To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Departmental
Vote Requirement: Majority
SUBJECT:
title
Project Trellis Local Equity Program Update Regarding Program Modifications Mandated by The Governor's Office of Economic Development
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve and direct staff to modify the Humboldt County Local Equity Program Manual V2.1 (Attachment 1) to replace current eligibility requirements with those required by the Governor's Office of Economic Development;
2. Authorize the County Administrative Officer to execute the 2022 grant award contract (Attachment 3); and
3. Provide direction to staff on how to proceed with regard to applying for Project Trellis LEP funding in Fall 2023 considering modifications needed to sustain state funding.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Economic Development (1120), Project Trellis Equity Fund (1120-275442)
DISCUSSION:
Staff are seeking direction from the Board of Supervisors regarding modifications to the Humboldt County Local Equity Program (LEP) manual (Attachment 1).
On May 5, 2023, staff in the County Administrative Office - Economic Development Division received a memo (Attachment 2) from the California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) detailing findings following GO-Biz's review of the county's LEP manual V2.1. The memo stated that numerous items in the LEP's eligibility criteria that would need to be modified prior to applying for further Cannabis Equity Grants (CEG) funding in Fall 2023.
On May 16, 2023, your Board approved the receipt of $1,234,821.75 in funding from GO-Biz to support the LEP for fiscal year (FY) 2022-23 to FY 2023-24.
On May 31, 2023, GO-Biz emailed staff explaining that the time frame to execute the 2023 award agreement had passed and that to allow further time to execute the agreement, the County of Humboldt would need to adopt all changes outlined in the prior refer...
Click here for full text