The Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) approved an updated county procurement policy and a new grant management policy at its July 16 meeting.
Earlier in the day at a work session, Finance Director Chad Eaton explained the policies to the board, beginning by noting that the procurement policy had not been updated since 2009.
He indicated that Accountant Allison Wylie assisted with the updates, which included changing titles in the policy to match current positions, realigning spending thresholds to fit the needs of county departments and tightening finance procedures to match more stringent audit requirements.
He added that the policy also includes a provision that the Finance Department will perform annual reviews of the policy and submit proposed changes to the BoCC.
Eaton indicated that an ethics section and verbiage compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act were also added to the policy.
He added the changes are all compliant with current local, state and federal regulations.
Commissioner Ronnie Maez stated that he “liked the hard work you guys put into this” and commented, “Good job.”
Eaton moved on to the grant-management policy, explaining that this was taken out of the procurement policy and made its own policy.
He stated that, in working on grants for the Archuleta County Public Health Department, many of the grants requested that the county have a grant management policy.
He indicated that the grant management policy provides more detail and complies with state requirements for a grant management policy.
Commissioner Warren Brown commented that the county is receiving an increased number of grants and that this creates additional work for those who manage county grants, although he noted that the money received is also valuable.
Maez commented that he is glad to see a policy in place.
Commissioner Veronica Medina stated that she agreed with the other commissioners about the need for the policy and noted that the policy contains a variety of requirements that department heads seeking grants meet with the county manager or finance director to review the grant and determine if it is suitable.
She noted that many grant applications must be completed on short timelines and asked what the process for these discussions would be if the finance director or the county manager are not available.
Eaton explained that he is available to review grants when he is away from the office and that he has given authority to his accountant to also perform much of the review procedure.
He stated that grants discovered shortly before the deadline are difficult to apply for and that the county has to work to be proactive and understand grant deadlines.
However, he added that, in situations where there has been limited time to complete a grant, the Finance Department has been able to work with other departments and outside agencies to quickly submit an application or to extend the deadline for a grant.
Medina thanked Eaton for his explanation.
Wylie added that the policy also allows the county manager to perform many of the steps required prior to submitting a grant application.
At the meeting, the BoCC unanimously voted to adopt both policies with no further comments.
josh@pagosasun.com
