Minutes 06/07/1977 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

198 TUESDAY JUNE 7. 1977 In my oplnlon, good personnel management is absolutely necessary for a service oriented organization that employs close to 300 people, because a City Government is only as good and efficient as the quality of its employees. Mr. West states that he doesn't think we need a "focus on federal grant programs", and he opposes the idea of a Grants Coordinator for the City. He feels we have been perfectly capable of securing federal monies in the past. I disagree. Martinsville has no one person whose responsibilities include finding, studying, processing and following up federal and state programs, and I feel that this may have caused potential loss of revenues. Mr. West talks about "socio-economic programs" which could result in "Martinsville becoming one of those cities headlined in the May 30 Richmond Times Dispatch; Central Cities Decline Blamed on Series of Federal Policies". Frankly, I have no idea what he is talking about, and I wish he would explain what specific programs he is referring to, and how these specific programs relate to the question of a Grants Coordinator for the City of Martinsville. In my opinion, each Councilman has a responsibility to all the people to explore every opportunity for additional revenues from state and federal sources - any funds that will benefit the community, get back tax dollars to the City, and prevent tax increases to the citizens. Each program should be studied on its own merits. No program should ever be pursued where the guide- lines, or "strings", are too restrictive to live with. During the past two budget years. I think Council has observed these principles. Last year, Council voted to participate in the Housing Assistance Payments Program for Existing Housing to help 138 low-income families, including elderly couples, find shelter in existing inexpensive apartments. The program requires no capital outlays, operates at no cost to the City, and there is no way that the City can be locked-in to funding the program with local funds. This year, Council voted to accept around $50,000 Federal Funds to rennovate a building to be used by the elderly and handicapped, and approximately $l2,000 to be used for a recreation program for the elderly at a cost of less than $300 yearly to the City. The City can terminate the program at the end of any year, with no strings attached. On the other hand, Council decided, this year, not to accept Federal Funds for a new transit system because the program required a ten year, commitment by the City to operate the transit system at a loss and if Council terminated the transit system before ten years, the City would have to pay back over 1/4 million dollars. Council decided that the strings of the Federal program were too stringent for the community to live with.