An attempt by Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn to create a full-time position dedicated to pursuing grant money and handling communications was narrowly defeated in a 4-3 vote at last week’s board of trustees meeting.

But, it’s not a dead issue as two of the dissenting voters, Clerk Curtis Wright and Trustee Margaret Payne, expressed support for the idea. They just want to see more work on the job description that was submitted.

“A grant writer, yes, I do see a need for that,” said Wright, who noted he believes there needs to be “more research” to determine which activities listed in the job description could be handled by existing employees as opposed to incorporating them into a new position.

“This seems like a good idea,” Payne said. “It seems like something we should look at pursuing. I want a little more information.”

Payne wants to see a job description that’s “a little more refined” than the one Dunn provided. She described it as a “very rough draft.” Despite that, she said the proposed position “does seem like something that we could benefit from.”

Dunn envisions having a full-time employee whose job includes seeking out grant opportunities, doing all of the necessary research, writing and submitting proposals for them and tracking their progress.

He believes the township needs this because “there’s a lot of money out there and it’s impossible to stay on top of it” without having a person dedicated to the task.

To illustrate his point, Dunn invited Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett to give a presentation on how well having such an individual on staff has worked out for his community.

“I’d put our (grant) record up against any municipality probably in the state,” he said.

Last year, Barnett said his township created and filled the position of “chief assistant to the supervisor.” One of this person’s primary responsibilities is finding and obtaining grant money.

Barnett told Oxford officials that thanks to this individual, whose name is Samantha Timko, Orion has enjoyed “great success” when it comes to securing grants. He presented the board with a sheet that showed Orion has been awarded $2.79 million in outside funding from public and private sources since early last year.

“I can tell you unequivocally, the Township of Orion would not have received these grants if it had not been for (Timko),” Barnett said.

“We just today, like an hour ago, found out we received another $65,000 grant for a (play structure) on Baldwin Rd. (to go in) a pocket park we’re building,” he noted.

Three of the grants listed on the sheet Barnett submitted haven’t been awarded yet, but he told Oxford officials he’s been informed that Orion will “probably” receive them. Two are for residential recycling carts and one is a federal grant to increase the fire department’s staffing by 12.

“If those come through, we’ll (have) over $4 million in grants in the last two years. That’s not a fake number,” Barnett said.

He noted that’s a particularly large sum given Orion’s general fund budget is approximately $6 million.

“When we are able to write grants for 60 percent of our annual budget in the last two years, (that’s) pretty remarkable,” Barnett said.

Barnett said “a huge part” of the reason Orion finds and secures these grants is because Timko is constantly looking for them.

“She loves to just research (things),” he said.

The other part is simply taking the time to apply for them.

That’s all it took in the case of the $441,500 grant that Orion received from the Detroit-based Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, a private entity, to put a play structure at Camp Agawam.

Barnett explained Orion “didn’t even meet the requirements of the grant” as the community is “too affluent,” meaning its “median income was too high.”

“But because no one else applied, we got the grant,” he said.

Barnett admitted creating a new full-time position with an annual salary of $65,000, plus benefits, was a risk, but “it has certainly paid off for us.”

“My township board is obviously over the moon because we delivered on the promise,” he said.

Township Treasurer Joe Ferrari told Barnett that Oxford has “already gotten a lot of these grants that you’ve gotten.”

Ferrari said the difference is while Orion’s efforts are centralized, Oxford has “spread out” the work. He pointed out that the fire department has received federal grants and Ron Davis, director of the parks and recreation department, has “gotten us millions and millions of dollars in grants” over the years.

In response, Barnett said that prior to hiring Timko, Orion’s grant proposals were written by “whoever could” do them and the township was probably still getting more than its neighbors, but that amount was “nothing like we have (received) in the last couple years.”

“There’s a lot of (grant) opportunities out there that we all miss. And it’s not bad and it’s not because people don’t work hard,” Barnett said.

It’s because in local government, “there’s a lot to do,” Barnett said, and officials and staff both “wear a lot of different hats,” which doesn’t leave much spare time to hunt for and apply for grants.

Trustee Jack Curtis voiced his support for creating such a position in Oxford. He wants someone at least attempting to secure grant money on a regular basis.

“I don’t care if we get rejected. I’ll award you a credit if you apply for five and get one. To me, we’re not doing that (now),” Curtis said.

Curtis also liked the idea that this proposed employee would be handling communications for the township, which to him, entails not only disseminating information, but listening and responding to what’s being said in public conversations held in online forums.

“We’re missing a lot of activity on social media,” he said.

Curtis explained that when there’s a “bump in the road,” folks today don’t call the county road commission, “they get on Facebook and they complain.”

In this “new era of communications,” Curtis said, “I don’t think (the township does) a very good job of communicating with our constituents, with the public, with our businesses (and) with our developers.”

Despite the 4-3 vote, Ferrari was the only official who voiced adamant opposition to the proposed position itself.

“I just don’t think this is a needed position,” he said.

When it comes to grant writing and communications, Ferrari believes it “can all be done internally and in-house” with existing staff.

“If we’ve got an extra $90,000 (or) $100,000 to throw at a new position (for salary, plus benefits), I’d rather pay down my fire (pension) debt,” the treasurer said.

Ferrari noted it’s great that having a grant writer has worked out so well for Orion, but “I want to be like Oxford.”

“I don’t want to be like Orion,” he said.

In response to Ferrari, Payne said having a “professional” dedicated to searching for outside funding sources would be “a better choice” than having someone in the office, who’s already doing “another specific job,” attempt to write grant proposals in their “spare time.”

Payne noted the existing township office staff already works “very hard.”

“They’re busy all the time, that I see, any time I’m in here,” she said. “I just don’t see that (grant writing) could be handled by them.”