By Staff
Part-time employee would work mainlyfor police department
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
During its meeting Monday, the Washington City Council will conduct a public hearing on the city’s proposal to seek a $40,234 grant to hire a part-time “project-funding manager” for the Washington Police Department.
The position would be funded for one year, Bianca Gentile, the city’s temporary stimulus-funding coordinator, said on Thursday. The money would be a direct allocation to the city. There is no monetary contribution, or “match,” required from the city, as with some grants, for it to receive the grant.
The person hired would, among other duties, do public-facilities planning, strategic planning and community-services planning, Gentile said.
The city is aggressively pursing stimulus funds made available by the American Recovery and Revitalization Act and other grants from other sources. Among its top priorities for stimulus funding is a new police station.
Police Chief Mick Reed said he sees several benefits if the city gets the grant.
One is the city’s desire to build the new police station, and the other is “numerous possible funding opportunities” for the department from the American Recovery and Revitalization Act, Reed said.
The project-funding manager would oversee the effort to obtain such funding, then shift to coordinating the expenditure of those funds, including compiling and filing reports and other documentation required by funding sources.
The planner wouldn’t seek funds just for the police department, Reed said. He or she would help find funding opportunities for other city departments, Reed added.
The grant would come from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program. The city has identified nearly $25 million in projects for which it is seeking stimulus funding, including $4.2 million for the new police station.
Gentile said the city should know around July 31 if it will get the grant.
The council meets at 4:30 p.m., Monday in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St.