FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Economic Development Authority (FEDA) held a special meeting on Monday and during the meeting approved several forgivable loans through its new facade program.

The goal of the program is to support business owners who are looking to spruce up the exterior of their building. The loan will cover up to $5,000 of 50 percent of the project. Recipients will pay the interest only on the loan, which will have a five year term. If the business proves successful, each year FEDA will forgive 20 percent of the principal, with 100 percent of the loan forgiven after five years.

Economic Development Coordinator, Ned Koppen, said that the loan committee met last Friday and considered four different proposals for the facade program.

“They unanimously recommended all four,” Koppen said.

They are for Sovell Jewelry, Culligan Water, Seifried Portrait and two buildings owned by Jeff Rouse located on Downtown Plaza at 101 W. 1st St and 103 W. 1st St. The board approved all four proposals.

“Depending how these all fall out… if we max out the dollar amounts requested, we’re only committing $16,000 which leaves us $24,000 left in the fund to help people out. I think that’s a good, positive thing,” Koppen said.

He said more applications have been given out that haven’t been turned in yet, which signifies a high amount of interest.

Board Member Aaron Speltz asked whether there’s a deadline to apply. Koppen said businesses can apply whenever and the board can grant approval until the money is gone. FEDA committed $40,000 on the front end and Koppen said moving forward, the board can decide to commit more.

“The intent was to start it with that initial amount and then scrape the interest each year from our revolving loan funds and use it toward this,” Koppen said.

In other business, FEDA held a public hearing on Monday regarding the sale of the incubator building, located at 426 Winnebago Ave, to Kingdom Builders Masonry.

Last month, FEDA had accepted the proposal from Kingdom Builders Masonry but needed to officially hold a public hearing before the deal can move to the next step. No one from the public was present for the public hearing on Monday.

Koppen said that he’s close to finalizing the purchase agreement with the owner of Kingdom Builders Masonry, Corey Freitag, and will bring it to the board at the May 8 meeting for approval.