The city will not make the $150,000 installment payment that was scheduled to be transferred March 1 to Friends of Hemming Park until the nonprofit reaches its required private fundraising level.
City spokeswoman Pam Roman said the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services notified the organization Monday that no additional payments will be processed until all performance standards of the contract have been met.
The $1 million contract awarded to the nonprofit sets specific fundraising goals before it can receive installment payments from the city. The schedule specifies a $100,000 private fundraising requirement on the part of the Friends by March 1.
The city has since Sept. 1, the effective date of the agreement, made payments to the group totaling $450,000: an initial payment of $300,000 and a $150,000 payment on Dec. 1.
The $150,000 scheduled to be paid March 1 will not be transferred until the Friends reaches the $100,000 mark.
Friends board member and fundraising chair Bill Prescott said Tuesday the group is close to getting a grant and cited “mid-March” as the time frame.
“We just have to wait,” he said. “We’re confident a grant will come in.”
Board President Wayne Wood said the March 1 deadline was “purely a benchmark” and there is nothing wrong with the city withholding further contributions until the terms of the agreement are met.
Prescott agreed. He said the group hasn’t been spending the $450,000 already received as fast as it anticipated.
So far, in addition to hiring a seven-member staff, the nonprofit has established “Charlie’s Café,” an area with tables, chairs and a live performance platform that’s set up for lunch Monday-Friday near a food truck.
“We’ve got cash in the bank,” Prescott said.
Several City Council members discussed the issue Feb. 12 after a story in the Daily Record showed the parks department questioned whether the Dec. 1 installment should be made.
Friends had submitted a required financial report to the city that showed only about $1,500 had been raised in donations and park revenue. The contract required the nonprofit to have raised $25,000 three months after the Sept. 1 effective date of the contract.
The parks department asked for an opinion from city lawyers, who said the Friends should receive credit for two grants totaling $50,000 that were received before the group was awarded the contract.
At the February meeting called by Hemming Park Committee Chair Denise Lee, Prescott said the group was “very aware” of the March 1 deadline.
“We are close to getting a grant that will take care of that,” he said then.
Lee, along with council members Lori Boyer, Bill Gulliford and Don Redman, introduced legislation Feb. 24 that would require the Friends to provide quarterly financial reports to council.
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