Several area organizations presented their annual report and fiscal year 2023 funding request at the Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting this week.

Washington Economic Development Group Executive Director Mary Audia and Board Director Amanda Russell requested $30,000 for the next fiscal year to be an equal partner with the City of Washington. WEDG requested the same figure last year, and was funded $21,000. The Hawkeye Area Community Action Program also gave an annual report and requested $120,000, the same as previous years. Main Street Washington Executive Director Sarah Grunewaldt requested an increase for the organization from about $6,900 to $7,300 for the next fiscal year. She remarked that despite the pandemic, downtown Washington lost no businesses in the last year, with only a transfer in ownership for a salon, “My retailers in downtown are reporting record holiday sales and record sales for the whole year, they had their best year yet. I think people are really starting to value the power of their dollars locally because of the pandemic. I think that was an eye opener that these are people that contribute and [Supervisor] Marcus [Fedler] is a business owner you probably know this. You get hit up for stuff from every organization, every school group, every church for their raffles and stuff, and I think people started to realize that unless they support the local business, they don’t get the support back.”

Projects Grunewaldt mentioned included impending construction of a community center for the Marion Avenue Baptist Church, and renovation of the former Winga’s Cafe into a new diner with the help of a Main Street Iowa grant. She added that the recent farmer’s market season saw much more produce vendors, and she has applied with the city for a downtown housing grant to create a four-unit apartment complex in the Southeast Iowa Union building, to be offered at market rate to renters. She is also working on future uses of the old YMCA building, the current middle school, and the Federation Bank building as they plan to move to the former U.S. Bank location. The English River Watershed Management Authority presentation was tabled, and the supervisors will consider action on these requests next week.