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ANCs press for more OANC staff, better resolution portal and payments flexibility
Summary
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners told the Committee on Housing that OANC needs additional staff for financial management and records, a properly built resolution portal the mayor's office has not maintained since 2017, and clearer rules for ANC grant payments and digital payment options.
Kent Base, director of the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, told the committee OANC has expanded staff, launched five new ANC websites, and is building a QFR portal, but still faces three structural challenges: vendor profile expirations that complicate ANC allotment receipts, an inadequate mayoral resolution portal assigned in 2017, and the need for safe, requirements‑based authority for digital payments.
"The creation and maintenance of a resolution portal or an ANC portal was assigned to the mayor in 2017. It's never been built properly. It's never been maintained," Base said, urging that OANC could build and maintain a statutory portal with one‑time funding and ongoing maintenance. Commissioners pressed for additional business-operations support for treasurers and recommended shared bookkeeping contracts rather than adding fragile, commission-level hires.
Commissioners also raised grant administration rules that prevent grant recipients from issuing payments to individuals; OANC staff said the auditor flags individual payments and that a fix could be legislative or administrative (fiscal sponsors, 1099 reporting). The committee discussed the risk/benefit of permitting digital payment options (Zelle and others) while maintaining clawback and audit safeguards.
