By : Patricia Villers
Source : http://nhregister.com
Category : Small Business Grant
ANSONIA — Store owners and city officials Tuesday discussed details of a $45,000 Storefront Improvement Grant during an Economic Development Commission small business forum.
The city-funded, reimbursable grant is to be used for exterior upgrades of retail sites.
The City Hall meeting was the third in a series of monthly forums focused on reviving the business community.
Alderman John Marini, aldermanic liaison to the Economic Development Commission, said, “We’re at a pivotal point in time. We have money we can use for economic development.” The grant would give $2,000 to each commission-approved rehab project.
Marini lauded Economic Development Commission Chairman Vincent Scarlata’s proposal Monday night to the Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
Scarlata requested $78,659.93 transferred from a salary line item for the Economic Development Director, which includes the $45,000.
Claude Perry, the city’s longtime economic development director, died last year. The city has not yet filled the position.
Marini, who is a lawyer, said he wrote a draft of the $45,000 grant based on economic development plans used by larger cities, such as Bridgeport and Hartford. He said the idea is “to execute our own internal grant program,” because state grants “have strings attached.”
Marini said there are many variables that need to be discussed, including how to pick a general contractor and defining the Economic Development Commission’s role in the project.
Source : http://nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/20/news/valley/doc4f69412984f78915738870.txt
