Agreement
Form: All not-for-profit organizations and municipalities
awarded grants must enter into a contractual
ECHO Grants-In-Aid Agreement,
specifying the organization’s responsibilities prior to receiving grant
funds. Once the Advisory Committee has selected the projects to be
recommended to the County Council, each potential recipient is sent two
Agreements. The Agreements must be signed by the appropriate grantee representative(s) and returned to the ECHO Program Coordinator prior to
the County Council meeting to award the grants. Once the Council has
awarded the grants and signed the Agreements, one original will be
returned to the grantee for their records.
Restrictive
Covenants Form: Once the Advisory Committee has selected the
projects to be recommended to the County Council, each not-for-profit
organization and municipality recommended by the Committee is sent a
Restrictive Covenants for the grant project properties that must be signed by
the appropriate grantee representative(s). The signed Restrictive Covenants
along with the legal description of the project property must then be returned
to the ECHO Program Coordinator prior to the County Council meeting to award
the grants. After the County Council makes the awards, the original Restrictive
Covenants and grant property legal description are returned to the grantee for
recording with the Clerk of the Court of Volusia County. This must be done
prior to the grantee receiving a Notice to Proceed and use of the grant funds
from the County. The grantee then forwards a copy of the filed documents to the
ECHO Program Coordinator, who upon receipt sends the grantee a Notice To
Proceed.
Restrictive Covenants
form (Word document).
Notice to
proceed: Once a grantee has meet all of the initial requirements of
the program, the ECHO Program Coordinator will issue them a Notice To Proceed.
These requirements may include: returning a Restrictive Covenants and grant
project property legal description filed with the Volusia County Clerk of the
Court; returning a signed ECHO Grant Agreement; providing proof of irrevocable
match pledges in the bank; demonstration of an accounting system available for
review by the County; and a fee schedule for the project with a statement that the domicile of a Volusia County resident will NOT effect the fee charged by the grantee. Once the grantee has received a Notice To Proceed, they
may encumber and/or expend grant or match funds as stated in their grant
application. ECHO will not reimburse a grantee for any work done prior to their
being issued the Notice To Proceed.
Signage: An exterior sign of a specified
minimum size and wording must be erected during the construction phase of a
project and a permanent sign of a specified minimum size and wording must be
displayed in a prominent location once the project is complete.
The exterior construction sign shall be installed in a prominent public
location within 90 days of the grant award and remain installed through
completion of the project. The permanent sign must be installed before final
reimbursements will be made.
Variations are allowed but the ECHO Program Coordinator must approve any variations to the design, size, or wording prior to its fabrication.
ECHO Sign examples.
Quarterly
reporting schedule: All grantees are required to submit quarterly
reports over the life of the grant agreement. The reports should include an
updated budget of expenditures, reimbursement requests and a narrative
explaining the progress of the project. Pictures showing the progress of the
project should also be submitted from time to time. The ECHO Program
Coordinator reports the progress of each grant to the ECHO Advisory Committee
in the Quarterly Grant Report.
Quarterly reporting schedule
(pdf format)
Quarterly
Reporting Forms: Every quarter, each grant recipient must submit
both the “ECHO Quarterly Reporting Form” and the “ECHO Reimbursement Request
Form” whether or not any activity has occurred during the quarter. The
Quarterly Reporting Form is use to give an update on the projects status and
report any changes to the timeline submitted in the original application. The
Reimbursement Request Form is used to request reimbursement of expended funds
and must be submitted even if no reimbursements or match request values are
being reported.
Grantee quarterly project status report forms
First Quarter (pdf
format) (Word
document) Due before April 15, 2009
Second Quarter (pdf
format) (Word
document) Due before July 15, 2009
Third Quarter (pdf
format) (Word
document) Due before October 15, 2009
Fourth Quarter (pdf
format) (Word
document) Due before January 15, 2010
Required with quarterly report
ECHO/match expenditures and reimbursement request
forms
First Quarter (pdf
format) (Excel
format) Due before April 15, 2009
Second Quarter (pdf
format) (Excel
format) Due before July 15, 2009
Third Quarter (pdf
format) (Excel
format) Due before October 15, 2009
Fourth Quarter (pdf
format) (Excel
format) Due before January 15, 2010
Project
support period: Grant and match funds for projects should be
encumbered (or spent) within 365 days of the date of the grant award (date
Award Agreement was signed by the County Council). Projects should be completed
within 730 days of the grant award.
Request for
grant period extension: Requests to extend the grant period (365
days to encumber funds) must be made in writing to the ECHO Program Coordinator
no later than 60 days prior to the end of the 365-day grant period. A written
response will be sent within thirty days of the receipt of the request. Denials
to the request may be appealed to the County Council.
Final grant
report: All grantees are required to submit a final report that
includes a narrative covering the project development over the grant period and
a summary of expenditures showing if they went over or under the grant and
match amounts stated in the original application. The ECHO Program Coordinator
does not require any particular format for this report at this time.
Request for
10% funds withheld: As indicated in the ECHO Grants-In-Aid
Agreement, 10% of all reimbursements is withheld until the end of the project
period. Grantees must submit a written request at the end of the grant period
to receive these funds. These funds will be paid after the final permanent sign
has been installed and approved and after the Final Grant Report has been
submitted and accepted.
Annual
post-project reports: As noted in the ECHO Grants-In-Aid Agreement,
all grantees are required to annually submit a report for the full ECHO Grant
Agreement period
following the end of the grant fund period. The report must include their
Annual Corporate Report submitted to the State and a narrative explaining how
the project met the measurable goals as identified in the original application.
These reports are
due by July 15th of each year.
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