Town Council Notes For Town Council Meeting, Thursday, August 13, 2020 by Richard Simunek
I am introducing two motions this evening. The first motion is to establish a Grant Writer Position/Program. The second motion is to place the following item on the Town Council agenda for all future Town Council meetings: “Community Development, Long Range Planning, and Grants.”
The purchase of the two used rusted steel buildings with their leaky roofs as well as the consideration given to tearing down the old Library/History Building readily demonstrates the major mistake made by past Town Councils. The $20,000 purchase of the two used rusty steel buildings with their leaking roofs documents the Town Council’s complete lack of knowledge of grants and how they work to improve and enhance a community. Seeking grants automatically infers long range planning.
This is a mistake that has cost Hennessey taxpayers not thousands and thousands of dollars but hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why has this occurred?
Voluntary Hennessey Firefighters must complete training to be certified. Hennessey Police officers must complete training to be certified. Annual training is often required.
Town Council members must be trained in community development and grant classes and worshops offered by the Oklahoma Municipal League and various Oklahoma State Agencies. Historically, Town Council members have not attended these classes specifically designed to help towns and communities achieve a better future.
For example, the REAP Grant Workshop is held in Enid, just 20 miles away. Yet, no past or current Town Council member has attended the workshop. The Grant Writing Workshop sponsored by the Oklahoma Municipal League is in Oklahoma City, just a little bit over an hour away. Yet, no past or current Town Council member has attended the workshop.
Because the Town Council has not actively pursued grants, Hennessey citizens are paying for street maintenance and automated water meters out of their own pockets while subsidizing other towns who are receiving REAP and CDBG grants for street maintenance and automated water meters. REAP and CDBG grants are funded by taxpayers including, of course, Hennessey taxpayers.
Let’s go through three examples.
REAP GRANTS (Example 1)
Hennessey received a total of $416,452 from Fiscal Year 1998 to 2010, an annual average of $32,034. Then, inexplicably, Hennessey stopped submitting grants. See “REAP Grants received by Hennessey” handout. The purpose of having “Community Development, Long Range Planning, and Grants” as a continuous Town Council meeting agenda item is to insure consistency and continuity in seeing grants into the future. Hennessey should be applying for REAP and CDBG grants annually. The Town Council should have been doing this 10, 20, and 30 years ago. Long term goals should have been identified, priorities established, and grants sought according to established priorities.
AUTOMATED WATER METERS (Example 2)
Hennessey taxpayers are paying for the town’s automated water meters (AMR) out of their own pocket and, at the same time, subsidizing other towns who are receiving REAP grants to install AMR meters.
Billings received a $71,970 REAP grant, Helena $45,735, Kaw $25,810, and Ringwood $33,657 for AMR water meters. See “Fiscal Year 2020 REAP Grant Awards” handout.
The money for REAP grants and CDBG grants are from taxpayers, including Hennessey taxpayers. Therefore, Hennessey taxpayers are fully paying for AMR water meters out of their own pockets and, at the same time, subsidizing towns like Billings, Kaw, Ringwood, and Helena.
STREET IMPROVEMENTS (Example 3)
Canton, with a population of 596, received a CDBG-REAP Match Grant of $272,727.26 in Fiscal Year 2020 for sidewalk and street maintenance. So, once again, Hennessey taxpayers are paying for Hennessey street improvements out of their own pockets and, at the same time, subsidizing other towns who are actively seeking and receiving street improvement grants. See “Fiscal Year 2020 REAP Grant Awards” handout. If Canton, with a population of only 596, can pursue and receive a $272,727.26 grant for street improvements, we in Hennessey certainly should be able to do the same.
This concludes the three examples.
PAVILION
The Town Council spent $20,000 for two used rusty used steel buildings with leaking roofs for a proposed Pavilion. It would have been an architectural disaster. It could have been so much simpler and better.
Grants generally require a 20% to 25% contribution by the grant seeker. The town paid $50,000 for the old lumber yard land. The lots cost $47,000. And, finally, the town had $20,000 to throw in the pot.
