Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: DISCUSS COTATI CULTURAL EVENT GRANT PROGRAM
Date: August 13, 2024
Written by: Ashley Wilson, Recreation Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council review and discuss the proposed Cotati Cultural Event Small Grant Program and provide direction to staff, if any.
Background
At the November 11, 2022 City Council Meeting, the City Council approved a list of measures and projects created by the Equity Ad Hoc Committee, with a goal of improving equity in the City. One of the measures directed staff to create a small grant program to bring more multicultural community events to Cotati.
Outside of the Council’s equity goals, the City of Cotati also has a long history of approving fee and staff time waivers for events in La Plaza Park, no-cost license agreements (Lions Club, Rancho Coati Fire Station, Historical Society, and Chamber of Commerce), as well as supporting the Chamber of Commerce with direct grants.
The City also has an old Donation Policy (1990-01), which is attached for reference.
Analysis/Discussion
The Cotati Cultural Event Grant Program is proposed to be held on an annual cycle, with applications due by all interested parties in January, reviewed in February, and announced in March of each year. Applications will open for the following year’s grant cycle in April. Given that this is a pilot year, applicants would have a shorter application period for this first year, if approved.
Applications will be reviewed, evaluated, and ranked by an internal staff committee. The committee will recommend projects to the City Council, who will make the final decisions on which grants will be awarded.
The program is proposed to be open to new and existing events, but each event can only be awarded once. Existing events could include Oktoberfest, Accordion Festival, Shop and Stroll, Music Fest and the Farmers Market. The priority is to provide support for the first year of an event, with the hope that they will be successful and return in the future. However, given that several of the current annual community events are hosted by non-profit groups and are multicultural, it is recommended that they are also eligible to apply for the grant.
Applicants may apply for multiple events per year but only one event per applicant can be awarded per cycle. They can reapply during the following cycle for any events not awarded.
The rubric to measure grant proposals for new or ongoing multicultural events would evaluate if the proposals are promoting events that reflect the diversity of our community. A draft of the scoring rubric is shown below. If the City Council has input/suggestions on the criterion categories, staff will incorporate those into a final scoring rubric brought back to the City Council for approval.
This grant program will not take the place or change the current fee waiver options in the Park Permit and Special Event Policy. The current fee waiver options allow annual events to request a full rental fee waiver during the first year of their event and a 50% fee waiver during the second year of their event, with the hopes that the event will be established enough to come back for a third year with fully assessed fees. In addition, IRS recognized non-profit groups and government organizations may request a 50% fee waiver for permit fees in any year of their event, given that the event is free to the public to attend. The Council did make an exception to this process last year for the Cotati Accordion Festival. If an application for the small grant program is not awarded, they are still permitted to apply for a fee waiver through the park permitting process. In addition to these fee waivers and the proposed small community grant, the City is also able to provide free refuse service for community events through the franchise agreement with Recology. At this time, Recology also provides up to three (3) porta-potties for community events.
City park fees are affordable and in staffs’ experience, have not typically been a barrier to events.
The time required to plan and organize an event is generally the primary barrier that prevents people/groups from hosting community events. However, the proposed grant program may entice individuals/groups to propose an event in Cotati. It also has the potential for event organizers to retain more profits/revenue from their events. Regardless, to ensure that the grant program meets the goals of the City Council, any proposed grant program should be a limited term pilot.
Further details of the grant program are provided in Exhibit A, attached to this report.
Staff will return at a future meeting with updates, including an application and evaluation form, and a new donation policy, incorporating City Council feedback. The old donation policy (1990- 01) will be repealed and replaced with a new policy accompanied by the grant program.
Once finalized, staff will promote the new grant program on the City’s website, social media accounts, downtown marquee, monthly newsletter, and through further outreach to known community groups.
Financial Considerations
The financial considerations for the Cotati Cultural Event Small Grant Program would be $10,000 annually. Funding would come from the City Council annual allotment through the City’s General Fund. The existing fee waiver program is not reflected in this expense account but is reflected in reduced revenue in the General Fund. No additional appropriation is required.
Environmental Issues
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378.