with proposed code updates and a separate process for housing awards; meanwhile council members are expected to complete scorecards and be prepared to vote on awards at the next meeting.
The council did not take final award action on March 3. Next steps: staff will refine recommendations, post full application materials in the public portal and present a set of award motions at the council's next scheduled meeting.
