The Clinton County Council agreed to help the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce with $100,000 going towards a new elevator for the Iron Block Building Tuesday morning.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shan Sheridan made the presentation to the County Council which is going to be the third and final phase of the building renovation since the Chamber purchased the building at the corner of Washington and Main in downtown Frankfort.
“I think what we got presented today was a really, really nice plan on how to finish Phase III of the Iron Block renovation,” said County Council President Alan Dunn. “It was the first time we had a new request come before us since we put our new policy on how to handle these types of requests by the council and the commissioners that require action by both bodies.”
Dunn added the Council was quite supportive of the project.
“Clearly, the Council was in support of spending up to $100,000 in funding that would be used to provide an elevator for access to the second floor and make the building ADA compliant,” said Dunn.
Clinton County Chamber of Commerce President Wanda Mitchell was happy with the way the project was received.
“I think we fully had hoped the county would support it,” said Mitchell. “Obviously, we’d like to have some city support for it as well. We have not approached the city. But, then again, they had an initial investment in the building when it was purchased. We chose to come to the county because of the ARPA funds.
“The elevator $125,000 and we’re asking for $100,000,” continued Mitchell. “That shows the matching we have to have in order to get other funds. It (the funds) will allow us to continue to move forward and hopefully complete the project this year.”
Besides this, Dunn was asked what other projects are on the horizon for 2024.
“2024 is the going to be the Year of the Annex,” said Dunn. “I think all the focus is going to be to get the Annex building up. We’re scheduled to move in there in October or November. Maybe now it will be November or December since we received word today that we’re a little behind schedule. But, that’s going to be the big focus for 2024.”