By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Ortonville — During the regular Monday night meeting, the Ortonville village council voted unanimously to allocate $3,500 of their 2024 Community Development Block Grant funds to childcare services and $4,501 to sidewalks.
“We can only give 15% of our funds to any public service, to public service in total,” said Village Manager Ryan Madis. “We are allowed to commit the minimum of $3,500 to one public service and that’s all. It has to do with, county wide, they have to fund things at a certain level. It’s a rule from HUD that’s new this year, so it comes from the feds. In prior years, we’ve just done public service, essentially, so this rule is a little wrinkle for us.”
The $3,500 to childcare would go towards Brandon Groveland Youth Assistance for programming for students under 13 years of age. BGYA sponsors and provides scholarships for students through Brandon Township Parks and Recreation and through Brandon Schools for various skill-building needs.
The remaining funds would go towards improvements in the village with sidewalks.
“Thins such as sidewalks, tree-planting, street-scapes are all eligible,” said Madis. “This would be for rehabilitation of sidewalks.”