Consultants provide EPA grant info

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A number of local residents, including business and government leaders, attended a meeting held Wednesday to provide options on how a $180,000 EPA Assessment Grant could be spent.

Three representatives of Soil and Materials Engineers Inc. (SME) – Vice President Daniel O. Roesner and project consultants Mark Quimby and Rhonda Miller – were on hand to provide information on the grant, as well as options for spending the money.

Roesner emphasized, along with Van Wert Economic Development Director Nancy Bowen, that the money could significantly benefit local development when used to help reclaim no-longer-used buildings that could have environmental hazards that need cleaned up.

Quimby, the most knowledgeable about the grant process, led those at the meeting through some basic information on the grant and the kinds of activities eligible to receive funding. Quimby talked about the two types of hazardous materials investigations that could qualify for grant money.

The first, Phase I investigations, concentrate on the history of a building – what businesses occupied it and what kinds of possible hazardous materials they might possibly have stored there. Phase I investigations typically cost anywhere from $3,000-$5,000, Quimby noted.

Phase II investigations, on the other hand, are much more comprehensive and can include soil and water testing and asbestos assessments. Cost of those assessments can cost $50,000 or more, said Quimby.

SME consultants said the EPA grant money must be spent within three years, with the county, which is the grantee, having to return any unspent money to the state. One benefit to the grant, consultants noted, is the flexibility included in the program, which allows a grantee to earmark funds for a couple of large projects or divvy the money out in smaller portions to property owners.

The EPA money can also be used as matching funds for Clean Ohio grants, but Quimby added that grant funds can’t be used to fix a problem, only to investigate a problem and in the planning of a fix.

Bowen said the county has decided to parcel out funds on a case-by-case basis, with the emphasis on projects that would project the greatest potential benefit to the local economy.

She and Main Street Van Wert Project Manager Seth Baker will be drawing up a list of possible projects, which will then be evaluated and prioritized, based on how much economic benefit they would provide.

County residents are being asked for suggestions for possible projects that could benefit from the grant money.