That is a total of $117,000 for a contribution by Hennessey to apply for grants. With this $117,000 contribution, Hennessey could have applied for grants up to a range of $468,000 to $585,00 and put something architecturally pleasing on that land for a Pavilion.
The Town Council’s $20,000 purchase of the two rusty buildings with their leaky roofs has completely stalled the Pavilion project. As stated previously, the $20,000 purchase of the two used buildings documents the Town Council’s complete lack of knowledge of grants and how they work to improve and enhance a community.
Hennessey can have a beautiful architectural pleasing Pavilion. It can be done through Hennessey Foundation giving and grants.
OKLAHOMA TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
The Enhancement Program of the Oklahoma Transportation Department (OTD) is another source of funding, including sidewalks. But that is not why I listed them here. Rather, OTD was funding historic preservation projects for which would have been ideal for the Hennessey Library/History Center. However, that historic preservation program was canceled for Fiscal Year 2020. An opportunity was lost. See “Oklahoma Transportation Department” handout.
Note the large amount of OTD grants. Many OTD grants range from $400,000 to over a half million. Our neighbor Okeene received a grant for $438,179. Cherokee received a grant for $671,054. Thomas received a grant for $633.086.
GRANTFINDER SOFTWARE PROGRAM
Following the Grant Writing Workshop sponsored by the Oklahoma Municipal League a year ago, I requested the Grant Writer software costing $50 be purchased. It has taken a year for the town government to order the software. It’s frustrating to say the least.
The following is taken from the Oklahoma Municipal League regarding the GrantFinder software. “Unlike other research tools on the market, GrantFinder is not filled with extraneous grants that may not be relevant to cities and towns. We’ve searched and sorted through thousands of grants to identify more than 7,500+ federal, state, corporate, and foundation grant programs available to municipal organizations.”
“The program allows municipalities to search for grants specific to their needs by utilizing 10 unique search filters.”See GrantFinder handout.
The GrantFinder software is an example of the assistance provided by the Oklahoma Municipal League and State agencies to help communities—but is largely ignored by the Hennessey Town Council. Hennessey should have had this GrantFinder software years ago.
SUMMARY
Community development and long- range planning are probably the most important issues on a community’s Town Council agenda. This is true for many communities and towns across the USA. This is not the case for Hennessey because there is no money. For Hennessey, there is no money because it does not actively pursue and promote the Hennessey Foundation and lacks a consistent grant writing strategy involving long term planning.
If Hennessey is to maintain streets, parks, and other existing amenities and establish new amenities like the Pavilion, it will have to be through the Hennessey Foundation giving program and grants. There is no alternative.
END
2020 Hennessey Sales Tax Collection
2018
July: $200,987.18
August: $193,164.70
September: $138,190.93
October: $167,513.50
November: $149,015.73
December: $177,526.37
Six Month Average: $171,066.40
2019
July: $170,653.80
August: $107,662.16
September: $103,208.75
October: $123,469.04
November: $101,740.99
December: $126,821.40
Six Month Average: $122,259 (Oil prices dropped dramatically in 2019.)
2020
January: $127,029.73
February: $122,362.09
March: $107,561.83
(Coronavirus business and personal restrictions announced.)
April: $102,717.13
May: $90,786.48
June: $84,433.46
July: $86,976.01
Seven Month Average: $103,123.82
March to July Average: $94,494.98
The FY 2020/2021 Projected Budget is based on $120,000 monthly sales tax income.
Reserves for the General Town Fund (Non-obligated Funds) are $780,000.
Fiscal Year 2020 REAP Grant Awards
Hennessey article, Kingfisher Times and Free Press, December 18, 2019:
“An agenda item to complete the new water meter installations was struck down by the mayor FOR LACK OF FUNDSwhen he was told it would take $146,305 to install the remaining 300 meters (out of the town’s total of 1,200 meters).
