BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg City Councilors Michael Powers and John Rishe are hoping to rake in grants due to the availability of grant funding from the state this year, but City Manager Stephen Jellie said matching grants could be a problem.

Hoping to build on the success of a recent program which used federal COVID-19 relief funding to help homeowners with interior improvements, Powers asked if it would be possible to offer more or bigger grants in the future.

Councilor Rishe said the state budget is loaded with a lot of grant opportunities including programs like Restore New York, Renew New York, Downtown Revitalization Initiative, New York Forward, money for land banks and Community Development Block Grants.

Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly said he was amazed by the large amount of grant opportunities being offered as well.

Rishe said he was hopeful city staff are working on applications as deadlines for some of the grants are coming as early as July.

His interest in applying for state funding however was met with some resistance from the city manager who said that if the city is successful in obtaining grants, it could be costly for the city.

“All the programs are good. I want to drive home, 20 grant applications is fine; that’ll be 20 matches that we have to put in there,” he said. “We have no money in the 2022 budget right now, not $1 for capital improvement.”

Jellie said the city was barely able to balance the budget.

“So we just have to think about those. I have Andrea put in 20 grant applications and she stones them all and then we have $500,000, $1 million in matching funds that we’ve got to come up with. Where is the money coming from?” he asked.

“I’ll approve that all night long,” Rishe said.

“You’ll approve it from what fund?” Jellie replied.

A volley of comments between the two ensued before Rishe said he’d be willing to borrow the funds for matching funds if needed.

“90% funding for a 10% match? I’ll do it all night long,” he said.

Although the city took no action, Jellie told council City Planner Andrea Smith would be reviewing the grants and bringing recommendations to the council.

Council would have the final decision on which grants the city will seek.

City Council is set to meet May 23. It’s unclear at this if the presentation will be given at that meeting.