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STEUBENVILLE -- The Jefferson County Commissioners got their long-awaited meeting with the project manager working on the second of two Appalachian Community Grant applications.
President Jim Lenner and Vice President Stephanie McManis Renda of Neighborhood Strategies, the firm hired to manage the application being developed under the auspices of the Jefferson County Port Authority with Ohio Mid-Eastern Government Association, attended Thursday's meeting.
Lenner, whose firm also is working with the Mayor's Partnership for Progress, said they continue "to work with projects, vetting them, making sure" they meet the funding guidelines." He said the goal is to "make sure we're not wasting everyone's time" by moving forward with projects that aren't eligible.
"If it's not (eligible), it shouldn't be going forward," he said. "We're kicking those projects over to OMEGA."
Commissioner Dave Maple interrupted Lenner, telling him the original Appalachian Grant Committee was formed by them.
"It took a lot of time and effort to develop those projects," Maple said. "That's our community. Any information you have -- and I don't mean (you have to do it) today -- on who is being kicked out, we would like to know that in advance that they're not going to be in there, that they don't meet the requirements."
Lenner told him they haven't "gone that route yet because we're still evaluating them. Nothing, at least on our plate, has been punted over to OMEGA yet."
He said the guidelines keep changing, which makes it tricky.
Port Authority Executive Director Robert Naylor reminded the commissioners the retiring OMEGA Director Jeannette Wierzbicki had previously pledged the organization would help any project that doesn't make the cut obtain alternate funding sources, but he said he fears if they tell an entity they won't make the cut for Appalachian Grant funding they'd throw all their plans, cost projections and designs out. If they hand a project off to OMEGA, he said they want to be able to "hit the ground running."
"This funding, it's not going to solve or cure everything," Naylor said. "You're not going to get your entire wish list. Not every project will be funded and maybe not all projects will be funded to the level that is anticipated or expected or requested. At that point you have to be ready to say, 'We have a good start, we're making progress, but you have to continue in the process. You have to continue to work this process because it takes a long time to get you where you're going. This is not going to be a cure-all."
Lenner said all the projects we're working on will have something tangible -- even if it doesn't get (submitted for the Appalachian Grant), they'll have diagrams and schematics that they can use for other reasons as well."
Commissioner Eric Timmons requested a list of projects, which Lenner said he would supply. He did say they're working with eight entities but with only two exceptions didn't address which entities and what activities they were hoping to get funded. He did say they planned to talk with the Rev. Ashley Steele, executive director of Urban Mission Ministries, about whether her projects would fit into the port's application, and said they'd spent Wednesday in Toronto.
Naylor said the original intent was to have planners do on-site visits, but the state budget cut funding for procured planners by as much as 80 percent, "so there's a gap that needs to be filled that we're trying to fill."
"Procured planners are no longer able to do all things they originally were tasked to do," Lenner added. "They're no longer able to come to all communities because the budget was reduced so not only are we filling the project manage role, but we're also taking on a lot of the evaluation of the projects. I don't have a percentage but we're well into them."
Naylor said their procured planner, Environmental Design Group, told him they're "not coming out to anymore sites" because state funds that were paying for their services are dwindling.
Lenner told commissioners he figures to wrap up the vetting process by the end of September.
Naylor, meanwhile, told commissioners the Tax Incentive Review Council had voted to continue incentives for Bulldog Rack, prompting Maple to point out the property occupied by the company had "yet to be transferred" to them.
"It's still in the name of the city of Toronto because they don't have an exemption (since) it's used for a non-exempt purpose, Bulldog Rack pays the real estate taxes on behalf of the city," Naylor said. "It was like that when I came in in 2020. I will tell you we just brought this up, we're part of the Brownfield Coalition (and) we believe that's federal jurisdiction. We're looking at that to see if there's anything we can do.
"Bulldog Racks is employing a lot of people but obviously it hasn't taken title -- that could be legacy environmental issues that Bulldog Racks had no responsibility for. If we could work something out, it would only add to economic sustainability in our county. But those are two separate parties, the Tax Incentive Review Commission and the Enterprise Zone.