Panel Meeting

The Ameren Fine Panel meet last night with all members present. The first hour was spent trying to come to consensus on a number of topics. There is still no definition of "near the project", but they did decide on what is "far". They also eliminated about a dozen applications that didn't specify a specific monetary amount. About 20 people made three minute presentations on their applications. After seven presentations, the panel was given 15 minutes to ask followup questons. I happened to be the 7th presenter and had two followup questions and because I am asking Ameren to provide a BPL network Sen. Engler ask the Forrester Group to contact Ameren and report back to see if my proposal has legs. After the second seven presentations the panel had no followup questions.

I served on a similar panel 15 years ago for the Missouri Arts Council. We would meet once a year to provide grants to Missouri arts organizations. There was spirited debate and questions about the details of the grant requests. I bring this up because what I saw last night raises three questions. Is the makeup of the panel going to insure turf warfare when it gets time to make decisions? Is the panel overwhelmed with the volume and detail in the proposals? Or, have they personally already eliminated 75% of the proposals and feel that there is no reason to ask followup questions?

Next Thursdays meeting will start at 6pm and probably go past 10pm because of the volume of the presentations. I still can't figure out if the panel is going to try to hand a few $$$ to each of the government agencies that are seeking funds or are they going to recommend specific line item requests. What I fear is that rather than pick proposals that will really impact "the quality of life" of the greatest number of people in the area that a lot of proposals will get 10K or 20K and it won't be enough to make much difference. I do believe that the EMS departments will get enough funding to make some difference in northern Reynolds County, although there is not enough money to help everyone will all their requests. I hope I'm alive five years from now so that I can try to see if this money really made a difference in the area. I'm from Missouri!