Laserfiche WebLink
<br />rei ---'\) <br />( ); <br />1fll< <br /> <br /> <br />Item #5.3. <br /> <br />River <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />Mayor & City Council <br />Pat Klaers, City AdnriniV <br />October 25,1999 <br /> <br />FROM: <br /> <br />DATE: <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Rivers of Hope Request for Funds <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The Rivers of Hope (ROH) organization is coming before the City Council to request <br />funding for its programs and activities. Every year it seems like the City Council <br />has a line item in its draft budget for a contribution to this organization and in the <br />budget balancing worksessions, this line item gets removed and the council agrees <br />that if city funding is going to be given to this organization, then such monies would <br />come out of its city council contingency fund. This was the case with both the <br />adopted 1999 budget and the proposed 2000 budget. By way of background <br />information, the City Council provided ROH with $5,000 in 1997, and $2,000 in <br />1998. The City Council should understand that with or without approval of this <br />funding request, it can anticipate similar ongoing requests in the future. <br /> <br />Last year the ROH discussed city contracts for service and service agreements. The <br />e-mail we received from Executive Director Margaret Ostman regarding having <br />ROH on the agenda talked about a "fee" for domestic abuse advocacy services. The <br />attached November 23, 1998, ROH letter from Margaret Ostman indicates that this <br />organization is hoping to receive $5,000 from the city in 1999. The attached <br />October 20, 1999, material is requesting more than this amount. <br /> <br />I think that everyone acknowledges that ROH is a valuable organization and meets <br />a very important community need. However, the ROH is a social service <br />organization and the funding for these types of programs is generally not a city <br />responsibility, but more of a state or county responsibility. Much like the county <br />does not fund youth recreation programs; the city generally does not fund social <br />service programs. The city is under no obligation to partially fund this organization <br />and it is strictly a City Council decision whether or not it wants to contribute. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 · TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425 <br />