PARRISH – The Parrish Town Council voted Tuesday to enter into an agreement with Azimuth Grants to do a one-year grant writing strategy, with the group agreeing to vote later to approve the hourly pay to have the grants written and managed.
“Cordova just got a big $5.2 million grant for their roads and they were working with this company,” Parrish mayor Bubba Cagle said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We just don’t have it in this house to write large grants of this scale. We write some small ones that are pretty tedious themselves, but for us to really branch out, I think we need to go in a direction similar to this.”
The one-year grant writing strategy will cost the town $8,500, but Cagle said he feels like it is a necessary step for the town to be able to move forward.
“We’ve made progress around here,” he said. “We’ve paid some things off and we’re doing some things, but in order to do really make some progress, I think we’re going to have to have some big time grants and things of that nature. I really feel good about it myself.”
Through the one-year strategy process, Azimuth with help Parrish determine what their biggest needs are and then search for the best local, state, federal and private grants to fit those needs. The company will then analyze the town’s opportunity for the grant and guide them through the process.
In addition to the $8,500 one-year strategy, Azimuth charges an hourly rate for the grant writing and management process. The hours are purchased in advance, with the cost going down with the more hours the town reserves. The rates start at 50 hours for $165 per hour with a 50 precent deposit and go as high as 300 hours for $145 per hour with a 25 percent deposit.
After some debate over how many hours to purchase in advance, the council agreed to vote approve the hourly costs after the completion of the one-year writing strategy. Cagle said the hours can be used over the course of several months or even years.
“If we bought 100 hours, and then another 100 hours and then another 100 instead of just buying the 300 upfront, it would end up costing us about $3,000 more,” he said.
