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- Planning Director slams grant writer idea
- SUNNYSIDE (6-18-98)--Planning Director Richard Hendricksen has criticized the idea of Sunnyside's buying into a move to hire a grant writer under auspices of Sunnyside Inc.
But the city council has disagreed with him. Members lashed back at a Hendricksen memo concerning the issue in a council meeting earlier this week.
The to-be-hired grant writer's time will be shared among the city, port district, and community hospital, according to Sunnyside Inc Director Dave Fonfara.
The city's share of what amounts to a small grant-writing program is $31,000. This busy guy or gal will pull down a top salary of $66,980 with fringies for a 15 1/2 month stint.
Fonfara is the prime mover, who apparently favors hiring an expert in writing grant rationales for everything from new city sewer lines to kidney dialysis equipment.
The city unanimously agreed with Fonfara--hire the guy to go after (mostly federal and state) dollars.
- Hendricksen's warning
Hendricksen believes the idea hasn't been thoroughly considered by the council. He indicated the city might be falling for a lot of federal palaver and wind up with money that binds Sunnysiders to doing whatever the feds want them to do.
Councilman Chad Werkhoven branded Hendricksen's 2 1/2-page, single-spaced memo against the move as "sarcastic" when it should have been a "straight forward opinion". He said "I've looked at (city, port, hospital, schools) as partners. They're all looking for cooperation among all groups.
- No doubt, we'll get our dollars back," he said. "The way I see it, it's just another tool to help the (city) department heads."
- Councilman Roy Anciso said "I believe a grant writer will be a great benefit for the city."
Chief Wallace Anderson said a couple of his troops have prepared grants before.
"They're grant writers, yes, but they're cop (first). A grant writer could take some responsibility away from us," he said. He said when the city loses grant funds to the competition, it turns out to be a waste of time.
- Public Works Director Gary Potter has mixed views about hiring the grant writer.
Done deal "At first blush, I said 'yeah, we could use a grant writer.' But second, I heard the decision to hire him had already been made. And I'm concerned about the amount of dollars for the position. He'll make more than my senior staff, who are experienced in what they do," he said.
- Potter also worried about the grant writer's expertise.
"In my department, we like to look at specialized grants. But the regular grants would be handled by us in-house. It's very competitive. This person probably would not have the technical expertise," Potter said.
He added that, I'm not sure a decision tonight is needed or necessary. But if it is made, I will back it," Potter said.
Concerning the grant writer salary, Sunnyside Inc's Fonfara said "There are always comparisons. It's sensitive when we talk about wage benefit packages. He indicated the wage range for Sunnyside Inc's new grant writer is in line with those of other county grant writers.
The city council--except for an absent Don Vlieger--unanimously agreed with Fonfara's ideas.
- But City Planner Hendricksen didn't like it and said so. Said his memo:
- Warm body
"In regard to approval by the City Council of a contribution toward hiring another warm body for Sunnyside Inc, I hope this was a well-thought-out and seriously considered policy and financial decision and not another knee-jerk reaction to the "Siren call" of 'free money' I have seen other communities fall into.
"Trendy kinds of activities or programs such as 'grant writer, 'empowerment zone' or 'economic development corporation' can be very alluring to smaller, unsophisticated communities which do not fully understand the nature, complexity, history, or utility of these programs, or the commitment necessary for them to succeed," Hendricksen wrote.
"The promises of grant 'commercials' sound good. The reality is not always what was promised. It may very well be different here and we may be wallowing in money soon. But typically, larger communities do better in garnering grants due to their visibility, political pull, internal staffing resources and the ability to develop long-term relationships with granting agencies (sometimes as employees of those agencies).
"A lot of lobbying goes into developing a long-term grant relationship with a granting agency," Hendricksen said.
- City criticized
"A city (Sunnyside) that:
1. Cannot raise the salaries of its management staff at a rate commensurate with that of the organizations to which it has devolved some of its authority, responsibilities and funds--such as Sunnyside Inc. and the Housing Authority;
2.A city that cannot afford clerical support staff for its departments;
3. A city that cannot afford money in the budget for maintenance and improvement of its Comprehensive Plan--the inadequacy of which could result in the denial of certain grants;
4. A city that requests city departments to trim already thin budgets--including deferring purchases of equipment and supplies--needs to make careful consideration of all new expenditures, particularly those which go to hire staff for other entities," Hendricksen said.
