Committee members administering a Lyon County Economic Development Relief Grant took no action on final awards Friday, but they made an important clarification as the process continues.
Committee members assured nonprofits there would be money set aside for their requests, although there likely wouldn’t be enough to meet the full amounts. Here’s committee member Jim Kessler:
Committee member Kala Maxfield says the Lyon County Commission recently alerted the committee non-profits had been encouraged to apply.
Several nonprofits, including Corner House, CrossWinds Counseling and Wellness, the Emporia Senior Center and the Granada Theatre, made applications totaling $1.1 million, and there was some thought the nonprofits would get none of the $816,000 being overseen by the committee after meetings last month. That drew the ire of Senior Center Director Ian Boyd, who asked why nonprofits were eligible to apply if there was no intent of providing funds.
Committee members discussed several tiers of support depending on certain criteria, including business capacity, layoffs or shutdowns and length of operations.
In separate but related items, Emporia grant administrator Garrett Nordstrom says Lyon County has to distribute the money by the end of the year. He also says the committee will not audit each individual business or nonprofit to make sure the money is spent by a certain date. The county, meanwhile, may be audited later for the committee selection process or length of application window.
At least one more meeting is coming. The date for that is pending.
