Greenfield re-grouping after EDA denies railroad grant application

The village of Greenfield is regrouping this week after a grant that would have resulted in a total of $5 million being put into the Greenfield area railroad was denied by the Economic Development Administration.

Greenfield City Manager Betty Bishop said Greenfield Officials had received a letter this week informing them that they had not been awarded the grant. However, the village may have one more chance to bring the additional funds for the refurbishment of the rail system.

Bishop said that the railroad is crucial to hundreds of jobs in the area.

Bishop, grant writer Peg Beekman and Michelle Throckmorton from the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC) began reviewing the comments from the EDA on why their application was rejected and held meetings this week with local and state elected officials to try to see what can be done to bring the much-needed funding to the village.

"When you've worked on something for this long ... I don't want to say I was stunned, but I was disappointed," Bishop told The Highland County Press. "We worked hard."

The state of Ohio has committed $1 million to the project, she said, and that will be coupled with local matching funds.

"We are planning to move ahead with the two state awards and get the railroad in the best operating condition possible," Bishop said.

They have until May 1 to re-submit the application.

Areas the EDA said needed addressed included: "A complete preliminary engineering report; the applicant didn't provide supporting documentation to justify 'special need' for an 80-percent EDA investment rate; based on current data sets, the region is only eligible for a 50-percent EDA investment rate; the city of Greenfield's City Council must submit a board resolution authorizing the grant submittal, and identify Betty Bishop as the authorized representative for the city of Greenfield; a complete environmental narrative and applicant certification clause; the application failed to address any of the EDA investment priorities; funding is not confirmed for the following sources: Local Units of Government. Funds must be approved through board resolution and the resolution must identify the amount and source of the matching dollars."

According to Highland County Commissioner Tom Horst, one of the reasons the grant was not approved was because "We're no longer classified as a depressed area."

"We applied for an 80/20 matching grant," Bishop said. "I would say that was the reason they picked for not funding it. There were other things that they pointed out, but all those thing we had addressed. The bottom line is, they probably want a 50/50 match. Then we would need 2.5 million for the project, which means we would need to get another $1.5 million (before May). I don't know if I can find another million. Maybe $250,000, and that might show that we have been able to put more money together, and then let the politicians do their part. We've come this far; I usually do not give up."

Bishop said that Greenfield officials will be contacting various Ohio Elected Officials to receive support in re-submitting the application.

In March, the village faced another railroad crisis when anchors came loose on the railroad bridge, causing ties and spikes to space out and come apart, derailing some cars as they were crossing. As that happened, the wheels of the cars came off the rails, and the underside came to a rest on top of the tracks. 
 
"General wear and tear," according to Bishop, is what caused the anchors to come loose. 

"We need to get all the offices, from the U.S. Senate, Congress, state and representatives together and have a meeting," Horst said. "It's getting desperate. That rail line has to be fixed. Some companies will not expand. Some may not even be here if we don't fix it."