Title
Receive a preliminary analysis report in response to Board Referral No. 2022.12 - Strategic Grant Services Program Capacity.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
1) Receive a preliminary analysis report in response to Board Referral No. 2022.12 - Strategic Grant Services Program Capacity;
2) Provide direction to staff on which, if any, option to pursue; and
3) Direct staff to return to the Board with a corresponding budget modification request to implement the referral.
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS:
Referral Summary & Background: Board Referral No. 2022.12 (Askew) Strategic Grant Services Program Capacity was assigned to the County Administrative Office on March 1, 2022. The referral seeks options to increase the capacity of the Program in order to support County departments in applying for an anticipated significant increase in State and Federal grant funding opportunities. The referral requests:
1. A report on internal and contract resources needed to meaningfully support County departments in analyzing and responding to upcoming grant opportunities through the Program - without adversely impacting the County’s Legislative Program efforts;
2. Options for Board consideration to expand the Program so that it provides a comprehensive view of the grant efforts of all County departments;
3. Options for building program capacity - including costs for each option; and
4. Recommend preferred options and a corresponding mid-year budget request.
Approach - Information Gathering:
The Grant Program is currently staffed by a Management Analyst III (MAIII) utilizing on average 15% of their time with the remaining 85% of their time dedicated to the Legislative Program, and a contracted grant specialist ($84,000 per year). The Grant Program is resourced to work on a small number of grants (10-15) each year varying depending on their complexity, to provide notices of funding opportunities, and to provide strategic advice and consultation with County departments in determining if a competitive application can be written. Therefore, by design, the Grant Program can only work on a small number of the County’s grant applications each year and does not represent the County’s overall grant funding efforts, priorities, or needs. Current staff and consulting resources and workload are completely utilized so adding any additional work will require additional resources.
Staff and the County grant consultant attended the March 2, 2022 Department Heads meeting to solicit feedback on what type of additional assistance departments need in the grant application process, and the meeting was followed up by a survey seeking additional information and feedback summarized below.
Increased assistance in the grant application review and development process as follows:
- More general notifications of grant funding opportunities;
- More specific assistance researching grant opportunities for a specific project;
- Creation of an internal County website with grant funding resources, information and links;
- Posting of past County applications on an internal County website to be used as examples for other departments and/or to provide general information which can be duplicated in other applications;
- An increase in consultations to help determine if grant requirements can be met;
- An increase in consultation to determine if County project would be competitive;
- Grant/technical writing assistance.
If an application isn’t submitted its most often because:
- Inability to meet the grant requirements - including matching funding requirements;
- Inability to meet the timeline for submittal;
- No staff to work on the grant application;
- No staff to work on grant administration (administration/finance/reporting requirements) *
- No staff to work on the granted project/program implementation. *
*The last two issues are beyond the scope of the Grant Program and are not addressed in this report or recommendations.
Estimated Project Cost:
Staff outlines five (5) options for Board consideration ranging from status quo to expanding the Program so that it provides a comprehensive view of the grant efforts of all County departments and supports those departments in identification and submittal of grant applications and providing other resource and process improvements. These changes range in cost from no additional funding needed, up to an additional $288,941 annually. This would be in addition to the contract the County has with Nossaman LLP to provide grant services ($84,000 annually). These options are included in Exhibit A.
Staffing Level Estimate:
A Management Analyst III (MAIII) utilizes on average 10-15% of their time to manage and coordinate all activities of the County’s Strategic Grant Services Program, with the remainder of their time dedicated to the Legislative Program, and extremely limited internal administrative assistance. A short history of staffing and contract resources dedicated to the Grants Program is included in the chart below. Staffing and contract recommendations corresponding to various options for increasing Grants Program capacity are included in Exhibit A.
History of Staffing and Contract Resources for the Grants Program FY16-17 to FY21-22
|
|
FY 16-17 |
FY 17-18 |
FY 18-19 |
FY 19-20 |
FY 20-21 |
FY 21-22 |
|
MA III Grant Program |
MA III left County Nov. 2017 |
100% reduction Position eliminated in budget |
Duties assumed by Legislative Program MA III at 15% time |
|
Grant Contract |
$84,000 |
Reduced to $54,000 |
$54,000 |
$54,000 |
$54,000 |
Restored to $84,000 |
Departmental Challenges:
Internal staffing is the number one challenge the department faces, with a single MAIII managing both the Grants Program and the Legislative Program. The Legislative Program workload has experienced a steep increase over the past 5 years, equating to about 2-3x the workload with no additional internal staffing support. There is no internal capacity to increase Grant Program efforts without impacting the work of the Legislative Program and corresponding priorities of the Board.
Proposed Response Date:
If the Board directs that any of the proposed options be pursued, staff will return in approximately 30 days with a corresponding budget modification request to implement the referral.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS STRATEGIC INITIATIVES:
The Strategic Grant Services Program engages in activities that address all areas of the Board’s Strategic Initiatives. The Legislative Committee regularly receives reports on these activities.
Mark a check to the related Board of Supervisors Strategic Initiatives
þ Economic Development
þ Administration
þ Health & Human Services
þ Infrastructure
þ Public Safety
Prepared by: Annette D’Adamo, MAIII
Approved by: Nicholas Chiulos, Assistant CAO
March 24, 2022
Attachments:
Board Referral No. 2022.12
Exhibit A - Response Options