Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout122412_ra01Consent Agenda Commissioners Office JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST TO: Board of County Commissioners Philip Morley, County Administrator FROM: Leslie Locke, Deputy Clerk of the Board DATE: December 24, 2012 SUBJECT: RESOLUTION NO. _ re: Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy STATEMENT OF ISSUE: The Jefferson County Auditor's Office has drafted a Countywide Grant Policy to comply with Federal regulations and to assure uniformity among County Offices/Departments. This policy was developed in consultation with grant managers from several County Departments. RECOMMENDATION: Approve RESOLUTION re: Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy REVIEWED BY: '''/~ G' L ~.. r ,. 1'ip Morl ty Administrat ~~~~z Date STATE OF WASHINGTON County of Jefferson In the Matter of Adopting A Countywide Grant Policy RESOLUTION NO. WHEREAS, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners recognize the need to develop a Countywide grants policy to ensure compliance and operate under Federal regulations; and WHEREAS, grants form an important part of County programs and provide revenue for projects and other activities; and WHEREAS, Jefferson County has established a Grants Management Team and Handbook in order for County staff to problem solve and assure uniformity among County Offices/Departments in processing grants; and WHEREAS, Federal regulations require that all grants are identified, accounted for and reported correctly; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of County Commissioners hereby adopt a Countywide Grant Policy as "Attachment A" to this Resolution. APPROVED this 24~' day of December, 2012. SEAL: ATTEST: Raina Randall Deputy Clerk of the Board JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS John Austin, Chair Phil Johnson. Member David Sullivan, Member Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A ~~,~-S°"~~o~~ JEFFERSON COUNTY ..~ ~. "SetN~`~° Grants - Policv and Procedure 1. PURPOSE The purpose of the Jefferson County Grant Policy is to provide procedures relating to the requirements for application and contracts for grants to ensure consistent process when applying for, managing, billing and accounting for grants funding. Grants form an important part of the County programs and provide revenue for projects and other activities. Strategies for funding level of service standards in the Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan include aggressively using grant funds as initial funding sources for capital facilities. The Strategic Plan includes leverage of local dollars with federal, state and foundation funds to supplement services and/or activities in the best interests of our citizens. Grant restrictions and guidelines require that grants be closely monitored to ensure compliance and thereby maintain the County's ability to continue to utilize grants. 2. APPLICABILITY This policy applies to all Jefferson County Offices/departments and to all county officials and their staff during the fiscal administration of Federal and State grants awards and agreements. It is not meant to be exhaustive as there may be laws or regulations, other county policies and/or grant specific policies that may apply to a particular grant application or grant acceptance. 3. DEFINITIONS Accruals -pending revenue for work completed or sales made in one year, whether billed or not billed, that is not received until the next year. Indirect Costs- costs associated with the administrative and general functions of County government that support direct services of a grant or fund. Indirect costs include such items as cost of facilities, utilities, accounting and payroll, information technology, infrastructure, etc. County Official -elected official and/or appointed department head. Grant Coordinator- department staff as assigned for grant research, application, and/or administration. Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A 4. AUTHORITIES All grant contracts will be approved in accordance with the County's contracting policy and procedures. Upon direction from the Board of Commissioners or the county administrator, grant applications may be completed, signed and submitted by county officials. All County Officials are hereby authorized to complete, sign and submit grant applications. 5. OPPORTUNITY & ANALYSIS When deciding whether or not to apply for a grant, the Department must evaluate various factors that may impact grant viability. Some factors to consider when determining if a grant is appropriate to pursue include: • weighing the costs of managing a grant against the benefits that the grant provides • evaluating restrictions that may be imposed by a grant • ensuring that a grant is a good match for the project The grant search process is generally as follows: Search for Grants -The grants coordinator actively searches for available grants and notifies the appropriate manager(s) of opportunities. Project managers and division managers often become aware of grant opportunities as well. Grant opportunities are communicated among staff. II. Notify Division Manager - When a grant opportunity arises, the grants coordinator (or other person who knows about the grant) will bring it to the attention of management with sufficient information for the management to evaluate. III. Convene Strategy Meeting -Depending on the nature of the grant, the next step is to convene a meeting of the potentially involved parties to discuss whether the grant should be pursued. This would normally involve the person who investigated the grant, the grants coordinator, management, and any other applicable personnel. Prior to expending significant resources in pursuing a grant, departments are encouraged to do an early check in with the County Administrator and/or the Board of County Commissioners for grants involving any of the following: • substantial county match • hiring of additional staff • significant change in county services or policy • significant impact to a community or the general public IV. Prepare aRecommendation - If it appears the grant is worth pursuing, a recommendation with all of the applicable information will be made to the department Director. Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A V. Apply for Grant - If approval to pursue the grant is received from the department Director, staff will be assigned to apply for the grant. The grants coordinator may be assigned to assist with and/or to develop portions of the application. 6. GRANT APPLICATION Completion of grant applications is the responsibility of the County Official. Applications shall include direct costs when allowed. Before the grant application is submitted to the granting agency, it is to be routed for review with all applicable grant specific information in a summary memorandum as follows: Project Manager/Grant Writer Grants Coordinator (if not the writer) Division Manager Accounting Manager Director Board of County Commissioners (If required by grant.) Applications shall be signed and submitted by the County Official. Applications requiring signature of the County's executive authority shall be signed by the board chair or the county administrator after approval of the application by the County Commission. 