HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/18/2018 - Minutes � �
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Human Services Advisory Committee
Meeting Report
Renton City Hall
Council Conference Room, 7th Floor
April 18, 2018 3:00 p.m.
ATTENDANCE:Teresa Kenney, Leslie Anderson, Brandy Brown, Brook Dodd,Adair Hasty,Cynthia Jones, Krista
Townsend.
Excused: Amy Koehl,Joanie Howe
Absent:
Staff: Guy Williams, Dianne Utecht,
1. The meeting was called to order at 3:07 pm by Vice Chair Teresa Kenney
2. Our guest speaker, Sue Camou,an interim executive director and former CFO of a multi-million dollar
non-profit was asked to talk about what information can and can't be gleaned from the information in
the agency applications. Key takeaways:
a. When you've seen one non-profit budget,you've seen one non-profit budget. There are many
similarities, but many different ways to express the cost of running an agency within GAAP
(Generally accepted accounting principles). Difficult to make an apples to apples comparison
b. Budget is only one of the evaluation tools. An agency may lack budget sophistication but are
still delivering important community programs in a fiscally responsible manner.
c. Infrastructure and systems are generally tied to the size of the agency. Small agencies under
$1m don't usually have back office support,the Executive Director and program staff usually
do it all. Once you're closer to$2.5m you start having resources for infrastructure:
development, bookkeeping and office support.
d. Overhead/Administrative costs: It's necessary,you can't run a non-profit without it. However
no agency represent it in the same way. Many government/federal grants won't pay more
than 12%overhead-although there's no common definition of overhead. As a result of the
grant funding, non-profits don't often show or may not know the true cost of a program.
e. Productivity ratio: How much of each dollar is spent on staffing costs at the agency level, not
program level. If they're spending more than .75 on the dollar,they are struggling and can't
easily maintain this over time. She likes to see a maximum productivity ratio of.65. Amounts
lower than that allow agencies to fund costs such as computer replacements, reserve
accounts,vehicles,etc.
f. Bottom line, reviewing financials is an art form, not a science. It provides a piece of the
picture, but listen to what your gut is telling you about the program.
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City of Renton Human Services Advisory Committee
April 18, 2018
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3. Approval of minutes. The Committee made three changes to the minutes. Brook's name should be
spelled without the "e",the header date needs to be corrected,and the next regular meeting time
needs to be changed to 2018. Brook moved to approve the minutes as corrected, Leslie seconded.
Approved.
4. Discussion/Action Items:
a. Conflict of Interest forms. The Committee reviewed the list of applications received and
completed their conflict of interest form.
b. Parallel funding process. Per request of chair, defer to next meeting.
c. Rating tool/training. The Committee revisited the financial rating tool. They decided to
move the question on the financial tool "The amount requested from Renton is reasonable in view
of the proportion of residents served and the type/duration of senrices provided" to the rating tool
the committee will do, and move "Funds requested are in line with number of units of services
provided and consistent with service costs for other cities (amount requested divided by number
of residents served-compare for all cities)" to the financial rating tool. Cynthia moved and Brandy
seconded that staff will do the scoring on the financial rating tool (with the change noted above).
Motion passed.
d. Rough soft funding targets. Dianne explained the spreadsheet for the soft funding targets.
After explaining what the "maximum that can be funded" column represented, Brandy suggested
that it be called the adjusted ask. This represents the total requests by agencies,with amounts
adjusted to$7500 for new programs as that is the maximum amount that could be awarded. Staff
will make that change and will correct the previously funded amount for Homeless
Services/Housing. Brook noted that the amount showing was the adjusted ask. The Committee
was asked to think about how they wanted to allocate the funds available among the six need
areas and come to the next meeting ready to discuss it.
e. Change in meeting time. Guy noted that changing the meeting time would not be needed as
Tina had resigned. He shared the resignation letter with the committee.
Respectfully submitted,
eresa K n , i e- ir
Next regular meeting: May 15,2018, Council Conference room 7th Floor, Renton City Hall