CREEDE— During the monthly meeting of the Creede City Board of Trustees on Tuesday, May 2, board members discussed and approved the Virginia Christensen Trust Fund Grant recommendations submitted by several organizations from the area. Board members were given the recommendations from the Virginia Christensen Board of Directors (VCB) prior to the meeting for review. The board met earlier in the evening to review the requests before submitting the final recommendations to the city board of trustees for final approval.
This year, the board recognized the increase in requests from local organizations, stating that there were more this year than in previous years. They always go through a detailed process to select and award funding to organizations that meet the criteria of the grant. The funding is to be used for recreational projects and improvements in the Creede area and is administered once a year to local organizations. This year there were a total of 13 requests made by various organizations.
A copy of the requests was distributed to the attending crowd and the board of trustees opened the floor for any questions pertaining to the requests. Chamber of Commerce Director Brian Ayers pointed out that the amount of funding requested by the chamber for operating costs was more important than the request for technology equipment; he wanted the board to consider funding the operating costs over the computer equipment request.
Ayers asked why the board had opted to recommend the award for the equipment, rather than the operating funds. The board explained that there were double the amount of requests this year compared to the available funding and that was taken into account when considering the recommendations.
Board members continued to explain how certain organizations score in the grant process and how it could affect the overall outcome of the grant application submitted by an organization. All grants are scored based on guidelines in the rubric for the VCB grant application. Some organization’s applications scored lower than those who had an immediate recreational impact for the community for the year. According to the board none of the projects were rejected in any way and were scored based on the rubric criteria.
Board members suggested that funds awarded to the chamber for technological equipment could be moved to the operating costs that were originally requested. City Clerk Randi Snead pointed out that the recommendations submitted to the city board of trustees by the VCB is only recommendations and that the trustees can move things around as they see fit.
The discussion continued with board members working through the requests recommended by the VC board. Awards were made by the board based on the urgency of projects this year due to the increase of requests, which resulted in some organizations like the chamber receiving less than the previous year. Board members also pointed out that the funding is increasing every year and therefore the grant is becoming more and more competitive.
The board made a motion to accept all the recommendations from the VCB with the change that the chamber could use their funding for operating expenses instead of purchasing technological equipment. The motion was approved unanimously.
Organizations that were awarded funding are as follows: the Creede Mining Heritage organization for improvements around the Sunnyside Chapel, The Creede Repertory Theatre for community outreach support, the Creede Early Learning Center to increase staff, the Creede and Mineral County Chamber of Commerce for operating costs, Headwaters Music Festival Association for the annual music festival, the Creede Community Foundation for Fourth of July fireworks, Headwaters Alliance for general operating funding, Creede Arts Council for exhibit improvements, the Creede Nordic and Snowmobiling Center for the Nordic center construction, the Mineral County Fairgrounds Association for capital improvements and Days of 92 for annual event support.