Projects, if grant is approved, might include a senior center
By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council voiced support for potentially pursuing ADA projects and a possible senior center with the $1.6 million in Federal Community Development Block Grant funds at its meeting last week.
No official vote on any specifics was taken at the Aug. 3 meeting and the council is still determining what projects specifically it would pursue if the grant is approved.
According to City Administrator Jim Heilman, the Block Grant program was discontinued in 2018 and the city was given a two-year window to access those funds for projects before those funds would be lost.
However, Heilman explained, as city officials began to investigate what projects would qualify under the grant, it became clear it was very limited in what it could actually be used for. The reason, he said, is because City of Elkhorn as a whole is not considered a low to moderate income community, which is a federal requirement.
“So, any project that was a benefit to the entire city, we couldn’t do it,” Heilman said. “That took out a lot of the infrastructure we were looking at – sewer and water replacement – things like that. It got us excited at first, but we couldn’t do any of them.”
After some further investigating however, Heilman said it was determined that the city could take on an American Disability Act project within the city, which should qualify and could be completed under the program. According to Heilman, a recent ADA assessment completed determined Elkhorn currently has about $800,000 in deficiencies that require upgrades.
“This would be a good use of the money; get all of our parks and buildings up to ADA compliance and use federal dollars,” Heilman said. “That’s a pretty good idea.”
According to Heilman, if the city were to pursue the ADA projects route, that would still leave Elkhorn with approximately another $800,000 of grant funds to use or lose.
Heilman said another option could be to pursue projects that would benefit seniors within the community, such as a senior center.
According to Heilman, ideas about pursuing a senior center in the city – by using an existing building – have come up in conversations.
Both of the projects would benefit the entire community, which may seem to contradict the guidelines, but Heilman said they would fall under typical allowances. Many other projects were taken off the table for the use of grant block funds because of that overall benefit to Elkhorn, however, according to Heilman, the federal government typically allows for senior and ADA projects under the grant.
“As long as you’ve got everything lined up pretty good, you should get funding for those,” Heilman said.
While no formal vote was taken in open session at the Aug. 3 meeting, councilmembers did voice support for further investigation and discussion on options related to ADA upgrade projects and a potential senior citizen center.
