The executive director of South Central Dakota Regional Council said the coming year will involve infrastructure projects along with continued small business loan activity.
In his report to the board of directors on Wednesday, Stacy Bowerman said the staff have demonstrated expertise in assisting applicants with Community Development Block Grants, U.S. Department of Agriculture grants and state funds. The short review time on applications shows that the process is being followed correctly, he said.
The Regional Council is involved in ongoing work to secure $287 million in funding for a possible soybean processing plant in the Spiritwood Energy Park. There is a lot of groundwork to satisfy financing requirements and the Regional Council is working closely with partners including the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp., he said.
The Regional Council recently approved a $553,703 loan to the Recycling Center of North Dakota, Bowerman said.
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The Regional Council is helping LaMoure County acquire $195,000 in Governor’s Discretionary Funds to convert a former Verona school into a community center. The Community Development Block Grant funds are reserved for governor’s discretion through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Emergency planning services are a growing element of the Regional Council with $329,000 in Barnes County projects in 2018, Bowerman said. New projects include $200,000 for improvements to the North Dakota Winter Show and $20,000 for an afterschool program.
“Barnes County is in the midst of preparing for a multihazard mitigation plan,” Bowerman said. “This is a solid area of focus for us.”
The Regional Council is also working with McIntosh County to develop a multihazard mitigation plan, he said. There is $133,630 in applications out for county projects that include a workforce development initiative, generators and a workshop, he said.
In her report, Danica Chaput, Jamestown Workforce Center manager for Job Service North Dakota, said the November unemployment for Stutsman County was 1.7 percent. The average for the nine-member counties of the Regional Council was 2.03 percent and 2.3 percent statewide.
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