Councilor George Marin’s idea of a written policy for allocating reserve funds to local organizations is a good one.

Currently, the council gives out its reserves on a first-come, first-served basis. Under this policy, it’s possible the council could easily spend down its entire reserve in the first month of the year.

That means that organizations that suffer a hardship later in the year would be left out in the cold.

A written policy, for example, could state that organizations need to exhaust all other avenues for funding, or be in an emergency situation, before approaching the council for reserve funds. Then, if there were funds left in the 10th month of the year, they could be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Certainly, any such policy requires thought and discussion, and perhaps the end result would be to leave it as is.

But it is time to explore such a policy.