Pullman-Moscow Airport's .09 request bumped in first round

Whitman County’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Committee decided Tuesday night to call back three of four entities that had requested .09 economic development funds.

Rejected was a $15,000 request by the Pullman-Moscow Airport to fund an upgrade of its emergency communication system.

“How is it creating jobs by buying radios?” asked committee member Dale Miller of Uniontown.

Board member Marty Mullen of Pullman noted the project already has funding from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Port of Whitman County and Avista.

The funds derive from a .09 percent share of the state’s portion of sales tax revenues to use on projects that will bolster the local economy. Awards are determined by the county’s citizen Blue Ribbon Advisory Task Committee.

The three other agencies requesting funds will be called in to present their plans at the BRATC meeting next Tuesday night at the courthouse.

Advancing are project proposals from the city of Tekoa, the Uniontown Public Development Authority and the Whitman County Library.

Uniontown requested $56,554 to help buy a building on its main drag to provide expansion space for burgeoning oatmeal company Grandma Lela’s. The remodel would also create space for other businesses.

The PDA’s had asked commissioners to transfer a $30,000 loan awarded last year to renovate a former loafing shed at the Dahmen Barn into an agricultural museum. That grant was less than half of the $73,000 projected cost, and the PDA has not been able to find the rest of the funding to launch the project.

Commissioners, though, rejected the transfer request, saying it was awarded for that project specifically.

Whitman County library requested $75,000 in .09 funding to help pay for a $504,450 project that would turn the former Hamilton Drug building on Main Street into the “Whitman County Enrichment Center and Business Incubator.”

The library used a private endowment to purchase the building, which adjoins the library’s Colfax building.

The plan is to turn the building into a space for artists to work and sell their crafts.

Tekoa submitted a request for $26,775 to repair and renovate a business incubator building on Crosby Street. The city took over the building from a public facilities district which has been dissolved.

The city hopes upgrading the building will allow new businesses space in town to start at low cost.