It was like a television cliffhanger as those watching were left wondering what would happen next.

But instead of wondering whether the boy gets the girl or if the patient lives, this dealt with the distribution of funds for local nonprofits.

After nearly two-and-a-half hours of discussion on Tuesday, July 12 — and immediately following a 15-minute break — the Sedona City Council voted 5-1 to postpone allocating money through the city’s small grants fund until its Wednesday, Aug. 10, meeting. Councilman Tom Lamkin was the dissenting vote.

According to a city report, the small grants program was created to encourage and fund activities, programs, or events developed by 501(c)(3) organizations that serve a public purpose, provide a fair return value to the city and are consistent with the city’s funding priorities. Programs, activities or events that may be funded include those that enhance the city’s commitment to arts and culture, civic and community service that foster the well-being and prosperity of the city and its residents.

A citizen committee was formed to go through the grant application and make recommendations to the council. The committee was made up of chairman Stephanie Giesbrecht, resident Larry Lineberry and new to the committee are former City Manager Tim Ernster and former Vice Mayor Cliff Hamilton.

Twenty-six grant applications were received totaling $253,900 in requests for the categories of Arts & Culture, Community Building and Economic Stimulation. The grants committee recommended distributing $128,400 of the budgeted $150,000.

The report states that the chairman of the work group vetted the grant applications for completeness, reproduced and distributed the applicants to the reviewers, led the evaluation process, scheduled the applicant interviews and summarized committee recommendations for grant awards to the city.

“I know the recommendations before you are substantially different than what you’ve seen in the past,” Giesbrecht said. “I believe that has to do with the make up of our committee. We had some new members on the committee that came from different backgrounds than we’ve had in the past. They came with very different viewpoints and I don’t necessarily believe that’s a bad thing. Sometimes you need to shake up the tree and find out what other people are thinking.”

The committee and council had concerns with the vetting process and all agreed it needs to be revamped for next year. Council also questioned why it was that last year all the applicants received funding while this year eight were recommended to receive nothing.

“The guidelines we’re working on are about six years old and things have changed,” Giesbrecht said. “Not only has the city changed but so has the council, its priorities, where we’re headed and very much to the point, when it comes to the decision-making process, the responsibility of city officers when spending public money.”

This year the committee also spent time revisiting the evaluation criteria set by council years ago to ensure all members had the same understanding when evaluating the merits of each proposal. The report stated that these discussions led the group to more narrowly interpret some of those criteria and, as a result, the applications were scrutinized somewhat differently than in prior years. They also collectively agreed on other funding philosophies that influenced their decisions.

The committee is recommending that prior to next year’s grant process that council, a council subcommittee or task force work to further clarify the city’s intent for use of the grant funding, including further defining what the council and city attorney consider to be legitimate public purposes. This would be meant to provide clearer guidance to future evaluators so they can come back with recommendations that are closely aligned with council’s wishes.

The committee recommended that six organization receive $10,000 or more. They include Sedona International Film Festival [$20,000], Chamber Music Sedona [$11,500], Red Rock Trail Fund [$10,000], Yavapai Food Council [$10,000], Sedona Visual Artists’ Coalition [$10,000] and Sedona Chamber Ballet [$10,000].

Council addressed each of the 26 applicants one by one. Representatives of those organizations were invited to the meeting and were given an opportunity to answer council questions or in essence plead their case as to why funding is needed.

Those who were recommended by the committee to receive no funding this year include the Sedona Community Food Bank, Sedona Historical Society and Sedona Heritage Museum, Red Rocks Music Festival, Keep Sedona Beautiful, Sedona Arts Center’s Artist in Residence program, Cornucopia Community Advocates, Sedona Marathon and Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks.

In regard to those denied funding by the committee, Mayor Sandy Moriarty used the Sedona Community Food Bank as an example. Last year, they requested a similar amount as this year [$9,300] and received most of it but this year, nothing.

“It’s not consistent from one year to the next,” she said. “The groups were not aware that the rules had changed. To me, that’s not fair. We need to do some reallocating of the funds.”