Columbiana Co. steps up efforts to secure more grants

By D.a. Wilkinson

A chamber official said applying for funds is hard work.

LISBON — Columbiana County is launching a new initiative to bring more grant funds here.

Federal stimulus money is still being distributed, but county officials said grant money has been coming to the county for years.

County Engineer Bert Dawson said, “Without [grant] money, you can’t do anything.”

Dawson said last week he already had spent two hours on the telephone trying to get money for various projects.

Many officials, groups and individuals have talked about grants for various projects but never applied for them.

Pam Hoppel, chief executive officer for the East Liverpool Area Chamber of Commerce, said there “is a lot of paperwork” in preparing a grant.

A recent submission to the Appalachian Regional Commission was 2- to 3-inches thick and included newspaper clippings about the proposed project.

The successful grant application was to get funds for a Web site that linked all the area chambers of commerce in part to be helpful to companies and people who will be involved with the estimated $6 billion Baard Energy project in Wellsville that would turn coal into liquid fuel.

County officials want to help other officials and organizations write applications.

Penny Traina, president of the commissioners, was recently elected chairwoman of the Ohio Mid-Eastern Government Association based in Cambridge, Ohio. The agency helps distribute federal funds to Appalachian counties, which include Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull.

Traina said that when it comes to grants, “The communication and the educational processes are not getting out.”

The goal, Traina said, “is to help Columbiana County grow.”

OMEGA, the commissioners and the county chamber are hosting an event at 2 p.m. May 19 at the county’s Emergency Management Agency. Lana Watkins, an OMEGA grants specialist, will talk about grant planning, application procedures and meeting deadlines.

Officials or others can then begin to start the process.

The county already gets funds from long-established federal and state grant programs for road and other projects, state Issue 2 money for road work, and from a one-cent statewide tax on gas that goes back to communities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also provides low-cost loans that were used to build a new municipal court and renovate the courthouse.

But Dawson secured a variety of grants to help renovate the defunct railroad depot in Lisbon as the starting point of a much-used bike trail at no cost to the public.

XFor more information, contact the East Liverpool Area Chamber of Commerce at (330) 385-0845 or e-mail office@ elchamber.com.

wilkinson@vindy.com