Billings, 502, 100 AMR Water Meters, $71,970
Burlington, 157, Gas lines, $39,000
Cashion, 874, Main sewer line, $59,100
Geary, 1,277, Gas lines, $40,000
Helena, 1,420, 150 AMR Water Meters, $45,735
Hennessey, 2,229, Water line, $45,000
Hillsdale, 122, Water tower, $20,251
Hitchcock, 117, Drainage & streets, $80,000
Hunter, 166, Sewer lift station, $31,500
Kaw, 369, 100 AMR Water Meters, $25,810
Kildare Fire Dept, New tanker truck, $20,900
Kingfisher, 4,924, Fire hydrants, $23,969
Lamont, 393, Water well house, $30,050
Loyal, 84, Water systems, $50,000
Manchester, 99, Water tower, $20,251
Meno, 237, Drainage, $36,419
Nash, 195, New water well, $74,995
North Enid, 924, Streets, $83,052
Okarche, 1,335, Rehabilitate 3 water wells, $90,000
Okeene, 1,149, Mini excavator, $45,491
Perry, 4,928, WWTP fencing, $30,000
Ringwood, 510, 124 AMR Water Meters, $33,657
Wakita, 326, Gas system, $8,568
COMBINED CDBG-REAP MATCH GRANT
Canton, 596, Streets and Sidewalks, $272,727.26
Source: Hennessey Grant Guide
Grant Writer Position/Program
Grant Writers at the Grant Writing Workshop sponsored by the Oklahoma Municipal League fell into several categories. The most common was the assignment of grant writer duties to a full-time town employee. In this situation, grant writing duties were not the primary duties of the town employee. One small town had an unpaid volunteer grant writer at the Workshop. Free lance grant writers solicit grants for towns and then are paid by the town based on a percentage of the grant obtained.
The structure of the Grant Writer position is important, but perhaps not as important as the goal of consistency.
One strategy is to have employees in the Library responsible for applying for library and history grants, the police department responsible for police grants, and the Town Administrator/Town employee responsible for large capital type grants, especially those administered thru state and federal agencies such as REAP and CDBG. A final decision should be determined by those involved.
For the larger capital improvement type grants, it is almost required that the grant writer is a town employee in order to develop the budgets, cost estimates, and studies often required of larger grants. Federal grants, which account for 90% of grant monies, require more documentation and therefore more time to prepare and administer.
REAP and CDBG
The Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grant and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) administered by the Northern Oklahoma Development Authority (NODA) are probably the easiest grants to obtain. Applying for these two grants should be done annually.
CIP and Priorities
Establishing a Grant Writer program automatically implies establishing long-term priorities. These long term priorities need to be specified in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Grants can be penalized or automatically denied because the grant request objective is not included in the CIP. The CIP should be continually updated with CIPs for 5 year, 10 year, and 20 year goals. Hennessey’s CIP is not a well thought out plan for the future.
Grant Workshops
In order to be eligible to apply for a REAP grant, the town must have an attendee at the REAP Workshop usually held in August. It would be desirable to have a backup attend also. Attending the Grant Writing Workshop sponsored by the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML) is a must for the Grant Writer seeking grants sponsored by various Oklahoma agencies. As with many community service workshops, the enthusiasm and knowledge of the attendees is as much benefit as the information shared by speakers. There are other grant writing workshops sponsored by civic oriented entities. Those Hennessey persons writing grants for the Hennessey community should be encouraged to attend these workshops.
END
GrantFinder
“In our short time of using Grant Finder, we have been able to find and apply for over 20 grants. These grants range from law enforcement, fire, library and numerous non-profit agencies in our community. Laramie will be a subscriber for years to come.
Sandra Newland, Grants Manager, Laramie County, WY
Who uses GrantFinder?
GrantFinder helps communities and organizations of all sizes secure the grant funding they need. To date, more than 800 cities, towns, counties, regional planning organizations, and council of governments have subscribed.
Bigger, Better Data
Unlike other research tools on the market, GrantFinder is not filled with extraneous grants that may not be relevant to cities and towns. We’ve searched and sorted through thousands of grants to identify more than 7,500+ federal, state, corporate and foundation grant programs available to municipal organizations.
Powerful Features
*Access to our cloud-based platform from anywhere 24/7.
*Custom Grant alert emails for popular grant categories catered to your preference.
*Interactive calendar allowing users to see upcoming grants and grant deadlines.
*Online administration tools to add, edit, and delete users.
*Over 7,500+ grants being updated and more added daily.
