Commission Tables Beck Resolution On $1 Million In COVID Funds To United Community Action Alliance

  • Wednesday, September 21, 2022

The County Commission on Wednesday tabled a resolution to shift $1 million of COVID relief funds from two agencies to the United Community Action Alliance.

Commissioner Greg Beck said the alliance has been around since 2016 and has been especially effective in his District 5.

The prior County Commission had approved $600,000 for the Sankofa Fund for Civic Engagement and $500,000 for the Urban League.

A Beck resolution proposed to cut the Sankofa allocation and the Urban League funds to $100,000 each. At the meeting, he amended the resolution to leave the Urban League without any funding.  

Commissioner Mike Chauncey moved to approve the resolution, but Commissioner Lee Helton said the matter "had come on rather quickly" and he needed more time to consider it. He also said it might set "bad precedent" for a new commission to undo spending allotments from a prior one.

The commission then voted to table the measure.

At the end of the meeting, officials of Sankofa and the Urban League hit the Beck resolution, saying they had gone through an extensive process before being awarded the funds.

They asked the commission to vote down the resolution, not just table it - saying otherwise their funding would be in limbo.

One speaker said Commissioner Beck has long been involved with the United Community Action Alliance and his home address was listed as its home base. She said in March he stated that he was the executive director of the United Community Action Alliance. 

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