The era of walkup funding requests during city council meetings appears to be ending for good.

That’s the goal after a lengthy and wide-ranging discussion on the subject during a city council work session Wednesday at City Hall.
Council members voted 4-0 to place a moratorium on all unbudgeted funding requests from nonprofits until an application system could be implemented.

“I think it’s entirely unfair to the council when we get someone who comes up to the podium out of the blue asking for money, and all you’re going to do is look bad if you say no,” Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham told the council. “The process needs to change. How you use the money is up to you. … To have them stand in front of you and ask for it puts you in a tough spot.”

The last council, which left office June 30, sought to mitigate the issue of walkup funding requests at council meetings by insisting all those requests be approved during the annual budgeting process. Before, some nonprofits would request city funds for events or programs under the social and community service organization statute, which required the nonprofit to match the city’s contribution.

In this year’s budget, the city included almost $900,000 in outside contributions to area nonprofits.

Saving the Youth – a sports, education and character building nonprofit – was denied funds during the budgeting process, which brought founder Donel Briggs before the council Oct. 20 and Nov. 4 seeking $5,000 to sponsor youth athletes traveling to an out-of-area event.

Responding to a question from the council Oct. 20, Brigham said the city could technically dip into the city’s $20,000 fund earmarked for advertising city resources, which requires only that the sponsored program or event “brings into favorable notice” resources and opportunities in the city.

That prompted Ward 5 Councilman Gary Jefferson, a new councilman who was unaware those funds could be used for that purpose, to push to table the matter for later discussion. At the next meeting two weeks later, it was tabled again since that discussion had not taken place.

At Wednesday’s work session, Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett presented a plan that would funnel unbudgeted requests from nonprofits through the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau. Any requests CVB didn’t fund would then come to the city, where a committee would measure their merit.

She recommended budgeting $10,000 annually to fund those requests.

“When it runs out, it runs out,” Garrett said.

Council members didn’t warm to that recommendation, with Spears noting he thought the advertising for city resources fund was meant for large-scale partnerships, like Fireworks on the Water or the Bassmaster fishing tournament.

Some questioned how the nonprofits would prove their impact on elevating the city’s favorability. Others questioned whether the council needed to be weighing the worthiness of requests.

“It’s just a matter of setting a policy and sticking to it,” Garrett told the council.

“If the policy says one thing, they’re going to ask you to make an exception to the policy,” City Attorney Jeff Turnage later added. “At the end of the day, it comes down to how strict you want to be on what you want to fund.”

Brigham recommended an application process for funds, similar to the one in place for renting city facilities like Trotter Convention Center. The city could then screen applications based on established eligibility parameters.

That way, the council could simply refer any walkups to the application process.

Ward 4 Councilwoman Lavonne Harris agreed, but instead of going through CVB, she asked Garrett to begin forming an application process that would go through the COO’s office.

The council then discussed requiring documentation after the fact to show how the money was used and how much return the city received for its investment.

“I have a heart, and I pray for people all the time, but you’ve got to check these boxes to be eligible for these dollars,” Spears said.

What about Briggs?

Jefferson appealed to the council to honor Briggs’ request with some amount of money on the sheer basis the council had “given him the runaround.”

After Briggs’ second appearance before the council Nov. 4, when the council still could not give him an answer, Jefferson apologized to him and said the council bore responsibility for not being ready to discuss it at that time.

Spears and Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene agreed the council had put Briggs in a “bad spot,” but there did not seem to be an appetite to grant him an exception.

“Just because you come three times doesn’t automatically mean what you’re asking for is worthy,” said Greene, referring to Briggs’ request at budget time and his two most recent appearances before the council.

Ward 2 Councilman Roderick Smith, who joined the discussion by phone but was not on the line for the vote, said he knew of a youth football coach who intended to come ask for funds if Briggs’ request was granted.

Vice Mayor Ethel Stewart of Ward 1, acting as mayor after Mayor Stephen stepped out of the work session early, took it a step farther. She asked Turnage how it benefitted the city to sponsor youth taking a trip out of town.

“I don’t personally think sending a kid on a trip to play a sport achieves that statutory goal,” Turnage said.

She later turned to Jefferson with a warning.

“If we give him that money, get ready,” she said. “They’ll be lining up.”

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.

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