Roseville hires a new grant writer

ROSEVILLE — Roseville is hoping to pull in more grant funds after the City Council approved a contract with a grant writer at its March 26 meeting.

Consulting firm Team Roe will have a six-month trial period to see if its grant-writing services meet the city’s needs. The grant-writing team will be paid a flat $3,000 monthly fee during the trial period. If the city sticks with Team Roe, it will pay the same rate for a 12-month contract. The firm could not be paid with money captured from grant funding, according to Team Roe’s Liz Roe. The work will be done off-site, but Team Roe will be available to attend meetings as needed.

Grant writers capture state and federal funding for municipal projects. This funding helps cities spend their revenues on other things.

Roe gave a presentation to the board at the meeting outlining her services. She said she’s captured approximately $3 million in government grants since 2022 and about $4 million in nonprofit grants.

“I am a one-person shop,” Roe said. “I have a part-time assistant who is my daughter.”

Roe currently is a grant writer for Macomb Township. Between 2022 and 2023, Team-Roe applied for 12 grants and was awarded four of them. Team Roe pulled in about $2 million of the $10 million it applied for, according to Roe. She said this included matching funds.

“We could probably do better, but Macomb Township is one of those townships where they’re somewhat limited in what they can apply for and what they’re eligible for,” Roe said.

According to Roe, the ability of the township to get grants is impacted by the wealth in the community.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for the council was Roe’s work with Macomb Township. Per her agreement, she would not be able to apply for the same grants as the township during a grant cycle.

“I don’t foresee that being a conflict with the city of Roseville, just because of the nature of what they’re requesting in grants is probably going to have a different portfolio than what the city of Roseville is requesting,” Roe said.

Later, City Manager Ryan Monroe agreed that there wouldn’t be many conflicts.

“Macomb Township and Roseville are very different communities,” Monroe said. “Cities and townships follow different rules and qualify for different grants, too.”

Council member Jan Haggerty asked, if there was a conflict of interest with another community, would Team Roe come to the city to resolve it.

“I would definitely come to you if there was a conflict of interest,” Roe said. She said she already talked with Macomb Township about this possibility. She said the city could still apply for the grant on its own; it would just have to be done by someone else.

“There’s always that potential, so we have to be aware of it,” Haggerty said.

Roe said she would work with the city manager to make sure there isn’t a conflict. She said she doesn’t mind sharing the grant writing workload with those who already do it for the city.

“My job as a grant writer is supportive in nature,” she said. “I’m not the rock star — the people who work for the city are, honestly.”

Roe and her husband, Jamie, started Team Roe in 2014. She takes care of public policy and grant writing, while her husband focuses on public policy and political consulting. Jamie has worked in Republican politics, though Liz said this is separate from what she does.

“While he cares about blue and red, I just care about green,” Roe said at the meeting. “I’m nonpartisan, bipartisan in my work portfolio.”