Order Information
GrantFinder should be ordered thru the Oklahoma Municipal League. The cost is $50 per licensee.
“We are happy to announce that the Oklahoma Municipal Services Corporation (OMSC), the business arm of OML, has signed an agreement with GrantFinder to bring at a greatly reduced cost of $50 per year for an online tool to enable our members the access to over 7,500+ grants. The program allows municipalities to search for grants specific to their needs by utilizing 10 unique search filters.”
For more information and order form, go to https://www.oml.org/grant-finder
For any questions, contact Nancee Morris at nancee@oml.org
Oklahoma Transportation Department
Eligible Projects:
- Pedestrian and Bicycle facilities
- Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety and Education Activities
- Acquisition of Scenic or Historic Easements and Sites
- Scenic or Historic Highway Programs, including Tourist and Welcome Centers
- Landscaping and Scenic Beautification
- Historic Preservation (Suspended in 2020)
- Rehabilitation and Operation of Historic Transportation Buildings, Structures, or Facilities
- Preservation of Abandoned Railway Corridors
- Control and Removal of Outdoor Advertising
- Archaeological Planning and Research
- Mitigation of Highway Runoff and Provision of Wildlife Connectivity
- Establishment of Transportation Museums (Suspended in 2020)
Recently Awarded FY 2019 Funds: 21 towns in 2019 with a population of 5,000 or less were awarded $7,450,368. The average award per town was $354,779. Just about all towns used their funds for ADA compliant sidewalks to connect man street, schools, parks, businesses, and swimming pool. Award amounts ranged from $52,200 to $689,194. Towns with their population and grant amount are:
- Chandler, 3,124, $550,028
- Cherokee, 1,558, $671,054
- Chouteau, 2,081, $485,000
- Coalgate, 2,082, $304,340
- Comanche, 1,567, $689,194
- Elmore City, 693, $166,520
- Jay, 2,528, $316,000 and $235,262
- Kaw City, 373, $137,357
- Krebs, 373, $74,400
- Newkirk, 2,220, $553,000
- Okeene, 1,154, $438,179
- Prague, 2,412, $491,926
- Stringtown, 404, $52,200
- Sulphur, 4,997, $434,500
- Thomas, 1,197, $633,086
- Tushka, 305, $144,000
- Valiant, 737, $400,000
- Vian, 1,375, $221,520
- Waurika, 1,952, $160,000
- Wilburton, 2,642, $292,000
REAP Grants received by Hennessey
- 1998, Clean, video sewer lines, manholes, $31,569
- 1999, Backhoe, $24,000
- 2000, Sewer line repair, $29,725
- 2001, Sewer system upgrade, $30,000
- 2002, Sewer line replacement $45,000
- 2003, Sewer improvements, $26,375
- 2004, Water system upgrade, $18,261
- 2005, Fire truck (CDBG), $45,000
- 2006, Stormwater Drainage Improvement, $48,122
- 2007, Purchase New Town Hall Building, $40,000
- 2008, Library Complex Accessibility (Handicap entrance), $45,000
- 2009, Engineering services, $25,000
- 2010, Fire hydrant replacement, $30,000
- 2011, None
- 2012, None
- 2013, None
- 2014, None
- 2015, None
- 2016, None
- 2017, None
- 2018, None
- 2019, None
- 2020, Larger water line, $50,000
Hennessey received a total of $416,452 from Fiscal Year 1998 to 2010, an annual average of $32,034. Then, inexplicably, Hennessey stopped annually submitting grants. Only two grant requests were submitted after FY 2010 which were rejected. No REAP grant requests were made in 7 of the 9 years following 2010. Having a Hennessey Grant Writer and an established Grant Writing System prevents these kinds of lapses.
There are three very positive and valuable lessons to be observed in the 1998-2010 REAP grants. First, grant money is available. Two, grant money is available for a variety of purposes. Third, and most important, Hennessey obviously has a superb grant writer(s) with superb skills. The Hennessey Town Council needs to unleash their potential by instigating a Grant Writing System and giving it priority among the town’s goals and long-term planning.
Source: Hennessey Grant Guide