Winnebago County industrial development board approves 2026 municipal allocations, advances workforce housing loan RFP

The Winnebago County Industrial Development Board on March 11 approved per-capita economic development grants for a slate of municipalities and received details on a countywide workforce housing loan program.

Board members voted to fund municipal requests that included $17,544 for the City of Menasha, $32,233 for the City of Neenah, $110,277 for the Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation, $5,741 for the Town of Clayton, $4,227 for the Town of Nina, $1,946 for the Town of Rushford and a $22,400 request from the Village of Fox Crossing. The meeting record shows a separate motion moving a figure transcribed as "28,25" for the Oshkosh Chamber; the transcript does not make that amount clearer.

Why it matters: the allocations are drawn from the IDB's $200,000 per-capita pool and are intended as seed funding for marketing, downtown organizations, business retention and redevelopment projects that local officials said will help attract investment and housing.

During public comment, Oshkosh resident Paul Sunco credited the board with long-term economic gains, saying the board's past infrastructure loans helped "put millions of dollars on the tax rolls" and create jobs. The board then moved through a series of presentations from municipal economic development officials describing downtown revitalization, new industrial projects and housing pipelines.

Kelly Niforth, community development director for the City of Neenah, described use of a Placer.ai subscription to track visitation and spending patterns and listed planned uses of funds including marketing, streetscaping and business retention. "It gathers quite a bit of data, sometimes it's cell phone data, credit card data, where we can see where people are going, how much they're spending, how long they stay," she said.

Tricia Rothermel of the Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation summarized a multi-community strategic plan and asked the board to support regional initiatives. Josh Kotowski, economic development director for the Oshkosh Chamber, said the chamber handled more than 500 prospect contacts last year and would use funds to market opportunities and support business attraction and retention.

County staff provided a separate update on a proposed workforce housing revolving loan fund that the board has seeded with $1,000,000 and that the full county board paired with $3,500,000 in ARPA funding. A county official briefed the board on an RFP to select a nonprofit administrator; the RFP was described in the meeting as due to the county office by March 11 at 3 p.m. The county official said applicants would be asked to write program guidelines, manage day-to-day operations, review developer agreements and secure community co-investment. Preference points will be given to projects that increase workforce and affordable housing options for households earning up to 140% of county median income.

"We did secure $1,000,000 from this group. And in December, we also secured $3,500,000 of ARPA money from the full county board," a county official said while outlining program priorities and oversight structures.

What the board decided: each municipal request brought forward during the meeting was approved by voice vote. Several board members urged a midyear check-in so municipalities can report progress on marketing, downtown organization formation and project benchmarks.

Next steps: the county will evaluate RFP responses and expects to bring a recommendation to the county board in April (the meeting record noted March 17 or possibly April 1 as potential consideration dates). Board members also discussed timing for the next IDB meeting and for conducting elections and organizational business.

The board adjourned after completing the allocations and receiving the housing program update.