The City of Houston is developing an inventory of property to target for renovations or demolitions under a grant program application.
Members of the Houston City Council learned Monday that 11 houses and four business properties are on the list under review, said City Administrator Larry Sutton. If approved, the Community Development Block Grant program would pay a portion of the owner’s demolition cost.
Elaine Campbell, the city’s development director, explained the process to the council. She is completing advance work in order to submit a detailed proposal when the application period opens next month.
In other matters, members:
•Heard from property owner Matt Heard about a planned duplex development west of the former Harrah’s Muffler location near C.W. Harry and Holder drives.
•Heard from Toney Aid, CEO of the Ozarks Small Business Incubator in West Plains, related to that organization’s offer to manage small business low-interest microloans in Houston. The City of Houston has about $150,000 it is studying to allocate for new and expanding businesses locally.
TONEY AID
Aid also spoke about the group’s desire to offer training and classes to help businesses and entrepreneurs here.
•Approved a $25 donation to the Tiger Backboard program at Hiett Gymnasium.
•Tabled an ordinance that makes changes related to utility cutoffs and other procedures until further information can be obtained.
•Gave final approval to abandon a road easement between Hiett and Watson streets in Houston.
•Heard that FEMA was to visit Wednesday to examine city infrastructure damage from flooding earlier this summer.
•Decided to store any surplus concrete culverts as part of the recently completed sidewalk construction project in Houston.
OzSBI opened its doors in January of 2012 after the renovation of the Butler Furniture Building in historic downtown West Plains. It was the ninth incubator in Missouri to open. As a project of the Downtown West Plains Inc., the goal was to help talented local entrepreneurs build relationships, get funded and grow their business, all while remaining in the Ozark’s area. Since opening the doors in 2012, OzSBI has helped 13 tenant businesses and 25 affiliate businesses, helped create more than 85 new jobs, hosted 64 business trainings attended by almost 800 people, generated 50 graduates of Operation JumpStart, and completed more than 1,000 mentoring hours with our clients.