Christy Patterson, staff liaison to the Community Agency Review Commission (CARC), and Marcia Ingersoll, CARC chair, presented a package of proposed process and ordinance changes to council intended to increase transparency, accountability and efficiency in the city’s community funding program.

Patterson summarized recent administrative improvements, including monthly invoicing by grantees, quarterly and annual reporting and financial scope reviews to inform funding decisions. Ingersoll described the commission’s new numeric scoring rubric that weights eligibility, community need, funding history and alignment with council priorities, and said the commission will meet semi‑annually to review grantee performance.

The commission recommended removing three recurring recipients from the CARC competitive application process: LibertyFest, the Edmond Historical Society & Museum and the Hope Center (utility assistance). Under the proposal, those three organizations would continue to receive city funding but would be funded through direct contracts (and accompanying waivers of the competitive bid process) rather than the annual CARC application. Patterson said LibertyFest and the museum would continue to be funded from the general fund; Hope Center’s utility assistance would instead be funded from the city utility fund per discussions with the utility department directors.

Ingersoll outlined financial context: CARC funding averaged roughly $1.3–1.5 million annually over the last decade. Removing the three organizations from CARC would leave approximately $1,000,000 available for other social and community agencies. The commission and staff proposed changing the CARC funding cap from a percentage (previously 3% referenced in the ordinance) to a flat cap of $1,000,000 for awards made through the CARC process, with the caveat that if sales tax receipts fall under projections the recommended amounts would be adjusted.

Council members asked about input from the organizations affected and about staff outreach. Patterson said staff and commission representatives had met with museum leadership, LibertyFest organizers and the Hope Center director during development of the recommendations and that the organizations were aware of the proposed changes. Public comment included a resident who said stakeholders had not all been fully notified about the streetscape work; Randall Shedd, chairman of the Hope Center board, spoke in support and said utility funding arrangements had been worked out satisfactorily.

The commission plans to post the revised application, rubric and instructions, to run two public CARC review meetings in April (one to hear applicants and a second to deliberate), and to present an updated ordinance to council ahead of the application cycle so the process is in effect before public hearings. Patterson said contract awards would be included in the city budget process and contracts brought back to council for approval.

Council discussion closed with a call for a motion; a councilmember moved and a second was recorded. The transcript records affirmative votes. The motion language was not read into the transcript precisely; the vote recorded in the meeting was taken by voice and returned affirmative responses. The city will bring an updated ordinance and the funding contracts forward for council action as described in staff’s presentation.

Ending — next steps: Staff will prepare the ordinance language and administrative materials (application, rubric and outreach materials), publish the application and scoring rubric, and bring contracts/waiver requests to council as part of the budget and contracting cycle.