Renovation of a clubhouse / community center in Clinton, Iowa. Completed plans call for the renovation of a clubhouse / community center.

CLINTON -- The Clinton County Board of Supervisors is consider-ing a request from the Gateway Area Corn munity Center for assistance in applying fora grant and also potential funding assistance. Gateway Area Community Cen-ter Director Jorge Landa Rodriguez reached out to Supervisor Dan Srp about two weeks ago about the county potentially being the signor on the Community Development Block Grant application, Srp said. The application is for funding to assist in projects at the center, Srp noted. The proposed improvements to the Gateway Area Community Center, 1850 S. Bluff Blvd., include a new roof for the building. The current boiler system is expensive to run, Landa said. They want to update the system to something more modern, he said. "Right now, it's all or nothing with the heat in the building," Landa Rodriguez said. it will allow us to be able to control exactly where we want and when we want the heat to go." The Gateway Area Community Center is also looking to implement a commercial kitchen, Landa Rodri-guez said. He said they are looking at a total cost somewhere around the 8530,000 estimated cost up to S600,0o0 to ensure everything is covered, he said. East Central Iowa Governmental Association Fundraising Consultant See GACC on A2 GACC CONTINUED FROM Al Jennifer Walker said esti-mates for the new roof are approximately $280,000 and the heating and cooling esti-mates are about $150,000. They are estimating about $,00,000 for the commer-cial kitchen, Walker said. The Community Development Block Grant does not require a specific match bathe more matching funding an orga-nization has. the better the application will be scored and the more likely the project will be funded, Walker said. The ECIA received Eco-nomic Delelopment Authority Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act fund-ing, Walker noted. ECIA is willing to offer services to write the grant, she said. Of course, it would have to be with a government applicant," Walker said. "The Gateway can't do it them-selves. They cannot be the direct applicant." The Gateway Area Commu-nity Center's goal is to raise about $100,000 for a match the organization could include in the application, Srp said. They discussed approaching, other organizations for fund-ing assistance, Srp noted. If Clinton County were to provide $100,000 to the Gate-way Area Community Center. it would require a budget amendment, Clinton County Auditor Eric Van Lancker said. It is possible to spread the commitment over two fis-cal years, Walker confirmed. The funding can be secured through pledges, Walker said. The pledges would not be legally binding but would be stronger from the county if the county is the applicant, she added. "Saying that you will put it in the budget for next year will help this enormously," Walker said. "A lot of state grants require that the county put some funding in it. But this one doesn't but it will cer-tainly make it stronger." Supervisor Jim Irwin Jr. understood the request to be for the county to serve as the receiver and recipient of the grant. He did not realize the county would be asked to provide $100,000 in funding, he said. The county expects to have about $112,000 in funds not committed for fiscal year 2022. Irwin noted. guess from my perspec-tive, it's really difficult for me to say that we're going to use Sr00,00o and put it to one entity," Irwin said. The request is for an invest-ment for the organization and the county itself, Landa Rodriguez said. "When you help one por-tion of it out, in the long run