Shoreline City Council Meeting Monday December 3, 2012

Devon Vose Rickabaugh

Notes from Shoreline City Council Meeting Monday December 3, 2012

By Devon Vose Rickabaugh

The City Council discussed suggested changes to the city’s mini-grant programs as presented to the Council by Assistant City Manager Debbie Tarry, Neighborhood Coordinator Nora Smith, and Environmental Development Manager Rika Cecil.

The Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program has $20,000 to dispense in 2013. There are 14 neighborhood associations in Shoreline and some are more active than others. Nora Smith said she had been at Parkwood recently to help then revitalized their association to assess projects that would be appropriate for a mini-grant. She has suggested that the funding be changed to a ratio of neighborhood to city of 1:2, instead of 1:1 as it is now. the city would provide twice as much funding as the neighborhood which could use “sweat equity” instead of money to complete a project like a trail or an event. Council members seemed to agree this would encourage more neighborhoods to participate.

Other suggestions for the Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program included establishing criteria for the grants with a cross-departmental team and one community member to review the grants. Also proposed was instead of presenting the grants in front of the Council for approval that the City Manager take over this job.

Mayor McGlashan said he supported the changes to get more funding into neighborhoods. No action was required at this meeting.

A mini-grant pilot program to encompass combined businesses with art projects has been funded for 2013 for $10,000. Council members agreed that more definition and discussion of the program was needed.