The Heartland Port Authority Board agreed to pursue a federal grant to help set up a Missouri River Port without including funds from local governments.
During their meeting Tuesday, commissioners voted to apply for a USDA Missouri rural business development grant, which would be for $180,000 and would be used to fund needed clearances under the National Environmental Policy Act that the port site would have to meet. This includes farmland impact, hydraulic modeling as well as finding if any endangered species were in the area where a proposed port would be located on currently state-owned land near the National Gucard's Ike Skelton Training Facility.
Randy Allen, chief executive officer of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce, said the grant application was ready to go, but they missed the March application deadline because they hadn't been able to talk with the Cole and Callaway county commissions, as well as the Jefferson City Council, on whether they would contribute matching funds to get the grant.
But, he said, Matt Moore, business program director for USDA Missouri, suggested the board could still apply. If it's not accepted due to the missed deadline, he said, the board would have to wait until next year.
Board Chairman Rick Mihalevich, who also heads the Jefferson City Council's Finance Committee, said the city could take its portion out of the city's fund balance, but he would rather not do it now because of how tight the city's budget is. If the board has to wait until next year, Mihalevich said, the possibility was better for city funding as it could go through the city's budget process.
The chamber, which the board hired to market, lobby and prepare grants on its behalf, has already spent $12,000 to do a boundary survey and description of the property.
The original grant plan called for mapping and concept design for roads and bridges to the southern port location, northern and southern port design, as well as a roadway that could connect Missouri 94 to the northern port.
The total cost for this work would have been $438,500. Of that amount, the Cole County Commission and Jefferson City Council would have each been asked to pay $105,240, along with $52,620 from the Callaway County Commission. The rest, $175,400, would come from grant funding.
Along with the USDA grant, the port authority is also moving forward on another grant.
The state Department of Agriculture's Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority provides up to $200,000 in grants to projects that aid rural communities. Grants can cover expenses relating to feasibility studies, marketing studies, marketing plans, business plans and prospects for development, according to Agriculture Department guidelines for the grants. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and disbursed in January and July of each year.
The local Port Authority has been looking for grant funding after failing to receive a $750,000 federal grant in December to fund preliminary engineering studies on two proposed port sites.
On the issue of acquiring the land for the port, Allen said legislation is awaiting action on both the Missouri House and Senate floors.
Bills by state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, and state Rep. Rudy Veit, R-Wardsville, have been passed out of their respective committees.
Allen said it is his understanding the bills will more than likely be out together with five other land conveyance bills from other parts of the state and be voted on in one bill. Allen said he had not heard of any opposition to the bills.
The Bernskoetter and Veit bills would transfer 116 acres of state-owned land just east of the Ike Skelton Training Facility in Jefferson City to the Heartland Port Authority. This has been the main site the board has focused on, but they are also looking at a plan to split the port with a secondary site in Callaway County near OCCI Inc.
The chamber had been looking at the Skelton land for 10 years for possible development and the Missouri National Guard and Missouri Department of Corrections - whose Algoa and Jefferson City Correctional Centers are located nearby - had no plans to use the land.
Roger Fischer, Port Authority Board vice chairman and a Callaway County commissioner, noted there is an air of urgency in what they are doing while the current administration in Washington, D.C., is in place.
"I think we've moved fast on this because who is to say how long this administration will be in place," Fischer said. "This administration has shown support for projects like this, while the previous administration did not. Who is to say that things could change if a new administration comes in."