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Budget Study Session <br />May 18, 2005 <br /> <br />Changed, and Mr. Ollendorff said it had been changed. Then he mentioned the bid for <br />the new diving board ladder. The company which provided a similar board for the <br />Maplewood pool was consulted and found to be higher than the bid all ready obtained. <br />This item will be reinserted on the agenda for Monday night’s meeting, reporting that <br />there are now two bids. Some discussion of details relating to the bids followed. <br /> <br />Grant Funds <br /> <br />Mr. Ollendorff explained that when a grant is received, it is budgeted. This budgeting is <br />not done in advance of receipt. When a contact is signed, the amount of that contract is <br />entered into the budget for next year. At the same time, the amount of the contract is <br />budgeted and revenue from the grant is budgeted. That goes into the quarterly <br />transfers. <br /> <br />Mr. Ollendorff continued saying that by adding that the grant being budgeted so far is an <br />on-going one, with the City of St. Louis, to fund an undercover drug officer. This is the <br />City’s side of the expense and the revenue side is the City’s share of the revenue. This <br />grant is all ready in existence, so it can be budgeted. <br /> <br />Mr. Ollendorff said that most of the departments have their own expertise at their own <br />grants and the best example is the Public Works Department. They have the expertise <br />on bridge grants. If it is a department that does not have the expertise, either Tom or I <br />would work with that department. <br /> <br />Ms. Brungardt said that she had met a person at the County League conference there <br />who was hired by one of our neighboring suburbs to work for that city as a grant writing <br />support person to all the staff who are all ready doing that. She was hired, no salary, <br />nothing – she only makes money based on how much she increases the revenue <br />streams for that municipality. And I think it might, considering the world we are living in, <br />if we could find someone who is willing to enter our organization that way, someone <br />who would work well with a variety of staff to really support those efforts, because grant <br />writing is time consuming. What is beautiful about the idea in my opinion is that it <br />honors the expertise that each administrator has for their department, but it also gives <br />the grant author the opportunity to really help support the time that is being spent on <br />making those things complete. Revenue streams – we’re going to have to get creative <br />about this and it might be worth our time to look for someone who can come in and work <br />only on commission. Mr. Ollendorff said he would be very interested in meeting this <br />individual and putting them to work. When we need help on any particular grant and we <br />cannot handle it ourselves we pay. We paid Horner and Shifrin $125,000 to get us an <br />enhancement grant. If there is someone who will do that for nothing, he wants to meet <br />them. Ms. Brungardt said she thought that the City might be able to find someone who <br />is willing to do this and Mr. Ollendorff commented that he would be willing to hire <br />someone to assist with grant writing. Ms. Colquitt said this service is very time <br />consuming and by the time a staff person works with a writer, the staff person can just <br />Page 12 <br /> <br />