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Vernon County committee backs Northpoint WEDC CDI application, approves budget and contract amendment
Summary
At its Aug. 3 meeting the Vernon County Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to forward a resolution supporting Northpoint's application for the WEDC Community Development Investment grant to the full board, approved the 2024 draft budget as discussed, and approved an amendment to the contracted Economic Development Coordinator position while directing staff to pursue details on a county-employed replacement.
The Vernon County Economic Development Committee on Aug. 3 unanimously agreed to bring a resolution to the full Board of Supervisors supporting Northpoint's application for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation's Community Development Investment (CDI) grant and approved several related administrative and budget items.
The vote to move a resolution forward followed a request from Grants Officer Amy Oliver and Jake Victor, who said they supported allowing Northpoint to apply for the WEDC CDI grant on behalf of Vernon County to keep the project moving. Committee member Lorn Goede moved to place the resolution on the Aug. 15 Board agenda; Rod Ofte seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
Why it matters: if the Board approves the resolution, Northpoint would be authorized to apply for state CDI funding using Vernon County as the applicant/beneficiary, a step county staff said would help keep the project active and expand countywide impact. Grants staff also reported ongoing grant activity including a potential FEMA application for Vernon Manor estimated at $345,000 and consideration of Vernon County overseeing a $3.75 million CDBG Small Cities Housing Program currently managed by La Crosse County.
The committee also reviewed the department's draft 2024 budget and partner contributions. Karen Dahl moved to approve the draft budget as discussed; Lorn Goede seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Committee members asked staff to build funding for a potential county-employed Economic Development and Marketing Coordinator into the 2024 budget.
On personnel matters, Grants Officer Amy Oliver brought proposed amendments to the existing contracted Economic Development Coordinator position. The committee approved an amendment to the contract that removed a newly proposed priority to organize quarterly Vernon County Economic Development Network meetings (motion by Tom Weston; second by John Pedretti). Oliver additionally proposed terminating the contractor agreement on Dec. 31, 2023 in favor of hiring a county employee for an Economic Development and Marketing Coordinator role; members supported exploring that change but asked for comparative information from other counties before finalizing a job description.
Board staff agreed to seek more information on how peer counties structure similar positions; Hannah Altimus of UW Extension offered to invite Karl Green to present comparative data at the September meeting. The committee advised Oliver to include funding for a county-employed coordinator in the 2024 budget proposal.
Votes at a glance: approval to bring a Northpoint WEDC CDI-resolution to the Aug. 15 Board of Supervisors meeting (motion: Lorn Goede; second: Rod Ofte; outcome: approved unanimously); approval of the 2024 draft economic development budget as discussed (motion: Karen Dahl; second: Lorn Goede; outcome: approved unanimously); approval of the contract amendment removing the quarterly-network-meetings priority (motion: Tom Weston; second: John Pedretti; outcome: approved unanimously).
The committee set follow-up steps: the resolution will appear on the Aug. 15 Board agenda for final action, staff will prepare additional comparative data on county-employed coordinator positions for September, and the next committee meeting is scheduled for Sept. 7, 2023 at 9:30 a.m.