The Marshall County Council approved action on Monday morning to pledge funds toward the Marshall County 4-H Fair Board Association’s OCRA grant proposal for a multi-purpose building at the fairgrounds in Argos.
Angel Balsley explained that the project was not awarded the OCRA grant request in the fall for the $500,000 grant request but the application will be submitted again in an additional grant round in February. She approached the council members Monday morning with a funding request to help the fair board obtain the grant.
“Argos is throwing in some money, we’ve raised some money, we have some money set back and we’re still $215,000 short which we were going to get a loan for,” said Balsley. “When we talked to the lady from OCRA she asked if we would be opposed to coming to the county and asking if you would give us the $215,000 up front and in doing that do away with the $24,000 that you give us annually for a period of nine years, with the plan that at the end of nine years we would not need that money.”
She said it would save the fair board association $71,000 in interest if they had to take out a loan. It also shows that the county is more in support of the project, when there wasn’t any documentation of support other than a maintenance agreement which gives the application more points.
The money isn’t needed until 2019. An additional appropriation would need to be advertised when the time comes to fund that support. The money would come from the General Fund.
Commission President Kevin Overmyer voiced that he is behind the funding request.
The council members unanimously approved a motion to approve the $215,000 pledge toward the project with the understanding that if the grant is not awarded, their original payment agreement of $24,000 per year remains in effect. If it is awarded, that payment is suspended for a period of nine years and may not need to be further appropriated after that term. As part of the motion, legal memorandum of understanding and sub-recipient agreements would be reviewed for signatures in order to move forward with the grant application.
