OROVILLE — Each year, Butte County selects a list of community projects to submit applications for Community Development Block Grant funding on behalf of, but this year the county was limited to choosing only two.

The grant is state-funded and issued through the Department of Housing and Community Development and, if selected, a program could receive as much as $300,000.

Will Firth, principal management analyst for the county, said the funding is meant for planning and public services, though he noted that projects within the city of Chico and the town of Paradise were ineligible because both municipalities have their own revenue streams from the grant.

“The board may continue services funded in the past or fund new plans or public services,” Firth said.

Staff brought four options to the Butte County Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting for the board to consider.

Ultimately, the board opted to go with applications for the Mobile Hygiene Center and the Older Adult Home Delivery Nutrition Program. The Mobile Hygiene Center provides shower, laundry and hair services to communities in the unincorporated parts of Butte County while the Older Adult Home Delivery Nutrition Program provides weekly meals to elderly clients.

The other candidates were the Housing and Homeless Connection Center and the Mobile Food Bank Distribution programs.

During the board discussion, supervisors provided input on the decision, some noting the difficulty caused by the reduction of applicants to just two. Supervisor Doug Teeter spoke in favor of the meal delivery service.

“I think seniors are most at risk,” Teeter said. “Their ability to drive is compromised at least with recipients. They are usually challenged to get employment.”

Supervisor Tami Ritter said one of the issues with the categories of services for the grant funding was that it created a broad umbrella that makes it difficult to compare projects.

“We’re not comparing apples to apples, we’re comparing apples to oranges, because some of it is prevention and some of it is navigation and getting people to the services that they need,” Ritter said. “We obviously need all of these services that are here. We have incredible providers that are very well coordinated.”

Ritter added that regardless of what was picked, she would like to see more coordination between services.

Pastor Kevin Thompson, director of the Oroville Southside Community Improvement Association, advocated for the Mobile Hygiene Center during the public comment period.

“The reason we would like to continue, for the last eight months we’ve given 2,591 showers, done 969 loads of laundry, we are part of the (Homeless Management Information System) coordinated entry, every person we serve is inputted into that system,” Thompson said. “We do work side by side with other providers, Ampla Health, so that they can come beside us at our locations.”

Ritter asked that the county put out a request for proposals for the hygiene center and the meal delivery project that focuses on coordination with providers.

For the next step, staff will draft formal applications, which will then return to the board for final approval. The direction from the board was unanimous.