Back to the May-June 2023 issue

Small Cities Tackle Large Projects With Grants

By Andrew Tellijohn

It took six tries, but the City of Cromwell finally got the grant it needed to add a multi-use walking and biking path on a half-mile stretch of Highway 73.

The $2.25 million grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Local Partnership Program (LPP) will add the path along Highway 73. It will connect to another new sidewalk along Highway 210, providing a safe walking and biking option for seniors and students who otherwise would have had to walk on the shoulder of the road.

“It’s a stretch of our city where there was no safe walking,” says Mayor Sharon Zelazny. “We have had a very poor sidewalk system to the point where parents don’t let kids ride their bikes or walk to school.”

Cromwell’s success illustrates both the importance of grants to small cities — its entire tax levy each year is in the low six figures, so it’s hard to save for such projects — but also the challenges those cities have in procuring such funding.

Zelazny and other city officials initially partnered with staff at Cromwell-Wright Public School to seek funding through the Safe Routes to School program. Though unsuccessful four times, they learned from the process and met some contacts along the way who led them to the LPP where the city was approved on its second try.

“We worked on this for a long time. It’s very hard,” Zelazny says. “We don’t have money for a grant writer. So, I think my biggest advice is just dive in and do your best. This grant, the first time we wrote for this was in 2016.”

Inspired by its neighbor

Wright’s recently sworn-in mayor, Donovan Ranta, has seen both the city’s neighboring communities of Cromwell and Tamarack tackle infrastructure projects with the use of grants. He hopes to tap into similar funding options to cover the cost of a new city hall.

Currently, city staff share facilities with the fire department, which is inconvenient during training sessions and duty calls. City files are stored offsite and the largest space available in the building is a 10-foot by 14-foot meeting room.

“That isn’t really big enough to have any social events or community civic events,” Ranta says. “We just need a city hall.”

The city has procured and cleared space for the building, which is expected to cost about $340,000. Ranta convened a committee of people to help study the grant process and look into other funding options.

“I don’t know much about them,” he says. “We’ve had cities around us that have new streets, new playgrounds, they have equipment for their cities to use. I know they’re available. I’ve been with the Council for nine years and never had anything to do with grants. We never applied.”

Ranta also is leaning on the know-how of leaders in neighboring communities to hear about their grant efforts.

“I think that’s the most imperative thing to do,” he says.

New program assists small cities in need of grants

One other option Ranta wants to pursue is assistance available through the League of Minnesota Cities’ new Grant Navigator program.

The pilot program has allocated $500,000 to assist cities of all sizes in hiring grant writers to help find and write grants for projects of all kinds.

One of the biggest hurdles cities face in procuring funding is the cost of hiring a consultant to help write the grants, says Luke Fischer, LMC’s deputy director. They now can apply for Grant Navigator funding for up to $5,000 to offset those costs of finding out what grants are available and writing the applications.

“When a city wants to apply for a grant, often times they don’t have the technical expertise in house,” Fischer says. “Not every city has an in-house city engineer, and what we’re doing is helping the city pay an engineer so they can apply for grant funding.”

Zelazny plans to tap into the program for other needs under discussion in Cromwell. “I’m hoping that will help us,” she says.

Ranta also thinks the Grant Navigator and the additional access it will provide to funding for small cities can be a game changer. “It’s huge,” he says.

Andrew Tellijohn is a freelance writer.