Chamber funding on the way
The McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce is one step closer to receiving grant money and a loan to finish the interior of the Chamber building.
Chamber officials met with representatives from USDA Rural Development Monday to sign a “Letter of Intent to Meet Conditions” which is one of the final procedures necessary before the funds are awarded. The money will consist of a $75,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant and a $250,000 Community Facility Loan.
The grant application approval process has been a lengthy one, something both the Chamber and Rural Development acknowledged at the signing.
“It’s been probably a longer process than we like,” said Rural Development’s Jimmy Allen. “But we’re finally glad to be able to come today and do the letter of conditions with the Chamber people. Once the conditions have been met, then we’re ready to move forward and order the funds.”
Chamber president Lea Chrisawn said everyone involved is anxious to get the project moving and will work toward providing whatever is needed to achieve that goal.
“We’ll move as quickly as we can,” Chrisawn said, “because this is so important. It’s so important to the Chamber and the community, so we’re going to move as quickly as we can to make sure that we cover all the things we need to do.”
Chrisawn said the grant and loan should provide enough funds to complete the project.
“It’s going to allow us to complete the addition,” she said, “and also to renovate the existing building. The whole place is going to look like a brand new complex.”
The loan will be paid back over a period not to exceed 40 years at an interest rate currently set at 4.375 percent. Chrisawn said the Chamber budget will be set up to provide funds to repay the loan as part of the regular yearly budgeting process.
Chamber board chairman Larry Flatt said the completed building will be an important asset to the community.
“There’s no doubt with the economic conditions that we’re currently facing in Warren County,” Flatt said, “with several plants closing, and one imminent to be closed in the next 18 months, that the Chamber has to be in the forefront of setting the pace for this community, and being an incubator and a source of information that will allow us to entice other people to move here.”