Economic Alliance calls for .09 fund project prioritization pre-applications

PATEROS – Every year the Economic Alliance (EA) issues a request for Okanogan County entities and the Colville Tribes to submit a one-page pre-application letter for the annual Okanogan County Public Infrastructure and Community and Economic Development .09 project prioritization process.

The Public Facilities Fund (.09 Sales and Use Tax rebate) is allocated for rural communities and eligible entities and is limited to incorporated cities and tribes within Okanogan County.

Pateros City Administrator Jord Wilson said that, as it has in the past, the city will submit its pre-application letter for consideration. One project is the Pateros Mall rehabilitation.

“We’re looking at remodeling and the underlying surfaces and infrastructure,” said Wilson. “We have a RDBG (Rural Development Block Grant) to do a market study looking and the users, businesses, and end users and the second part of that is pre-engineering.”

Wilson said the city will submit that project for .09 ranking.

“We may look at doing something with making improvements to the library that is outdated and too small,” Wilson added.

Pateros has received high rankings for past EA prioritization projects and explained the role it plays in other grant application requests.

“On grants it’s actually as important just to have gone through the process,” said Wilson, “because it’s a public process and you have outside people looking at it and agreeing that it’s an important project,”

Brewster’s Director of Finance Misty Ruiz said the city will again submit a project to add more infrastructure and spaces to its Columbia Cove RV Park.

“We submitted that last year,” said Ruiz. “Last year we had the Old 97 project but that got funded.”

The latter project was not funded by .09 funds but the ranking the projects receive – as Wilson also mentioned – helps get other state or federal funding.

“I think we were fourth last year,” said Ruiz of the Highway 97 project. “I’ve used these economic rankings…to show our funding agencies like Rural Development, the state, and the feds that we are the No. 4 project for Okanogan County.”

Ruiz said that approach won the city the funding to more than double is water reservoir capacity.

The letter of intent briefly explains the project type, scope, timeline, and outline. The pre-app letters are reviewed by the EA infrastructure committee and selected projects are invited to submit a full application.

Projects are ranked in two categories: 1. Public Infrastructure Projects and 2. Community and Economic Development Projects, based on the following:

            • Measurable economic benefits

            • Measurable community benefits.

            • Fully developed plan.

            • Project readiness.

            • Workforce development.

            • Alignment with Okanogan County and Economic Alliance goals and objectives.

            • Local and regional support.

The EA’s review process provides the Okanogan County Commissioners with a prioritized master list of projects.

An application readiness workshop at 1:30-3 p.m. on Sept. 13, requires an RSVP to attend.

Deadline for the pre-app letters is 5 p.m., Sept. 29. Questions can be directed to Roni at 509-322-4634 or email to rholderdiefenbach@economic-alliance.com.

The remaining EA timeline includes:

• Oct. 6 – Selected applicants invited to submit a full project application.

• Oct. 31 – Application deadline.

• Nov. 1 – Applicants contacted for a scheduled presentation time.

• Nov. 14 – Applicant presentations to the EA Infrastructure Committee held at a designated location.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483, mike@ward.media