Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/21/2026 - Meeting Minutes www.SLC.gov 451 S State Street www.SLCMayor.com 0 Salt Lake City,UT 84111 SLC FOOD MICROGRANT • COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, A• 2026 The following members of the SLC Food Microgrant Selection Committee were present: In-Person Maria Schwarz, Chair Leesie Clegg, Vice Chair&Secretary Maria Romero Josh Rebollo Karina Villalba Electronic James Hunter The following members were absent: Marifer Rivera Minutes by: Leesie Clegg, Salt Lake City Sustainability Department Meeting Start Time: 2:46 p.m. I Time Adjourned: 4:12 p.m. 1. Welcome & Roll Call Chair Schwarz welcomed everyone and called role. She notified the Committee that Committee Member Hunter was running late and that Committee Member Rivera was traveling and may not be able to attend. 2. Approve Meeting Minutes Chair Schwarz shared a draft of meeting minutes from April 14, 2026, and called for any adjustments, questions or concerns. Committee Member Rebollo made a motion to approve the minutes, and Committee Member Villalba seconded with a unanimous approval by the committee. 3. Review Community Food Grant Application Scores/Questions The Committee reviewed the ranked applications after Chair Schwarz calculated the final weighted scores. She ran through what metrics the Committee could view in the decision-making process, including a subtotal score based on the project proposal, a subtotal score based on overall recommendations, and a total weighted score based on scores from each aspect of the application. www.SLC.gov 451 S State Street www.SLCMayor.com 0 Salt Lake City,UT 84111 Chair Schwarz also reminded the Committee that they had $28,800 to award and any left-over sum could be put towards program operation costs such as the Orientation Event. Committee Member Villalba mentioned her concern that the International Rescue Committee's New Roots space at City Farm may not be ready to plant in this season. Committee Member Romero asked if grantees must spend money within the year and Chair Schwarz clarified that there is a Dec. 1 sc deadline to spend their funds. Committee Member Villalba felt the Committee should focus funds on organizations that fit that timing. Committee Member Hunter joined the meeting at 3:08. Committee Member Rebollo suggested offering partial funding to most of the applicants in order to reach more projects. Vice Chair Clegg mentioned previous discussion from past meetings about prioritizing growers and asked if we that was something the committee still felt was important. She also asked Chair Schwarz if she could display who the previous awardees were among the applicants. Vice Chair Clegg asked if the Committee felt it was reasonable to cut off any organization who received an Overall Recommended score of under 85%. Chair Schwarz asked for motion to approve a cut off at 85% for Overall Recommended Score as well as Total Weighted Score. Committee Member Romero made the motion, Committee Member Villalba seconded, and the Committee voted unanimously in agreement. Committee Member Romero felt that location of an organization's project was not fully indicative of the populations they would be serving. The Committee discussed adding budget to some and decreasing the budget of others. Vice Chair Clegg expressed her discomfort in assuming that role as a committee and felt it would be more in line with the Committee's role to fulfill the organization's request or offer partial funding. Committee Member Rebollo made a motion to agree to fund the top three overall best scored organizations (New Seed, International Rescue Committee New Roots Program, and Community Health Centers) at their full request. Committee Member Villalba seconded with unanimous agreement from the Committee. Chair Schwarz explained how budgets were split up last year. Committee Member Villalba suggested organizing the last 11 organizations based on the Overall Recommended score. Committee Members Rebollo and Romero, Chair Schwarz, and Vice Chair Clegg www.SLC.gov 451 S State Street www.SLCMayor.com 0 Salt Lake City,UT 84111 looked at how funding might equally split out between last 11 organizations. Committee Member Hunter felt comfortable with the resulting division of funding: fully funding the top three organizations (above 95% in both subtotal Overall Recommendation score and Total Weighted score), offering $2,500 for next three organizations (above 90% in both subtotal Overall Recommended score and Total Weighted scores), and $1,500 for the remaining 8 organizations. Committee Member Villalba suggested that the Committee consider making a decision based what the Committee knows about their organization. Vice Chair Clegg suggested offering more funds to fewer organizations to provide a higher impact to each project by raising the cut off to an Overall Recommended score of 89%. Chair Schwarz asked for a motion to only consider groups that had an Overall Recommended score of 90% or above. Committee Member Hunter made a motion to approve the new cut off, Committee Member Romero seconded, and the Committee unanimously voted in agreement. Chair Schwarz suggested fully funding the next 3 highest scores (an Overall Recommended and Total Weighted score of above 90%). The Committee looked at offering $3,000 for those instead, and $2,500 for the last four groups (those with only an Overall Recommended score above 90%). The final decision made by the Committee came to this: • Applicants with an Overall Recommended and Total Weighted score of 95% or above receive the full amount of their request. • Applicants with an Overall Recommended and Total Weighted score of above 90% would receive $3,500. • Applicants with an Overall Recommended score above 90% but a Total Weighted score below 90% would receive $2,500, except for the University of Utah's Farmers Market which only requested $2,000. This added up to $28,818.17. Chair Schwarz said she would pull the remaining $18.17 out of the program budget. Committee Member Romero made motion to approve this funding decision, Committee Member Rebollo seconded, and the Committee unanimously agreed. 4. Next Steps Chair Schwarz thanked everyone for their time and input. Committee Member Villalba asked if the Committee could have a meeting in November to help prepare next year's Community Grant applicants better for the Committee's decision-making process such as considering multi-year awardees. Chair Schwarz said the program would consider it but wanted keep applicant requirements open-ended. www.SLC.gov 451 S State Street www.SLCMayor.com Salt Lake City,UT 84111 5. Adjourn Committee Member Rebollo made a motion to adjourn, Committee Member Villalba seconded, and the Committee unanimously agreed. J 05/12/2026 APPROVED: Ma la SnIvarz(May 12,2026 11:48:38 MDT) DATE: