When the nightmares of budget restrictions strike, Athens departments turn to external funds to make dreams of city projects come true.
Every year, departments in the City of Athens apply for federal and state funded grants to finance projects ranging from the construction of bridges to the stringing of basketball nets.
The grants occasionally finance new projects, but most are used to chip away at the cost of projects that would be completed anyway, Mayor Paul Wiehl said.
“We use grants to augment projects already underway,” Wiehl said. “Most grants require a 10 percent or 20 percent matching fund from the city.”
The acquisition of grants is a necessary responsibility of city government and Wiehl said he tasks department heads to “see what grants can be found.”
Grants are particularly important to the city said Rick Campitelli, director of the Arts, Parks and Recreation Department.
“Without (grants) being available, a lot of what occurs would not occur,” Campitelli said.
For the past 17 years, the department has received an annual NatureWorks grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources through Athens County, which allocates the funds from the state.
The funds have been used to improve playground equipment as well as roller hockey and basketball courts in the city, Campitelli said.
To prevent interdepartmental competition for grants, an informal “gentleman’s agreement” exists between departments, Campitelli said.
“For example, we apply for the NatureWorks Grant,” he said. “But we let others apply for the Clean Ohio Grant.”
On Oct. 1, Athens City Council authorized Wiehl to apply for a grant from the Clean Ohio Trails Fund with the hope that the city could construct a recreational trail with the additional funds.
The application process is competitive, but the city has received the grant in the past to extend the Athens trail system into Sells Park, Gosney said.
Just this past year, Athens received about $200,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation for the Safe Routes to Schools program, said Jessica Adine, project manager with the Athens Department of Engineering and Public Works.
This project improved pedestrian safety by repairing well-trafficked public stairways and adding sidewalks, Wiehl said.
The Department of Engineering and Public Works has already received $110,000 from ODOT this year for additional sidewalk improvements to be made next year, Adine said.
The high frequency of repairs could not happen without grant funds, she said.
“Grant funding allows us to stretch local money further,” Adine said. “Without grant funds there would be a delay completing projects as we waited for local money to accumulate.”
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