7. GRANT CONTRACTS REQUIREMENTS FOR APPROVAL & EXECUTION Prior to acceptance of any funding or expenditure of funds on any grant activity on any successful application, a written contract is required. Approval of grant contracts will be done in accordance with Jefferson County's Contracting Policy and Procedure. A copy of the signed pre-application questionnaire and a completed budget modification form or budget change form (if contract requires modification of the county budget) must be submitted to the County Commission with the contract. The executed grant agreement will be kept with the project file, with a copy provided to the grants coordinator, accounting manager and Auditor's office. Grant amendment approval process will follow the same process as the original grant approval. Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A 8. GRANT REQUIREMENT COMPLIANCE County officials are responsible for compliance with all aspects of grant requirements, including monitoring to ensure that grant activities are properly accomplished, accurate grant accounting and tracking, and ensuring that requests for reimbursement are accurate and submitted on schedule, or as soon as possible after completion of grant activity. 9. FILE MAINTENANCE AND PUBLIC RECORDS ACT RESPONSIBILITY An original grant contract, and any approved amendments are retained by the Clerk of the Board, Commissioners' office. The official grant file including a copy of the signed contact and all documents associated with the grant, including but not limited to the contract and amendments, applications, pre-application questionnaire, activity reports, requests for reimbursement, fiscal reports, and other correspondence will be maintained by the initiating department. Any destruction of these records will be in accordance with the State of Washington approved retention schedule. Public disclosure requests regarding grants will be referred to the initiating department for coordination of public records gathering, exemption log and release. 10. GRANT TRACKING & BILLINGS All grant applications and awards will be tracked by project manager. The division manager will be responsible for assigning the grant to a project manager. It will be the project manager's responsibility to ensure that all grant requirements are followed. It is imperative to the billing/reimbursement process that all grant expenditures are tracked using a project number specific to the grant, and/or work order numbers, assigned to the grant. Multiple grants on a project can be identified through the grant specific project numbers, and/or work order numbers, or the creation of a spreadsheet detailing expenditures and how they are reimbursed by each grant. It is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure all billings are done on at least a quarterly basis or more frequently. If there is reason, a project manager may elect to defer a grant billing to a later quarter with memo documentation to the file with a copy to Accounting. Atypical example of deferment would be that there are not enough expenses in the quarter to justify a grant billing. On some projects (i.e.; construction) it is recommended to bill on a monthly basis to keep from depleting cash reserves in a fund. Grant billings will be routed with all necessary backup information including, expenditure reports and any other documentation, necessary to show compliance with the grant agreement. The grant billings should include a Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A summary of previous bills, funds remaining and an updated spending plan for the project. The grant agreement does NOT need to be routed with the billing. The Washington State Auditor requires that a separate work order be used to track ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act) funded expenditures in order to distinguish them from local and/or other funding sources. The amount charged to ARRA work orders must match the ARRA grant amount. Quarters for quarterly billings are as follows: First quarter ends March 31; Second quarter ends June 30; Third quarter ends September 30; Fourth quarter ends December 31. Expenditures are typically posted by the end of the following month at which time the grant billing can be prepared. Many federal grants require billings at the end of the 3rtl quarter to coincide with the end of the federal fiscal year. All grant revenues will be deposited to revenue accounts specific to the grant and grant year. The Auditor's accounting staff will create and maintain revenue numbers that ensure identification of grants. Reimbursements for grant activities performed in one calendar year and not actually received until the next calendar year are considered accruals. 11. INDIRECT COSTS All grant applications and contracts will include charges from indirect costs to the maximum amount allowed in accordance with the County's cost allocation plan and the specific grant rules. If a department's indirect methodology is accepted by a granting agency, departments may use the approved calculated rate for that department. 12. GRANT REPORTING The project manager is responsible for understanding the grant reporting requirements, completing reports and submitting all reports on time. 13. YEAR-END COUNTY REPORTING The County Auditor requires that ayear-end Financial Assistance Worksheet (Attachment 1) be completed for each federal or state grant used during the calendar year. The Accounting office will send out the required form with a deadline to all departments annually. Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A 14. GRANT CLOSEOUT The project manager shall inform the grants manager and the accounting manager when the grant is closed. Final billings shall be noted as such. The project manager will review the grant agreement to ensure all required work and reporting has been completed in accordance with the grant agreement. The grant file will be neat and orderly with all required information associated with the grant. Extraneous information such as draft versions will be removed from the file. Upon grant closeout, the grant file will be left in a manner allowing anyone to review it and easily find any information needed. The grant file will be subject to the applicable Records Retention Rules. Resolution No. Adopting a Countywide Grant Policy Attachment A ATTACHMENT FUNDING SOURCE: Federal/State A9ercy: Federal/State Progam title: FEDERAL CATALOG NO.: STATE CONTRACT NO.: _.. _... AGREEMENT PERIOD: _ - - .. _ ..... eeginnmg date: Ending dafe:_ ENended ta:__ _ ORIGINAL AWARD AMOUNT: ADDITIONS: TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT: $ LESS PRIOR YEAR EXPENDITURES: AWARD AMOUNT AVAILABLE FOR CURRENT YEAR: LESS EXPENDITURES CURRENT YEAR: LESS SERVICES IN LIEU OF PAYMENT: =UNEXPENDED BALANCE Ai YEAR END: $ ~ - REVENUES _ _.. REVENUE RECEIVED IN 2012: $ Agrees with Treasurers Reporf6 iyeslno~ AMOUNT RECEIVED FOR 2011 EXPENDITURES AMOUNTS BILLED BUT NOT RECD BY 12/31/12 - AMOUNTS EXPENDED BUi NOi BBLED BY 12/31/12 OTHER PR. Program Income Donations MATCHING ENTITY FUNDS: TOTAL PROGRAM REVENUE IN 2009: $ - Prepared by ... 1