Dana Point Council Wrangles Over Use of Money for Grants

The Assistance League of Capistrano Valley has clothed needy Dana Point children for two decades. This year, they’re looking for ways to cut corners.

“We will no longer supply the shoes, or [we will] cut back on the number of children we see,” league fund-raiser Betty Lou Lovejoy said of the difficult choice that may lie ahead. “So far, we have not had to do that, but we may have to.”

The league is one of 37 nonprofit groups and arts programs facing an uncertain future while the Dana Point City Council debates the fate of $70,000 in grant money. The City Council, notorious for its political divisions, can’t agree on how to dole out the funds or whether the city should even underwrite such causes.

Mayor Bill Ossenmacher said the groups should find their own funding sources.

“It really needs to swell up from the private sector,” Ossenmacher said. “Let the individuals and families in our community support what they think are deserving organizations.”

Councilwoman Karen Lloreda said the city has a responsibility to offer more than basic municipal services.

“If Dana Point was in a monetary crisis, then certainly we have to look at all the possibilities at slashing the budget,” Lloreda said. “But we are in extremely good shape compared to other cities and we’ve set money aside for grants.”

The money set aside by the city would only fund a fraction of the nearly $375,000 requested by grant applications, which range from a request for $1,875 from the assistance league to a request for nearly $180,000 from the South Orange County School of the Arts at Dana Hills High School.

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Some community leaders worry the council is sending a message that it doesn’t care about the arts, while others fear impoverished residents will do without needed services.

“It’s discouraging,” said Robb Rigg, director of the two-year-old School of the Arts, which is requesting funds for basics including pottery wheels and theater lights and more expensive items such as computers. “We need money now.”

In years past, a community services commission guided the council on which groups should get grants and how large the amount for each. The commission was halfway through its review process last month when the City Council voted to eliminate it and several other city commissions in an effort to streamline operations.

The City Council has so far awarded grants to just two of the 39 applicants. Dana Hills High School and San Clemente High School received a total of $2,600 for graduation night celebrations.

Unless the remaining funds are doled out, they are expected to be absorbed into the general fund at next month’s annual budget meeting.

Lloreda said she thinks the mayor is trying to do just that.

“My expectation is that the mayor will refuse to put it on the agenda, and he will make the decision by himself to just ignore it and hope it will go away,” Lloreda said.

But Ossenmacher said the money will be put to good use for the community, even if it is not awarded to grant applicants.

“If it’s absorbed in the general fund, it’s being used for other community benefits. It doesn’t disappear in never-never land,” he said.

Susan Jacob, executive clinical director of Brandy’s Friends Family Counseling, a Laguna Beach-based nonprofit organization that provides intensive drug addiction counseling for children and their families, said community groups are in the best position to help those in need.

“There are no other [local] nonprofit facilities doing what we do,” said Jacob, whose center has requested a $22,000 grant from the city.

The popular Tall Ships Festival put on by the Orange County Marine Institute is in jeopardy because of the hold on grant funding, said Luci Francis, one of the institute’s program directors. The center has requested $6,550 for the showcase event, which generates lots of traffic at local shops and businesses, she said.

“Typically, the city helps to fund that because it was always seen as a city thing,” Francis said. “But at this point, [the festival] isn’t even a go. The Tall Ships Festival won’t even happen. It is a big concern of ours.”