MARIES COUNTY — There were two visitors from Vienna at last Thursday’s Maries County Commission meeting seeking financial assistance to help fund 40 percent of a grant for a program to help a group of interested volunteers gain knowledge-based strategies to help better the Vienna community.
Vienna Chamber of Commerce (VCOC) members Colleen Barnhart and Kelly Barnhart spoke to the commissioners, County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers, and Treasurer Rhonda Slone about the possibilities and value they see in using the Missouri Main Street Community Empowerment Grant Program to help them find viable businesses to improve and occupy currently vacant buildings in Vienna.
The two women spoke about the chamber seeking help with the Main Street program, which will provide on-site assistance and training to help them improve Vienna. The Vienna City Council agreed to give $6,320 towards the grant and they are asking Maries County for the remaining $6,000 of the 40 percent of the local money needed. Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman asked for references for this group and how long they have been in business. K. Barnhart said it is a national and state program and there are statistics on their website, which includes the number of historic buildings saved (1,649), net new jobs (4,109), and net new small businesses (834). The program also focuses on preserving existing buildings and the historic appeal of a town. She said Chillicothe and Washington are two Missouri towns that have had success with the Main Street program. C. Barnhart said no community is too small for it to work.
Stratman said it’s a good concept but the commissioners don’t quite understand as it looks like the group sets its own hours and sets its own rate of pay. He said there are “places coming out of the woodwork” with hopes of getting a piece of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money. The commissioners must spend the money wisely.
K. Barnhart said Main Street offers a funding directory where it helps write and apply for other grants. The program provides “a lot of hand holding” and the financial portion goes to technical aspects of the project, such as architect and surveyor services. The commitment is for two years. Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre asked if they are sure there aren’t any further financial commitments after two years and they said there are not.
Main Street provides training, education, organizational skills, survey work, technical services, guiding the group with fundraising and grant writing, action planning, and development of long lasting transformation strategies. K. Barnhart said they will do a community visit and will survey what people in Vienna want. They hope to bring all of the organizations together. She told the commissioners they (the chamber) are trying hard to achieve a way to communicate and connect with the people who can being revitalization to Vienna.
Stratman asked what about the whole county. K. Barnhart said this program can be expanded and Belle could do this as well with its own Main Street group. The focus is on the downtown area. C. Barnhart said what Vienna does and what it achieves will help the whole county.
Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel asked “where are these people from?” They are from Branson, Missouri. K. Barnhart said the Main Street people will come and do an evaluation and get input from the community. She said it is a community-led program as all towns and cities are different. A letter will be sent to the stakeholders. The chamber volunteers did a town tour to assess the historic buildings and number of vacant ones. There are five to 10 vacant buildings. They will be talking to business people and property owners, which is part of the process. There also are opportunities to donate buildings. C. Barnhart said it helps when someone from outside the community gives them information.
K. Barnhart said, “If not now, when? Who will take care of the decline in buildings? If not us, who will come along who has the passion to help fix the situation? We don’t want to disappear off the map.”
C. Barnhart said there are people who want to move to Vienna and Maries County. The community would benefit from this and they will need places to live. There are jobs here, she said, citing Quaker Window Products. K. Barnhart said money leaves the community every evening and weekend when people go to Rolla and Jefferson City to spend their dollars, money which could be spent in Vienna.
Drewel commented it is hard to establish a business and at this time of the pandemic some of them are already having trouble. K. Barnhart said pop-up incubation space is a possibility, which allows entrepreneurs to test their business model at a low cost. They asked for $6,000 to help meet the match.
Fagre said they will be giving the money up front and it may all be lost. K. Barnhart said the goal is no vacant buildings. The chamber can’t apply for the grant until it knows it has the match money. Drewel said there are smart people in Vienna who know more about the community and its buildings than do people from Branson. K. Barnhart said they will use the local people resource but they need the expertise with the grants. Stratman said Vienna and Maries County participate with MRPC and both of them have grant writing hours they don’t always use and these can be given to the chamber to use. He said he understands and agrees with the chamber promoting the community, but has his doubts about the program from Branson. Fagre said some local business owners might not like people they don’t know telling them what they ought to do.
K. Barnhart said Main Street is a consulting service whereas a business may not have time to devote to it. The motive of the program is small business development and saving existing buildings. C. Barnhart said businesses are reactive rather than proactive because they don’t have time. K. Barnhart said the purpose is to create a strategic plan for Vienna, which is why the chamber is seeking this grant from Main Street, which has the expertise they need help with. The community’s assets will be collected and defined and the information will be available for prospective businesses to have access to. She said it helps give a clear path, eliminates confusion and gives the business other options.
Stratman said there are about 9,000 citizens in Maries County and he would like to “spread out” the money. K. Barnhart said Vienna is the county seat and could be a starting place with the Main Street program.
Stratman said a person can’t rent a canoe in Maries County to float the Gasconade River. She said that certainly is a tourism asset Vienna is missing out on. It was noted in time there may be other public river accesses opening up.
K. Barnhart said the Main Street program has assets and ideas, and so much information about how to copy and duplicate the success of others. Drewel asked how much time the people would spend in Vienna and was told they always will be available for consultation, and anticipate about three to four visits from the people. There is a July 16, 2021 deadline on the grant so there is not a lot of time left.
Drewel asked about who will do the footwork of talking to the people who own the buildings. K. Barnhart said the VCOC volunteers will do it. Drewel thinks it is a lot of money for some people to come to Vienna just a few times. C. Barnhart said the program offers instructions on how to do a lot of this. K. Barnhart said they will be able to do it in a knowledge-based way with the information received from Main Street. “We have the want and the desire but we aren’t experts and we’re looking for help,” she said. They will benefit from the experience Main Street can bring to them. The people will not be imposing themselves on the community, but will have information on what tools they need to access to move forward.
Treasurer Slone said they need to support community betterment and Stratman agreed. He wants to talk to someone at MRPC first to see what they think. “Thank you,” he said. “Your goals are good.” He thinks the commissioners will have an answer for them on Monday. The commissioners also need to see if matching a grant is allowed with the ARPA money, which they have questioned.
At the county commission meeting July 12, Stratman said MRPC’s Bonnie Prigge contacted him saying they are uncertain at this time if the ARPA money can be used for a grant match, but they are still checking.
Stratman sent Kelly Barnhart an email early Monday thanking her and Colleen Barnhart for the presentation. However, he said after discussing it with his fellow commissioners, they all agreed they don’t want an outside group coming to Maries County to “tell citizens what to do” and about the uncertainty of using the ARPA money. He added the commissioners think the local group of volunteers interested in improving Vienna will have more success with efforts to improve the town than an outside organization would. But, the county will not be funding the Main Street proposal, he wrote.
Barnhart responded their efforts will be more difficult without this grant.