Morgan County fine tunes grant process

Morgan County has received a $59,000 grant from the governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity and the Utah Office of Tourism to help increase tourism in the area.

“This is for the co-op grant for marketing from the office of Tourism for the purpose of promoting our valley and promoting tourism,” County Commissioner Blaine Fackrell told his fellow commissioners at their Aug. 20 meeting. “It’s a one-to-one match but we already pay that in the marketing efforts within our county so it’s already within the budgets now.”

Morgan County lost out on receiving the grant last year because of some unforeseen problems, he said, “so this year it would be very beneficial if we can use it for our visitor guide as part of it.

Along with the new printed visitors guide which will be distributed in Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado within driving distance of Morgan County these funds will be used toward ongoing marketing efforts including a new website. 

Last year Morgan County employed a consultant, Hub, to develop a branding campaign which would help attract tourists to this part of Utah. This campaign aims to increase overnight visits to the area, increases in TRT and restaurant taxes as a result and to build traffic to the website and an awareness of Morgan County branding efforts. 

During the discussion, Commission Chair Mike Newton made a recommendation that grant proposals requiring a county match in funds go before the commission so the county could ensure it has the funds necessary for that match.

“I think in the future we need to make sure that before anyone submits for a grant on behalf of the county that they have approval for the match,” he said. “They should have come to us in June or before and said, ‘Hey we intend to apply for this. Is the county OK paying the match? That’s a commission decision that the commission needs to approve. I’m not opposed to this at all. It’s just we need to make sure that that’s happening in the right order.”

Fackrell expressed concern that this could slow the process down. Grant funding is fluid, he said and those who apply often don’t know if they’ll receive the amount they applied for or a lesser sum. That makes it difficult to inform the council of a specific matching amount, he said.

County Attorney Garrett Smith shared his perspective on the issue.

“I think best practices is to come and say, ‘Hey, this is a one-for-one, or this is a 6 percent or a 10 percent [match], he said. “Whatever it is, come in, get the nod before you apply so that we don’t burn any bridges if we get awarded [a grant] and then the commission says, or three commissioners don’t say ‘Yeah let’s go for it.’ So, I think that’s just more of a best practice.”

Fackrell seemed to concur.

“From now on let’s all work on that same thing, best practices, every single one of us,” he said.