Gwinnett To Refuse Federal Grant Money Over Requirements

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA— Gwinnett County officials plan to send back more than $3.6 million in federal grant funding. According to CBS 46, the county failed to meet the requirements needed to keep the federal grant money.

The stipulations attached to the grants included having to implement equal opportunity plans, applicable to hiring and the treatment of employees based on race, sex and national origin.

County grants manager Shannon Candler told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that most of the money hasn't been spent, and the county will only have to repay $37,468.

The grant funding the county plans to return would have required Gwinnett to develop and report on an equal opportunity plan that would track things like recruitment, hiring, promotions and discipline by race, sex and national origin, the newspaper reported.

Maria Woods, Gwinnett’s chief financial officer, said tracking and reporting the data to comply with the grant requirement would “significantly change the way we conduct business.”

“We don’t have the capacity,” she said.

Much of the money would have gone to the county police department.

Read the full story at this link.