Committee discusses parameters for special grant

0

WILMINGTON — The City Revitalization Grant Committee recently met to discuss how to go forward with the special grant.

The committee consists of City Human Resources Director Brad Reynolds, Deputy City Auditor Donyel Riley, and Clinton County Regional Planning Executive Director Taylor Stuckert.

At the March 2 Wilmington City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution that authorized the committee to adopt an application guide for the grant program. The resolution allows the committee to manage grant payments to non-profits and government entities out of the hotel lodging tax.

Council member Jonathan McKay, who was present at the committee meeting Thursday, told the members it was all in their control but the council just wanted to know where the money is going and how much is left over.

The money from the hotel lodging tax goes to financially support projects and initiatives that benefit the citizens of Wilmington. This can be done through entertainment, events, business, and downtown growth.

The amount of money available for the grant changes depending on the amount of the quarterly tax that comes into the city.

Reynolds told the News Journal, “Potential applicants are limited to government and non-profit entities located within the Wilmington city limits. Organizations or businesses not considered governmental or non-profit are ineligible for grant funding.”

They discussed the idea of looking at grant applications on a quarterly schedule and looking at year-long events at the end of the year.

“The original way it was written was that you had to have funds used in the quarter after you applied. But we never accounted for what if you have a project that spans an entire year,” said Stuckert.

He added that committee members should think about the rubric and how they’d want to score the requests.

“Because I think we will have competitive requests and we need to determine how we’re going to work through this,” he said.

“Especially if we say get your foot in the door at the end of the year,” said Reynolds.

Riley hopes the word gets out to the community when it all comes together so people can apply for it.

Reynolds advised there will be changes to the application policy and form.

Further discussions will take place at future meetings.

Reach John Hamilton at 937-382-2574

No posts to display