By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland announced Tuesday that more than $390,000 in Emergency Historic Economic Asset Lifeline (HEAL) grants had been awarded to five recipients. Stafford County Economic Development was awarded $85,000 for work on the Macksville Community Building and Opera. Eco Devo Director Ryan Russell said the funds will go toward repairing the building after storms damaged the roof and lower wall of the structure.
"The way the alley is situated, there's a slope toward the building so whenever it rained, it was just pouring into the basement of the building next to the city building," Russell said.
The building has been unoccupied for some time and the previous owner did not have money to make the repairs. The city of Macksville purchased the building and was eligible for the HEAL grant. Russell said the next step is possibly using the HEAL grant to secure a larger Community Development Block Grant for renovations of the basement, first floor, and part of the second floor.
"Then it can be used as a community facility like an event space, maybe also an office," he said. "The basement, we're thinking about maybe doing storage units where they can enter the back part of the building, go downstairs, and have storage units. Some of these ideas are still being fleshed out."
The HEAL grant requires a 50/50 match, so the city of Macksville will be contributing additional funds to the repairs.