Section 887.245  Grantee Responsibilities

a)         Prior to contracting with a Community Visioning Facilitator, the grantee must submit to the Agency documentation demonstrating that the facilitator has the minimum qualifications for a Community Visioning Facilitator as set forth in Section 887.105 of this Part.

b)         Within 45 days after contracting with a Community Visioning Facilitator, the grantee must submit to the Agency a timeline for the visioning process. The timeline must show each task that will be performed in completing the visioning process and the key personnel associated with each task.

c)         The grantee must develop an environmental vision and strategies for achieving the environmental vision through a community environmental visioning process that is led by a Community Visioning Facilitator.

d)         As part of the visioning process the grantee must form a stakeholder group that, to the greatest extent practicable, includes representatives from all segments of the community, represents the community's diversity in terms of age, race, gender, location of residence and location of employment, and includes persons, groups and organizations that traditionally have not participated in community planning.

1)         Community sectors that should be considered when forming the stakeholder group include, but are not limited to:  agriculture, banking, chambers of commerce, commercial clubs, churches, civic organizations, community improvement or betterment groups, elderly citizens, health care, industry, libraries, local development organizations, local government, real estate, residents, retail business, schools, utilities and youth.

2)         The stakeholder group shall form the core planning group for the visioning process and, with input from the community, perform a community self-evaluation, create the community's environmental vision and develop strategies for achieving the environmental vision.

e)         The grantee must, to the greatest extent practicable, keep persons from all segments of the community involved in the visioning process and solicit input from all persons in the community.  Methods of soliciting input may include, but are not limited to, surveys, focus groups, community forums and flyers.

f)         The grantee must, to the greatest extent practicable, keep all segments of the community informed of the progress and status of the visioning process. Methods of providing information about the visioning process include, but are not limited to, a speaker's bureau, articles in a local paper, leaflets, mailings,  newsletters, public service announcements, information booths, press releases and web sites.

g)         The grantee must submit quarterly progress reports to the Agency during the term of the grant.  Each report shall contain a short narrative of the activities performed during the quarter, the dates each activity was performed and an accounting of all grant funds expended during the quarter.

1)         The reports shall cover the following time periods:  January 1 through March 31, April 1 through June 30, July 1 through September 30, and October 1 through December 31.

2)         Reports are due within 30 days after the end of the reported quarter.

h)         At the completion of the visioning process the grantee must submit a detailed final report to the Agency that can be made available to other communities for guidance.  The final report must include, but is not limited to, the following:

1)         A description of the methods used to encourage residents of the community to participate in the visioning process and a discussion of their participation;

2)         A characterization of the community's environmental strengths and challenges, along with forces and trends that may impact the community's environment in the future;

3)         The environmental vision developed by the community;

4)         The strategies developed by the community to achieve its environmental vision;

5)         Identification of benchmarks that can be used to measure the community's progress toward achieving its environmental vision;

6)         A discussion of the successful and unsuccessful aspects of the visioning process; and

7)         A summary of the costs incurred in completing the visioning process.

i)          If the grantee fails to timely submit a quarterly progress report or a final report, the Agency may impose any of the sanctions set forth in Subpart C of this Part.