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EDA weighs uses for about $600,000 in state small‑city funds for City Center; income survey required
Summary
Director Josh told the EDA the city must program roughly $600,000 in small‑city development funds or return them; staff is pursuing either a slum‑and‑blight route or an income survey (with Bolton & Mink) to qualify projects in the City Center, and members discussed options including mill‑area cleanup and railroad beautification while noting MS4 stormwater constraints.
Director Josh told the board the EDA must either present a plan for roughly $600,000 in state small‑city development funds or return the money. He said staff initially pursued a slum‑and‑blight option but that state reviewers rejected that approach; the city is now exploring an income survey for the City Center area that could qualify residential‑adjacent stormwater and public‑improvement work.
"We are sitting on an extremely large pile of cash — close to... $600,000 of small city development funds," Josh said, adding that the state requested a plan or the funds would be reallocated. He said Bolton & Mink has been contracted to help prepare an application and that an income survey would cost the city a few thousand dollars to administer.
Board members discussed alternatives if the income survey does not produce the required thresholds, including returning the money, reallocating to other eligible projects, or using funds for town‑center improvements such as mill‑property remediation, purchasing or cleaning up parcels near the railroad to improve staging for the new performing arts stage, or targeted paving. Staff cautioned that adding pavement increases stormwater obligations under the MS4 program, which raises project costs because the city must find offsets for additional impervious surface.
Josh said staff will have a phone call with Bolton & Mink next week to refine costs and next steps; the board asked staff to begin a deeper review of one or two promising projects in coming meetings to determine feasibility and any assessments on adjacent property owners.
