Committee restores grant scoring points for Health Access after staff review

Councilwoman Sylvia Ortiz, chair of the Social Service Grants Committee, presided over a July 16 session in which staff recommended and the committee approved correcting a grant‑scoring error for the Shawnee County Medical Society Health Access program.

Megan Skaggs, executive director of the Health Access program, told the committee her organization had been given 10 out of 20 points for the ‘‘outputs and outcomes’’ rubric despite reporting strong results in prior grant years. ‘‘In 2025, we had a little over 94 percent of our patients report that they had filled their prescriptions,’’ Skaggs said, citing surveys used in quarterly reporting.

Brett (grants staff) said a staff review of EC Impact entries found notes that should have been scored 6 out of 6 rather than 3 out of 6 in the outputs/outcomes subcategory. ‘‘We agree with the appeal,’’ Brett told the committee after reviewing the evidence and scoring notes. The committee moved and approved the staff‑recommended correction; staff said they will update the application score and recompute award amounts accordingly.

The committee did not discuss changing the program’s funding request; Brett explained the city’s award formula multiplies the final score by the requested amount, and restoring the subscore will alter the resulting award. The staff‑recommended recalculations must be completed before the city’s Aug. 1 deadline for finalizing awards.

The committee adjourned after directing staff to prepare updated allocations and schedule a follow‑up meeting to finalize awards before the full council reviews the budget in August.