Colfax loses out on $4.18 million Flexible Facilities grant
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Village of Colfax was not among the grant awards for a Flexible Facilities grant of up to $4.25 million to make improvements to the Colfax Municipal Building.
The grant awards were announced on October 7.
The Flexible Facilities Program grant is funded through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund, which was established through the American Rescue Plan of 2021.
The minimum criteria is that the project must include constructing a new or renovating or expanding an existing library, community center or multi-purpose community facility, and the purchase and/or installation of broadband and/or other digital connectivity technology that provide public access to high speed internet, and directly enable work, education and health monitoring, according www.energyandhousing.wi.gov.
The Colfax Village Board, using $5,700 that had been raised by the Colfax Elevator Commission, contracted with Ayres Associates to write the grant application.
The plans for the building would have included a 1,390 square foot addition to the back of the building for the elevator and for restrooms on all three floors that are required by law.
The plan was to optimize currently unused portions of the building and to provide access according to the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
The grant application was tailored to broadband access and telehealth rooms that would have been built in the basement.
Colfax has been without a medical clinic since 2016, leaving people in the Colfax area no choice but to drive to Eau Claire, Menomonie, Bloomer or Chippewa Falls to seek the closest medical care.
Accessing medical care through telehealth is an option that is particularly useful considering the fact that two major hospitals in the area and 19 clinics closed earlier this year.
But accessing medical care through telehealth assumes everyone has the means to buy the computer equipment and to pay for the internet access needed.
According to a report presented to the Dunn County Health and Human Services Board in July, in Dunn County, about 5 percent of the households earn less than $10,000 per year (approximately 850 households); while about 5 percent of the households earn between $10,000 and $15,000 per year; about 5 percent earn between $15,000 and $20,000 per year; about 5 percent earn $20,000 to $25,000 per year; and about 4 percent earn $25,000 to $30,000 per year.
All together, nearly one quarter of the households in Dunn County earn $30,000 per year or less.
Library
Renovating the basement also would have provided more space that the Colfax Public Library could use for programming.
The Colfax Public Library is 1,800 square feet.
According to a space needs study done about 25 years ago, the library should be 10,000 square feet to serve the population of Colfax and the surrounding townships.
In addition, Colfax does not have a community center.
Other small communities in Dunn County do have community centers, such as Elk Mound, Sand Creek, Wheeler, Boyceville, Knapp and Ridgeland.
The basement of the Colfax Municipal Building operated as a community center for about 85 years, until it was closed off to the public nearly 25 years ago because of water damage.
Renovations to the basement also would have included community center space.
In addition to providing more programming space in the basement for the library and for community center space, the renovations would have included an elevator to make the auditorium handicapped accessible, thereby increasing the programming space for the library and for community events as well.
Score
According to the letter from the Wisconsin Department of Administration, “DOA received more applications than FFP funds available. Therefore, DEHCR is not able to fund all applicants. Applications with the highest scores were awarded funding.”
On the grant application, Colfax received a total score of 85 out of 100 possible points.
For the project description, Colfax received a score of 9 out of 10 possible points.
For the project need, Colfax scored 36 out of 40 possible points.
For project reach, Colfax scored 26 points out of 30 possible points.
For the sustainability plan, Colfax scored 5 points out of 10 possible points.
For matching funding, Colfax received a score of 10 points out of 10 possible points.
The week of October 14, Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library, reported that she had received a donation in the amount of $10,000 for the Colfax elevator fund.
To date, the Colfax Elevator Commission has raised, through pledges and donations, a total of $161,000 for the municipal building elevator project.
The Village of Boyceville also applied for a Flexible Facilities Grant to build a new public library but also did not receive a grant award.
Grant awards
A total of $115 million in grants were awarded to 35 local and tribal communities for the new construction or renovation of public libraries and community centers.
According to the grant application, the Colfax Public Library serves 1,540 people living in the Village of Colfax along with a rural population of 4,500 within a 10-mile radius of Colfax for a total of 6,040 people.
According to the letter from the Department of Administration stating that Colfax did not receive the grant, the total number of beneficiaries would be 4,537 people.
Some of the grant awards benefitted far fewer people than in the Colfax area, such as the award of $4.25 million to Phelps, which benefits 1,200 people, or the $4.12 million awarded to Independence, which benefits 2,200 people.
Here are the grant awards:
• Ashland — $3.39 million for the expansion of the public library and updates to benefit 12,000 people.
• Beloit — $3.89 million for public library renovations to benefit 11,000 people.
• Brown County — $4.03 million to create the Denmark Community Center and library to benefit 6,000 people.
• Cable — $1.87 million to expand the Forest Lodge Public Library to benefit 1,300 people.
• Cadott — $3.75 million to construct a new public library to benefit 5,000 people.
• Dodgeville — $4.25 million to assist with library renovations to benefit 12,100 people.
• Elkhorn — $2.17 million for library renovations to benefit 3,500 people.
• Fall Creek — $4.25 million to construct a new library to benefit 4,800 people.
• Fennimore — $4.25 million for library renovations to benefit 4,500 people.
• Fountain City — $1.71 million for city auditorium renovations and for an improved community center and public library to benefit 4,700 people.
• Fremont — $4.25 million to construct a tri-county public library and community center to benefit 2,100 people.
• Hammond — $4.1 million for a new public library to benefit 3,000 people.
• Hancock — $452,115 to expand the public library and a resource center to benefit 6,800 people.
• Independence — $4.12 million for a new community center and public library to benefit 2,200 people.
• La Crosse — $3.01 million for public library renovations and technological connectivity improvements to benefit 30,800 people.
• Madison — $4.25 million to construct a new library and Imagination Center at Reindahl Park to benefit 19,300 people.
• Mauston — $2.9 million to expand the public library to benefit 11,700 people.
• Mercer — $101,882 for public library renovations to benefit 2,200 individuals.
• Milwaukee County — $3.97 million to renovate the Clinton and Bernice Rose Senior Center to benefit 700 people.
• New Glarus — $4.25 million to construct a new public library to benefit 6,100 people.
• New London — $3.9 million for library renovations to benefit 15,000 people.
• Ozaukee County — $748,500 to expand the Ozaukee Nonprofit center to benefit 25,000 people.
• Phelps — $4.25 million to construct a new library and community center to benefit 1,200 people.
• Plum Lake — $4.25 million to construct a new community center to benefit 1,600 people.
• Port Washington — $1.09 million for library renovations to benefit 17,200 people.
• Reeseville — $251,040 for public library renovations to benefit 600 people.
• Ripon — $1.99 million for library renovations to benefit 7,600 people.
• River Falls — $4.08 million for library expansion and equipment upgrades to benefit 46,500 people.
• Shawano — $4.25 million to expand multi-purpose center to benefit 9,200 people.
• Sokagon Chippewa — Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa — $4.25 million to construct a new multipurpose community center to benefit 28,700 people.
• Stanley — $4.14 million for public library renovations to benefit 6,600 people.
• St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin — $4.25 million to expand the public library and community center to benefit 11,500 people.
• Waupaca — $4.17 million to expand the community center to benefit 4,500 people.
• Wautoma — $4.25 million to construct a new YMCA for the Waushara County area to benefit 3,200 people.
