The loan was a partnership of USDA and United Electric. United Electric selects the projects and the USDA loans out the money. With the new money, Worth County and Grant City have received $1.8 million in the last five years. The USDA allocates $1.2 billion annually to rural development in Missouri. None of this goes to big cities like Kansas City or St. Louis. It was announced on the same day Grant City got a grant to do a preliminary engineering report for its wastewater project.
The Worth County Public Library was founded in 1928; proceeds from the sale of a cookbook were used to raise money to purchase books for the library. It was located in the American Legion Hall until 1976, when it relocated to the old school building located where the firehouse is now. In 2003, the old school building was in danger of caving in after years of deterioration and the Public Library merged with the School Library to form the state’s first ever partnership library; it moved to its present location on the south end of the school.
For the last several years, the library had sought to expand on the north end, but never had the necessary funds. The school library and the public library got money from the Duane Coy Estate; he had been a member of the Grant City Class of 1938 and had moved away from the area.
Janice Borey helped write the application for the $100,000 loan.
In addition, $75,000 from public library funds, $25,000 from school library funds, and $25,000 of Coy Estate money will be used to fund the project for a total price tag of $225,000.
The Library Board is in the process of getting bids for the new project. The library is open weekdays from 1:30 to 5:30 and is open when school is in session. It employs a public librarian and a school librarian. The library offers an annual summer reading program for kids and recently added an e-book collection.
No comments:
Post a Comment