Agenda Item No. 4
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council DATE: March 11, 2024 FROM: Matthew Bronson, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Nick Szamet, Administrative Services Director SUBJECT: Appropriations Request – Strawberries through Grover Beach
RECOMMENDATION
Approve $10,000 in City funding to support the “Strawberries through Grover Beach” special event.
BACKGROUND
At the February 13, 2024 Council Meeting, community members representing the “Strawberries through Grover Beach” special event addressed Council during the Midyear Budget and FiveYear Financial Forecast agenda urging Council to consider an appropriation of $10,000 in support of the event. Council directed staff to return at a future meeting with an item to authorize an appropriation for the event.
“Strawberries through Grover Beach” is an event that garners support for local businesses by attracting visitors to the City and through its use of passport books that can be validated at participating local businesses; thereby giving participants access to a celebratory event held at the completion of the validation period. This year, the validation period for passport books will be May 1st through May 18th and the celebratory event will be held May 18th at Ramona Garden Park from 10:00am to 6:00pm. For the Council’s reference, the inaugural event was held in May 2023 at the Grover Beach Train Station and the City provided $5,000 in funding support.
The $10,000 funding requested will be in addition to Council’s prior approval of $338,988 in midyear General Fund appropriations and bring the appropriations total to $348,988.
FISCAL IMPACT
The requested funding would be allocated from General Fund reserves.
ALTERNATIVES
Council has the following alternatives to consider:
1. Authorize the appropriation of $10,000.00 to be utilized by the City Manager in support of the “Strawberries through Grover Beach” event;
2. Do not authorize the appropriation; or
3. Provide staff with alternate direction.
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION
The agenda was posted in accordance with the Brown Act.