Benicia City Council on Tuesday asked city staff to start the legal changes that would let the Community Sustainability Commission raise money to help fund projects that fulfill the goals of the city’s Climate Action Plan.

The Council decided, however, it still should retain the right to vote on any grants or commission expenditures, the way it oversees expenditures by the Human Services Board and the Arts and Culture Commission.

Commission Chairperson Constance Beutel told the Council that if the commission sought grants or pursued other funds, it hoped the money would be earmarked for the commission to distribute in grants for local sustainability projects, the way it has with Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement funds that have been assigned for its use.

She said she spoke with Dan Marks, interim Community Development Director, who reported to the Council that the commission wanted the right to use money it had raised through grants, fundraisers, profit-sharing and revolving loans.

In his report, Marks wrote that the panel was seeking unprecedented control of the money through spending it without Council oversight.

He wrote that Beutel had sent the Council a memorandum requesting that the Council designate the money to the commission if it applies for an outside grant, conducts a fundraiser, awards a grant to a project that has the potential for income such as a percentage of profits, or if an external grant provides new funding for future commission allocations.

One resident, Eric Hoglund, expressed concern about giving the commission complete authority over the expenditures.

“We’re giving a lot of power to boards and commissions,” he told the Council. “These are people we didn’t vote for.”

But Beutel said Tuesday that total oversight was “not an essential aspect” of her panel’s request.

She said the commission would be satisfied if it had the chance to raise the money, then send the Council its recommendations for expenditures.

She told the Council that the consideration of revolving loans was a new area the commission had explored.
Beutel explained that the commission hadn’t had “designated staff” to guide them in their research.

She also told the Council she realized that revolving loans would require “extraordinary effort” for city employees.

However, she said the commission was asking for the same privileges that the Council had given to the city’s Human Services Board, which raises money through special events, donation solicitation and other methods, and distributes the money to nonprofit organizations that provide social services to residents; and the Arts and Cultural Commission, which has been allowed to seek grants for artistic endeavors.

Marks apologized for any misinterpretation of the commission’s request.

“This has been a useful exercise,” he said.

He explained that the issue gave city employees a chance to examine the pros and cons of revolving accounts and other fundraising procedures, as well as how the money should be handled.

Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said she had been advised that “revolving funds are a nightmare.”

City Manager Brad Kilger said he wanted more detailed conversations about pursuing grants, which Marks had noted can require city employee time to track and administer, as well as require other obligations from the recipient.

Meanwhile, the Council unanimously agreed that city staff should prepare an ordinance similar to those authorizing the Human Services Board and Arts and Culture Commission to raise money for their own uses with Council oversight.