BUCYRUS — After recent comments during a local city council meeting the Crawford County Board of Commissioners wanted to clarify where various grant funding is going.
During a Galion City Council meeting June 25, Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary voiced his frustrations with the apparent intent of the commissioners to use grant money to install an elevator in the Crawford County Justice Center.
He said a financial decision would keep the City of Galion from receiving grant money.
O’Leary claimed Commissioner Tim Ley came up with the idea to spend $80,000 on the jail elevator and said due to Ley’s past employment with the department it was “certainly not coincidental.”
Commissioner Doug Weisenauer said it was never a guaranteed plan to install an elevator in an existing elevator shaft at the jail. He said Ley briefly mentioned the idea during a May 1 session with the Ohio Regional Development Corporation.
“I didn’t even know there was an elevator shaft at the jail,” Weisenauer said. “It would make sense that Tim would know it was there to bring it up as an option.”
He said a representative from ORDC further investigated the possibility and found the elevator would qualify as a project.
However, Weisenauer said Thursday the commissioners informed ORDC they would not be moving forward with the elevator idea due to the amount of funds the county would have to pay on the project after the grant money was used. The county would be responsible for more than $131,000 in a local match of funds.
He said if the commissioners do not find a qualifying project to spend the funds on, the money is returned to the state.
The funds in question involve a grant for uptown revitalization in Galion and a separate grant for septic system installations in Oceola. Both the county and Galion were considering requesting amendments to the grants to use part of the grant for other side projects as the cost of the initial projects would not use all the grant funds.
The grant for Oceola was for $93,900, with the expected leftover funds being $60,300. Galion is set to receive a $270,000 grant and reportedly hoped to use $78,300 in excess grant funds on sidewalk projects.
O’Leary said Tuesday he did not understand why the commissioners were holding Galion’s amendment while they discussed the jail. Weisenauer said the commissioners discovered late Wednesday afternoon the state combined the requests into one possible amendment.
“It was the state’s decision,” Weisenauer said. “Not ours.”
Weisenauer said the combined amendment still would not keep Galion from receiving the funds allocated to them if the amendment was passed.
With the commissioners deciding to not move forward with the elevator, Weisenauer said a representative from ORDC will give them a timeline on a deadline to find a possible new side project.