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Mounds View City Council November 9, 2020 Regular Meeting Page 6 1 Mayor Mueller asked if staff had spoken to the City Attorney to see if religious organizations 2 could participate in this program. City Administrator Zikmund indicated religious organizations 3 would not be eligible for this program. 4 5 Council Member Hull questioned what other cities were doing with respect to grant sizes. 6 Finance Director Beer commented grants ranged from $2,000 to $5,000 with anywhere from 7 $20,000 to $50,000 set aside for the program. He stated with the limited number of non -profits 8 in the City of Mounds View, this amount could be on the lower end. City Administrator 9 Zikmund commented the amount of CARES Act funding Mounds View received was lower than 10 surrounding communities, which should be taken into consideration. He then reviewed the 11 number of organizations in the City that would be eligible for grants, which was six to ten. 12 13 Mayor Mueller questioned what action staff was seeking at this time. City Administrator 14 Zikmund reported staff needed the Council to set a limit on the grant amounts and the amount of 15 money that should be set aside for this program. 16 17 Council Member Meehlhause recommended $25,000 to $50,000 be set aside for this program. 18 He suggested the individual grants have a maximum of $5,000. 19 20 Council Member Hull supported the program have a maximum of $40,000 set aside with the 21 grants ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 for non-profit organizations. 22 23 Council Member Bergeron stated with the recent news surrounding COVID-19 he believed 24 concessions should be taken into consideration for Mounds View businesses as well, given the 25 fact there may be further shut downs. He urged moving forward with this program with a touch 26 of caution. 27 28 Council Member Gunn supported all of the comments that have been made and she understood 29 the City's small businesses were going to need further assistance. She asked how much CARES 30 Act funding the City had left for this program. Finance Director Beer commented the amount 31 left was not relevant, but rather the timeframe to implement the program was the concern for 32 staff. 33 34 Mayor Mueller stated she could support $25,000 to $35,000 being set aside for non -profits in the 35 community. However, she had hoped that faith -based programs could participate in this program, 36 which was not the case. She recommended the pool of money be split equally between the non- 37 profits that apply for a grant. 38 39 Council Member Hull suggested the non-profit program have $35,000 allotted to it and that the 40 grant amounts be no more than $5,000. City Administrator Zikmund stated staff could work 41 with these numbers. 42 43 Council Member Bergeron supported the grants being equally divided among the non-profit 44 organizations that apply for a grant. The Council was in agreement with this suggestion. 45