Main Street Beatrice getting extra financial boost from city government

BEATRICE - A downtown Beatrice business organization will receive a boost in city funding in a performance-based agreement with the city. The city council approved a one-year agreement with Main Street Beatrice for up to $40,000 in city support….an increase of $10,000 from the prior agreement.

The agreement extends through September 30th of next year. The bulk of the increase is for a boost in marketing funds and the organization receiving an entrepreneurship grant. Main Street Executive Director Morgan Fox says Beatrice is one of three Nebraska Main Street Communities receiving a grant from Main Street America under a pilot program. "It is designed to help us identify barriers and gaps in entrepreneurship and to develop strategies to overcome those, as well as new tools."

The grant requires a series of workshops, focus groups, meetings and a survey of small business owners. Fox says Main Street America would send a group to Beatrice for a day-long site visit.

"There's a five thousand dollar seed grant from this program that will help create a program that we can really do anything with. We can do a shark tank type of thing where we let entrepreneurs, locals pitch business ideas and we pick who's the best and we give them start-up money. We can create a loan fund, or we can really be flexible with it. I'm asking for five thousand dollars to put towards a match...that will then give us fifteen thousand dollars for that seed grant."

Fox said Main Street will use an adjusted word mark design in its marketing efforts, but not abandoning the Stake Your Claim theme widely used in the community.

The new budget allocation passed the council on a 7-1 vote, with Councilman Rich Kerr objecting over the timing and oversight of matching funds. "A lot of things the last three or four years has been done by Main Street without our knowledge. It's gotten very lackadaisical, just like this grant. That should have gone to us, or to the administration and then we could have given you the go-ahead on that."

Fox said the matching funds requirement became known after the initial application for the program was made. Main Street Board Treasurer Dana Hydo says the organization gets city help with funding, but also relies on member support and private contributions. "We can take the money that we raise, which is about 80 percent of our budget...the city provides about 20 percent of our budget to help us out, which is great. You guys give a lot to us, we give a lot back....and I think it's a good relationship."

City Councilman Gary Barnard said the city shouldn’t be in the business of managing what Main Street does.  "We fund NGage for a of money every year...we do not micromanage what they do. Micromanaging organizations that are not under the city's umbrella, just because we fund them...I just don't believe in the micromanagement. I don't think it gets us anywhere."

Councilman Ted Fairbanks said Main Street is the only private organization that is helping the city complete its comprehensive plan…..and over a million dollars of grants have been distributed through the organization that has assisted renovation of business properties. Council members Terry Doyle, Mike McLain and Tim Fralin also spoke in support of Main Street’s work.

Mayor Bob Morgan says the city funding to Main Street is based on performance, where the organization is reimbursed for its expenses.