Commissioner Gustafson put city staff on the spot at last week's commission meeting, raising pointed questions about why Helena had not submitted a Community Development Block Grant application for community and public facilities funding in either the 2024 or 2025 grant cycles — even as a CDBG grant awarded to Helena Food Share in 2023 remained active and ongoing.
City staff member Miss Pette confirmed the lapse, acknowledging the city did not have a community and public facilities CDBG application in either of those cycles. The exchange laid bare what Gustafson framed as a strategic gap: the city appeared to be leaving a federal funding category largely untapped while a local nonprofit continued working through an older award.
CDBG funds, administered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are among the more flexible federal dollars available for community infrastructure and services. Missing two consecutive cycles means Helena forfeited opportunities to compete for grants that neighboring communities may have captured instead.
The questions from Gustafson did not result in an immediate commission vote or directive, but the exchange puts pressure on city staff to document and justify the city's CDBG application strategy going forward. Whether the commission will take formal action — including directing staff to file in the next available cycle — was not resolved at the October 16 meeting.