County drafts support letter for Great Plains

BRANSON MISSOURI NEWS:

OSWEGO — Labette County commissioners on Monday drafted a letter of support for Great Plains Development Authority, which is seeking its 10th year of a federal funding grant.

Great Plains board member Dan Peterson discussed the need for the federal funding and the letter of support with commissioners.

If the grant is approved, and Peterson indicated that it should be, Great Plains would get $463,368 from the federal government’s Office of Economic Adjustment. Local matches bring the total funding for Great Plains to $609,246.

Peterson this is the 10th grant sought by Great Plains. Patrick O’Brien, the director of the OEA, asked for a letter of support from the county commission and the Parsons City Commission to accompany the grant application this year. O’Brien also offered to act as an intermediary in bringing Great Plains officials and county commissioners together to find common ground.

Commissioners refused recently to support a bond issue plan to improve the troubled water system at Great Plains Industrial Park pledging property tax money generated at the plant to pay them down. If the park failed to make a payment in the 10-year life of the bond issue the county would be liable for the …