An increase in the number of grants available, more stringent requirements and the complexity of applications for both federal and provincial grants has prompted the town to consider searching for a full-time grant writer explicitly for that purpose.
“Currently, grant applications, reporting, and financial tracking are distributed across staff who are already at capacity,” reads a report from Human Resources Manager Mia Sexton. “This limits the Town’s ability to proactively pursue time-sensitive opportunities or manage compliance requirements effectively.”
The administration has developed a job description for “a Grants and Finance Coordinator, consolidating grant administration, financial tracking, project support, and stakeholder engagement into one dedicated role.” That person would be a a non-union, full-time employee with no fewer than three years of experience in a project management, financial reporting or grant administration role.
According to discussion among town officials, the position could pay for itself with the first approved grant application, freeing up staff to focus on other more timely matters. “If you look at the other big cities in Ontario, they all have a dedicated grant writer,” Fort Frances Chief Administrative Officer Marcel Michaels said. “They all recognize the value of something like this.”
This would also centralize the entire grant writing process and likely lead to the increased accuracy, consistency and quality of grant applications and the associated reporting requirements.
“Dedicated grant coordination can yield returns that significantly exceed the salary of the position,” Sexton’s report stated. “Through this realignment, administration is building a more resilient, capable and future-ready organization, one structured to meet growing service demands, capture funding opportunities and deliver improved results for the community.”
The addition to staff could free up already busy municipal officials such as Travis Rob, manager of operations and facilities, would are currently required to take time from their regular duties to write and review grant proposals.
Council deferred approval of the motion to create the position until next month.
