Casper City Council Reviews Organization Funding Process

Casper City Council discussed ways to better its community organization funding process on Tuesday.

Councilors said they still want to be a part of the decision-making framework for funding capital project requests from city-based agencies through one-cent and other city funds.

However, councilors also wanted to introduce an element of guidance into the process from the Community Action Partnership regarding certain operational requests from social need groups.

Casper mayor Kenyne Schlager says there’s a critical need to reevaluate the current system.

“We allow our personal beliefs to dictate our current choices, and sometimes that’s OK,” Schlager said. “But, I really want to see a set of guidelines that we can all follow so those agencies requesting money know what to expect.”

Councilors also discussed putting in place an annual structure where projects and requests could be voted on all at once, and councilors also considered the implementation of more stringent funding guidelines.

Currently, all funding requests from city-based organizations are handled by council on a case-by-case basis.

Schlager says the topic will come up again for discussion during council’s Aug. 27 work session.

City manager John Patterson says decisions regarding funding requests from the Mercer Family Resource Center and Joshua's Storehouse have not yet been made.