MONROE - The rush to submit an application for a half-million dollar state grant, to be submitted through the city for the proposed World Cheese Destination Center, appears to have slowed down.
Members of the center's executive board had hoped to get the application to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) by today, June 1, anticipating changes in the state's handling of community development block grants. Their concerns heightened when on May 15, the council held a public hearing on the grant application but stopped short of a vote to authorize its submission, pending verification that the hearing had met all the requirements for WEDC.
Council President Tyler Schultz said the "whole process seemed to have been rushed along, without answering some questions."
So, the city brought in Jason Scott, a community account manager at WEDC, to explain in more detail the grant application process at a special Common Council meeting Monday, May 21.
"I think it was a learning experience for both us and the city," said Dennis Everson, a member of the center's executive board. "It was good that he came."
City Administrator Phil Rath outlined three major points gleaned from Scott's presentation, which will reorganize the project's schedule.
"June 1 is not a hard deadline anymore," Rath said. WEDC was talking about going to a semi-yearly application process, "but not anymore," he added.
The destination center group has to have non-profit status before any grant money could be released, if it is approved.
But most importantly, the grant that the World Cheese Destination Center was applying for is meant "to fill a financial gap," Rath said. "They should have a majority of their funds raised before they would be awarded the grant." That means raising about $2.5 million of the $3 million anticipated funds needed.
Everson said his group had been led earlier by WEDC representatives to believe the June 1 deadline was coming under state restructuring of the department. Instead, the state has maintained its rolling application process; semi-annual applications could be two to three years away, he added.
"The pressure is off (to submit the application), once the June 1 deadline was off," he said. "That was our concern."
The board has already applied for 501 (c) (3) status, which would legally make it a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization, and is awaiting approval.
Their designation as a tax-exempt nonprofit will allow donations to the project to be deductible on contributors' income tax returns. It will also make it easier to raise the necessary funds, Everson added.
The next step is "to start raising some funds," he said.
Everson said the building they are looking to purchase for the new home of the center, an abandoned factory in downtown Monroe, has passed all its environmental tests.
Schultz said he wanted "to make sure nothing negative fell back on the city in a negative way," especially after he learned Scott had listened to a recording of the May 15 public hearing and was not convinced the May 15 hearing had covered all the requirements by the WEDC grant application.
Schultz said he has been disappointed by the whole application process, from getting the city council to signify its support of the project, which it did May 1, to the push to submit the application before June 1, and he still had lingering concerns.
For example, if the destination center receives this grant, then no other project in the city could get a community development block grant for 12 months, according to Schultz.
"We would be closing our options for the future," he said.
And Schultz pointed out that the council's vote to endorse the project came with an amendment that it wouldn't add any costs to the city budget.
But it has, said Schultz, "in legal costs for investigating this application to make sure nothing is done wrong and the city's not liable for anything, and in Carol (City Clerk Carol Stamm) spending time filling out the application with no cooperation from them (the center')."
"There are a lot of unknowns in the whole project," he said.
Members of the center's executive board had hoped to get the application to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) by today, June 1, anticipating changes in the state's handling of community development block grants. Their concerns heightened when on May 15, the council held a public hearing on the grant application but stopped short of a vote to authorize its submission, pending verification that the hearing had met all the requirements for WEDC.
Council President Tyler Schultz said the "whole process seemed to have been rushed along, without answering some questions."
So, the city brought in Jason Scott, a community account manager at WEDC, to explain in more detail the grant application process at a special Common Council meeting Monday, May 21.
"I think it was a learning experience for both us and the city," said Dennis Everson, a member of the center's executive board. "It was good that he came."
City Administrator Phil Rath outlined three major points gleaned from Scott's presentation, which will reorganize the project's schedule.
"June 1 is not a hard deadline anymore," Rath said. WEDC was talking about going to a semi-yearly application process, "but not anymore," he added.
The destination center group has to have non-profit status before any grant money could be released, if it is approved.
But most importantly, the grant that the World Cheese Destination Center was applying for is meant "to fill a financial gap," Rath said. "They should have a majority of their funds raised before they would be awarded the grant." That means raising about $2.5 million of the $3 million anticipated funds needed.
Everson said his group had been led earlier by WEDC representatives to believe the June 1 deadline was coming under state restructuring of the department. Instead, the state has maintained its rolling application process; semi-annual applications could be two to three years away, he added.
"The pressure is off (to submit the application), once the June 1 deadline was off," he said. "That was our concern."
The board has already applied for 501 (c) (3) status, which would legally make it a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization, and is awaiting approval.
Their designation as a tax-exempt nonprofit will allow donations to the project to be deductible on contributors' income tax returns. It will also make it easier to raise the necessary funds, Everson added.
The next step is "to start raising some funds," he said.
Everson said the building they are looking to purchase for the new home of the center, an abandoned factory in downtown Monroe, has passed all its environmental tests.
Schultz said he wanted "to make sure nothing negative fell back on the city in a negative way," especially after he learned Scott had listened to a recording of the May 15 public hearing and was not convinced the May 15 hearing had covered all the requirements by the WEDC grant application.
Schultz said he has been disappointed by the whole application process, from getting the city council to signify its support of the project, which it did May 1, to the push to submit the application before June 1, and he still had lingering concerns.
For example, if the destination center receives this grant, then no other project in the city could get a community development block grant for 12 months, according to Schultz.
"We would be closing our options for the future," he said.
And Schultz pointed out that the council's vote to endorse the project came with an amendment that it wouldn't add any costs to the city budget.
But it has, said Schultz, "in legal costs for investigating this application to make sure nothing is done wrong and the city's not liable for anything, and in Carol (City Clerk Carol Stamm) spending time filling out the application with no cooperation from them (the center')."
"There are a lot of unknowns in the whole project," he said.