(Atlantic) The Atlantic Downtown Revitalization grant project is 50-percent complete.
Alexis Fleener, Community Development Director for the Southwest Iowa Planning Council, is the project manager and coordinator. Fleener led the public hearing at the Council Meeting on Wednesday regarding the status of the funding activities for the project.
Fleener says to-date; $206,141.67 has been spent on the project with 97,851.00 in CDBG construction funds and $13,356.00 in CDBG Administrative funds. Fleener says there is $213,908.00 remaining in the CBDG funds, with the Cities total match to-date at $94 934.57.
Fleener says the project is expected to be completed by this spring. “COVID caused some delay in the delivering of products such as windows. Some of the buildings have undergone significant changes once all the metal came off the buildings. That’s when you find all sorts of things.”
The program assists the city in rehabilitating some of the downtown buildings on the 400 and 500 blocks of Chestnut Street. The goal is to maintain a downtown presence within the City’s urban renewal district. The main focus of the grant is to improve the building fronts.
The City received $411,110.00 in federal funds, the local match is $224,675.00, and the building owner’s share is 25-percent of the construction costs.
In other business; the City Council approved the transfer of funds for the second quarter of the Fiscal year 2020-2021 budget. Approved The First Whitney Bank and Trust as the City’s official bank for the city’s checking account for 2021 and approved the Atlantic News Telegraph as the City’s official newspaper for legal publications in 2021.
The Council also approved mutual aid agreements with the Marne and Lewis Fire Departments.