Rule 37.2.907 - CONTRACTOR PLAN ASSURANCES AND CONTENT(1) A contractor must assure in its contractor plan that it will only use the funds: (a) to provide a range of services and activities having a measurable and potentially major impact on causes of poverty in the community or those areas of the community where poverty is a particularly acute problem;(b) to provide activities designed to assist low income participants including the elderly poor: (i) to secure and retain meaningful employment;(ii) to attain an adequate education;(iii) to make better use of available income;(iv) to obtain and maintain adequate housing and a suitable living environment;(v) to obtain emergency assistance through loans or grants to meet immediate and urgent individual and family needs, including the need for health services, family needs, including the need for health services, nutritious food, housing and employment related assistance;(vi) to remove obstacles and solve problems which block the achievement of self-sufficiency;(vii) to achieve greater participation in the affairs of the community; and(viii) to make more effective use of other programs related to the purpose of this subchapter.(c) to provide on an emergency basis for the provision of such supplies and services, nutritious foodstuffs, and related services, as may be necessary to counteract conditions of starvation and malnutrition among the poor;(d) to coordinate and establish linkages between governmental and other social services programs to assure the effective delivery of services to low income individuals;(e) to encourage the use of entities in the private sector of the community in efforts to ameliorate poverty in the community; and(f) to meet department-identified priorities which address one or more of the eligible activities described in (1) (a) through (e).(2) Not all of items in (1) (b) through (f) must be proposed in a contractor plan. However, the contractor does have to certify that it is providing a range of services and activities having a measurable and potentially major impact on the causes of poverty in its community, commensurate with the amount of money received.(3) The contractor plan shall contain the additional assurances that: (a) CSBG funds will not be used to provide voters and prospective voters with transportation to the polls or provide similar assistance in connection with an election or any voter registration activity;(b) CSBG funds will be used to provide for coordination between anti-poverty programs and, where appropriate, with emergency energy crisis intervention programs under Title XXVI of the Act (relating to low income home energy assistance) conducted in the county;(c) fiscal control and fund accounting procedures will be established as may be necessary to assure the proper disbursal of and accounting for CSBG funds;(d) the contractor will prepare and submit to the state, at least once every two years, an independent audit of the CSBG funds;(e) amounts found not to have been expended in accordance with the Act or the contractor plan will be repaid to the state;(f) no person shall on the ground of race, color, national origin or sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity funded, in whole or in part, with CSBG funds. Any prohibition against discrimination on the basis of age under the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 or with respect to an otherwise qualified handicapped individual as provided in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 shall also apply to any such program or activity;(g) CSBG funds will not be used for the purchase or improvement of land, or the purchase, construction or permanent improvement (other than low cost residential weatherization or other energy-related home repair) of any building or other facility;(h) it will permit and cooperate with any federal or state investigation related to the CSBG; and(i) each contractor must have a board of directors constituted so as to assure that: (i) one-third of the members of the board are elected public officials currently holding office or their representatives, except that if the number of elected officials reasonably available and willing to serve is less than one-third of the membership of the board, membership on the board of appointive public officials may be counted in meeting such one-third requirements;(ii) at least one-third of the members are persons chosen in accordance with democratic selection procedures adequate to assure that they are representative of the poor in the area served; and(iii) the remainder of the members are officials or members of business, industry, labor, religious, welfare, education or other major groups and interests in the community.(4) The contractor plan must contain: (a) evidence that an assessment of needs has been undertaken to determine the best expenditures of CSBG funds;(b) a description of which services and activities will be carried out and the means to be used to provide those services and activities. Such description shall also include the geographic areas to be served and categories or characteristics of individuals to be served. If direct services are planned, only individuals with income below the poverty line are eligible; and(c) a proposed budget describing how the CSBG funds will be used during the program period.(5) The program period will begin January 1 and end on December 31 of the same year. All contractor plans/budget material must be proposed for completion during that period. Should unusual or extraordinary circumstances occur, the department will consider requests for amendments to the contractor plan.(6) The contractor plan shall be submitted on forms provided by the department.NEW, 1982 MAR p. 1222, Eff. 6/18/82; AMD, 1983 MAR p. 21, Eff. 1/14/83; AMD, 1983 MAR p. 754, Eff. 7/1/83; TRANS, from SRS, 2000 MAR p. 745; AMD, 2003 MAR p. 2440, Eff. 10/31/03.Sec. 53-2-201, MCA; IMP, HB 2 of the First Special Session, 1981 and Sec. 53-10-504, MCA;