CAMARILLO : Council Decides on Grant Requests

The Camarillo City Council has decided not to grant any federal community development funds to a countywide AIDS support agency or to two organizations that help the homeless.

The city has $345,175 in federal grant money to spend for the 1992-93 program year, which starts July 1. Of that, $274,197 is available for housing programs, $48,388 for public service agency requests and the $22,590 balance for administration of the various programs.

Council members delayed taking a formal vote on all requests until the next meeting.

The council sifted through 12 grant applications and listened to presentations by public service agencies. Their requests totaled $74,814.

In a consensus vote, the council decided to award grants to: Area Housing Authority ($10,000); Commission on Human Concerns ($9,000); Interface: Children, Family Services ($6,206); Long Term Care Ombudsman Program of Ventura County ($10,000); Palmer Drug Abuse Program of Ventura County ($4,682); Public Social Services Agency ($2,500); Ventura County Mental Health-Catholic Charities Community Services Program ($5,000) and the Wellness Community ($1,000).

The council rejected two requests, each for $5,750, from AIDS Care, the only nonprofit agency in Ventura County devoted exclusively to people with the HIV virus.

One request was to help fund the salary for an executive director, and the other was to provide emergency rental assistance to clients with low or no income.

Planning officials had recommended against these applications, saying the program could not ensure that its clientele would be low-income people, and that funding an ongoing rental assistance would be questionable under the federal Housing and Urban Development program.

Although they did not take a formal vote, council members indicated they would not fund a $50,000 request to help Zoe Christian Center build a new homeless shelter at its Rose Avenue site in Oxnard.

Council members also turned down a $3,200 social service request from the Ventura County Homeless Coalition to help pay for a coordinator to work with agencies countywide helping the homeless.