Cole County Commission endorses MSP grant application

Flags flutter in strong winds Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, at the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City.
Flags flutter in strong winds Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, at the Cole County Courthouse in Jefferson City.

The Cole County Commission on Tuesday agreed to sign a second letter of support for Jefferson City staff to include in a grant application for the historic Missouri State Penitentiary site.

City staff received the go-ahead from the Jefferson City Council in March to apply for a disaster recovery grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The EDA requires applying projects to meet one of six requirements, and the MSP project meets three - impact from the tornado, historic nature and location in a low- to moderate-income area.

The grant could provide up to $6 million to infrastructure work identified in the Missouri State Penitentiary Redevelopment Plan.

The city would be required to provide a 20 percent match to the grant - approximately $1.2 million if the full $6 million is awarded - from the half-cent capital improvements sales tax. The funds within the sales tax have previously been designated for public infrastructure at the site.

Jefferson City Engineer David Bange and City Counselor Ryan Moehlman told county commissioners they had talked with EDA officials after receiving the county's first letter of support in May and were told there needed to be more information to show the county was willing to commit money for infrastructure at the site.

When the city and county passed their last half-cent capital sales tax extensions in 2016, $5.5 million was set aside in each proposal for cooperative projects between the two entities. One million dollars of that was earmarked out of each sales tax for MSP redevelopment.

Moehlman said signing this second letter shows the county is on board with the MSP project. The city hopes to hear whether it will receive the grant later this year.

County seeks help to track CARES Act spending

In other business Tuesday, commissioners decided to hold interviews with three companies who applied to provide the county professional services to help track spending of federal funds the county received to help with the COVID-19 emergency.

Cole County received $9 million in May from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

The money could go toward necessary expenditures incurred from March 1 through Dec. 30, according to information the county received from the federal government. Funds that aren't spent by March 31, 2021, must be returned to the state. They cannot be used for replacement of lost revenue.

County Auditor Kristin Berhorst had suggested the commission look for a professional service to track CARES Act spending, as the county is "ultimately responsible and liable for all these expenditures."

The interviews are to be with BKD, an accounting firm from Springfield; Brown Smith Wallace, an accounting firm out of St. Louis; and Civic Solutions, out of New Jersey.

County Finance Officer Debbie Malzner said each company indicated it had done work on many federal funding matters, but none indicated any expertise on COVID funding.

County gets clean audit

In other action Tuesday, commissioners reviewed the 2019 audit report for the county. Williams Keepers has done the audit for several years; their representatives said they found the county's accounting records to be in good order and proposed no significant adjustments.