FAIRMONT – Two grants were on the agenda for the Martin County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) to discuss on Monday, one of which had already been submitted, and the other was pending approval.

The first had last been discussed at the Aug. 4 MCEDA meeting, and was sent in for approval Oct. 1. It’s to make up ground for the flooding from June 15-24, 2024 which has resulted in the loss of 57 manufacturing jobs. CEDA Specialist Celia Viesselman said the requested amount remains $400,000, but they made some changes before submitting it.

“We commenced the funding gap to spend the majority of the funds on programs and using internal staff time as the match for the grant proposal,” she said.

In addition, Viesselman said they switched one program with another after discussions with the Federal EDA.

“We did pull up the entrepreneur accelerator,” she said. “They stated funding could not go directly to a business. The accelerated proposal was looking at we would pay for entrepreneurs to do something. We can’t do that, so we pivoted to a Micro Business Growth program where it would be workshops like what we do, generally, but providing a lot of time to support that additional experience.”

Board Member Billeye Rabbe asked about their place in line to have the proposal looked at. Viesselman said they have solid prospects in place to have this as a top priority because they submitted exactly on Oct. 1.

“Anybody who submits after Oct. 1, it’d be like first-come, first-served,” she said. “That’s why when we had spoken to him, we had said, we will submit this for the first, and he would have reviewed. He has a slot assigned for them to review the grant.”

The only problem thus far is, since the federal government is shut down, the application cannot be reviewed until the government opens again.

MCEDA also discussed a new potential grant through SMIF to fund a workforce summit, which would bring businesses together so they can find solutions to looming workforce shortages.

Under current projections, SMIF would fund $16,000 of the project, with the county taking on $45,000 in costs. If the MCEDA is approved for its federal emergency funding, some of said funding could be used to help fund this grant.

If they were to get the SMIF grant and not the federal grant, Viesselman said they would either downsize the grant request or not end up moving forward with it.

Board Member Tim Terfehr motioned to move forward with the SMIF grant, with Rabbe seconding. The motion was approved unanimously.

In other news:

— The Paid Leave Workshop had 130 attendees. CEDA Specialist Amber Patten said she was thankful for the support MCEDA gave, and she has heard several requests for information from cities and township representatives who could not make it. Patten said she was happy to get information to them.

— Patten met with an area high school regarding career exploration, employer connections, and other available resources the MCEDA can provide and support them in achieving. Earlier on Monday, Patten said she received an email from another high school also looking to explore assistance in financial resources and career exploration that MCEDA can provide. “We are starting to make those connections in high schools,” she said. “It is wonderful to see, even if we’re not there in person, those connections that we’re making, it’s going to make a difference.”