June 10, 2009

Summary of Committee Activities for the Past 4 Months

Since I did not submit a report 4 months ago I will recap the past 8 months activities.

• Annual planning - compiled and reviewed CIP projects for consideration by city council. Assisted in re-writes and submissions.
• Policy and Procedure - we have worked on the following policies and procedures:
  
• • Annual Planning - awaiting revisions from Finance committee
    
  • Information and Communications - Still under development, currently working on a file plan/inventory/records retention schedule
    
• Grant writer - We are working on using the EDA award to hire one or more grant writers to seek funds for community needs.
  

Summary of Proposed Activities for the Next 4 Months

• Obtain annual operating budget procedure from Finance committee to finalize Annual Planning Policy and Procedure.
  
• Continue working on Information and Communications Policy and Procedure.
• Coordinate grant writing efforts
• • Review master list of unfunded community needs, recommend to city council top priorities for which to seek grant funding
  • Supervise grant writer(s) and coordinate with other city staff
    

Budget Update

.

Recommended Council Action

• We wish to recognize Kapryce Manchester's essential contributions to the Planning Committee's efforts, especially regarding the Information and Communications Policy and Procedure. She has attended almost every committee meeting where we have discussed this topic and we don't know how we could have gotten as far as we have without her knowledge and insight into the complex, inter-related legal and policy questions that come up when dealing with these matters. We recommend to the council that she be compensated for her after-hours participation in our meetings; there is no substitute for this staff support.
• City Council has tabled at least two policies and procedures that the Planning Committee forwarded earlier - liquor license renewal and place naming. We recognize the council has had to deal with more urgent matters but wish to remind you of this old unfinished business.
• We have prepared a draft Request for Proposals for grant writing services. We ask that the council consider this RFP at its first work session in July and approve it for issuance at its regular meeting in July so that we can get to work seeking funding for community needs.
• On the subject of unfunded community needs, we recently received notification of a funding source for fire hall construction. The deadline for grant submissions is July 10. We recommend the council approve submittal of a grant application by GVFD for fire hall renovations including addition of an auxiliary rest room at City Hall by the July 10 deadline. There will be no grant writer hired by this time but GVFD Advisory Committee chair Wendy Bredow has said she would prepare an application.
• Bruce Tedtsen has resigned from his seat on the planning committee. We wish to recognize his effort and contributions to community planning. This vacancy puts us under the minimum number of members stipulated in our committee bylaws. We invite anyone who is interested in taking his place to submit an application to the mayor as soon as possible.