Council finalizes Vibrant Small Cities Initiative grant

by Angie Asam– Staff Writer

A special city council meeting was called for Tuesday afternoon to finalize the Vibrant Small Cities Initiative (VSCI) grant and bond funding for the project. A bit of bad news required some changes to be made to the authorizing resolution for the VSCI grant before it could be approved by the council. ?County chair Allan Bruder informed me this afternoon that they decided they were not going to participate, so we have $141,000 of grant money that is sitting on the table right now,? said city manager Mark Slown. It is unknown why the county backed out of the project, but they did. The county was going to assist in funding for some pocket parks, one to be located at the Nowicki building. The city was able to add some of the money they had set aside for the pocket parks into the infrastructure projects, including street lights. Council made the appropriate changes and passed the authorizing resolution. In addition to the county backing out of the VSCI project, the number of fa?ade projects that go along with the grant project has dropped to two. The city went on to approve a resolution to place the designated VSCI funds in the appropriate account prior to March 17. All matching money has to be in an escrow account by that date in order for the city to move forward with the project using the grant money. Council also passed a similar resolution stating that all private matching funds, such as those from fa?ade participants, as well as the Rogers City Area Senior and Community Center must be in place by 5 p.m. on Friday, March 14. Next on the meeting agenda was an agreement with the Rogers City Area Senior and Community Center on the project of disability access, paved parking and landscaping. Because of a conflict of interest, council member Gary Nowak asked the council to allow him to not vote on the issue, as he is the president of RCAS. Council allowed Nowak to abstain and approved the agreement with the RCAS. Nowak thanked the council on behalf of the center for their approval and assistance. The city council also passed a bond resolution allowing them to borrow money needed for match money on the projects that will be done in cooperation with the grant. The resolution is a technical issue, as it allows them to issue the bonds but does not give the exact details of the interest and such. If the interest rates come back and are not agreeable, the city council can still back out of the bond issuance. Mayor Beach Hall congratulated council for forward thinking. Council member Deb Greene thanked Slown for all the time and energy he has put into the project. ?It?s all good for the city, and that is all that matters. I don?t think there is anything in here that won?t be a benefit in the long run. I want to thank you for your support and for moving forward. I appreciate your willingness to take action on these matters,? said Slown.

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