It’s beginning to look like a grant-of-the-week with grant applications here.
At June 3 council, Treasurer Gord Duff said, “This week’s grant is the Community Investment Fund.”
He noted there is a short response time. For staff, it meant another round of quickly gathering information. No formal council resolution was required. The grant applies to municipalities under 250,000 to help them deal with the economic downturn.
“It’s a very tight turnaround, but it’s basically for projects that can be done within the next year.”
Duff said Minto has selected a package of projects.
“We’ve looked at things we’ve always wanted to do, and things we don’t see ourselves doing without the money.”
The good thing about this particular grant is the municipality would put up perhaps only 5% of the capital cost.
One projects picked from a long term plan is servicing of the Palmerston industrial park, which requires the installation of a waste-water lift station, road improvements, deals with storm water management and other issues, Duff said.
As of the meeting, the town was still working with the engineers, but Duff said costs could range up to $1-million.
Another area is a continuation of the local economic development exercise to find the best ways to attract specific industries to Minto.
Economic Development Manager Belinda Wick-Graham said council could consider hiring a consultant through the grant to develop an investment attraction strategy.
Duff said, there are certain aspects of the Rural Economic Development grants that do not qualify, such as sidewalk or asphalt stamping. He said there are no guarantees and there is only a set amount of money available, but he believes there is some latitude with this grant.
“It’s one of these ‘We’re under the gun again’ applications, so we’re working as fast as we can.”
Mayor David Anderson, said, “It is great to offer these possible grants, but the windows of opportunities are so short, it puts a lot of stress on staff. You have to stop whatever you are doing and concentrate on that.”
He said the financial help is appreciated, but sometimes more time is needed.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” Anderson concluded. to council.
