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Council adds grant-reporting and transparency language to manager evaluation
Summary
Councilors required the manager to "maximize grant opportunities" and to provide annual reporting of grants received as part of financial-management criteria; members debated how to measure grant-seeking success and cited an example of a large federal opportunity that required a local match.
During review of the financial-management section, councilors added explicit language to signal the manager should pursue grant opportunities and report results annually. One councilor proposed the phrase "maximizes grant opportunities" and another suggested adding an annual grant-reporting item so the council could compare year-to-year grant receipts.
Councilors discussed that not every grant is appropriate (for example, some grants require local matches or partner organizations) and noted that due diligence—not raw counts—should guide evaluation. "She maximized the grant opportunity by realizing that it wasn't a grant opportunity that we could participate in," a councilor said while describing a prior grant the manager reviewed and declined.
