County offers grant-writing help as Creswell presses for street repairs and water fixes
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Summary
At a joint Oct. 24 meeting, Washington County officials said a newly hired Grants & Procurement Manager will compile grant opportunities and offer training to Creswell staff, while town leaders pressed the county on street repairs, a planned well in the county CIP and other infrastructure needs.
On Oct. 24, 2023, at a special joint meeting in Creswell, Washington County officials told the Creswell Town Council that the county’s newly hired Grants & Procurement Manager could help the town identify funding and provide training for local grant work.
"Yes, we hired someone and are in the process of training her. Ms. Laurie Zoll is the new Grants & Procurement Manager. She is also making a list of all the grants the County is involved in. She is also doing Procurement. She cannot write all grants for everyone but can facilitate working with others to train them," said County Manager/County Attorney Curtis Potter. Potter said he would ask the County Clerk to send Creswell a 17-page list of available grants provided by the Plymouth Downtown Development Association and that the county could host a training meeting for town staff.
Creswell residents and leaders said the town needs help translating that capacity into local repairs. "Creswell needs a grant for repairing their streets," said Joel Harris, who identified several streets—8th Street and Palmetto Street—as the highest repair priorities and said new businesses need marked parking areas. Commissioners acknowledged the request and discussed improving coordination between towns and the county, including a proposed countywide resource database to enable equipment or material sharing.
Town residents also raised an urgent water issue: a lightning strike damaged part of the town’s water system. "We need prayers for the Town of Creswell’s water situation," Ron Ambrose said; resident Brenda Logan asked whether the county could help. Potter said a Creswell well is listed in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and that the county would send Creswell information about the well and possible next steps.
Commissioners suggested multiple avenues to support small towns: joint grant applications, training from the county’s new grants manager, and informal resource sharing (for example borrowing a backhoe or dump truck for wastewater or road work). Commissioner Ann C. Keyes noted that siting of local solar projects can sometimes come with community donations and urged Creswell leaders to pursue any available benefits.
Next steps recorded at the meeting: the county clerk will send the grant list to the Creswell clerk; county staff will provide information on the CIP-listed well and a potential landing‑zone element tied to a Motorsports Grant; and county and town representatives agreed to continue these intergovernmental discussions after the series of town meetings.