Although Moffat County Social Services hasn’t paid out a significant portion of the special grant funds it made available in November 2008, county officials remain excited by the money’s possibilities.

Social Services Director Marie Peer made all of her department’s excess Colorado Works funds available to the community through a competitive grant process.

Colorado Works is the state’s welfare program, and its funds – both federal and state – can be spent in four ways: assisting needy families so children can be cared for in their own homes; reducing dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage; preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and/or encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

Peer’s decision to make these funds available came after the state informed all county Social Services offices that it would allow them to carry over only a certain percentage of their leftover Colorado Works dollars per year.

Each office has until June 30, 2009, to spend its extra funding or else the state collects the remaining money.

Peer said last year she wanted to make sure those dollars stayed local, and thus the one-time grant program was born.

The Moffat County Commission awarded all 13 organizations that applied for funding a total of $762,975 in November.

Spending has not happened fast, but no one expected it to, partly because groups must spend their own money first and then get reimbursed by Social Services, Moffat County Commissioner Tom Gray said.

As of last week, a total of $5,470.46 had been billed to Social Services by three of the 13 local organizations that received grant funding. However, several more bills came in since then, said Laurie Grillo, who manages the overall program as a Social Services self-sufficiency case manager.

She added that she, like Gray, doesn’t have any real concerns about the collective organizations failing to spend all their money before the state’s deadline.

“Several are just now getting started, although there also are several that have had their programs going for quite a while,” Grillo said. “I think, overall, we have really good programs that will be really good for the community.”

Gray said it will be difficult for the 13 organizations to spend all the money, mostly because he wonders if they will have the kind of public participation they planned for in their budgets.

For instance, the Work and Life Skills Program, which offers students a chance to earn a laptop by learning about good work ethic and positive life decisions, has fewer students enrolled than planned, he said.

“It probably was pretty hard to know exactly how these things were going to play out,” he said. “I think, at the stage we were at, it was better to try something and plan for the best, because these are all good opportunities.”

Other action:

At its Tuesday meeting, the Moffat County Commission:

• Approved, 3-0, a $7,663 bid from Craig-based Jackson’s Technologies to provide an updated security system for the Museum of Northwest Colorado.

Museum Director Dan Davidson will have discretion to forego purchasing any equipment included in the bid.

Steamboat Springs-based Western Security Systems also submitted a bid for $6,610, although Davidson said Jackson’s charged less per item. The Commission decided Jackson’s bid was, in reality, lower since the county would pay less for the same equipment.

Commissioner Tom Mathers also noted Jackson’s is a local business, and it should get some leeway with bid prices per county policy.

• Approved, 3-0, naming the following people to the Community Evaluation Team, which tracks juvenile offenders and works with them through probation and parole terms:

– Elizabeth Oldham, 14th Judicial District Attorney, newly appointed

– Renae Dove, Moffat County School District, newly appointed

– Matt Beckett, Grand Futures Prevention Coalition, newly appointed

– Gina Toothaker, Craig Mental Health, reappointed

– Marie Peer, Moffat County Social Services director, reappointed

– Tara Wojtkiewicz, Moffat County Juvenile Diversion Office, reappointed

– Walt Vanatta, Craig police chief, reappointed

– Tim Jantz, Moffat County sheriff, reappointed

– Dennis Martinez, 14th Judicial District Probation Department, reappointed

– Bill Toovey, Moffat County School District, reappointed

– Nicole Beckum, member at large, reappointed

– Tom Gray, Moffat County commissioner, ex officio member

Also, after a second 3-0 vote, appointed the following residents to the Moffat County Juvenile Services Planning Commission:

– Lt. K.C. Hume, Moffat County Sheriff’s Office

– Marie Peer, Social Services director

– Tom Gray, Moffat County commissioner

• Approved, 3-0, allowing the U.S. Post Office in Craig to install keyed-entry mailboxes at the County Courthouse. New security measures limiting stairwell access have hampered mail delivery, Postmaster Victor Cordes said, and it would be more efficient to have one delivery location.

• Approved, 3-0, opening an employee position for a part-time cemetery grounds facility maintenance technician. It is a pre-existing position, and the county is looking to fill a resignation.