El Dorado County Veterans Affairs Commission and Veteran Grant Funding

The Commission. El Dorado County established a Veterans Affairs Commission by Ordinance 4188 in 1991, replaced its ordinance with Ordinance 5098 in 2019, and on January 28, 2020 repealed the ordinance article (County Code sections 2.20.510 to 2.20.570, Ordinance 5113) and continued the Commission under Resolution 013-2020 with bylaws attached. The five primary members are honorably discharged veterans, one nominated by each supervisor, with alternates; the Veterans Service Officer sits as secretary ex officio. The Commission advises the Board on promoting public support for veterans affairs and recruitment, reviews policies and programmes affecting veterans, and passes on information and recommendations. How the money moves. The Commission's bylaws create a Transient Occupancy Tax Committee that reviews grant applications for relevance to the veteran community's needs, ranks the mini-grant applications, and recommends the dollar amount for each; a Budget Committee and an Education and Employment Committee review county policy and funding. The Board contributes to the Commission and executes the grants through the Health and Human Services Agency: on March 3, 2026 it approved the Commission's recommendation for the Fiscal Year 2025-26 General Fund Contribution (file 25-1819) and authorised seven funding-out agreements on the terms the Commission recommended on September 11, 2025. One-time TOT funding applications from American Legion Post 119 and VFW Post 10165 were before the Commission in May 2026, and the Commission's annual grants are voted after the TOT Committee's recommendations, as in its September 11, 2025 meeting. The Veteran Assistance Fund. On August 18, 2026 the Board accepted a one-time $20,000 Veteran Assistance Fund grant from the Commission (file 26-1095) for the agency to provide meals to home-bound veterans. The county also takes restricted donations for veteran purposes: in January 2026 it accepted $13,560 from Clifford Wadiak in honour of Don W. Harr for a private office at the Veterans Office Building (file 25-1583). The Commission reports to the Board annually through the Health and Human Services Agency, as it did on September 15, 2026 (file 26-1300).