Section 626-3-2 - TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND PLANNING GRANTS FOR PROJECTS OTHER THAN ELIGIBLE FOREST ECONOMY COMMUNITY GRANT PROJECTSThe Authority will not provide direct technical assistance, but may provide grants for Applicants with Eligible Technical Assistance or Planning Grant Projects other than Eligible Forest Economy Community Grant Projects.
A. Grant Application Process. From time to time, the Authority may determine to make technical assistance or planning grants available. At such times, the Authority shall give public notice of the date by which applications for grants must be received, and what must be submitted for an application. The public notice may include other terms, conditions or limitations on such grants, including the maximum number or amount of such grants, that the Trustees determine are appropriate.B. Grant Application Contents. An Applicant shall submit an application complying with the requirements of this rule on forms developed by the Authority as may be specified with supporting information as required by this rule and additional information as requested by the Authority. The Authority shall make application forms available. The following minimum information shall be required: a. Executive Summary: Summary description of the project, work product, and desired outcome. Describe previous local level of reliance on the closed facility b. Statement of the amount of grant funding being applied for and matching funds, if any. c. Sources/Uses Chart: A chart identifying each of the Sources of funds for the project; the sum total of these Sources; each of the Uses of funds for the project; the sum total of these Uses. Sources and Uses totals must match.d. Description of what State agencies and/or regional economic development organizations/resources and/or consultants would assist in providing technical assistance or the planning services.e. Project Narrativei. Provide data/background demonstrating severe economic decline and employment loss, event/facility closure date, including but not limited to municipal tax revenues, residents formerly directly employed, residents and supply chain businesses that provided services to the site operators or employees.ii. Describe lack of staff capacity and thus need to hire someone to provide technical assistance;iii. Discuss need for grant assistance, likelihood of success, economic impact;iv. Discuss work product and expected outcome (jobs, direct and indirect; tax revenues, private investment);v. Discuss: existing facilities (on site and other, e. g. rail, ports, etc.), community support (letters), regional collaboration/consistency with regional plan, time frame for completion of redevelopment plan, regulatory restrictions on use;f. Collaboration/Committee Formation: Describe the nature and extent of community support for the project, as well as the plan for formation of Redevelopment Committee made up of local residents and owner of site to steer redevelopment plan.g. Contract: Provide copies of all relevant private sector and/or government contracts or sample contracts related to the redevelopment, remediation, and/or marketing plan h. Budget: Estimate cost of the redevelopment project, qualified expenses include future costs only, planning/technical staff, materials, travel, other resources including municipal and private funds, or other match, including in-kind match. C. Grant Application Selection. Following the grant application deadline imposed by the Authority, the Authority shall review and score all of the applications, or ask a service provider to review and score all applications. Applicants may be asked to submit additional materials as part of the review process. Grant applications shall be selected based upon the highest scores from a review of the applications. The total number of grants awarded and total amount of each grant, as well as the aggregate amount of all grants, shall be subject to the discretion of the Authority. Grant applications may be awarded in the amount requested or in such lesser amount as the Authority may determine appropriate. All grant awards shall be made by the Authority following a vote at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Trustees. Application scoring shall be based on the following factors:
1. Whether the project involves a nonproductive industrial or manufacturing sites located in communities that have experienced severe economic decline and employment loss due to the nonproductive nature of the site and insufficient technical or planning personnel or resources. 2. Amount of matching funds committed to the project 3. Demonstrated community support 4. Likelihood of ultimate completion of redevelopment of site.5. Potential impact of successful completion of redevelopment.6. Consistency with any applicable regional economic development plan. The Trustees shall determine, in advance of review of applications, the specific weight to be given to each factor, provided however, the factor described in subsection (C)(1) shall be given more weight than any other single factor.
D. Grant Recipient ObligationsUpon receipt of a technical assistance or planning grant, the Applicant shall execute an Agreement with the Authority that contains the following minimum terms, as well as any other terms determined reasonable or necessary by the Authority:
1. The Applicant will use the grant only for the purposes for which it was awarded. 2. The Applicant will repay the full amount of the grant to the Authority in the event of a material misrepresentation in the Grant Application, or in the event the grant is not used for the purposes for which it was awarded, or there is other material breach of Grant Agreement.3. The Applicant shall form a Redevelopment Committee made up of local residents and site owner (or their representative) to steer redevelopment plan.4. The Applicant will provide periodic updates required by the Authority for monitoring purposes, which updates may include local Redevelopment Committee minutes and other data, and verification that grants have had the intended results The Authority may require disbursement of the grant to be in parts over time upon completion of certain benchmarks.