City approves Grants in Support Awards

Organizations to use funds for community programs

The Bishop City Council at its meeting Monday awarded six organizations Grants in Support Awards to fund needed community programs, events and services that city staff are not able to provide.

During the presentation, city Assistant Finance Director Ethan Aukee explained that the city council at a meeting in October appointed two council members to comprise an ad hoc committee to review grant in support applications and make recommendations to the full City Council on awarding of grant in support funding.

Aukee said Bishop Mayor Jim Ellis and Council member Karen Kong, along with City Administrator Deston Dishion and himself, met to review all applications received.

He said the city received nine applications for specific projects, of which six were chosen to be recommended to the full city council.

The total amount of funding required to fund these six recommended projects is $47,100, Aukee said. The city budgeted $56,000 for grants in support in the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget.

The list of approved grant awards, project titles and amounts follow:

• Altrusa International of the Eastern Sierra, “Redo” of the Bishop

Police Department mural at the police department on Line Street; $10,000

• Bishop Area Bike Association, Bishop Bike Park at City Park; $4,000

• Bishop Museum and Historical Society, Wells Fargo Timelines Through History at Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site, Wells Fargo Building; $8,000

• Eastern Sierra Artists, doing business as C5 Studios Community Arts Center, Art in Storefronts in various locations in Downtown Bishop; $6,000 ($7,110 had been requested)

• Eastside Student Center, Patio Project and Kitchen Update at 162 W. Line St.; $8,000

• Helping Hands 4 Housing Inc., Housing Liaison Program based in

Bishop, Remote Services; $11,100

Kong said as an ad hoc committee member reviewing applications her main concern was how a project was going to benefit the city of Bishop as a whole. She said her other considerations included whether the project would be financial feasible with the grant awards and the sense of passion expressed within the applications.

“I know that the folks who wrote the application and who run those programs really are doing everything they can to keep those programs afloat for the betterment of Bishop,” Kong said.

Ellis said he was looking for applicants “who are putting in the work and the effort” where the city, through its grant awards, can build a successful partnership.

Ellis said while there were a couple of applications that “didn’t make the cut for various reasons,” he was happy with the final recommendations to the full council.

Aukee said all grant applicants, whether they received awards or not, would be notified by today.

Kong said if there were applicants who didn’t make the cut and wanted more information, she would be happy to discuss the selection process with them so they could potentially submit a better application next year.

Playground Replacement

Project

During Monday’s meeting, the city council also approved the purchase and installation of a front playground at the City

Park in an amount not to exceed $115,218.48.

City Community Services Manager Dan McElroy told the council that the current front playground at the park was originally installed by the city in 1993.

McElroy said that due to the disrepair and the lack of ADA access, the Community Services Department budgeted for $150,000 in the Parks and Recreation 2023-2024 budget for the Front Playground Replacement Project.

The Community Services Department began the process to solicitate vendors to facilitate the Front Playground Replacement Project in August of 2023. A vendor was selected through a state program that guarantees the lowest price for playground equipment and doesn’t require going through a formal bid process, he said.

McElroy said the Community Services Department applied for and received a grant for the purchase of a new play structure in the amount of $24,725.61.

The total amount for the Playground Replacement Project is $115,218.48. The schedule for construction will begin in February 2024 and complete in March 2024.

McElroy said the purchase and installation for the front playground is under the budgeted amount for this project.

Home Health and Hospice

Care Week

The city council also passed a proclamation declaring Dec. 4 through Dec. 8 Home Health and Hospice Care Week.

According to the proclamation, home health care providers in Bishop

“belong to a proud tradition that has existed in this country for more than a century, as a cost effective and humane alternative to institutional care.”

“Home care services allow individuals to remain in the privacy and comfort of their own home,” the proclamation states.