City officials are unsure if they will be able to apply for annual federal block grant funds because recipients haven’t spent enough of a prior year’s award yet to apply for a new one.
Council members are set to discuss prospects for a 2015 Community Development Block Grant awards at their 6:30 p.m. Monday meeting at Hollister City Hall, 375 Fifth St.
Applications for the 2015 awards are due in April, but the city may not be eligible to apply because the California Department of Housing and Community Development requires that 50 percent of the prior year’s award be spent before the new application cycle.
Hollister was approved in the 2013 cycle for nearly $2 million for Jovenes de Antano, Youth Alliance and Community Food Bank of San Benito County projects. Several related delays have occurred since then.
Officials at the meeting are set to discuss the circumstances that caused delays – including a ruling in late June barring the city from spending its 2013 funds until prior years’ funding was depleted – in the application process and whether to move ahead in 2015.
