Board agrees to prioritize Wanship water upgrades as focus for rural grant

Acting chair (Chair) told the board the state—s rural-county grant opens the portal for a $200,000 application and that the board must choose which projects to target. Members focused on water and fire-flow constraints in Wanship, which several said prevent businesses from opening.

A committee member argued the constraint clearly limits private investment: "There are no businesses that can... go and want it right now because we don't have fire flow," the committee member said, urging infrastructure investment to enable commercial tenants such as a proposed brewpub. Board members noted that fixing fire flow would allow properties that are already grandfathered for business use to reopen and argued that those upgrades meet both the state definition of infrastructure and the grant's job-creation goals.

Chair explained the grant is performance-based and requires proof of job creation; members discussed using previously secured local grant matches to meet the 40% match requirement. After discussion, the board made a motion to prioritize the Wanship water-infrastructure project as a target for the rural grant; the motion was recorded as made by Mayor McCormack and received broad support, though no formal roll-call vote was recorded.

Board members also asked staff to coordinate with the county water and wastewater director to align technical scope and timing. The board noted that equipment costs and public-utility extensions are allowable grant expenses under the program's guidance, but emphasized that applicants must be able to document projected job outcomes to qualify for reimbursement.