City Council Tables Request of Koontz Lake Brewing Co. for Community Revitalization Grant

Roger Holston from Koontz Lake Brewing Company zoomed into the Plymouth City Council meeting Monday evening seeking a grant from the Commercial Revitalization Rebate Program.

Holston owns Koontz Lake Brewing Company that will be opening at 529 North Fifth Street in the former 5^th Street Grocery Store.  A contractor himself, Holston said he was seeking a grant for materials.  He said he is doing all the labor but could use some assistance on the materials including roofing, siding, doors and windows. Holston said they have started to build around the existing building including a new roof and siding in November.

City Attorney Sean Surrisi told Holston his request is outside the scope of the parameters of the program that are strictly called for in the ordinance. The attorney said Mr. Holston is performing work himself while the ordinance requires quotes from at least 2 contractors prior to work beginning.

The grant can provide up to 20% reimbursement and Holston said he estimated the materials cost to be between $42,000 to $48,000.  The estimated maximum rebate would be $9,600.  He would produce receipts when work is completed for the grant.

The Clerk Treasurer also said they keep the Community Improvement Fund balance at zero and when there is a request made and then approved by the city council, she transfers money from the old UDAG fund, which if from the sale of the old hospital, to the Community Improvement fund and pays the expenses that way.

Listenberger also asked for a balance in the UDAG fund and Xaver said the intent was to only use the interest earned of the fund to pay for the Community Revitalization projects.  She also said the city has overspent the interest from the fund by using it for city matches for other grant funds and other various items since the mid 80’s.  Xaver said she would put a report together detailing the UDAG Fund and get that information back to the City Council.

The only action the council took was to table the request from Ralph Holston until additional information on the Community Revitalization Program Fund and the UDAG Fund.