Section 221.6.10. Informal appeals.

An informal appeals process shall be made available only to applicants whose applications were declined on procedural impropriety or error as evidenced by one or more of the following reasons:

        1.            Application declined on the basis of review criteria other than those appearing in rule or relevant guidelines;

        2.            Application declined based on influence of the advisory committee willfully failing to disclose conflicts of interest;

        3.            Application declined based upon highly erroneous information provided by staff or advisory committee members at the time of the review despite the fact that the applicant provided the department with accurate and complete information on regulation forms as part of the standard application process. Incomplete, ineligible, or applications failing to meet the annual deadline are specifically denied any appeals process. All requests for appeals shall be made in writing and shall be hand-delivered or bear a U.S. Postal Service postmark within 30 days of notification of the decision. The director shall consider and rule on the appeal and will notify the appellant in writing of the decision within 30 days from the receipt of the appeal. The decision of the director is final except as provided for in Iowa Code sections 17A.19 to 17A.20.