GREENE – Carrollton signs resolution of support for grant application
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By Carmen Ensinger
Since the Carrollton City Council voted last month to move forward with the grant application for the Rebuild Downtowns & Main Streets Capital Grant program, a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes which Jaime Headon, with Benton and Associates explained to the council at the Dec. 9 city council meeting.
“Coates and Associates are the ones preparing the main part of the grant and we are assisting kind of where needed,” Headon said. “We have letters of support from Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer’s office, a letter from the County and things are moving along pretty good. We are at the point now where the council needs to consider the Resolution of Support for the grant.”
The grant application is due on Jan. 10 and should the council decide to commit any local funds to the project, a resolution committing those local funds can be drawn up to replace this original one.
Alderman Tim Reif had a question about the commitment of local funds.
“If I understood right, when we talked initially, if we pledge support, whether it be a dollar amount or a percentage of the project, that does get us more points on the grant application towards potentially being awarded the grant, correct,” he asked.
Headon said it did.
“Yes, it will help the overall score for sure,” he said. “They don’t say exactly how many points but they do say the more the merrier in terms of local support on dollars. We would need to identify a dollar amount and what fund it is going to come from. They want to make sure it has a location and it is reserved should the grant be awarded.”
Reif thought it was something the council should consider.
“I think it is something that, as a council or finance committee, we need to look at and try to come up with a dollar amount,” he said. “This is two years down the road before we have to do anything and if it could help us get more points to get $2.1 million to come back to our town I think it is something to look into.”
Mayor Mike Snyder agreed.
“I was going to ask to get with the finance committee to meet and go over some things and then maybe call for a special council meeting,” he said. “Because I do know that there are going to be some local funds that are going to be coming and I would like to discuss that with the finance committee first and then move on from there.”
City Treasurer Diane Hendricks said that the remaining $1,076 left of the USDA Rural Business Development Grant will be used for design engineering on the Mainstreet grant.
“This money is what is left over from the $30,500 grant that the city applied for for the Carrollton Square Initiative (CSI) back in 2019,” Grant explained. “I checked with Dwight Reynolds with USDA and that money can be used for design engineering so the money is going to be applied towards the design of the new Rebuild Downtown and Mainstreet program.”
Headon presented a pay request on the tank project in the amount of $26,437.11 and gave an update on the project.
“The status is still the same as last time – we are waiting on the steel,” he said. “The foundation is ready to go and the steel should be arriving after the new year and we should be proceeding after that.”
Alderman Larry Gillingham commended City Clerk Donna Nonneman for all the work she has done on getting all of the ordinances together to be codified. The book is completed now, at a cost of around $16,000.
Gillingham said he would like to see if any alderman would like to take the book home and have it handy as a reference.
“Oftentimes, I think council members are called at home about things so if you have the book handy, you can look things up,” he said. “I can’t see having a $16,000 book sitting on the shelf without having someone use it.”
The council approved the purchase of a plate compactor for the public works department at a cost of $1,800.
“We do not have one of our own, but have been borrowing the one from the county for several years now,” Public Works Director Steve Rosentreter said. “We have always had a good relationship with them, but its getting to the point where we need to get our own. I know if we had our own, we would use it a lot more often.”
Rosentreter said he went out and got two bids – one on a Whacker Packer model and one on a Bomag model.
“The Bomag model has 700 pounds more force and that is what Mark Steckel has got and it is a very good compactor,” Rosentreter said. “Plus, it is $35 cheaper than the other one. So, that is the one that I recommend we get.”
Mayor Snyder, who was formerly the Public Works Director could attest to the need for it.
“This has been a need for a while now and while we have been lucky to be able to borrow one, I know we would use it a lot more often if we had our own,” he said. “It could save you money by not having to go back and do over trenches because they are settling because these things do an amazing job.”