"Spending city funds for new projects should be made after a careful cost-benefit analysis. If there is no 'new money' to pay for the project, it means that some already- approved expenditures must be deleted. Or, the city must dip into hard-earned reserve funds. This is always risky.
- Cups in hand
"Spending should be made in conjunction with established city policy with a clear goal in mind, and with an established budgetary process. It should not be made in an 'off-the- cuff' isolated manner, where money is thrown to every individual or group who comes to the Council, cup in hand," Hendricksen said.
"I hope that all of the options have been reviewed before approval of this expenditure, including in-house grant development, or outside contracting, particularly with the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments. The COG has experience in this area. It performs this service for its members. For instance, COG runs the Housing Rehabilitation Program for a number of cities (including Sunnyside in the past). It does so with Community Development Block Grant funds for that program.
"Have we considered hiring a grant writer as city staff? This would insure closer cooperation and coordination with city departments. It could result in additional staffing for other duties. For example, a grant writer hired as a police department employee to write public safety grants could develop lots of boilerplate statistical data necessary for other grant applications. This person could then be assigned additional administrative duties to supplement current staff.
COG better way to go? "Have we considered that a grant writer for a particular user must have different expertise than the writer for some other user? Would contracting with COG--an agency with experience in requesting and administering local-government grants--better suit our needs than a writer with experience in school or hospital grants?
"Have we considered that hiring a grant writer does not relieve city staff from all work associated with grant preparation? And that a generic writer will require significant research and documentation support from city departments or agencies for whom the grant is intended?
"Have we explored having the Council approve policy directing city staff to pursue grants using in-house expertise? Have we considered making this kind of policy part of our strategic thinking? Are we doing any strategic thinking? Or is all just a shotgun approach--'let's do what everybody else does; let's buy into flash and speculation, public relations and patting ourselves on the back. Is it style over substance?
"Have we decided what types of grants we will and won't go after? Have we decided just what strings (on grant funds) we'll accept? A grant for a sewer line may require approval of subsidized housing. Is that acceptable?
- City staff burden
"Have we considered the added burden to city staff of administering and accounting for these grants? Of doing the public information notices and workshops required? Of holding necessary public hearings? Of preparing environmental documents? Of preparing grantee performance reports? Of maintaining the financial records and requesting the drawdowns? Of holding the auditors' hands?
"Have we considered how the work load of a grant writer will be distributed to insure the city its fair share of his time?
"It is my understanding that two major economic development policy decisions were made in the past. That is establishment of Sunnyside Inc, and establishment of the Lower Yakima Valley Rural Enterprise Community. Our view in part was that both these groups would generate grants or have staff available to help with grant preparation. This would have relieved city staff and dollars for the community's basic development needs. Do we fully understand the intended roles of these two entities in our strategic planning? Are they fulfilling their roles? Are we paying for something twice, here?
"I have been exposed to a variety of economic development and community development programs. I've been involved with a number of different government methods, structures and strategies. All these were intended to reach the same ends. I can say there is no one right way of doing it.
Tossing away money "Nevertheless, any program must have clear goals, policies, and objectives. It must clearly understand the local situation. In any program where multiple departments or agencies are involved, the players must be identified. Their roles must be defined to avoid duplication of effort. Before you 'fix' something, you had better understand what is wrong, or you'll be throwing your money away and wasting valuable time and energy. I have seen the concept of a dedicated grant writer succeed, and I've seen it
- "Given a community of this size in this part of the country, the proposed salary for this grant writer is very high. Such a salary might be appropriate in Seattle, San Francisco, or L.A. For Sunnyside, a starting salary of $28,000 to $30,000 would be adequate, given the grant writer's duties and responsibilities.
"The salary proposed here is comparable with that given a Community Director, a position carrying far more weight and responsibility. I think the Council would have had some concern and required some justification for
- this beginning salary for a city employee with the same duties.
"Have we really considered what we need, what we want, and the best way to pay for it? Or is this a decision made for political expediency and public relations?," Hendricksen asked.