Montgomery EDC approves $5,200 festival grant, backs new logo and signage committee; downtown streetscape advances

The Montgomery Economic Development Corporation approved a $5,200 grant to partially fund security for the Montgomery Antique and Unique Festival and took several other actions at its February meeting, including forwarding a proposed marketing logo to city council and appointing a committee to develop a phased plan for wayfinding signage in downtown Montgomery.

The festival funding request came from Kamara (first name given in the record), who said organizers expect roughly "a thousand to 2,500 a day" of visitors and have sold roughly 40 vendor spaces so far. Organizers asked the MEDC to cover part of the event’s police-security costs; meeting materials and remarks from the organizer said the security total was revised to about $8,200 and the requested MEDC contribution was $5,200. The grant application was moved and seconded during the meeting and approved by voice vote; the board recorded the motion as carried.

City Attorney Caleb Villarreal gave a short presentation on the authority and statutory process for a Type B economic development corporation, including procurement and public-notice requirements. "Now, any project that's under $10,000 there's no approval by the city council required," Villarreal said, summarizing the EDC threshold that allows the corporation to authorize small expenditures without sending…