A completely inaccurate statement of Mr. Oetting’s from a FYI Panguitch article was recently brought to my attention. Because Mr. Oetting is running for County Commission in this year’s election, I felt it might be important that he had the facts.
In the FYI Panguitch article of the Insider’s May 5th, 2022 edition, he said: “It would be nice if our Commissioner’s would take advantage of the Economic Development Grant Program and put in some low-cost housing. We have a number of people living in our motels full time. People have had to leave here because they can‘t find housing. I see that Bryce Valley has continued with this program for many years to build low-cost housing. I believe this goes back at least 20 years, when they first started with those homes northwest of town.”
Here are the facts:
Fact 1: The Board of Garfield County Commissioners does not choose how to spend the Rural County Grant funds. Utah State Code requires each rural county seeking to utilize the State’s Rural County Grant Program (RCGP) to establish an Economic Development Advisory (CED) Board to “assist and advise the County Commission on what projects should be funded by grant money provided” from the RCGP. Therefore, the CED Board, along with the County Economic Development Director, make the recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on how to spend the Rural County Grant funds. Additionally, each rural county only receives $200,000 of guaranteed funds each year from the State; and Garfield County, which is a 5th Class County, only receives the $200k if we provide 20% in matching funds ($40,000).
Fact 2: The Garfield CED Board has funded affordable housing projects every year since the Rural County Grant Program was created. The affordable housing development northeast (not northwest) of Tropic Town was purchased by NeighborWorks Mountain Country Home Solutions (NMCHS), an affordable housing development nonprofit. NMCHS purchased the affordable housing subdivision and built two new homes in the subdivision which were completed earlier this Spring. Additionally, NMCHS purchased two lots in Escalante, where they are nearing completion of four affordable housing units and have plans to build more units on the other lot in the near future.
To date, NMCHS has been awarded the highest RCGP award amount from the CED Board, totaling $50,000. In addition, the CED Board awarded $35,000 to Beaver Housing Authority to build five units in Panguitch and $15,000 to Suzanne Catlett to remodel an old laundromat into a studio apartment for an employee of Nemo’s Restaurant in Escalante; both projects were completed in the Spring of 2022 as well.
Therefore, the Garfield County Economic Development Board and the County Commission have provided $100,000 in grant funding for affordable housing projects in the last two years, which equates to 33.9% of the total competitive grant funding awarded to date.
Sincerely,
Kaden Figgins
Director of Planning and Economic Development, Garfield County