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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3.1 Supplemental attachment Page 1 of 2 OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Memorandum To: Mayor Miller & City Council Members From: James Lindsay, City Manager Date: May 6, 2020 Subject: COVID-19 Community Service Grants – Supplemental Attachment Both the Hakone Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce have requested additional COVID-19 grant funds. Both requests occurred in different forms prior to the City Council Finance Committee’s consideration of the funding amounts. The Hakone Foundation’s additional $5,000 request was submitted via email on April 6 and the Chamber’s additional $5,000 request is explained in their email received today, both messages are provided below. Hakone was allocated $5,000 in Secured Community Grant funds for the 2019/20 Fiscal Year. However, the Matsuri was cancelled for this year, and we cannot come up with an alternative event due to the short amount of time, and the COVID-19 situation. We would like to ask for the funds to be shifted to be used for General Operating funds. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time and consideration. Kind Regards, Shozo Kagoshima Executive Director Hakone Foundation I refer to the recent joint meeting between the City of Saratoga and Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. The proposal put forward for consideration was to convert the whole of the Car Show Grants into a special Pandemic Assistance grant. The City had $32,000 grants set aside to support the Car Show: a. $22,000 - Repeating Annual grant to offset Car Show event costs - Sheriff department; Permits; City of Saratoga staff costs; b. $10,000 - Additional Annual grant, first set up for the 10th Car Show Anniversary, but advised by City Councillors as continuing for 2020-21 onwards. Page 2 of 2 At our joint meeting, Mayor Howard Miller made a comment on segregating the cash and non-cash, i.e. City permits & personnel costs. We confirm claiming $5,000 annually for cash costs from this amount. We therefore request grant funds in the amount of $15,000 be transferred from Car Show grants to a special Pandemic Assistance grant to cover operating expenses for 2020-21. As a reminder, the Chamber's net burn rate is approx. $5,000 per month. The pandemic has curtailed our opportunities of raising funds through our regular external events. As of now, our funds will be depleted by either 4th quarter 2020 or 1st quarter 2021. Thanking you and the City Council for your continued support! Let me know if you have any questions... Best wishes. Ketan Jashapara, President Saratoga Chamber of Commerce