Sneaky, or just well-informed?
There are several ways that a group can ask for funding from the Guilford County commissioners, but the typical way is through an application process for a grant in the regular budget. In Thursday's meeting, there appeared to be an attempt to get around that.
But for the uninitiated, a little background could help explain why it seemed peculiar.
And this the applicant list for 2008-09 looked like this. Pay special attention to line 11 for Nia Community Action Center. This will come up later.
Throughout the year, funding needs come up and are often paid for with the county's contingency fund, a fund often used for unexpected costs. One example of the county tapping this in the last year was when the state ordered the Guilford County Sheriff's Office to come up with 28 detention officers midway through the year. The about $600,000 for that came out of the county's contingency fund.
And usually, those along-the-way expenses come up farther along than just two months after passing the budget. That's just one reason that the $25,000 funding request from a community-based organization on Thursday seemed unusual.
The Nia Community Action Center appeared during the New Business section of the commissioners meeting, but wasn't on the agenda. Typically, new requests for funding are on the agenda beforehand.
The group does HIV advocacy and and testing, primarily in High Point. They receive pass-through funds from the state through the department of health, and this year was denied their $25,000 request from the county.
"I believe that when we passed the budget that this was one of the items that we would promise to fund, but there was none," said Commissioner Bruce Davis, who asked the group to come for the meeting, according to Sandy Michael, director of Nia Community Action.
But some commissioners didn't like how the presentation came up, unannounced.
"I’m disappointed that we weren’t given any prior notice that you were coming tonight," Commissioner Paul Gibson said.
During the 2008-09 budget planning process, some commissioners said they wanted more information about Nia Communit Action, Commissioner Carolyn Coleman said.
"Now the group is here," Coleman said. But some commissioners weren't prepared for the unannounced stop.
While Republican Commissioners Steve Arnold, Mike Winstead and Billy Yow spoke to the group - that their service appears to be virtuous, but the unannounced visit seemed ill-timed - Coleman, Davis and Commissioner Skip Alston huddled on their side of the board.
And a heated discussion among board members erupted that touched on how prepared commissioners are for their meetings, and if there was some cronyism involved with Thursday's visit from Nia Community Action.
Eventually, Alston made a motion: "I move that we postpone this and schedule this for the work session and give the info that was presented."
Which passed 7-3, with Arnold, Winstead and Yow voting no.
After the talk, 'Scoop talked to County Manager David McNeill about the odd nature of the conversation and how it came up. As a manger is given to do, he focused on the financial end of things.
"It's too soon to be using contingency funds," McNeill said.
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