Fort Scott commission backs college request with nonbinding letter to donate land, provide infrastructure support

Fort Scott Community College representatives asked the Fort Scott City Commission on short notice to back a Department of Commerce FRAME grant application that would pay for students to build four houses and provide hands-on construction training.

The commission voted to provide a letter of support stating the city will donate land for the project and help with required infrastructure. An earlier separate motion to commit $30,000 from the city’s economic development fund to buy land for the grant was defeated 3-2.

The college’s Sonia Gudnani, vice president of academic affairs at Fort Scott Community College, told commissioners that the FRAME grant is a Department of Commerce program for technical and community colleges and that award amounts nationally range from about $250,000 to $1 million per award, with $2,000,000 cited as the total program fund. She said the college must build or renovate four houses within the grant period and that proceeds from initial sales would be used to build additional houses in later years.

Rory Chaplin, associate dean of CTE and…